SONSHIP STORIES:

JIMMY WILLIAMS

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

“My dad and my granddad were Ft. Worth police officers. Back in the day, when you were a cop, you didn't make any money. You had to have a side job. So my granddad laid brick on the side, and I watched my dad go from being a bricklayer to building his own houses and into developments to create a better pathway forward for us.”

“I’d say I didn't become a Christian until high school. And it wasn't until I met my mentor, who just kind of grabbed me, saw my leadership potential, wasn't really scared of me or my background, and said, ‘Hey, you're a leader, I’m going to mentor you.’ He just kind of took me under his wing and taught me everything, taught me about Jesus, about life.”

“After college was tough. I was newly married. My mentor had died, and I didn’t know what I should do. I knew I needed insurance and I needed to do something like right now. So I said, ‘You know what—I’ll just be a police officer. I know how to do that. I know how to fight. I'm strong. I'm smart. I know what's needed.’”

“Years later, we started our renovation/real estate company, and our first core value is being faithful to the idea of restoration. It's the heart behind everything we do. And, personally, it’s my belief there is not a house, a person, a relationship, a system, a conversation, not a single thing in this world that cannot be restored—through Christ, through the power of the Spirit.”

“When I came to my first Canyon Pathways retreat, the word you guys gave me was ‘renovation’. As we went through the week it was amazing, how much this idea of renovation was already at the core of who I was. And it was bringing up things from my past, from my history, of just how much this word actually means to me. And it’s helped me live like a son, and it continues to change how I father my own sons.”

“I felt like the Canyon community came around me and said, ‘You're not beyond repair. You can be yourself, Jimmy, your past sins don't define you. That's not who you are, you're not too disgusting for us.’ And the idea of sonship is just so profound for me. It was a different way of living for me, a different way of viewing life that I needed, and God knew it.”

“And now I've been been to I guess five or six Canyon Pathways retreats. I mean, dude, I have seen you guys give words to people and men break down crying. Men are like, ‘Man, God has been telling me that word in my sleep. My wife has been telling me that word. My pastor has.’ I mean, I’ve seen just words alone pierce the hearts of men and change them in amazing ways.”