Not what I expected.

Life doesn't always go how you think, especially when you plan it out as a 14 year old kid. The summer before my freshman in high school I remember just sitting down to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I cant say I remember exactly what the plan was, but I knew that I was going to marry this certain girl, have kids, and sing. Well that certain girl did not pan out, neither did the next 10. But I did have the singing part right. Maybe not the exact plan that I was thinking in high school, but I get paid to play music, and lead people into worship. Something I would never have guessed, mainly because at that time I thought worship music sucked. And to be honest I still hold that opinion about 'worship music' back then.
Everything changed when I won a 'Sonic Flood' cd the very next summer at youth group. Don't get me wrong, I still wasn't ecstatic about worship music, it was one cd, but that summer, in my Dodge Shadow, I had it made.
I still did not get on the 'worship movement' train. I listened to secular music and Relient K. Really, that was probably my music library, stuff on Z88 and Relient K, until Liberty.
I transferred to Liberty my sophomore year, and Liberty took things to a different level. I remember my first night at LU like it was yesterday, how great my RA's were, and making immediate friends with some guys on my hall. But the main thing I remember was the worship service that night. It was in the Schilling center, which for those who are not familiar with Liberty, picture it as is a big metal recreation center. Anyways, I did not want the music to stop. I know I was incredibly blessed to have some of the best talent Liberty has seen come thru their school, all at one time. One who is touring (Meredith Andrews) and one who should be (Jake Holman).
They were just talented, and seeing Jake lead was really a benchmark in my calling to lead worship. Knowing that someone with talent can lead with out becoming an arrogant jerk, made a stamp in my life. I don't want to leave out the rest of the band, because Dave McKinney is probably one of the most sincere guys I have ever met in my life, and it pours out in the way he leads worship.
Anyways, I had led worship in youth group, but really it was just because no one else sang and I was the singer guy. I can honestly say, I never once thought about making it my 'ministry' until I went to Liberty, and even then it took a couple years for me to even realize that it was what I was truly called to do.
It probably started when my friend Ms. Lauren Campbell, now Lauren Rosenau, told me her sister Taryn Hofert was helping put together a traveling worship band for WorldHelp. They pretty much had their band, and I was applying for the 'media guy' job (putting the mediashout jank together and all that). Well I never ended up touching a computer. I ended up being the second acoustic and background vocals, as they already had everything else, and kind of added a spot for me. Thank you Scott Spruill. During this time, we traveled on the weekends and played two sets every Sunday typically at different churches. It was great. I made lifelong friends from that, and everything I learned from packing up gear, gaff taping stuff, to setting soundboard stuff has gone into doing my job now.
After we were replaced by cute African orphans, probably a good choice, I was jobless for a month and worked one day at Kmart. Literally one day, I quit the next day so I could go to lunch with my friends. But that same week I got a call from Student Life at LU. Thanks you Chris Misiano for finding my application. I absolutely loved this job. I could write a lot about all what I got to do because of this job, but I won't drag this out. But somethings that this job did do, was got me into graphic design. I just met so many creative people and really they all just helped me along, especially Michael Sanders. He showed me the ropes in photoshop and for that I am truly thankful.
Okay, so to sum it all up I just wanted to show you just how crazy God works. He works just as well through people you don't even know as your best friend, jobs that you think are just pointless jobs, and classes that you really want to drop. I know how to run sound, hook up and properly take care of sound equipment, design, edit video, and do my best to lead worship without arrogance but still do my best to do it skillfully. I am sure the list could go on. God uses our situations to grow us, just rely on Him, His path and plan are so much better then your plan, that you had at 14.