Life Updates

I think it is high time to share some changes that have been happening in my life in 2022!

Ever since getting home from the World Race in November, 2019, I've had a fire in my heart to learn more about the word of God and teach others about His word. In October, 2019, I couldn't wait until I got home, and while I was in Romania, I applied and was accepted into Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Initially, my goals were to get a business and ministry dual masters degree, with hopes of starting a Christian non-profit organizations (specifically, a food and worship ministry operating nationally out of a food truck). It seemed like an outlandish idea, but I thought if that is what God wanted me to do, I wanted to equip myself the best way I knew how - school.

The program was all online, which was a blessing in the sudden shift that occurred in March, 2020 that fortunately, did not interrupt my studies. While I was taking these classes, stuck at my present jobs as a bank teller and a deli counter clerk, I was still longing for something more. I wanted ministry to be my job, not just a side note. I started applying for jobs at church camps, since that is a ministry I had always been passionate about, and had attended and worked at several different camps, including camps in the World Race. I expressed this desire to some family friends in June 2020, and they told me about an administrative job opening at Camp Mardela, a Church of the Brethren camp in Maryland. As we talked about it, in my spirit it felt like the right next step. I talked with my parents, church, and mentors about this opportunity, and felt affirmed to put in my application. Several emails, phone calls, interviews, and visits later, I got the job, and amidst all of the excitement, I began to realize that I had just strapped myself in for the ride of my life.

While the World Race on paper could have been categorized as the hardest thing I have ever done, this job quickly rivaled that claim. The biggest difference in the challenges these endeavors presented was in the longevity of the commitment. For as challenging as parts of the Race were, I could get myself through the worst of days by reminding myself it would be over in November, and that I needed to be present in every moment. Working at camp, however, instead of being a short-term commitment as a sojourner in different ministries, was an indefinite commitment. I didn't just move a piece of myself to this ministry. I moved everything. For the first time, I would be building a life for myself, and building onto an existing ministry largely on my own as well. The learning curve was steep, and the culture shock was unexpected. This was not a temporary commitment. This was my life.

After overcoming the initial shock, I quickly got to work, and I watched the camp come to life after lying mostly dormant during the 2020 lockdowns. Once I watched Camp Mardela transform from the barren branches of winter to the green and yellow blooms of spring, I saw this in the people as well. We once again hosted fundraisers, events, and summer camps, and for as hard as the first couple winter months were, and even as hard as the first summer was, the reward was well worth it. We got to see kids get to be kids again, without fear of the future. They could be present in a moment at camp, soaking in the joy of the people at camp, refreshed and ready to enter what would prove to be another challenging year.

However, I realized I still had a lot to learn. I survived one year at camp, by what felt like the skin of my teeth. A new year was about to dawn and I knew I owed it to this camp community to put my best foot forward, and to pursue deeper knowledge and wisdom that I could share with everyone who could come down this dirt lane in future years. I had put a pause on my studies shortly before I moved to Maryland in 2021, and felt that I was ready to begin again. I had been looking at transferring to a more rigorous, hybrid program while I was attending Mount Vernon Nazarene University, because I felt I was missing a large part of the educational experience by not having a classroom community. I had my heart set on Dallas Theological Seminary before I moved, but knew I couldn't start in 2021 because I needed to focus on my new job. But after the dust of the first year began to settle, I reached out about applying and starting classes at Dallas Theological Seminary in the spring of 2022.

I was accepted into the ThM program at Dallas Theological Seminary's DC campus in September 2021 and was set to start my first official classes in January, 2022, which brings us up to the present day in our story. I am currently taking classes on The Gospels and Designing and Leading Effective Ministries. My main objective for taking these courses is to equip myself to better serve the community I am in right now. I want to have a well-rounded a sound Biblical doctrine as the Administrator of Camp Mardela's Biblical programming, as well as further developing my professional leadership skills in ministry so I can better serve the staff and volunteers at camp, as well as developing clearer vision for how camp can better serve the community, and executing that vision.

And this is what brings us to this blog specifically. As I go through my courses, I hope to share nuggets of what I am leaning, whether it is prayerful poetry, scriptural musings, or theological articles and essays I am writing. I hope that this journey is not one of knowledge simply to puff myself up, but wisdom that can be a blessing to others, through thoughtful discussion and prayerful, Biblical exploration. I encourage you, if you are reading this blog, to read the scripture for yourself, and let them transform you. God's power is not just in signs and wonders. In many ways, it is the most palpable and impactful within the dusty black-and-white pages of the Bible. I am in no way claiming to be the ultimate authority on the study and interpretation of scripture. I barely claim to be a theologian-in-progress. I am simply a lover of God and a lover of His word, and I want to make His name known to all those I meet, and that is what this blog is for.