James_March-April_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 45
O
On a Sunday night in West Palm Beach, a room of about 50 people leaned in as golf
legend Jack Nicklaus told stories from a life measured in majors and moments. Someone
asked the question athletes hear more often than they’d like: “You won more than
anyone— yet you also 昀椀nished second more than anyone. How do you balance that?”
Nicklaus didn’t 昀氀inch. He smiled, then reframed the idea of pressure. “I see pressure
as pleasure,” he said, explaining that one day he watched fans sprint toward the next
hole— laughing, savoring every second— while he realized he wasn’t enjoying the game
nearly as much as they were enjoying watching it. The pressure wasn’t a punishment. It
was proof he was in the hunt. Proof he mattered. Proof he belonged.
That resonated with Dr.
Dwight “Ike” Reighard— president
and CEO of MUST Ministries and
senior pastor of Piedmont Church
in Marietta— who was one of the
lucky ones visiting with Nicklaus.
He lives in two worlds defined by
responsibility: the pulpit and the
nonprofit, the sanctuary and the
shelter. Each day brings the realities of homelessness, hunger and
instability. Still, he speaks most
naturally in the language of hope—
partly because he believes in it,
and partly because he has seen
what happens when a community
chooses to act on it.
Reighard has led MUST for 15
years, beginning— fittingly— on
Thanksgiving Day in 2011. “They
decided we might as well hire a
turkey on Thanksgiving Day,” he
jokes. Humor comes easily, but
so does precision. He can tell you
how many beds are in a shelter,
how many counties are served by
a feeding program and why trust
is the most valuable currency a
nonprofit can hold.
At the core of his leadership
is a belief shaped long before
titles and board meetings: that
there are real people behind every
need— ones with names, histories,
families and dignity— even when
life has stripped away what looks
respectable.
That belief was forged on Marietta Street in Downtown Atlanta.
The House by the Tracks
Reighard grew up across from
railroad tracks and a rail yard.
His parents both had fifth-grade
educations. His father worked in a
rock quarry for the city of Atlanta.
Travel and comfort weren’t part of
the family story. Generosity was.
In that era, homeless men who
rode the rails were called hobos.
They knew there was a house near
the tracks where a woman would
feed them, Reighard says. His mother— feisty and unmoved by neighborhood criticism— made sure they
didn’t go hungry.
“The neighbors would say,
‘You’re going to get hurt,’” he
recalls. His mother’s answer never
changed: “I know that’s someone’s
son. It could be somebody’s father.
It may be somebody’s brother— and
I’ve got all three of those.”
She sent her son out with the
plate and a jar of sweet tea so he
could see the person behind the
need. He would sit and listen to stories— Chicago, St. Louis, places he’d
never been. Those conversations
taught him to look past appearances and easy judgments, and to
understand that poverty is rarely as
simple as a bad decision.
Those lessons— seeing people,
hearing stories, offering dignity—
became the connecting theme of
his life’s work.
A Corporate Résumé
Today, Reighard leads one of
metro Atlanta’s largest nonprofits.
His path includes decades of ministry leadership across the region,
along with time in the corporate
world as chief people officer for
a mortgage company. There, he
learned lessons about culture, trust
and organizational health— principles he now applies daily.
“I’ve been blessed to be in the
right place at the right time,” he
says. “And to have the right people
around me.”
MUST Ministries is now approaching its 55th year. It began
as a Methodist-led community
effort serving the elderly and
counterculture youth of the era. As
the organization expanded beyond
denominational boundaries, the
name continually evolved to reflect
a broader mission shared by the
whole community.
Reighard credits earlier leaders with building that foundation,
including former CEO John Moeller
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