Monday, October 31, 2011

My Resume

It is my pleasure to submit to you my resume, which you may find online by clicking here.
(to access a PDF for print, click here)

Additionally, if you would like to view my LinkedIn professional profile, you may do so by clicking here.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Summary of Personal Strengths Transferrable Skills

My Top Personal Strengths:
  • Administer
  • Artistic
  • Communicate
  • Coordinate
  • Create
  • Design
  • Details
  • Energetic
  • Entertain
  • Execute
  • Facilitate
  • Follow  Through
  • Human Relations
  • Improvise
  • Listen
  • Motivate
  • Plan
  • Practical
  • Perform

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Good Experience #3

I am the kind of person who immensely enjoys driving.  I will opt to drive in almost every situation, not always because I don't trust someone else to drive but purely because I prefer to be in control of the vehicle, and I love the sense of freedom driving a car gives me.  Road trips are right up my alley.

One particularly memorable road trip/vacation for me happened last May of 2011.  I decided I would take a few days to drive down to Long Beach, WA, to meet up with my grandparents who own a beach house there.  This was my first time driving that long of a distance alone, and I felt up for the adventure.  The plan was for me to drive down Thursday, stay the first night alone in the house, and the rest of the family would come Friday afternoon.

Words can't even begin to describe the array of emotions I experienced that day.  I was thrilled to drive the distance to Long Beach, I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility when staying alone in the house and having to figure out my own dinner, and I felt an incredible sense of peace.  It was a nice time for me to reflect on life, on God, and on my past couple years of school.  I was able to remove myself from society for that short period of time, and subsequently I took a walk along the beach, ordered pizza, and ate it while watching a movie.  It might sound like something small to many people, but it was something very good for me to experience.

Good Experience #2

For me, there is no greater joy than being able to worship my Creator through song.  I love to use this talent He has given me as a way to give right back to Him.  It is a passion of mine to lead others in truly powerful worship services, and to see them find freedom of expression through musical worship.  It is the calling God has placed on my life, and I am excited for what He is going to do through me.

When I came to Northwest University, I was pretty insecure and quickly became aware that I was not the most amazing musician on campus.  In all humility, I was the most musical of my small church that I came from, and saw no need to get any better--after all, I was at the top.  But when I came to Northwest, I quickly realized I had a lot of work to do in order to grow in my talent.

That being said, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be good enough to get on the Chapel worship teams.  I looked around and saw so many people who could play or sing so much better than me and I felt very insignificant, almost invisible, and a little dejected.  That being said, you can imagine my surprise when I opened an email to discover I had successfully auditioned onto a team!  I felt overwhelmed with happiness and excitement, so much that I couldn't stop telling everyone the good news.  This only confirmed God's calling for my life, and over the past 3 years I have continued to play on Chapel worship teams, growing more every day in so many ways.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Nonverbal Communication

Gated communities are becoming something that is desired in many countries around the world, including China, Australia, Brazil and Great Britain.  The primary attraction of such a living environment is the protection of personal property and security against crimes of violence.  But how safe really are gated communities?  A point the author brings up in "Focus on Controversy: Gated Communities" is that gated communities typically look more attractive to a burglar, almost as if there were a flashing neon sign hanging overhead saying: "Great Stuff; Come Steal."

Gated communities also tend to create this feeling of segregation--both to the people living on the inside and the people on the outside.  For the people on the inside, they see people not living in their community as less fortunate, lower-class citizens.  They also have minimal contact with other ethnic groups and therefore don't have much experience with cooperation between people groups.  People on the outside usually feel one of two ways: they either stereotype gated community residents to be stuck-up, rich people who don't care about anyone else but themselves, or they long to live in a place just like it.  Equality kind of goes out the window when you have separate communities.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Good Experience #1

It was nearing the end of the semester, last spring of 2011.  I was starting to get a little anxious as I began looking for summer employment.  Then one night I was on Facebook and noticed a friend had posted a status about a summer camp he works at each summer.  So I half-jokingly posted, "Are they hiring worship leaders?"  He quickly replied, "Let's talk!"

As you can probably guess, I applied and was hired shortly there-after.  I went to work last June of 2011 for Island Lake Camp, a branch of Crista Ministries, the company that also owns the radio station Spirit 105.3 out of Seattle.  It was really an answer to prayer--I was praying I would find a job that would give me the experience and skills that would propel me into my upcoming line of work, and I was blessed with a job leading worship every night for a group of over 100 campers and staff.  I couldn't have imagined something so perfect.

I remember being up on stage each night my first week, still almost in shock that I was actually leading worship in such a setting.  Then I finally got used to my surroundings, and as time went on I grew more confident in my ability to lead, and my ear and mind for music.  I also became more firmly rooted in the Word, partially out of knowing if I wasn't engrossed in the Scriptures, I would be an easy target for the devil.  I wanted to be a leader of my fellow staff members, and I was quickly asked to step up into the leadership team.  That was truly an honor that my bosses saw me as a responsible, trustworthy leader of people.

I walked away from camp this summer a changed man in so many ways.  The way I lead changed dramatically.  I am now more confident as a whole, from my personality to how I act on stage.  I also had so many opportunities to be tested, from dealing with people and their problems to learning how to deal with problems as they came up during a worship service.  I learned how to adapt to those problems and make them seem like they did not exist in the eye of the audience member.  I also learned how to direct a team of musicians more effectively and efficiently.  Overall, it was an incredible experience which I wouldn't trade for the world.