{"id":502,"date":"2023-01-08T02:06:35","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T02:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/?p=502"},"modified":"2023-01-11T13:52:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T13:52:10","slug":"i-learn-on-the-porches-of-my-neighbors-how-jay-height-has-done-life-and-ministry-for-nearly-3-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/2023\/01\/08\/i-learn-on-the-porches-of-my-neighbors-how-jay-height-has-done-life-and-ministry-for-nearly-3-decades\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I learn on the porches of my neighbors\u2019: How Jay Height has done life and ministry for nearly 3 decades<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jay Height was working in Cincinnati in early 1995 when the leadership of Shepherd Community Center approached him about a job. He said no at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A short time later, however, Height and his wife, Jane, sensed that God really was calling them to serve in Indianapolis.  And by the summer of \u201995, Height and his family had moved to a new neighborhood in a new city, one that has become the focal point of their lives and ministry for nearly three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 27 years of service in the same neighborhoods, the Heights have set such deep roots and touched so many lives that it\u2019s now hard to imagine the near Eastside without their leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe thought we would be here a few years and then go back (to Cincinnati),\u201d Height, Shepherd\u2019s executive director, says. \u201cAnd you know, we ended up raising our family here. The fact that our children serve in similar ministries is something I rejoice over, because they have caught the vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand that vision, it\u2019s important to focus on one word: Neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shepherd doesn\u2019t have clients. Or even parishioners. It has neighbors \u2013 who the staff and volunteers are called not just to serve but to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need to be a lifelong learner, and I learn on the front porches of my neighbors,\u201d Height said. \u201cIt\u2019s important for Jane and me to sit and talk to our neighbors and to hear them share their needs and their concerns and their frustrations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading a ministry, especially one as large as Shepherd, is a deeply challenging and complex job in normal times. Normal isn\u2019t the word many would use to describe the days, months and now years after March 2020, when COVID forced businesses and schools to close, and neighbors\u2019 needs suddenly soared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shepherd team — with the support of their many business, government, and church partners \u2013 pivoted quickly to meet the mounting needs and to find new ways to deliver services during the early days of the pandemic.  Shepherd Academy switched almost overnight to online learning with the center providing internet-connected devices and helping families obtain internet service, Shepherd\u2019s existing food assistance ministry was rapidly expanded, and even the Shepherd parking lot became a center for services that ranged from free wifi to food distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as families struggle with soaring inflation and students work to catch up from pandemic learning loss, Shepherd is adjusting once again to meet neighbors\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we talk to our neighbors, we better understand that with inflation, the math doesn\u2019t make sense for them,\u201d Height said. \u201cInflation is a disproportionate tax on the poor, and things no longer work for them when it comes to paying their bills. We\u2019re seeing more people who feel hopeless and desperate, and we\u2019re seeing that at younger and younger ages. So, we have a lot of work to do to help change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before he entered the ministry, Height worked first in television news and then as an aide for a member of Congress from Ohio. Both experiences have served him well as a ministry leader, where communicating effectively and forging strong partnerships are vital to success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Height said a primary goal for Shepherd will be to continue to identify leaders and to help them develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuccess isn\u2019t about Shepherd getting bigger,\u201d Height said. \u201cIt’s more about the number of people we can train and raise up and maybe developing a model that can be replicated in other parts of the city and other parts of the country. We have the ability to train leaders in other cities and even other countries in what we’ve learned here. And so I think the future is about how do we help grow more leaders? How do we help build models that can break the cycle of poverty through other organizations in other communities?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forming ideas about the future of ministry and finding new ways to help neighbors in need flow out of Height like a river in springtime.  Where do the energy and drive come from after such a long time in one place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to do this work,\u201d Height said. \u201cI get to see people who we helped years ago and now get to see their kids. We recently hired a young lady for our childcare ministry who was in our summer programs as a child. Now she\u2019s a mom, and she said, \u2018My kids have a different world than I did.\u2019 It\u2019s a blessing to hear those words. I think knowing that such things are possible keeps me going \u2013 knowing that more kids can break the cycle of poverty, more can recover from COVID learning loss, more families can get jobs. And, ultimately, that more people know there\u2019s a God who loves and cares for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay Height was working in Cincinnati in early 1995 when the leadership of Shepherd Community Center approached him about a job. He said no at first. A short time later, however, Height and his wife, Jane, sensed that God really was calling them to serve in Indianapolis.  And by the summer of \u201995, Height and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-shepherd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}