Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Toon.
Melissa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
About 15 years ago, my husband and I started attending The Bridge and became church partners. Little did I know that a few years later I would start working there and would be on my way to starting my 13th year on staff. My role on staff has morphed and changed over those years from working solely with children to working with families and now leading our local and global outreach opportunities.
Although I have always had a heartbeat for my local and global community, I never knew that my career would allow me to sit directly in my sweet spot of helping people discover how they can support the work happening in their community by using their God-given talents and abilities. I have always loved seeing connections happen. In my role as the DO GOOD Director at The Bridge I get the chance to listen to our local and global communities and look for ways to connect the local church in partnerships that can potentially help move the needle for people who might otherwise never get the support they need to move into a new phase of their lives. Getting to see the transformation happen in people’s lives whether big or small is what drives me to continue leaning in.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road to where I am today has not always been the smoothest. I am not big on not knowing the plan. I like to see where I am headed and know what it’s going to look and feel like when I get there. I knew I was being asked to make a change from leading in family-focused ministry at The Bridge to leading more outside of the church walls. The problem was that there wasn’t a role in place for that position. I was being asked to step into uncharted, undefined territory and to make things up as I went along. That is not a comfortable place for me. Although at times, that freedom to chart my own path has felt empowering and energizing, it has also felt lonely and daunting. As a church, we were stepping into new places and communities locally and around the world. I was being asked to take the first step. I have discovered I have a love/hate relationship with the word bravery. I want to be brave and blaze new trails, but my hands and voice might be shaking the whole time I am doing it!
Some of those new trails lead me to places where I had to come face to face with questions about ideas and philosophies I had held close to my heart for my whole life. Thoughts I had about poverty, race, religious preferences, etc… were put into question on a daily basis. Systems that I had always trusted were presented in new lights and I didn’t always like what I saw. I thought I had a clear understanding of the issues our communities face. What I found was that there are complexity and nuance around every corner. Tracing the roots of systemic struggles is a messy and marathon paced endeavor. I thought I would do what I normally do. I would hit the ground running and start seeing the change immediately. What I am still discovering daily is that stopping and listening will move us into a better future faster. When we stop we ask how can I help instead of saying here is what you should do, we see lasting change begin. This new way of behaving for me has a pace that I am not used to. I have to pull back on my own reigns on a regular basis.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Thebridge.me story. Tell us more about the business.
So I may be coming from a different place than most of your previous interviewees… I don’t run my own business. I come from the church world. That being said, many of the same things you would see within a local business happen within a local church. Honestly, I think that is a big misconception about churches. People sometimes think that what they see on a Sunday is all a church is focused on. What people don’t sometimes think about is for a church to move forward as an organization toward their goals, they have to think and operate much like a business. There needs to be a clear vision and mission and an intentional plan for how to accomplish that.
So to answer your question… within The Bridge, I am responsible for all of our local and global outreach in relation to our work with non-profit organizations. I develop and maintain those relationships outside of our walls with the goal of creating opportunities where people can experience what can happen when we use our talents, gifts, and skills to work toward the transformation we want to see in our community. I believe that every person has a story and that story can be used as a powerful connection tool. Incredible things can happen when people stop and take the time to turn the focus from themselves and place the focus on another person. When that connection of two stories happens, I believe life change can happen. I feel like it is my role to create moments for that scenario to happen as often as possible.
Where I feel I offer a slightly different approach than others in my role within other churches is that I try my best to maintain a healthy perspective on what it looks like to support a community that may be struggling because of challenges such as poverty or lack of resources. It has been my experience that a lot of churches tend to focus on what they can give to an under-resourced community. Lots of time that giving comes in the form of items, or tangible resources only. I have tried to approach community support from a more relational starting point. By asking the community how you can help instead of asking what do you need, you hear that many of the needs are not things that can be handed hand to hand. Many of the ways we are asked to support our communities are transferred from heart to heart and mind to mind. Here’s what I mean by that. When we stepped in to a partnership with a local school, they didn’t ask us for school supplies. Instead they let us know that they really need adults to show up consistently on campus to offer support to kids who are in need of a steady encouraging presence in their lives.
Our global partners let us know that instead of giving them clothing items, they would much rather us share advice with them on how they can better market and sell the goods they already are skilled to make with the resources they already have access to. We do give things to our partner communities at times when specific requests are made. The difference is that there is an ongoing conversation built on strong relational collateral through which to filter all of our partnership opportunities through. We are focused on a long-term partnership that is beneficial for our community for the long term. My heart beat as a leader is not to be here one day and gone the next.
Instead, I want to lead my portion of our organization to focus on what can happen when there is intention placed on linking arms with communities for years to come. Nothing makes me prouder than to hear an individual from a partner community say “you came back”. Sadly, as a whole I feel like the Church as a whole has done a poor job with consistency. We tend to be a group that wants to get in, do something, get out and move on. I try my best to go against that grain. I want our church to be known as a group that will hang with you even when it gets messy. Even when it takes a long time to see results, we are here for the long haul.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe in luck. I do believe in keeping your head on the swivel and being aware of what is being presented to you and being brave enough to move when you are being told to move. I personally believe God is the one telling me to move and placing things in my path to move toward.
I have seen that play out time and time again in my life and in business.
From being at a lunch where someone mentions an opportunity or need in the community that you know would be a perfect fit for your organization to just happening to run into someone who just started working for a local non-profit and you get to talk about ways your team can support them and everything in between.
One example is when we decided to partner with a local elementary school in an under-resourced community. The first time I walked in the door to meet with the principal I ran into a Bridge partner in the office. She then proceeded to tell me she was just hired to be the social worker for that campus. This “coincidence” gave us immediate credibility with this school and allowed our partnership to be fast-tracked in a way that otherwise might have taken years.
I see moments like this happen all the time. It’s my job to be aware enough to not let then pass us by.
Contact Info:
- Website: Thebridge.me
- Phone: 281-383-8931
- Email: melissatoon@thebridge.me
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