Hardly Wisdom

Today is my last day working for Saddleback Church. I'm leaving to pursue my passion with graphic/web/animation/video production. For the past four years, this has been my home. The first time I felt inspired to search for God was here. I was baptized here. I met my closest friends here. I served in ministry here. I met Hollie here. I started off working as a janitor here. I was married here. I worked on IT here. I joined and led small groups here. I had the opportunity to pastor over some amazing high school guys here. I met my mentors here. I met some very inspiring people here. All in all, my life and my family is here.

To my brothers on Facilities,

Out of all the teams at the church, you guys have the most culture. I'm pretty sure no other team has their own language (i.e. "SandyPants! Don't be a Queeley and get 2 red dubs on the Great White before Shenibletron squats you!" You even have songs, "Two man crew for a one man job!" and "Facilities! *bump bump* Facilitates!".

I'm going to miss all the shenanigans. Boyd describes it best, "Facilities is like a wolf pack. The loudest guy is the alpha male, but that can easily change when he gets squatted by another member of the pack. The weakest/newest guy is constantly picked on and made fun of until there is a newer guy or until he squats someone of importance. However, if someone who is not a part of the pack begins picking on our weakest guy, that person can expect the whole facilities pack to squat him and his entire team!" I learned a lot from you guys and I'm going to miss most of you. Not you Adam. Not you.

To all the nerds on the IT Team,

Never in my life did I think I would be working on a PC! It's was horrible! But on a serious note, I learned a lot of stuff like what a USB extension cable looks like :) One of my favorite parts on being on the team was the lunch dynamic.

1. Brent will walk up and says, "Lunch?"

2. Nate will say, "No, I brought my lunch."

3. Parker will say, "Where?"

4. Jeff and Justin show up and say, "Where are we going?"

5. Brent will recommend, "Chick-fil-a?"

6. 7 out of 5 of us will say, "NO!"

7. We go back and forth for about 15 minutes with the same 4 places (food court, Chipotle, Round Table, Chick-fil-a)

8. We end up agreeing to go to either Chick-fil-a or some Japanese place.

9. If Nate didn't bring his lunch, he'll claim that whatever we choose is too expensive.

10. Brent will say, "I'm going to go to the bathroom, then we'll head out."

11. We then get into Brent's car and go to lunch.

That is pretty much a daily thing.

Anyway, it was fun! Thanks for showing me way more than I ever wanted to know about PCs! I will enjoy never having to do team moves or re-imaging again!!! You guys are awesome and without you, the church would fall apart. As long as there are PCs, there's a helpdesk :)

To the High School Ministry Team,

Though our time was short, your team gave me more opportunity to do what I love than any other team. Thank you so much for letting me create some fun stuff for you like the SinScanner and Face. It is because of your encouragement that I decided to pursue a career church media development. I love that your team focuses on volunteers as well as students. Keep encouraging and guiding people to their passion! You're doing an amazing job!

You will be hearing a lot more from me very soon :)

To the rest of the Church,

Thank you so much for what you do. When I was on facilities, I was separated from the offices and always saw the church from the outside. It wasn't until I joined the IT Team and had the chance to see inside church, that I realized how many amazing people work together to keep it running. Being your tech support guy allowed me work with every team. I got to know a lot of great people and was able to build a lot of solid relationships. You are my family and love you guys!

I had a lot of great memories here and I'll miss everyone!