Ten years ago, Morgan Smith saw her mother’s heart through her service. Now, that same passion for families in her community brings her back each week to the place her mother loved.
“When I was younger, my mother started helping out Ms. Scarlett [Rigsby, executive director at Nothing but the Truth],” Morgan shared. “They really connected over their love for golden retrievers.”
Morgan remembers visiting Truth’s Place with her mom, and together they helped out wherever they could, especially around the holidays.
She remembers browsing store shelves with her mom, giving her opinion on the toys or accessories that girls her age would love for Christmas. Then they packed Christmas shoe boxes together. She can still see the faces that lit up when she and her mom dropped off care packages.
“That became part of our Christmas routine every year,” she explained.
Throughout her middle and high school years, Morgan and her mom spent many days together at Truth’s Place. They served meals, painted rooms, wrote Bible verses on the walls and stepped in however they could.
“One thing about my mom is she loved to serve the Lord and she loved to serve others,” Morgan shared. “Growing up, watching her serve was inspiring. It’s special that I got to see that.”
Then Morgan went out of state for college. While in college, her mom passed away, and Morgan lost touch with Nothing but the Truth.
But in May of 2026, Morgan graduated and moved home. She started thinking about ways she could reconnect with her community. Serving at the same place she served with her mom just made sense!
“I reached out to Ms. Scarlett and said, ‘I’m happy to do whatever y’all need help with.’”
Scarlett asked Morgan to serve with children for Thursday night Life Conversation Groups, and since then, Morgan has become a regular part of Nothing but the Truth.
“As a kid, you don’t really have a grasp of who you’re helping and why you’re helping,” she said. “Now that I’m older, I can really understand that what we do helps real people.
“We’re giving people a place to come and worship Jesus, where kids can come and be led by people who have a great connection with Christ. Now I can appreciate the ‘why’ behind it all as I’ve met these kids and learned their stories. They’re strong. They’re sweet. They’re amazing. Getting to form relationships with them has been such a highlight of my post-grad life.”
Through her few months serving, Morgan has seen how spending a few hours a week at Truth’s Place blesses parents, children and the ministry partners.
While parents are attending their own Bible studies, Morgan and other ministry partners are sharing Jesus with the children. At Truth’s Place, trusted adults become friends and mentors as they study God’s word together.
“When I first started coming, I thought, ‘These kids have a rotating list of adults who come in Thursday nights to teach and hang out with them. Surely I can’t be that integral to this program just starting out,’” she said.
She was quickly proven wrong!
“I missed one Thursday because I was out of town, and when I came back, a little girl ran up to me, hugged me and said, ‘Morgan, we were worried about you. We missed you!’ That was so special for me to realize that our job as ministry partners is to keep showing up for these kids in whatever way they need us,” Morgan shared.
Like her mother did, Morgan is showing up and building community — because she’s seen how important presence is.
“Ministry partners might come just once a week, but what we do absolutely matters in their lives,” she said.
“I can see my mom up in heaven being so happy that Ms. Scarlett and I are talking again and I’m hanging out [at Truth’s Place].”