Do You Know Where You’re Going? (KI2)

Updated: Apr 18, 2022

As a mass communications major, I am able to diversify my knowledge and experiences in a unique way. I can take classes in copy, ethics, sports media, photography, advertising, nonprofits, and more. It is like getting to test drive a million paths and careers before putting a down payment on any of them. One class that I got to test drive a potential career in is Nonprofit for Public Relations (JOUR333). In this class, I saw the impact of nonprofits on society as well as how nonprofits make a difference in people’s lives. Coinciding with my community service in Shandon College Ministry, I heard the Lord’s call to work in full-time ministry. It was through this class and my experiences in Shandon College that I finally understood something - my passions and my career can be one in the same. Having a career following my truest desires is important because why would I waste my life doing something that isn’t?

Somewhere in my adolescence, I lost the understanding that what I actually desire can be what I do with my life. For most of middle school and high school, I felt this need to have a high achieving job that pays very well. But, if someone asked me what I would do every day of my life despite basic needs, I said I wanted to be a wife and mother, sharing the Gospel and building community.

In other words, I'd choose community service.

If someone asked me what career I wanted in middle school through my second year of college, I said a lawyer. I like law, ethics, and writing. Plus, it pays well. I was willing to sacrifice my truest wants in life for something I liked and others approved of.

Even after I wasn’t going to law school anymore, I struggled figuring out what ‘career’ I wanted. My parents, my aunt, older friends, and peers constantly asked what I would do after graduation, and I didn't know because nothing in the traditional business world fit my interests. My Public Relations for Nonprofits class helped me understand that I didn’t have to fit into the traditional business world. My career can be wonderfully unconventional.

During my class, we spent a whole module talking about careers in nonprofits. There were so many paths to take, and so many of the jobs followed into the realm of community service. All the challenges and opportunities of these jobs were things that made my eyes light up and my soul excited. I even wrote down my thoughts on the powerpoint slides (Artifacts 1 and 2) about how the opportunities and challenges made me feel. A Jack-or-Jill of all trades, so busy that your time will fly, and satisfied to know you are making a difference in the community are all of what I want in my daily life. These are my strengths, and I enjoy the challenges of working evenings and weekends for special events and with few resources. A nonprofit job requires creativity and endurance as well as patience and willingness- which can be seen in my social media evaluation assignment, Artifact 3. I could see myself doing this and loving it. Yet, it took a little more for me to fully commit and choose a non-traditional job in the nonprofit sector. I still did not believe that community service work could be a career.

It took some divine revelation to let me know that the nonprofit sector I could serve in was ministry.

Still feeling the pressure from others to be conventional, I applied for traditional jobs, and my true desire to serve and volunteer would have to be an after-hours hobby. During this drab job search experience, I considered moving to Myrtle Beach to be a part of a new church plant called Coastway. I met Tanner, Coastway's college director, the previous summer during live sent summer project, an 8-week mission trip across North America. During our time in Columbia, SC, Tanner came and talked about church planting with us. Artifact 4 is a picture of Tanner during one of our conversations. As students participating in ministry and community service for the summer, it was awesome to hear how people, like Tanner, started out in community service and went on to do full-time service in their career. I knew (as someone who loves community service) he was the man to talk to about what is next in my life and career.

So, I scheduled a call with Tanner to talk about the church planting and how I could be a part of it. It was an amazing phone call about the church’s mission and togetherness. I was so happy hearing about God’s amazing work and the church as a family, but then Tanner asked me about what I wanted to do after graduation.

I almost froze.

I told him I had no idea except to serve God somewhere, and I was struggling with the ‘where’ I was supposed to be. Stay in Columbia, move to Myrtle Beach, wait and see if something else appears- I was very lost and confused on my next steps. I loved being a part of Shandon College and doing community service, but I didn't know how that could translate into a job.

That is when he told me to focus on the ‘what’ first. He said the ‘where’ comes later. Next, Tanner mentioned recent graduates doing residency, a full-time and support-raised ministry program. It is nonprofit work. It is full-time community service. It was for me.

God convicted me, and, during meditation and prayer after that conversation, I knew what I was to do with the next two years of my life. It was unconventional. It was not exactly well paying and traditional, but it was everything I wanted to do. I was going to work in full-time ministry, starting as a collegiate missionary for Shandon Baptist Church, and I texted my college pastor, Conor, as seen in Artifact 5.

If I had not taken Jour 333, I would not have been as open to working in the nonprofit sector. I would not have seen the possibility of ministry as my profession when Tanner mentioned it. Full-time ministry calls for a Jack-or-Jill of all trades, and the work makes someone so busy that time flies. I can be satisfied knowing I am making a difference in the community while working with few resources and off-the-clock. It is nonprofit work that fits with my love for community service. My passions and my career can be one in the same.

This insight showed me a different path my life can take, and it is a path that I am excited to take.

1 Peter 2:6 says, “For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame’”.

This is what my life is worth living for, so why should anything stand in the way of that? Why would I waste my life doing something that isn’t worth living for?

Community service in ministry is worth living for.

Artifacts

Artifact 1