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Reverend honored for mission work
The executive director describes the ministry as ‘in, of and for our community.’
YOUNGSTOWN — The Rev. David L. Sherrard, Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley executive director, lives by these words: “Help for today, hope for tomorrow.”
After 38 years in mission work, he said, “I’m passionate about it.”
His dedication was recognized Friday at a celebration at the Rescue Mission, 962 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where he has served 20 years. Speakers were Dr. William Finnigan, director of biblical studies at the mission, and Dr. Brent Allen, senior pastor at Old North Church.
On the back of his business card is the purpose statement of the Rescue Mission, “ ... to serve and glorify God through Christ-centered outreach of love and compassion that responds to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of disadvantaged men, women and children without regard to race, color or creed.”
The Rev. Mr. Sherrard said he takes the purpose to heart, making sure that the mission fulfills its goals — and his staff does as well. He described the ministry as “in, of and for our community.”
An evaluation of “excellent” by the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions attests to the quality of the mission program he supervises. The Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley is one of 47 certified missions, and one of 20 deemed “excellent.”
Rescue Mission programs are made possible because of donations, Mr. Sherrard said. “People of our community are incredibly supportive. They believe in us,” he said. “People of the community don’t go away ... just as the need doesn’t go away.”
Mr. Sherrard said the mission has applied for and received some grants from foundations, but it does not receive government funding.
“When you take government funds, there are compromises,” he said. “You give up something to get something. I think of government funding as gravy. ... You don’t need it; it’s extra,” he said.
One reason he left his position as director of Detroit Rescue Mission, where he served 18 years, was because the trend was to accept government money. From there, he and his family came to the Mahoning Valley.
Mr. Sherrard said even as the economy has gotten bleak, donations to the mission have continued.
In the annual budget of $2 million, Mr. Sherrard said 85 percent comes from individuals and the rest from grants from foundations. The mission has a staff of 35, who work in men’s, family, client, educational and developmental services and food services along with the business support staff. There is a board of directors.
Mr. Sherrard is devoted to mission work because he “loves people who are the underdogs in life.” His understanding of the disadvantaged comes from personal experience. Mr. Sherrard said his family was dysfunctional; his father was an alcoholic who often beat him.
By chance, he met a couple, whom he calls his “foster parents,” when his family lived in Ballardsville, Ky. “He became my dad ... a father figure in life,” Mr. Sherrard said. “She was my spiritual mother ... the epitome of a woman of God.”
Mr. Sherrard credited the couple, Ann and William Cary, who had a 40-acre farm where he helped out, with imparting to him something vital. “They helped me understand who I was and what I could be.”
Later, Mr. Sherrard’s family moved to the Detroit area, where he attended community college and a Baptist seminary and met his wife, Linda. They’ve been married 38 years, the same number he’s devoted to mission work.
“The Lord began to work in my life,” he said, and volunteering at the Detroit mission turned into a job and then a vocation. “It was really what God called me to do,” he said.
The Rescue Mission, he said, provides food, shelter, safety and a second chance. “The program statement is what drives us; the mission is the vehicle,” he said. “We want to help people, but we don’t want to be a crutch.”
He emphasized the Christ-centered outreach of love and compassion. “Faith is the essence of who we are and everything we do,” he said.
The mission has daily devotions and Bible instruction. “We make no apology for that,” Mr. Sherrard said. But those who come for a meal aren’t forced to sit through faith-based programs before eating, he said.
linonis@vindy.com