STAFF
OUR STAFF IS DEDICATED TO SHARING THE LOVE OF JESUS WITH EACH WOMAN GOD BRINGS INTO OUR CARE.
LISA D. BARNES, MS
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND PROGRAM
Lisa Barnes was born in Tucson, AZ, and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2006, she graduated from Point Park University, receiving her bachelor’s degree in business administration. Lisa furthered her education and professional career by attending Geneva College and receiving her master’s degree in Organizational Leadership in 2015. During this time, she answered God’s call on her life and became a licensed minister in 2012. Lisa is the author of 2 books, Let’s Talk Goals and She’s A Praya, and lent her experience to a third, Scenes from a Single Mom Volume 2: Love, Loss & Legacy. Lisa is the daughter of Bruser Jackson, Sr. and Theresa Barnes, and the proud mother of twins Genesis and Christopher, 22, and Timothy, 15.
In 2020 while the world was facing a global pandemic unlike anything experienced in the last century, Lisa was without worry. God called her to prayer and during her prayer time, God spoke clearly to her – His words, She’s A Praya. What began as a 3-month journal has morphed into a Christian lifestyle brand that combines prayer, fashion, and spiritual transformation. Through her brand, Lisa has been able to reach many lives, offering uplifting videos, quotes, and practical application of God’s word. She’s A Praya seeks to build a community for the modern Proverbs 31 woman. One of the ways this is accomplished is through a virtual bi-monthly meeting called Let’s Talk and Pray. Through this meeting, Lisa has created a space of sisterhood where they deep dive into topics that affect women of faith in this culture and climate. She’s A Praya celebrated its one-year anniversary on April 28, 2021 and is steadily growing and expanding its influence.
Through her dedication to hard work and a little tough love, Lisa enjoys supporting others in achieving their goals. Having faced some of life’s hardest challenges – becoming a mother at 17 and being a young adult breast cancer survivor, Lisa is able to unearth shared experiences with women she encounters and use those similarities to minister to them and bring them closer to God. Lisa is confident that she was able to withstand the trials she faced because of her steadfast faith in Christ. It is her faith that reminds her that she will make it whenever she is confronting another obstacle in life. Lisa stands on the scripture of her business, Proverbs 31:25, “She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.”
KARLA TURNER, HOUSE DIRECTOR
Karla Turner is a single mom of three grown sons and Nana to two adorable little girls. Karla’s passion for working with pregnant single moms comes from her own experience of having lived in a maternity home during the pregnancy with her first son. She lived the experience first–hand and wanted to be able to pass on the benefits she received from the experience to others.
Karla has lived and worked in the Grapevine – Colleyville community for more than 30 years and brings her knowledge of the community and its resources to the position she holds. She attends, serves and works for Covenant Church where she is a small group leader, doing life with ladies ages 30 to 75 years old. A Freedom Group leader, providing biblical-based healing to life’s hurts, habits and hang-ups and Next Steps Coordinator helping new believers get connected to their next step in Christ. All of which help to give her a unique perspective to and for the clients Mercy House serves. Karla lives her life by the motto – “Love God, love people”.
When originally asked if she saw herself in the position, she laughed and said no. Then God reminded her of a request she had made when she was in a maternity home herself. She told God that if she ever had the opportunity to, she wanted to run a maternity home to give back because it was such a blessing in her life.
Little did she know that 38 years later God would answer that unspoken prayer. ”I see myself in their eyes, I hear my life in their stories, I know how it feels to not be at home surrounded by family and not know how you are going to take care of the life growing inside you. I’ve been there and just wanted to help another young mom the way I was helped.” Karla says.
Karla also says that she is glad she said yes to God and the opportunity to change lives that Mercy House provides and looks forward to seeing the lives of the mothers and babies forever made better.
TONY SEARLES, DIRECTOR OF PARTNER DEVELOPMENT
Tony was born and raised in Caribou, Maine. After High School, Tony responded to God’s call by attending the University of Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. There, he was formally trained to be a Pastor and leader within the local church and non-profit organizations. He also met his college sweetheart, Angela, there. After graduation, Tony moved to Exeter, New Hampshire to serve in his first assignment as the Assistant & Youth Pastor. While praying for God’s help and direction in this new role of ministry, the Lord made something very clear that has guided him in his life’s work from that time forward…it is all about relationships! Developing a relationship with others and pointing them towards a life-giving relationship with God, through Christ. This word from God has never failed to be successful!
At the age of 27, Tony transitioned to being a Lead Pastor. He continued to emphasize building relationships with others and pointing them toward Christ. In addition to that, he also grew in his experience working with Boards, communicating, shaping strategic plans, developing ministries and programs, counseling, facility management, and building buildings as well as caring for the people that God placed under his care. Tony has also served on local town committees, led a private Christian School, and developed initiatives to better people’s lives and build relationships with his community.
In 2020, the Lord began to do something new in Tony as he shifted to working in non-profit organizations. His first role was Executive Director in the only Pregnancy Resource Center in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. He successfully guided them through the challenging times of the pandemic where everything had to be retooled to accommodate the changes during that time, from client care to fundraising and everything in between. Shortly after Tony’s time there, he and his wife, Angela, moved to Fort Worth as they followed the Lord’s leading and God opened the door for him to serve as a Program Director at a local faith-based agency that serves the real needs of their clients through a wide variety of services. Over and again, Tony was busy building relationships with those in his path and helping them to move forward in their relationship with God, as He would lead them in their lives.
Today, Tony continues to be used by God to develop relationships with people while also growing ministries that make an eternal and practical difference in others. He also keeps busy by volunteering in a national ministry that serves rural churches across America, teaching a weekly Bible Study with some friends around a kitchen table, and working in the mortgage industry. More than all of that, he loves spending time with his wife, Angela, and their family. Their son, Alex, is married to Seyya and they have two sons, Tyson and Ollie, who live in Fort Worth. Their daughter, Abbee, still lives in Maine but loves to come and visit often – which they love!
JANIS MCADOO, MARKETING/MEDIA MANAGER
Janis McAdoo has been a long-time supporter of Mercy House. As a member of Grace Community Church, she remembers when Susan told the congregation about her dream of creating a home for single, pregnant women.
Working with cash-strapped single moms needing a way to pay for team sports ignited her passion to help women. When her kids were young teens, she became a single mom herself and gained a new appreciation for how difficult it is to parent children alone.
When Janis established a marketing business, she learned Mercy House needed help with its website and social media accounts. She sent a proposal and got the job! That was in 2015. She now acts as our Marketing/Media Manager handling donor communications, website management, social media accounts, and other fundraising activities.
She loves to celebrate the women in our program by telling their transformation stories. She still cries every time she watches one of their testimony videos, even if she’s seen it a hundred times.
Her children grew up and started families of their own. Her grandchildren, Waylen and Hudson, call her Nonnie. She shares her home with a pup named Jack Henry.