Switched over to the men's program at the Schneider ranch; same mission and work, but with adults rather than teens.

Back at the Schneider ranch for another tour; this time in a larger role for Jerry's son, Matt's program. Rocky Mountain Frontier has the same goal - helping young men and their families to heal and grow through the love of Christ on a working cattle ranch in northwest Wyoming. I hope to contribute to the ongoing strengthening and expansion of this great mission and work.

This was a really cool contract that I picked up after leaving Spirit Consulting during the Covid-19 pandemic. I can't say enough positive things about everyone at Mission Advantage and Oxenham Group - the parent organization. They were all very welcoming, encouraging, professional, and very good at what they do. While I was sad to leave at the end of the contract, I was ready to head back out to the Rockies and away from my computer.

In January of 2019, Chris and our team launched Spirit Consulting. Our goal was to offer exceptional business service rooted in virtue. The relationship-driven business model was an easy transition for me after nearly a decade of training in psychology, theology, and service-oriented experiences. During my tenure, the company's main lines of business were executive search, industrial/organizational psychology, and business strategy. My personal responsibilities included full-cycle recruiting, client management, and business development.

I jumped on with Chris Gomez and his dad's firm after meeting Chris at their Catholic hockey camp - Spirit Hockey - a few years prior. Chris invited me to join his team in anticipation of the launch of Spirit Consulting. These four months were mostly learning the recruiting and business ropes.

After stepping out of formation for the priesthood and taking some time off, I worked for a friend's dad for a few months completing small to medium carpentry projects for corporate and private clients with a small team.

I spent a buuunch of years studying and in formation for the Roman Catholic priesthood. These were very good, but difficult years. I can't begin to cover the heights and the depths of this period of my life here. Suffice to say, meeting and developing relationships with people from so many different cultures was a huge blessing. Being in such a public-facing role taught me so much. Some highlights can be found in my education section.

This was a great filler role before entering the seminary and priestly formation. Early season organic farming on about ten acres at the edge of the Chicago suburbs was a great fit for me in a lot of ways. We had a fun team that season too! I had pretty standard small-scale produce farm responsibilities on this one.

This job was a reference from a neighbor as the landscaping season was winding down. At this point, the application process for the Diocese of Joliet was pretty advanced, so it was basically a temp gig. It ended up being a very humbling, but good experience - as most humbling experiences are. When the spring started approaching, I wanted to get back outside and landed the farm job.

It wasn't long after returning from Wyoming that I started talks with the Diocese of Joliet about their application process for priestly formation. I was helping a friend out with landscaping projects on an as-needed basis during this time.

First job out of college. I actually started this while I was finishing one last class online towards my BS in psychology. This was tough, but good in so many ways. I was a mentor for troubled teens on a cattle ranch that had group home status. Saw guys coming through our doors wrestling with most issues you could guess. This was probably as formative for me as it was for them. Late during my time out there, I was in a steady dating relationship and researching grad school for psych when we took the guys to a retreat in Cody and priesthood first came up for me. About a month later I headed back to Chicago.