During the summer of 2007, for the first time since I graduated from college I began to explore the possibility of leaving campus ministry. I was leading a week-long seminar entitled Beyond Graduation for around 20 newly-minted Stanford alumni. That week, for the first time I started to sense it was time for me to leave the campus. A week later I started my first company and recruited two incredible engineers to join me on this journey.
What I loved about campus ministry
Before that fateful week in June 2007, I know I was clearly called to inspire and train college students to be agents of positive change in the world. Most of the groups I lead had 100 to 200 students involved, 3 – 5 full-time staff, and 10 – 20 student leaders happily devoting upwards of 30 hours a week to ministry on campus. It was a joy and a privilege working with such talented and passionate people at such an important moment in their lives.
Working with these groups compelled me to forsake a promising and potentially lucrative career in technology with the rest of my peers that graduated from Berkeley in the 90s. I loved engaging with young people from diverse backgrounds, I loved recruiting and training leaders, and I loved calling large communities to apply profound truths in practical ways. I loved being a campus minister.
What I didn’t love and why I had to code
What I didn’t love was all the time wasted and the energy that was sapped by inefficient tools and outdated organizational practices. Because campus ministry was about helping people relate well with God and each other, the use of technology was always an afterthought. Nonetheless, the use/non-use of technology impacted the work in profound ways.
To address this, I started writing software to solve the problems my colleagues and I were facing. I wrote apps to follow up with the thousands of students who were interested in our groups. I wrote scripts to fill out our organization’s expense report form from my Palm Pilot (I know, ancient history). I wrote Outlook add-ons to link personal contacts to our national donor tracking system. I created apps to collaboratively manage online event registration. I wrote an app to rapidly schedule appointments and an app to help staff and their supervisors categorize and prioritize their calendars. While writing software was never part of my job description, I would consistently carve out time to do it, knowing I could increase the effectiveness of the InterVarsity movement by helping others do fewer rote tasks and more of the work they loved.
Technology as a shaper of culture
As I was building tools I also started to see the profound impact they had on people’s lives. I began to have eyes to see how technology – the web, mobile phones, and platforms like Facebook were shaping the lives of the students and the culture as a whole.
When I started to realize how technology was more than an expression of culture but actually a shaper of culture, I started to recognize the continuity between my campus work and work writing software. In my teaching and through the applications I was creating, I was helping people see and engage with the world differently. In my leadership development and software development, I was giving people tools to shape themselves and others.
Similarities between a campus minister and an entrepreneur
As I took the leap from a campus evangelist to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur I have been struck by a number of other ways my previous work translates to my new vocation:
As a campus minister, I made sure the staff and student leaders were in alignment with a common vision. As an entrepreneur, I am casting a vision for our current and prospective employees, investors, and customers to help us all work together toward a common goal.
As a campus minister, I invited individuals and churches to partner with our work through financial investment and sharing of resources. As an entrepreneur, I am doing much the same with angel investors and venture capital firms. As a campus minister, I did my work on a shoestring budget knowing that I have been entrusted with other people’s money and charged to use it wisely. A very similar dynamic is now at play in my new vocation.
As a campus minister, I shaped my entire life around the mission, including where I lived, who my friends were, and what learning projects I would embark on. As an entrepreneur, I am once again in a role where deep integration between work and non-work life makes everything more satisfying and fruitful. As a campus minister, I invited the best and brightest to forsake other pursuits and devote themselves and their considerable talents to the service of others. I am finding myself doing much the same as I recruit friends to leave careers at Facebook and Google to join our team to change the world.
While I never would have signed up to do campus ministry or even code as much as I did for a faith community to set myself up to be an entrepreneur, I have been amazed by how well these experiences have prepared me. Call it what you want, fate, fortune, or coincidence but I cannot but attribute it to the sweetness of providence.