Zach Beyler is a twenty one year old student from Chicago who is currently majoring in Marriage and Family Studies at BYU-Idaho. When asked what Zach’s best qualities are, his best friend Collin Anderson answered with, “The two I come back to are ambition and faith.” Zach has a strong opinion and loves to be challenged and can often be found challenging his professors in the classroom. He is the oldest five and has one brother and three sisters. Zach takes a sense of responsibility for his younger siblings and it shows through his love for them. Zach also lived in Tennessee and when he was eleven he moved to Kentucky where he met his best friend Collin. In Kentucky, Zach said he made bonds that would last forever with people from “the coolest …show more content…
When he was younger, his dad was a member of the church, but his mom was very catholic. Zach’s family bounced between the two churches before his mom took lessons from the missionaries for two years and later became a member of the LDS church. When he was fourteen years old, Zach’s parents got divorced and he felt like that experience is what pushed him to really gain a testimony and shaped many decisions later in his life including his decision to study Marriage and Family. Zach has served in many church callings including leadership positions in his varies priesthood quorums. Zach also served a full time mission spending the first ten months waiting for his visa serving in Arizona before he finally got to serve where he was originally called, the Fortaleza Brazil mission. He was prompted to go on a mission when he realized he enjoyed teaching about the gospel. He got home in September of 2015 and says his best experience as a missionary included the times when the investigator he was teaching finally understood the topics that were taught to …show more content…
When Zach was out in the mission field he felt as if a lot of the missionaries took their missions for granted. He believes that missionaries should not be glorified. He describes going on a mission as a very personal and sacred experience. One of the things Zach strongly believes is that his mission should not have been the best two years of his life, rather a starting point for something better. A starting point for an upward slope where he can take the skills he learned on his mission and really apply them to his life to help him grow and progress. Zach said he feels that talking about his mission detracts from the Spirit in his life, as he likes to use his time to progress and move on as an individual rather than dwell on the two years he spent devoting his time to the Lord. When Zach was on his mission he said he took it seriously because the gospel is all he has and that should not be taken for granted. Zach never focused on the numbers but instead focused on the reasons he was there, which was to grow and
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
“All I knew for sure was that our lives were about to change” (Lubar, 3). This is what Scott said the day before freshman year started, and he was right. In Sleeping Freshman Never Lie Scott Hudson is entering his first year of high school. He has heard how the freshman were treated, and was not very excited. The first day, he realized that his friend in Kindergarten, Julia, someone magically became gorgeous over the summer. He also deals with friends, crushes, extra curricular activities, and finding himself. On top of that, his mother is pregnant. So, he decides to help his new sibling by writing a freshman survival guide. This survival guide will document the different things he experienced in freshman year and the mistakes he made, in
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly known as the FLDS Church, was officially formed in 1990 by Warren Jeffs. Ho...
He loves being able to celebrate mass everyday and “enrich his relationship with the Lord.” He is able to use his gifts to walk with many in the community through hard times such as parents who loose their children or vice versa. With God’s guidance he can bring them to a place of understanding and peace. This past Holy week he was given the opportunity to give the homily for the Youth Rally mass. Being able to preach and exhibit a faithful fatherhood to over thirteen hundred youths was immensely exciting. He was luckily given the chance to expand his wings and further his call to not only priesthood, but
Although, I had the completely wrong view. I learned that a person is a person regardless of a person's social status or by what they do or don't have. I also realized that even though a mission trip is meant to help those in need, I needed missionaries myself. I realize that even though we help the kids at the Ruidoso orphanage, I feel like they helped me shape who I am as a person in a dramatic way. Whether it was by feeding us lunch to playing a game of soccer with us, they positively affected my life in a huge mental way.
...258, once again it shows a very good lesson in the world of hard knocks and the reality of life. Form this book I have learned to come prepared and to ask question of what is expected of me in a youth pastor's position. Even though God is calling me to this facet of serving. I am sure he does not want me to suffer, he wants me to have a good job description where everyone is on the same page and not speaking in tongues without an interpreter.
On April 6, 1980, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormon Church) was founded. [It is interesting to note that according to Mormon doctrine (Doctrine and Covenants 20:1), April 6 is the birthday of Jesus Christ.] 10 years prior to this event, in 1820, fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith knelt in a quiet grove in upper New York state and prayed for guidance in choosing a church to join. According to LDS historical records, his prayer was answered by the visitation of two heavenly personages. One, the Heavenly Father, spoke to him and said, pointing to the other, "This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
On the surface, Jonas is like any other eleven-year-old boy living in his community. He seems more intelligent and perceptive than many of his peers, and he thinks more seriously than they do about life, worrying about his own future as well as his friend Asher’s. He enjoys learning and experiencing new things: he chooses to volunteer at a variety of different centers rather than focusing on one, because he enjoys the freedom of choice that volunteer hours provide. He also enjoys learning about and connecting with other people, and he craves more warmth and human contact than his society permits or encourages. The things that really set him apart from his peers—his unusual eyes, his ability to see things change in a way that he cannot explain—trouble him, but he does not let them bother him too much, since the community’s emphasis on politeness makes it easy for Jonas to conceal or ignore these little differences. Like any child in the community, Jonas is uncomfortable with the attention he receives when he is singled out as the new Receiver, preferring to blend in with his friends.
This is when said person raises money and takes off time to go over to help the poorer countries like Africa. They can be going over there to help build houses, plant gardens, and often times just to spread their joy with the children and families that live there. A mission trip is an amazing opportunity not a responsibility to go out of the comfort of you perfect house and step into the dirt floors of other countries. Open up your hearts to help other people, not because of the responsibility that has been bestowed upon you, because you don’t have a responsibility, but do it because you have been blessed with an opportunity to help other
“The call is something that is an indescribable joy and an indefinable burden at the same time.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 32). There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a congregation of the redeemed moving forward in their faith. However exciting this may be, it is usually not the thrill that propels the pastor in his service. It is the burden placed on the pastor by God that compels him in his work. The pastor understands that he is largely responsible for the work of God being accomplished by his faithfulness to his calling. “All through the Word of God and down through the annals of history, when God has moved it has almost always been attended by the preaching of the Word.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 31)
Joseph Smith, Jr is the founder of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When he was younger he allegedly had a vision of God and Jesus whe...
Jen Bradbury has been a youth minister for a long time now. He engages his students in topics that he believes are relevant to them. Topics such as: Alcohol, sex, friendships, relationships, and the future. Jen notices that some of his students have
...Today as a Christ follower, we will never be satisfied if our life is not bearing lasting fruit because we are not fulfilling the purpose for which we were “grafted “into the Vine. Let’s examine the “fruit” of our lives. Is it the kind of fruit that reveals the character of Christ? Let’s not settle for fruitless Christianity. God will do the work of making us fruitful – we must only abide, surrendering our lives to His mission of making disciples of all nations through us. The whole notion of mission is to stretch out to work the work of evangelism not through hierarchy, sovereignty, rather through humbleness, hospitality, affection love for the others. That is what Jesus who portrayed as the one who we do not deserve to untie His sandals straps in the first Chapter of John, later become feet washer, intimate with humanity leaving His equality with God.
As my identity continues to develop daily, I reminded constantly of my core values. As a nineteen year-old male attending the University of Iowa it is important to remember, “Where I came from”. I attended private catholic schools for the entirety of my educational career until arriving at college. While in the Catholic school system, I learned that faith and family play a crucial role in my personal values. I am the third of four children. I am an avid golfer and an earnest hunter. I take pride in the satisfaction I gain from peers’ success. I am a loyal, honest, and dependable
On November 17, 1998, I walked into the halls of Towers High School for the very first time. Nervous and afraid, I was introduced to the eight grade class president, John Hamilton. John was both charismatic and charming. He was the type of guy everyone wanted to be around because he gave off a feeling of security and warmth. When I first met Him, John made me feel welcomed. He opened his heart to me and from that day on, I looked for friends willing to do the same.