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Discovering God's will for a career

I used to think that anything I invested in church was irrelevant for the "real world."

Whenever people would ask me what extra-curricular activities I'm involved with, I knew I was investing the most time into the local church--nearly every day of the week I was investing in my personal or others' spiritual lives. The killer was that despite how much I was investing, I felt like I couldn't justify its worth to a classmate or employer. I made sure to keep the "brand-name" internships and solid leadership positions on my resume, but never felt comfortable writing "Harvest Mission Community Church" on a mere 8.5x11 sheet of paper listing my professional qualifications.

By the time I was applying for jobs senior year, I had no choice but to list HMCC on my resume--recruiters always inquired what I did my junior year summer, since there was no impressive internship employer to woo them over. Even though I tried SO HARD to relate my experience at Cesar Chavez Academy or Excel to marketing skills, most of my interviewers left unconvinced about the value of what I did that summer. As I got turned down, I started blaming that summer as the reason for my rejections, and developed bitterness against God. I was questioning my decision to work in MI upon graduation, questioning my decision to surrender that junior year summer, and even tracing all the way back to questioning my decision to follow Christ. My trust level of this supposed almighty and all-knowing God was abysmal.

Even though most employers I interviewed with seemed disapproving of my summer decision, when I interviewed with Deloitte they actually APPRECIATED the fact that I did something different that summer. I no longer felt like I had to "hide" what I did, or who I really was. That's what was so liberating, and that's when I began to see that this might be where God wanted me to be.

During the interview, I not only shared honestly about how my time at CCA rocked my worldview but also had the chance to share about my experience working with graphic designers on the Publications team at my church. The position I was applying for involved working with graphic designers and writers, and my familiarity with the software actually set me apart from the other candidates. Even though I had joined the Pubs team years before JUST because I was told to, I began to see how the things I had learned on my ministry team ACTUALLY helped me discover my passions and gave me clarity for my future career.


I share this story because I've seen many people discover a (new) calling for their careers by serving in our church.

Today, Jenny found out that she got accepted into the Masters program at the UM School of Education. While she was ecstatic and in disbelief, I knew without a doubt that she would get in. I don't have the gift of prophecy, but from just seeing her when she is with children, it is SO CLEAR that influencing children is what God has CREATED her to do--it's what He gifted her in, and she had the chance to use and grow that gift as she served on the Building Blocks children's ministry in our church.

More than a congratulations, I want to proclaim how GOOD our God is, for knowing her inside and out, revealing His will for her life, and (of course) providing a way so she could faithfully do what she was created to do. I feel silly for ever thinking that serving on a ministry team is just a nice spiritual thing to do, when in actuality God can surely use it to reveal His will for our careers too :P

Jenny doing what she does best, loving and influencing children at Excel Academy in 2009

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