Where [my] Passion Meets [the world's] Need

A Summit-ism, and specifically a John Stonestreet-ism, is that each person needs to find "the place where your passion and the world's need meet." Well, I had to actually put some of this on paper, and as frustrating and painstaking as it was, I am so glad that it was required. Throughout my final semester at school, it quickly became clear that what I thought was my desire was not really that "perfect" of a fit. Then, I started evaluating things more, using the SHAPE model: Spiritual Gifts, Heart/Passion, Abilities, Personality, Experiences.

My passion is to see teenage girls no longer fall through the cracks in the church. Too many times I have seen girls who are scared to talk about their struggles, or are shunned and rejected if they choose to speak up. This happens, 9/10 times because the church does not know how to respond, and because the girls are so terrified of rejection and admitting their struggles. I have a passion to help girls who are falling through the cracks, the girls who become alienated because of life circumstances (especially some of which are not entirely in their control), who are left to fend for themselves. Why? Because I've seen girls go through this, and I have been through it myself. I have been the girl to keep her struggles a secret because others would have met the situation with criticism, rejection, and hostility. I have been the girl who just wanted to be loved and I have had plenty of roller coaster experiences to know that sometimes all you can do is cry when someone asks how you are doing.

What are some of the specific situations and struggles that come to mind when thinking about the church running away? Eating Disorders, Parental Divorce, Abuse (of all kinds), Self Injury and Mutilation, Drug and Alcohol Addiction...just to name a few. Heavy subjects? Yes. Definitely. But how many times has the church fallen away from being the true Body of Christ, supporting each other and bearing each others burdens?

I would love to use theatre as a way to raise awareness of these issues in the church, and then have a giant house set up over the summers for girls who are struggling to come and stay with me....along with full time staff to assist in eating correctly, designing personalized work out routines for the girls who want it, counseling staff, nursing staff, small group leaders, etc. Not only this, but it would be even more amazing to have all of this established in the middle of the Colorado Rockies. Why? Because Colorado is in the center of the region which ranks highest for suicide, specifically among young adults.

This is truly my passion, and I get excited just thinking about the idea of being able to help girls in these situations! The difficulty is knowing how to approach all of this ambition in such a way that it may actually come to fruition.

So what's the next step? Well, considering that I still have not heard a response from the agent in NY after emailing him a few times, I am starting to consider alternatives. No, this is not giving up on acting, this is trying to not stand still for too long. So, I am checking into grad schools that offer programs in order to help me reach this goal. Preferably, a ministry degree that will certainly cause a stretch in my abilities and thinking...but a friend recently challenged me to consider other degrees as well, such as business, so that I would be more qualified to actually run the place and not box myself in too much. Valid points, especially since I'm already boxed in with a dream that contains a huge start-up cost, and a recent degree that does not exactly make it easy to attain this dream. So, yes, grad school is once again on my radar, and possibly even stronger than ever before.

So that's me. That's my passion. That's my desire. Where does the world come into this? How is the world supposed to take Christians seriously when we don't even take the very commands of the Lord we worship seriously? The world needs to see that Christians take care of each other. The world needs to see the evidence, the proof, of our love. The world doesn't care what we have to say when our actions don't match up. That's how Christians get the reputation of being hypocrites. And honestly, especially with seeing how the general church reacts to the situations I named earlier, the world can't be blamed for the reputation. Christ said the world will know Christians by their love....so where is it?


"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
- Jesus Christ, John 13:34-35