Who Influences You Part 1: #15 – #11

This is the first of a 3 part series… hope you enjoy.  – Nate

Who influences you? Who shapes your life? We don’t live in a bubble. We don’t live alone. Even hermits have influencers…why do you think they cloistered themselves away???

Every day we rub shoulders with people who push and prod us in different directions. People speak into our lives, and leave indelible marks.  No matter what age we are.  As of this writing, I am 36 years old.  I’m not too young, and I’m not too old. I am right where I am supposed to be. Messiah Village is 115 years old. In the span of its lifetime, the Village has had lots of influencers.  The most recent issue of Echoes celebrated that.

It got me thinking, “who are my influencers?” I am not going to make a list of 36 people, but I am going to share with you #15 -# 11.

15. Denny Owens – Denny was Pastor at Eastborough Church of the Nazarene when my family moved to Colorado Springs in 1982.  He visited me in the hospital when I had my tonsils removed. I was 7 yrs old. I was scared. I felt very alone. He visited me, and etched into my memory a feeling of hope over despair.  Because of that visit I am sure he never thought twice about, I joined the hospital visitation team at my church.

14. Joyce Evans – She agreed to hire me here at Messiah Village for the Housekeeping department.  She gave me opportunities to learn every nook and crannie of the MV campus, and had me clean it, at least once. I appreciated her fair-handed approach in her leadership of the team I was a part of.

13. Shawn Andrews – He helped me find my “shape”.  What does that mean? When the opportunity came for me to dive a bit deeper into helping Daybreak Church start a new campus, Pastor Shawn was a great encourager of finding my shape to serve. You can read his blog over at OnceBlind.com

Why if I am a square peg should I try to fit it in a round hole?  Lots of questions, lots of prayers.  After some time of reflection and trying to hear the voice of God, I volunteered to be the Care Coordinator for the new Daybreak campus on the Carlisle Pike.

12. Bill Warzicki – A great friend and roommate. When I was a college student, I met Bill through WVMM, the Messiah College radio station.  He was a community DJ and had a show that followed one that I was a part of.  I slowly got to know him over those 4 years at Messiah College.  Post college, we were roommates for 10 years, until I married.

A friend like him does not come along too often. We don’t see each other as much anymore, but we can pick it up right where we left off before.

11. Mike Carrier – He gave me the bug. Not the Flu. Radio.  Mike, when we met, a Disc Jockey for 2 radio stations, helped out with the youth group I attended when in jr. & sr. high, and a wrestling fan. All of these things I counted as cool. He honestly cared about me as a person (in those awkward teenage years) and shared part of his life with me.

I got my first taste of being on the radio when I was in 9^th grade.  I won’t tell you how my much my college choice was based on the fact there was a radio station.  I won’t tell you that…

So again, who influences you?