DALLAS- Many people have a problem squaring the need to have great faith like the biblical character Abraham, with the admonishment that all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed. Dr. Claytie Odessa Searcy utilized a hybrid of the two when she started her community activities with only a dream, a vision, and a desire to serve. Most people know her as the founder of her namesake foundation (Searcy Youth Foundation), but her community involvement stems from a life-time of service.

The foundation which got its start when a minister gave her $25 to open a bank account, provides educational, moral, and spiritual guidance to youths and adults.  And from in more than 30 years of operation since its founding in 1966, thousands of youths and adults have benefited from its services which include providing food, clothes, household furnishings and other items to families who are desparetly in need. In addition many of her clients took advantage of extended GED courses sanctioned by  the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). 

Searcy, a native of Pittsburg, Texas, who calls herself “a child of poverty,” knew that from working as an educator in DISD for five years, and at Bishop College where she was a Freshman Counselor and instructor in education, it would be important for individuals who had dropped out of school to at least be able to put GED on their resume.  It was something that Searcy knew personally, because she received her high school diploma by attending night school after working a 10-hour shift. Not fully content with a high school diploma, she entered Wiley College and later, Bishop College.

She served as president of the Bishop College National Alumni Association for seven years and was named chairperson of the women’s division which raised funds to  relocate the college from Marshall, Texas to Dallas. Historically, when she received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, she became the first Black woman to receive that particulary degree and only the second person to accomplish the feat in nine months. A proponent of education, not only did she become a certified counselor from Southern Methodist University, (SMU), but she continued her education at East Texas State College, and earned a Doctorate in Religion.

While at the Moorland Branch YMCA,  Searcy became concerned about the boys’ moral and spiritual life. Her first major undertaking was to get Bibles for every boy,  and then asked ministers from the various churches to teach them Christian ethics. Yet, she realized that something was still missing.
And that element was needed to strengthen the total family. To that end, she organized a mothers’ club which provided funds to send underprivileged boys to summer camp. For many of the boys, it would be their only way of takinghealthy risks in a safe and nurturing environment.

Not content to work only with boys and their parents, she accepted the sponsorship of the Blind Guild, which raised funds to build a lighthouse for visually impaired African-Americans. That facility was constructed on Hatcher Street and was used until the Dallas County facilities were integrated. Continually embracing the need to enhance the spiritual life of youth in the Highland Hills community, when most people are enjoying retirement, Searcy, at age 68, in 1980, founded The House of Love Church, at 704 Morning View Dr. 

The church is one of the oldest in the city founded by a female. The church’s purpose is found in its mission of fulfilling the five functions of the kingdom-focused church described in Acts 2: Evangelism, Discipleship, Fellowship, Ministry, and Worship. This allows the church to provide Christian fellowship, creating voluntary confessions of faith in Jesus Christ by all who seek admission; to maintain  Christian worship to support a ministry for preaching the gospel; to teach the Holy Bible; to administer its affairs as it relates to Bible ordinances, missionary endeavors, charities, and Christian education.

She served as pastor for more than 26 years before turning the reigns over to Senior Pastor Ted Harris. Now at age 97, as pastor emeritus, she can still be found behind the pulpit, delivering sermons to the faithful. Harris, who was born in Miami, Florida and raised in Augusta, has big shoes to fill as Searcy who lived by the motto of “losing yourself in service to others,” was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Black Chamber of Commerce, and has been the recipient of numerous local, national, and international awards, honors, and citations, including holding membership in the World’s Who’s Who of Women. 

A graduate of Christ for the Nations Institute’s School of Pastoral and Theology programs, Harris has also earned a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree from Dallas Baptist University and is a graduate student at Liberty University pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Human Services/Executive Leadership. But in following in her example, he also serves on numerous committees and boards, including Dallas County Welfare Board, City of Dallas Martin Luther King, Jr Board, Southeast Dallas Civic Association Board, University of North Texas, Dallas Area Planning Committee. For his work, he has also received numerous leadership and academic awards.
As Searcy approaches 100, one is reminded of the words to a hymn, penned by Raymond Rasberry:

You may build great cathedrals large or small, you can build skyscrapers grand and tall, you may conquer all the failures of the past, but only what you do for Christ will last.
You may seek earthly power and fame, the world might be impressed by your great name, soon the glories of this life will all be past, but only what you do for Christ will last.
Though your armies may control each hemisphere, and your orbits out in space cause men to cheer, your scientific knowledge may be vast, but only what you do for Christ will last.
Though your song and prayers are heard and praised by man,
they’ve no meaning unless you’ve been born again, sinner, heed these words, don’t let this harvest pass, for only what you do for Christ will last.