The millionaire dollar question is how my future career, schooling, and life down the road will positively impact the Church. My current plan is to pursue a career in accounting. I am double majoring in accounting and finance at Baldwin Wallace University. The obvious answer to help have a lasting impact is donating money to churches and orphanages, monasteries, and/or giving money to seminarians to help pay for their schooling. After graduating college,
I would like to pursue joining the parish council. I hope that my background in accounting and finance will give me the tools to continue building our Church. One aspect of my education that can help positively impact the Church is my Sunday school days at St. Theodosius and our home parish of Archangel Michael. As kids, we can all remember our parents telling us, “Treat others how you want to be treated.” In Sunday school, we are taught this in our first lessons. Through this early education in Sunday school, we are taught what Christ wants us to do. I strive to do this as well, serving in the Holy Altar. We are truly blessed to have a youthful parish with many boys answering the calling to serve in the Holy Altar. As we continue to have new servers, I hope to be a mentor to the boys to help them understand the importance of the Altar and the love of Christ that is demonstrated by serving in The Holy Altar. I have had the blessing to serve in the Holy Altar for about 12 years now, and I will say when I was a young boy, I was overwhelmed and even thought of not being an Altar boy. I had the pleasure of many older Altar boys showing me the ropes to overcome the overwhelming stress I had behind the Altar. Looking back, I have no one to thank but those older Altar boys who helped me overcome that anxiousness. I turned a corner, and now I love how I am truly blessed to have received the calling to continue to serve in the Holy Altar. Through the action of love, I hope to be that person for the youth to come to for questions behind the Altar. As a blessed Subdeacon, I hope to help the Altar boys to grow in their Faith and love the honor of serving in the Lord’s Holy Altar as I have over my years. I believe that leaving a positive impact on the Orthodox Church through my education and job comes down to loving one another as Christ loves us.
My time spent in the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) has helped me grow in the education of my faith through my college days. OCF is a student-run organization by Orthodox students attending a university. During my first semester at Baldwin Wallace, the OCF was just getting revamped with the help of Reverand Father Peter Simko, the rector of St. Innocent Church and the chaplain for Baldwin Wallace OCF. The club had a total of 3 current members, myself included. By the end of last semester, we had grown to 10 members. It was challenging to grow to our 10 members over the 2 years. It is also challenging to get members to keep coming back. Everyone has a busy life, which can be the same with church attendance. Glory to God, our parish of Archangel Michael does not have this problem with Divine Liturgy services. Although if it should happen where our Church has a decline in members, I believe I can be there to help. The experience I’ve learned in my college OCF time has been beneficial and I believe that it can help leave a positive impact on our Church. The most important skill I have learned is through tabling events at campus. Our Orthodox Faith can be a difficult topic to spring on to a student or adult with no knowledge of it. I’ve learned that the best way to help spread our Faith is through love as Christ told his disciples.
With all that said, I believe the essential part of positively impacting our Church and the One True Fatih of Orthodox Christianity cannot be just within a job I am pursuing. I believe that by leaving an impact within the work and church community, we have to look at how Christ lived his earthly life. The one thing that Christ left with His disciples and all of us that trumps all that he said is very familiar: saying thanks to the late Archbishop Job and the hymn he wrote called “New Commandment.” This hymn describes exactly the teaching Christ left with his disciples, which is the most important. That teaching is noted in the book of John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another 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 a love for one another” (Orthodox Study Bible). The first sentence makes it evident to us that we should love everyone. As simple as it can be spoken, it can be broken quickly. We are human and “fall” to sin daily and every hour, but we can overcome this fall through God’s will. That positive impact we can leave on our church can be simply saying hello to a fellow peer. It can be that simple: how’s your week been going and checking in on others? I believe this is how people become drawn to the Christian Faith in the first place. Love is given to them by the simple actions of others, and as humans, we are naturally drawn. It is through our actions of showing love to others that our Church is positively impacted.
