What is your full name?

Daryl Randle Davis, II

How old are you?

36

What’s your current position?

Academy Headmaster at ITOP Christian Academy. I have served in this position for over 7 years. I am a Private School Administrator of a school I started in 2010. I am also the Executive Pastor of Inspiring Temple Of Praise Church, the first to be named to this position in our ministry's history. I was officially installed as Executive Pastor in October, 2015.

What High school did you attend?
I attended the High School for Finance & Communications at Polytechnic High School. I was Drum Major of the Band for 2 years, Senior Class President, Drama Club, Yearbook staff and State Vice President of the Future Business Leaders of America.


As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be several things when I grew up. I remember wanting to be a scientist, a lawyer and a journalist.


Which teacher had the greatest impact on you?
There were 2 teachers that had the greatest impact on me. Laura Adams, who was my 3rd and 5th grade teacher and Ernestine Rose, my English and Theatre Arts teacher in High School. These two ladies never gave me a pass. They held me accountable to being the best I could be and wouldn't accept anything less. I strive to be to my students what these two ladies were to me.


Did you feel different as a child?
I always knew I was different. School was always easy for me, and I always seemed to stand out. While I never felt like I was the preferred person among my peers, adults always seemed to like me. My grandparents used to always tell me that I had an "old soul." As a result, people always thought I was older than I really was, giving me opportunities and experiences earlier in life than most people. That served me well as an adult, often being the youngest in many positions throughout my corporate career.


I see your wedding ring.  How did you meet your spouse?
My wife and I have known each other for almost 30 years. We met as children when we were 7 years old. We "went together" as pre-teens, dated in high school and again for several years before I proposed to her. I can't honestly remember our first "date" just because we've always been around one another. I proposed to her during Sunday service at our church on December 12, 2004. I was preaching that morning to commemorate my 3rd year of preaching, and after I finished the message, I quickly changed clothes, putting on a tuxedo and proposed to her in front of the congregation, my family and friends. We were engaged for over a year, and were finally married March 18, 2006. We held our wedding at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in the W. E. Scott Theatre, which was the first wedding ever held on that stage. We took a 7-day cruise for our honeymoon, which was a first for us both. We'll be married 12 years in March of this year.


How does you family motivate you to do what you do?
My wife and my 2 children are my reasons for everything that I do. I want to do all that I can in life to create a name and legacy that they will be proud of. I want my wife to be proud of the man that she's chosen to devote her life to, and I want my children to have an example of what hard work, dedication and loyalty are. I don't want my children to have to look outside our house for a hero, I just want them to look to their daddy.


Now if we can, I’d like to go way back for a little while. Where did you go to college? What did you study?
I attended Texas Wesleyan University for three years immediately following high school. I was a Mass Communications student, studying to be a Journalist. I made the mistake in college of moving out on my own, working full time and being a full time student. There came a time when I had to choose what was most important to me at the time, and bills caused me to choose my job. I finally went back to school at the University of Phoenix, graduating in 2009 with my Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. I went back to school a few years later, receiving my Master's Degree in Education from Northcentral University.


I want to understand how and why you ended up in your current job.  What attracted you to this work?
My road to my current position is a curvy one. I didn't go the traditional route to become an educator. I started my career in Corporate America. I worked for several Fortune 500 companies before leaving corporate and going into education. For most people, it's the exact opposite. They tend to teach first, before discovering something else they'd rather do. I started ITOP Christian Academy through the beckoning of Bishop Reginald D. Jordan. He had the idea and vision to start a school and pulled a team of people together to do a feasibility study, and the rest is history. I knew that this was my assignment, and I took it head on. With the help of what eventually became the School Board, we worked together to make what was at one time a vision, into reality.

Did you have any key mentors or people who deeply influenced who you are, what you believe in and what you’re committed to in your work and life?
Overseer Roy E. West and Bishop Reginald D. Jordan are the two men that have been most influential in my life. Overseer West was my pastor from the time I was 14 until I was 26. He was the epitome of a servant, and I believe that God placed him in my life to develop me as a servant. I started my ministry under Overseer West and developed my love for scripture under his leadership. He was more to me than just my pastor. He was also a father to me, stepping in at some of the most difficult times in my life to give me the encouragement and strength I needed. Bishop Jordan has been my pastor for the last 10 years and I am forever indebted to him. He's one of the greatest leaders I know. That's why I believe I'm assigned to him. Bishop Jordan has taught me to love people beyond measure. He has guided me for the last 10 years of my ministry, to become a thoughtful and inspiring preacher and a strong leader.


What’s the specific project you’re going to be telling us about today?
Currently, I'm working on expanding my school. ITOP Christian Academy is one of Tarrant County's best kept secrets. We offer an amazing instructional program, based on a Biblical Worldview. We are one of the most affordable programs in our area, giving inner-city students an opportunity to have a private school education.


Tell us about your specific role and contributions in this project. Let’s start with the first thing you did. What was it?
As the Academy Headmaster, founding the school, I had to work extremely hard building the infrastructure of the school. Through the hard work and dedication of the school board, we were able to determine what and who we wanted to be as an institution and implement the necessary protocols and procedures to help us become what we wanted to be.

What do people most often criticize about you?
People tend to criticize me for being to-the-point and rigid. I don't use flowery language, nor do I tend to take the scenic route...I get right to the point. Sometimes, this can come across as harsh, or direct, which is never my intent. I love people, and I operate from a standpoint of loving people enough to be honest with them. People also tell me that I'm too rigid. I believe that rules and protocols are in place for a reason, and everyone is held to the same standard of honoring them. I don't make exceptions, because the exception then becomes the rule.


What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make?
The most difficult decisions to make are typically ones where my emotions are involved. I am not an emotional person, and can usually make decisions based on what makes most sense. I am an overly logical person, so decision making is very simple to me. The only time I find this difficult is when my head and my heart aren't on the same page.


What do you feel you have bragging rights to?
The thing I can brag about most...my family!  My wife is AMAZING and my children are AWESOME!


Share with me something about yourself that you're working on improving.
I'm working on becoming more fluid. Being rigid has created an organization that runs efficiently and effectively, however, I know in order for us to become a more dynamic organization, I as a leader, must become more pliable.


Tell me about a recent project or solution to a problem that you made better, faster, smarter, more efficient, or less expensive.
Well, I am as cheap as they come, so most things we do are extremely economical! I like to call that "ballin' on a budget." One of the things we implemented at our school was giving our grade school students laptop computers. By introducing ebooks, it saved drastically on our curriculum expenses. While it was a major investment early on, we're looking to save tens of thousands of dollars over the next several years.

If you could have dinner with five famous people from history, who would they be?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Barbara Jordan


If we're sitting here a year from now celebrating what a great year it's been for you in this role, what did we achieve together? Tell me how you did it.
I would have to say that we've educated significantly more students. Through offering financial aid and grants, we were able to extend opportunities to more students than ever before. If there were ever a measure to a successful year for ITOP Christian, it would definitely be in increasing the number of lives we've touched as an organization.

By inspiring our children to be the best that they can be. By inspiring them, they inspire others and our community becomes greater than we could ever imagine.


Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years, I hope to have grown my school to offer secondary classes and possibly have multiple locations.  I would also like to have completed my first book and possibly work on a 2nd one.


When all is said and done, and the final chapter is written on your life, what is the most memorable thing you’ve done which you would like to have carved on your tombstone?
That I inspired scores of people to be the best version of themselves.



Thank you for your time today and indsightful answers!  How can the community contact you?

www.ITOPCA.com and www.InspiringTemple.com
2010 E. Lancaster Avenue
Fort Worth, TX 76103

Facebook: @ITOPCA
Facebook: @inspiringtemple



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