Sunday, June 14, 2026

Eldred Sawyer grew up in Pleasant Grove, Dallas, Texas — where he witnessed firsthand the struggles of poverty, addiction, and broken families. Those experiences broke him and led him to repentance that  became the foundation of a calling.

In 1986, in the middle of the crack epidemic ravaging East Dallas, Eldred and Leonard Brannon co-founded CareCenter Ministries with a simple conviction: no one is beyond redemption. What began as a small act of faith — opening their lives to those everyone else had written off — has grown into a ministry that has raised up and birthed other ministries in Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Over more than 40 years, Pastor Sawyer has planted ministries to the poor in other locations, led Hilltop Church in Dallas as Pastor and National Director, founded the Kaleo motorcycle ministry, and co-founded Truth Academy — a private Christian school in Pleasant Grove that opened in fall 2023. He serves on the boards of four separate nonprofit organizations and was appointed to the City of Dallas Planning and Urban Development Advisory Committee.

His memoir, In Spite of Me, is the story beneath all of it — a confession of how the Lord built something he never could have established on his own.

It is our honor to have him join us today. Enjoy, this timely word God has put on his heart.