I joined this organization at the recommendation of 2 public speakers that I highly respect. Though I had 15 years of public speaking experience, this international organization has been in existence for over 100 years and has a proven track record of helping people at all speaking levels. The positive and encouraging objective criticism that I have received has helped me to enhance my public speaking skills and build confidence. It has also helped me to grow in some weaker areas of communication (ex. off-the-cuff speaking), and allowed me to be a mentor to others in areas where I am stronger (ex. prepared speeches). I have also been active in recruiting new members and successfully representing my group in competitions.

I began work here in January of 2013 as a second preacher. Jeff Trahan had been here for 4 years prior and had remained on as well. Our duties are that of an evangelist. I preach every Sunday, teach bible class every week, am involved in evangelism, publishing a weekly bulletin, involved in youth devotionals, foundational studies for new members, and training young men in service, and organizing, implementing, and maintaining systems that will help us work together better and more efficiently as a church. This church currently has 2 evangelists, 7 elders, 18 deacons, and over 300 people.

Texas City is the first city mainland from Galveston Island in Texas. It is the closest sound work to the island. I worked with this church for 8 years. It was a small work of only about 12 people when we moved there. In my eight years here we were able to grow it to about double that, and also had the opportunity to start a Spanish work there. The church did not have elders or deacons, and I served not only in all the duties of an evangelist, but also often led many portions of the service including Lord's Supper talks, prayers, and singing. We also had to do a complete inside remodel due to a pipe bursting during the week. It provided valuable experience in remodel and construction for a welcoming building.

I tied the record at the time from hire to branch manager in only 6 months. I began working and training at the busiest branch in the chain, and I worked an overnight shift at the bank (the only country in the nation to offer this at the time). I would become the branch manager of Kingwood Market, which was smaller, didn't meet account goals, and was not profitable. In my six months as branch manager, I trained my eventual replacement, hit account goals every single month, and led the branch to profitability. I was responsible for all operations at the local branch level.

Operations, Marketing, Loss Management, Motivation, Sales, Catering, Scheduling, Training, Customer Service

This was my first full-time preaching work. I began this work with my best friend, Kris Emerson. When we started, we had a plan for me to be the full-time preacher, and he the part-time preacher, until he finished his college; at which time, we switched work-load in the church and I continued on as the part-time preacher until I graduated from college and then moved. When I started we had about 35 members and when I left about two years later we had grown to about 75. We did not have any elders at this church, though we did strive to achieve that goal while we were there together. It was a time of great personal growth and helped lay a good foundation for the future growth as well.