Candidate 2 Profile

Section A. Background Information

10. Year of Ordination

2015

11. Denomination of Ordination

RCA- East Sioux

12. If not RCA, what classes or supervising body from the ordaining denomination recognizes your ordination?

RCA- East Sioux

13. Present denomination

RCA- East Sioux

14. Present classis or judicatory

RCA- East Sioux

15. If you are not now a member of the Reformed Church in America, can you, in good conscience, agree with the doctrine, discipline and government of the RCA?

16. Do you support the mission and division of the Reformed Church in America?

Yes.

17. Citizen of what country? If not USA, do you have permit to live and work in the USA?

USA

18. Previous Experience

19. Formal Education

20. Continuing Education

21. Languages (list any languages, other than English, in which you can preach or converse fluently)

Haitian Kreyol

Section B. Reflection

1. Describe your strengths, the best of who you are, and what you bring in service to the church.

My family of origen was inherently creative. My parents are music educators, and all of my siblings are engaged in creative careers. Creative communication (music, drama, storytelling, video production) comes very naturally to me. This has allowed me to engage effectively with people in ministry and share the gospel in unique ways. Another part of my journey involves a consistent commitment to cross-cultural engagement and bridge-building. Both my spouse and I thoroughly enjoy befriending people from other cultural backgrounds and discovering God's plan together. I have also had the privilege and opportunity to serve in a variety of ministry backgrounds involving regular pastoral duties, youth leadership, worship leadership, outreach, and missions.

2. Name two or three mentors who have significantly contributed to your ministry, and explain why these people are important to you.

Dr. Jay Moon was formative in my seminary years and after. He helped me tap into the important subplot of God's Word involving the reconciliation of all nations in Christ. He gave me many practical opportunities to engage with people from different races and cultures and learn from them. He continues to inspire me with his writing and friendship.

Rev. Rick Van Ravenswaay was a seminary classmate who became a close friend and remains my primary mentor. Rick entered the ministry later in life and brought an array of practical wisdom and insight into the needs of hurting people. He is gifted at asking me hard questions in an encouraging way and helping me see my blind spots.

3. What caused you to enter ministry, and what are the core values that define your vision for ministry?

At age 19 I joined my first full-time ministry sharing the gospel in schools all over the country through assembly programs and Christian concerts. After 4 years of this work I began to serve in the church setting in the area of youth ministry. During that time the pastor, Rev. Jon Opgenorth, identified and nurtured my gifts for ministry, encouraging me to attend seminary. I followed his advice and throughout the seminary years began to discern a deeper call to pastoral ministry and/or missions.

I approach ministry primarily as a missionary, seeking to understand and appreciate the different values, cultures, and perspectives of the people I serve. My approach involves equipping people for ministry through encouragement and coaching, rather than trying to do all the work myself. I believe this model is crucial for reaching the lost and discipling the believevers.

4. Explain the strategies or ideas that most excite you for helping a church to become and remain missional.

I believe church programs have some value in discipling and equipping believers, and meeting the needs of the community, but my primary objective is to help the body "go out into all the world" in whatever way they are gifted. Whether at work or in the neighborhood, we all have been positioned and gifted by God to share the love of Christ in tangible ways in the midst of everyday life. Building a network of support and working as teams as we do this work is crucial.

My approach has always been to help the church I serve idenitify how their God-given interests and abilities intersect with the needs of the community, creating opportunities for relationship building and conversations with people in various stages of their spiritual journey. I also believe the worship service and other church functions must be programmed with the seeker in mind.

5. Name three of your most passionate hopes for the Church at large, and why they are significant to you.

I passionately hope that the Church would be a place of racial reconciliation and justice, where challenging and healing conversations take place leading to tangible cultural change. God has used cross-cultural relationships to build up my faith and I desire the same for all believers.

I passionately hope that the Church would be a center for creativity and self-expression, allowing the Word of God to come alive in new and fresh ways. Songwriting and other forms of art have expanded my understanding and appreciation for worship.

I passionately hope that the Church would understand God's vision for a "kingdom in our midst." That is, I believe what Jesus taught transcends all political designations and affiliations, and we are a people called to embody and demonstrate a life-changing ethic that unifies and heals rather than dividing people into factions.

6. Give an example of how you would theologically address an issue facing your contemporary world. Please be thorough enough to help the reader to understand your thought processes and your life commitments.

Through the Old Testament prophets and other biblical passages it is clear that God values the alien (foreigner/immigrant) in our midst. I believe the Bible has a lot to teach us about issues related to immigration, beginning with the fact that immigrants are a blessing from God and a wonderful opportunity to reach the nations on our front doorstep and/or learn from other believers from around the world. I also believe we need to have laws and regulations assuring that people do not enter our country illegally or in more numbers than our infrastructure can support. It is our duty and privilege (and international law) to correctly and carefully review the cases of all people seeking political assylum. With the incredible wealth and resources of our nation, and the spiritual blessings we enjoy as followers of Jesus, we can choose to embrace immigrants as a part of our families and expect to encounter God in ways we never could have imagined!

7. What theologians, pastors, authors or other leaders have had the greatest influence upon your life and thought? (List up to 4 and explain.)

Church Fathers- Even before I was a believer I would occasionally read from the writings of the early church fathers. I find myself still returning there from time to time to be inspired.

Brother Yun- A Chinese, underground church pastor who underwent incredible persecution yet experienced God¬ s grace in many miraculous ways. Both his biography and his other teachings have impacted me greatly and reminded me that the powerful lives of the apostles and others in the Bible are still being mirrored by individuals in our world today.

C.S. Lewis- This is an obvious choice for many, but I feel I have been impacted by this author in a unique way, being a very creative person myself.

Francis Chan- In a way Chan represents for me a whole movement of pastors and leaders today who are encouraging the church to live out the faith in tangible ways. I admire the willingness to be vulnerable and seek Christ passionately.

8. How do you hope someone influenced by your ministry would describe what s/he considers to be most important?

People have consistently told me that the ministry I do is always done with respect toward individuals, whether that includes those in authority such as the consistory members, or those who are unchurched and down-and-out in the community and everyone in between. In other words, I have a deep sense that God sees us all equally and therefore I find it easy to treat people all essentially the same.

Also, people have expressed their gratitude for my gift for making Scripture accessible and clear. This is very important to me in order to help people have their own vibrant relationship with Christª helping people understand they can personally approach His throne and access His Word through the guidance of the Spirit.

9. Name at least one challenge for a pastor who accepts a Call to lead a church whose culture is other than his/her own.

I have to continually remind myself that with all change comes a sense of loss and disappointment. It can often be too easy for a Pastor to change things in a church without honoring the past, building consensus, or clearly articulating why the change is necessary. I think God is calling us to deep change and transformation as we walk with Him, yet we have to work hard to do that process well in a way that brings everyone along together!

10. Describe your vision and hopes for the Church over the next 5-10 years.

My focus is always on equipping regular followers of Jesus for ministry within their spheres of influence. In a 2-3 year period my goal would be to measurably increase the percentage of church members who are empowered and trained to live on mission, with the goal that most if not all members buy in to this vision in 5-10 years. To integrate worship more and more across cultural lines. We are all descendants of people from other parts of the world, and we are spiritual pilgrims just passing through! Our unity in Christ transcends all other identities, and yet I believe celebrating our cultural distinctives also brings God glory. The church in the United States is in a precipitous decline, and yet my hope is that numbers stabilize and begin to grow in the next generation. I do not have the solutions or answers or expertise to make this happen, but I believe it is God’s desire that all people would know salvation in Jesus, and my hope is that any church I

11. If there is anything else you would like to add about yourself that you think would help a search team to better understand and consider you as their next pastor, please elaborate here.

Thanks for this opportunity, and know that I am an extremely accessible person who doesn¬ t have life all figured out yet! This, rather than anything I might have learned along the way, has allowed me to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds on a consistent basis. My calm personality and solid grasp of God¬ s Word helps to bring some measure of peace and truth into the chaos people experience from time-to-time through the loss of loved ones, medical emergencies, faith crises, and countless other trials and joys we face as human beings in this world. I am very comfortable and flexible in those settings and can help people connect their story with God¬ s story in meaningful and life-changing ways.