I graduated from college with a major in Youth Ministry. I took some time off before college to spend a semester with Youth With A Mission (YWAM)– some time in both Los Angeles and Nepal. During college, i took a year off to work with a camp who needed an office administrator. I then came back to Chicago to finish school, and now work as a Personal Assistant to a woman who owns her own public relations company.
I went into youth min because I love teenagers. I love the way they think and getting them to think a little bit longer, a little bit higher, a little bit wiser about life. My particular passion in life though, is for those people who have been pushed to the outskirts of society. Whether due to dress, appearance, beliefs or something else, there is a growing culture of people (young people, in particular) who are not accepted by mainstream society as a whole or the church in particular. I know of people who have been asked to not come to church because their hair was too blue, their ears too gauged, their arms too tattooed, their hair too unwashed… And it breaks my heart because that’s where I see so much potential for people to follow God in a way that really responds to the non-social norm heart of his call.
So I spend my time looking for ways to help people on the outside. I currently work with the missions department of my local church, developing and implementing ideas to educate and involve our people in missions stateside and abroad.
I have a dream of opening up a coffee shop in Chicago… I want it to be a place for teens to be safe and be able to have faith conversations… also a place for them to work and get off the streets (there is a large and growing population of homeless teens in Chicago)… also a place that would connect them with resources to get their GED’s, learn to build a resume and help them get off the streets, into sustainable lives. It’s a big dream that seemed out of reach for a long time, but that’s the thing about this job… it’s teaching me what it takes to market and get a project/idea/group “out there.”
And of course the volunteer grant writing for the other organization is teaching me valuable things I hope to be able to use with the coffee shop dream. I know that I want to work with non-profits, to come alongside and help them be more effective with their life stuff– a lot of what I’m doing right now is learning the skills that will help me equip them better.
