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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Myers Briggs & Communication Strategies

My communication style:

ESFJ

It is interesting to observe how my communication style (my four letter code) influences all these different aspects of my life.  It helps me to understand exactly how I act around people, how I take in information, how I think, and how I react.  The following are just a few examples of how my communication style plays into the different areas of my life.

Choosing a major

My major is music, and I think this makes sense in the context of my communication style.  I plan to use my major to lead worship in a church, which my extroversion characteristic fits in well with.  The "J" aspect also plays  well into this because you need to be pretty well organized to work in a church music department--especially for a larger church.

Learning style

My communication style fits in really well with my learning style.  I am definitely a sensory learner--the more hands-on and visual the lesson being taught, the more likely I am to retain the information.  It also helps that I am an extremely organized, get-it-done person.

Playing

It was interesting to me that the test scored a high percentage of "J" for me--89%.  I know that I'm an organized person, but usually I go with the flow.  I like to hang out with friends, and usually I'll do that before I do homework.  I do plan out how much time I'll need for homework in my head so I know, but that doesn't take away from my social time.  Also, my extroversion comes into play well here.

Possible causes of stress

I find myself getting frustrated with people who make a decision purely based on intellect, and it seems heartless.  I am always worried about people's feelings or perceptions, and will often make a decision based on values or feelings.  I am confident I make good decisions that are well-thought-out, but I don't make a decision purely based on fact or intellect.

Dealing with conflict

I am a person who prefers to deal with conflict immediately after it occurs.  I don't like when people wait or think they need to walk away from the situation without solving the problem. My feelings are summed up with, "Don't let the sun go down on your anger."  If you don't deal with conflict right away, it's going to fester and the problem will only get worse and worse.

Communication strategies: Jordan Tucker, roommate

Based on my observations of my roommate, Jordan Tucker, I would guess his four letter code would be something similar to INTP.  He seems to be removed from social happenings most times, he likes to think big picture, he is definitely a logical analyzer, and he if not really an organizer but more of a processor.

You'll notice that we are complete opposites, which is very interesting for a roommate combination.  I think it kind of works well though as roommates, we are so different from each other but we appreciate the differences between us.  It's also nice because we are going in two totally different directions in life and it doesn't feel like I'm competing with my roommate (as I've felt in the past with other roommates, who quite possibly could've had similar codes to me).  When Jordan and I communicate, we have to factor into the conversation that he is an intellectual thinker and I am motivated by feeling or values.  Usually we come to an agreement about something, but we approach it from two totally different angles.  So I would say we have kind of already put this communication style difference to rest in adapting to each other.  We will definitely continue to work at being better communicators with each other, but I believe we've had a good start.