The funeral service for Dallas Police Officer Darron Burks, held on Saturday morning, was an emotional and powerful tribute to the 46-year-old public service officer.
Rev. Darrell Thomas of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church, where Burks was a member, started the service. Thomas had the “privilege of serving him communion” and “praying with him,” and commented that Burks’ life had an impact well beyond the City of Dallas.
Following a scripture reading, Wes Butler from Watermark took to the stage to lead the congregation in prayer, saying, “This hurts. This is not the way it should be. And yet, God, we trust in You. And we are pleading now for Your comfort. Lord, we have no hope of comfort apart from you.”
Texas Sen. Royce West (District 23) said, “We will remember your son in perpetuity.”
The worship team beautifully sang about God’s faithfulness, singing ‘Goodness of God’: All my life, You have been faithful. All my life, You have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. There was hardly a dry eye in the church, yet hands were raised in praise, and many stood in the declaration for God’s glory even amid the pain.
Rev. Thomas acknowledged resolutions for Officer Darron Burks given by numerous people and organizations, including Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Dallas Commissioners Court, by Commissioner Dr. Theresa Daniel (District 1); Dallas County Constable Eddie Brown Jr. (Precinct 4), Texas House of Representatives from Rep. Toni Rose (110 District); Governor Greg Abbott, and by the City of Dallas by Mayor Eric Johnson.
Dr. Michael Sorrell, the president of Paul Quinn College, where Burks was a member of the class of 2007, personally read the college’s resolution for Burks. Sorrell recited Psalm 23, and applause filled the sanctuary with these words: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Dr. Tony Evans, the senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, delivered a video message stating, “I am grateful for Officer Burks’ life and legacy… He was a man of the community, but he was also a man of the church… as one of our key parking lot attendants, serving those who are coming to worship in an excellent and proficient way. Loving the Lord and loving the Lord’s people as well.”
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said, “In losing Officer Burks, the City of Dallas lost a hero.”
Mayor Johnson spoke to Burks’ servant’s heart and his dedication “to lifting other people up… as a teacher for nearly 20 years at the Texans Can Academy, as a mentor and a leader with the Boy Scouts of America, and finally, as an officer with the Dallas Police Department.”
“Serving as a Dallas police officer is one of the highest honors in our City,” said Mayor Johnson. “Not only is protecting our people and keeping us safe one of the City’s most important jobs, it is also the single most dangerous job.”
“Officer Burks was tragically taken from us, targeted simply because he upheld his oath to serve and to protect all of us. So, today, we mourn the hero we lost, but we also celebrate the life that he led and the impact that he made on so many people,” added Mayor Johnson.
“A man like Officer Burks doesn’t come out of nowhere. His spirit of service and selflessness had to be taught; it had to be cultivated from a young age. And we owe his mother and his family our deepest gratitude for instilling those values and raising such a great young man,” the mayor said. With these words, everyone stood and applauded.
“We will honor his memory… his sacrifice… and continue to be inspired by his unwavering commitment to the City that he so selflessly served and gave literally his all to,” said Mayor Johnson.
“Here in the City of Dallas, his badge number, 12543, will be displayed all night on the Omni Hotel to honor his service to the City,” concluded the mayor.
The chief of the Dallas Police Department, Eddie Garcia, said to the hundreds in the sanctuary and possibly thousands watching online, “We all have one thing in common. We are heartbroken, angry, and we grieve.”
“Darron was humble, kind, thoughtful… personable… strong and steadfast in his morals, his faith, his faith, his love of family, and most importantly, his need to serve his community,” said Chief Garcia.
Burks advanced from the Dallas Police Academy Class of 392, and Garcia had the honor of handing Burks his badge upon graduation. Chief Garcia said Burks followed the class motto, “dedicated, motivated, and serving in Blue.”
“He was humble, never above anyone… he treated every person he encountered as if he wanted to be treated,” said Chief Garcia, adding that Burks spoke to community members “not as an officer, but as a human being.”
“He was compassionate, fair, strong… we didn’t realize it at the time, but Darron Burks never stopped teaching. We learned that an educator doesn’t have to have a whiteboard or stand in front of a classroom… instead of math, he taught us all life lessons: how to be a better person, to listen, to laugh, to love, and serve something greater than yourself,” said Chief Garcia.
“Darron Burks stood proudly and courageously on our thin blue line, this line – this symbol – which I will never, and I hope you don’t either, allow anyone to hijack and make it into something unrecognizable to the honorable men and women who have the fortitude, honor, to stand on our line. A line that separates order from chaos. And we stand on that line together, and only for the purpose of serving others,” said Chief Garcia.
“Rest in honor, brother; we have the watch,” concluded Chief Garcia.
Mene Khepera, former principal of the Dallas Can! Academy, spoke next. Khepera had known Burks for over twenty years.
“When I met Darron Burks, he was standing on my back. Now I’m standing on his,” said Khepera.
“All of these years we have spent, there is love at the core,” Khepera added.
“I didn’t hire Darron Burks because he was a math teacher,” said Khepera. “I hired Darron Burks because Darron Burks had the one thing that I believe every individual needs in order to move other individuals forward, and that is passion.”
Khepera spoke of how Burks taught others well beyond the classroom.
“Darron Burks wanted the community to be whole,” Khepera said. “He didn’t want to fake and shake in regards to the community being whole. He understood that there were broken families, and he wanted to be a mediator between those families that were broken.”
“We need to instill some old-school values,” said Khepera, saying Burks taught us what we need desperately today: humility, compassion, empathy, to be fearless, and to want families and the community to be whole.
Khepera concluded by having everyone in the sanctuary shout “Darron Burks” several times in a moving moment, with everyone engaged.
“And so it is,” he concluded.
Cherie Jeffery, the mother of Darron Burks and the final speaker, stood before the audience beside a framed picture of her son.
She stood quietly, gathering her thoughts, before speaking.
“We are here only by the grace of God. Each and every one of us, we’re here only because of Him,” Jeffery began.
“I heard earlier someone said that I made Darron. I didn’t make him. God made him,” said Jeffery.
“Teaching a child starts with the womb to the tomb,” said Jeffery.
“I am here to sound the alarm because Jesus is on His way back here again! And we need to be ready to go back with Him. Jesus knows us by our love. We have to love each other,” said Jeffery.
“So many Christians have put their light under a basket, and their light has gone out. It has gone out. We don’t love each other; we won’t help each other,” said Jeffery. “My son honored me every day… my son would text me twice a day.”
“I want to say to each and every one… the curtain is about to close… we need to love each other… Darron had love for everybody.”
“I taught him by the Word of God,” said Jeffery. “There are so many young men and women who have came to Christ because of my son, and that’s what we should do… We should live our lives so that men and women will look at our life and say, ‘What must I do to be saved?’”