When Hollywood writer and director Tom Shadyac returned to Taft for a second Morning Meeting visit, he didn’t come alone. By his side—and at the heart of the Morning Meeting program—were Jarmond Johnson and Chris Dean. Both men are deeply connected to Memphis Rox, a nonprofit, 32,000-square foot climbing gym founded by Shadyac in South Memphis, Tennessee, a community plagued by violence and lacking resources and opportunities.

Jarmond and Chris took different paths to Memphis Rox. Jarmond joined a South Memphis gang when he was 13; he was incarcerated at 14. His mother was a janitor at Memphis Rox and encouraged him to join the climbing gym when he was released.

“I didn’t have teachers, filmmakers, or rock climbers to look up to,” Johnson told the Taft community. “When I had the chance to be in a different environment, I took it. I forced myself in to make my mom proud, and it changed my life.”

Dean was on a different path. His high school won a national contest. The prize: then-president Barack Obama would deliver the school’s commencement address. Dean was chosen to introduce the President during the ceremony. The opportunity led to a college scholarship and internships at a daily newspaper and the White House. He collaborated with a photographer from the newspaper on a 12-minute video, As I Am: From the Streets of South Memphis to the White House and Back Again. Dean met Shadyac when he returned to Memphis.

Shadyac is well-known as a film director, writer, and producer—The Nutty Professor, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Evan Almighty, and Patch Adams, to name just a few. He took a step back from his Hollywood life after a serious bicycle accident. His family had roots in Memphis, and he found himself teaching storytelling to college students there. Soulsville, an under resourced community in South Memphis, was a desolate area filled with abandoned buildings. Shadyac purchased two in 2015 and began making connections—connections with community members like Dean—and transforming the heart of Soulsville through his Memphis Rox.

“I could have brought something cheaper to Memphis—like boxing. But the word education comes from the Latin educatio meaning to draw out, not to drill in,” Shadyac explained. “My job as a friend was to draw out what they wanted to do—what they needed. I told them all the things I love to do, and they chose climbing. And now we’re using walls to break down walls.”

Today, Johnson and Dean both work at Memphis Rox. They are also part of a group that recently climbed Mount Kenya, the second highest peak in Africa. It was a powerful and transformative experience.

“The African people we met are so rich in spirit; they have so little but feel so much joy. I wanted to embody that and bring it back home,” Johnson said; back to his community through his work at Memphis Rox.

“I didn’t have a lot of things to believe in in my neighborhood,” said Johnson. “Memphis Rox was one of the first places that made me believe in myself. It made me realize what putting one foot in front of the other really means. When no one else believes in you, you have to have faith in yourself and go on—just put one foot in front of the other.”

The full Morning Meeting talk is a powerful dialogue between Dean, Johnson, and Shadyac. It is filled with meaningful reflection, commentary on community and storytelling, and the transformative power of “non ut sibi.” Watch the full talk below.