The following is my admissions essay for the ICCD program at Northwest (or at least a very close proximity to the final draft).  I hope you enjoy it.  It can be difficult to boil your world view and vision into two pages.

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I have been blessed. I have never in my life been in need for anything. I have never gone to bed hungry and I have never wondered where I would be sleeping tonight or if my family would be safe in the morning. Most of the world never has the opportunity to experience these blessings. Just as Christians we are called to go to the ends of the earth to preach the Good News, we must also also give western Christians no excuse to ignore the local realities of billions of people around the world. Especially in America, we have grown complacent with prosperity theology and a co-opted gospel that promotes health and wealth over Biblical Truth and the reality of the fallen world we live in. Galatians 3:28 reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are one church, one body. We can no longer treat those living in lesser developed countries like second class citizens in the Kingdom of God. Sadly, much of the ignorance that exists is due not to a lack of caring among Christians, but rather to a simple lack of awareness. My hope and desire is to see this change.

I believe in one all-powerful, all-loving triune God. I believe out of His perfect love, God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross in the Ultimate Sacrifice that all sins should be forgiven and creation could enter into a relationship with the Creator. I believe God still works in the world today through the Holy Spirit. I believe in the transforming power of His grace and love. I believe He hurts when we hurt, cries when we cry, laughs when we laugh and rejoices when we are rejoicing. I believe He calls each and every being to a purpose and that He uniquely gifts them to fulfil that purpose. It is for this reason I feel so strongly called to serve the least, the last, and the lost.

It is often said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” As an avid documentary photographer, I know this to be the case. While written words are important to convey details and flesh out a story, images alone have the ability to grab our attention and force us to confront a subject. For this reason, I find it interesting missionaries and non-profits often make written appeals for support in the form of emails and letters, sprinkled occasionally with a few hasty snap shots. Christianity comes from a long tradition of story telling and while the medium has changed over the years, the importance of communicating through stories remains. When dealing with a post-modern, post-Christian world that values feelings and emotion over rhetoric, images are the most effective way to quickly communicate the urgency of needs faced by billions of people living around the world. The internet and digital imaging allow near instantaneous communication around the world. Why should the Church not take advantage of these mediums to tell the stories of the least, the last, and the lost?

In February 2008, I documented a trip from my church, Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA, to the Otino Waa Family Village in Lira, Uganda. We worked at the orphanage building a new housing unit and spending time with the kids. The images I returned with and presented to the church provided an exciting opportunity to inform others of what our trip was like. Though I was able to capture images of children smiling and playing because of the good work of the missionary couple who run Otino Waa, I also brought back images reflecting the difficulty of life in a war ravaged lesser developed country. My photos tell the stories of children with burn scars, of young girls gathering water for their families, of people who live their lives day to day because of the near constant threat of war.

One of my favorite photographers is James Nachtwey. Nachtwey is the subject of the documentary Warphotographer, which tells the story behind many of his, often award winning, photos of pain, suffering, and death as a result of war and conflict. To hear Nachtwey speak is to understand the moral imperative documentary photographers have to tell the truth. Paired with Christ’s call in the Great Commission I feel God has called me to tell the stories of the people living in lesser developed countries. I believe the Masters of Arts in International Care and Community Development program at Northwest University will give me to tools and skills to best serve this call.

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There are many things I am not.  I am not the worlds greatest photographer.  I am not the smartest guy in the world.  I have no great tallents as an athlete.  I have not been gifted with the ability to write flowing prose or beautifully rhythmic poetry.  I am not a genious web designer, nor a fashion maven.  I have a few friends but I’ve never been the most popular guy in school.  I am just me.  Just what God made me.  And if that is all I am, than I can do at least one thing better than anyone else.  I can be who I was created to be.  I can be the man God called me to be.  I can speak truth.  I can shed light on injustice.  I can be what God has called me to be.

Filed under: life by Jonathan