It's a great opportunity to shape young people's lives in a positive way, and the students energize me through their personalities, humor and smiles. Whether I'm helping students lead worship or teaching them things on a computer, I love trying to get them to explore and specialize in areas where they are gifted and to pursue things that they might not have realized their potential in. It's great to see a kid who isn't sure about his talents blossom into someone who is confident in his God-given gifts and is willing to use them to build the Kingdom of God.

While I love the smiles on their faces, I know there is a lot going on below the surface in a student's life: a search for identity and meaning in life, feelings of pain and wanting to feel loved and accepted, etc. Being at a Christian school like AHC, I have the freedom to pray with a student who is having a bad day; I can give him a hug and tell him that God loves him; I can share the truth of God's Word to help him in areas of failure; and most importantly I can walk alongside him as he grows in his faith and learns how to care for others and share the Gospel through love.

Teaching was certainly not on my to-do list in life, but God has shown me the only job I've ever had that uses all of my God-given gifts and passions. Since I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be sharing God's message with people who are at such a crucial stage of their faith development. When I came to Pacifica in 2002, I got the overwhelming sense that this is where I was supposed to be, ministering to the youth in Pacifica and growing God's church here so that young people here could spread God's love into San Francisco and surrounding areas. I volunteered at AHC off and on and eventually found myself being offered a job. I figured "I love working with high schoolers but don't want to be a youth pastor, so why not be around high school kids all day long and use that as part of my ministry in Pacifica!"

I've been working with Young Life off and on since 2002, and it's shown me that you have to meet kids where they're at, both in their life and with their faith journey. So, my goal is to do that. I go to their sports games, I go to summer camps with them, I spend ridiculous amounts of time with them (it surprises some kids when an adult wants to hang out and cares about how they're doing), I get together and pray with them, worship together, and I am just available for them. I still help with Young Life and get to meet lots of kids from public schools like Terra Nova and build friendships with them so I can share who Jesus is. I have a small group of guys that I meet with regularly to talk about the Bible and things going on in life. The cool thing is seeing guys who have just met the Lord and who are really hungry to read the Bible!

Lima, Pucallpa & Cuzco in Peru; Rome, Pompeii, Naples Italy; Slovakia; Khammam & Chennai India; Frankfurt Germany; Switzerland

Got my first job ever when I was a freshman in HS, working at a computer store; did freelance graphic/web design as a high schooler; did phone tech support for AOL *cough*; worked at a movie theater for 3 days and quit; worked at Macromedia (now Adobe); was a video guy at a YoungLife camp for 2 summers; was a "Creative" at Apple, teaching people how to use their Mac... seems like I'll always be doing that!

Cell phones were only used to call people. You had to carry a DiscMan and huge CD case around if you wanted music on the go. Only geeks spent more time on computers than TV. No Myspace or Facebook.

Guitar, piano, violin, singing, ultimate frisbee, soccer, snowboarding, mountain biking, ping pong, tennis, Spanish, video editing, photography, graphic design