My story begins with amazing parents who raised me in the church. At the age of 5, I was baptized. Looking back, I feel extremely blessed to have received the Holy Spirit at such a young age. I understood grace. However, I wish I would have better understood what it meant to truly be a follower of Christ.
Like most high school students, I made plenty of bad decisions during those years. I now understand why hypocrisy is so often associated with the Church. Being a Christian was like a status on my Facebook page. Like I was also a fan of the Chicago Bulls when they had Michael Jordan. After he retired….so long Chicago.
Throughout college, my faith grew exponentially. I would probably attribute this to the identity formation process everyone goes through during adolescence. Thankfully, I had an incredible amount of people praying for me and mentoring me along the way. I received some of the best work experience during my undergrad that a college student could ask for. I was also blessed with the opportunity to serve as a youth sponsor and a deacon at the church I grew up in.
However, thus far nothing will compare to the summer of 2012 as I began to diligently search for the story God wanted to write. In short, I quit my job, sold my brand new Ford Raptor, and pursued grad school. Not long after applying, God blessed me with an amazing scholarship to the University of Tulsa where I received a Master’s in Business Administration.
Last summer, I interned at Saddleback Church in California underneath their chief operations officer where I continued to develop a passion for ministry. I would love to end up in an executive pastor type role when this journey is over.
I’m not entirely sure where God will lead me next. But, I have an idea…and I’m looking forward to the journey. God can still wreck it if He wants to. My Story Can Change the World. Yours can too.
