I retired August 31, 2018 from Merrill Lynch/Bank of America after a 36-year career as a financial advisor/consultant. My wife, Susan, and I moved to Cortez (Bradenton), FL on January 5, 2018 from Oak Island, NC.

I met Dwayne in September 2018 at a birthday party where he was the DJ. Not long after that I started attending a men’s prayer group in Bradenton that Dwayne also attends. That is where I found out he is more commonly known as “Bishop Freeze”. We went to lunch a couple of times and I became interested in SOZO. Dwayne invited me to go to the Manatee County Juvenile Detention Center with him and I started going every week and felt blessed to be able to share my faith with the young men incarcerated there. Susan and I helped serve dinner at the Sozo Kidz and Sozo Teenz clubs a couple of times and were impressed at the impact the ministry was having on those young people. Dwayne asked if I would consider joining the board of directors of Sozo Missions and I joined the board in September 2019.

I have served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations. I was on the board and the executive committee of the Eden, NC Family YMCA for 25 years and worked closely and became good friends with the executive director. When we moved to Florida and retired, I was interested in finding an organization I could become involved with where I could be of service to the youth in my new community. I do not think it was a coincidence I met Bishop Freeze and was given the opportunity to become a part of the SOZO family. Dwayne likes to say God sent me to SOZO, but I believe God brought SOZO to me. I believe my experiences in going to the Juvenile Detention Center has had a strong impact on me as I have had on the young men there. I believe I am different from most of the men with whom they come in contact. My message to them is that God cares about them, individually, and so do I – no matter what. They are hungry for a positive message, and I try to give that to them, and it is a blessing to me when I get a positive response.

- Jim Pyron