S.H.A.P.E. Assessment Results

Thank you Tanen Bahn for taking the SHAPE Assessment. We encourage you to meet with a Church Leader that you respect, to go over your results, so that they can help you discover a place to serve in the church and/or community, and also to help you fine-tune your 5 Main Focuses/Priorities listed at the bottom of this email under the ‘Wrapping it up’ section. May God Bless You!

[S]piritual Gifts

Here is how your spiritual gifts scored (in alphabetical order):

84%

93%

78%

84%

81%

71%

81%

90%

93%

To see descriptions on the Spiritual Gifts and how you can use them to further Christ’s Kingdom on earth, visit this link.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
My life has radically changed for the better ever since I accepted Jesus as my Savior and began wholeheartedly pursuing a relationship with God. I feel driven to share with others the amazing ways Jesus has impacted my life because sharing the Gospel with others and pointing them in the direction of a life-altering relationship with Jesus is the most important interaction I can ever have with someone.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I believe that God’s Word is alive and He uses Scripture to speak life and purpose into our lives today. I believe the Bible is relevant and applicable to life today, and spending time reading and studying my Bible is important to me. As a result, having an intimate knowledge of God’s Word so that I may better discern His voice in my life is important to me. Likewise, imparting the knowledge, context, and relevance today of God’s Word to others is important to me. I have a passion for helping others discern the voice of God in their lives, and teaching Biblical truths is an important aspect of that.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I try to find a balance between leading and being lead in my own life. When it comes to leading others, the best leaders lead by serving, just as Jesus did. Finding ways to serve others is something I love doing, whether it is something simple or something major. When I meet someone new, or find myself in a new situation or environment I am immediately looking for ways I can best help and serve in that moment. I think serving is so important to me because it naturally opens up the door for my other gifts. Meaning, if I have built a relationship with someone through serving them, I have the relationship equity built up to have deep conversations about following Jesus and listening for God’s voice, while encouraging them to serve and love others as well.

[H]eart

1. Spending time with God. My relationship with God is the fountain from which everything else in my life flows out of. Everything in my life is affected by my relationship with God and the understanding of what Jesus has done for me. That is why starting my day with time set aside reading and studying God’s Word and then praying is important to me. If anything ever comes up where I am unable to do this, it is noticeable to me, as I fell out of sync and miss that quiet time.

2. Loving and serving others, especially those who are broken, beaten down, or looked down upon. I love people because I love Jesus and have a firm grasp of just what God has done in extending me love, grace, and mercy I do not deserve. The Bible is full of passages describing God’s deep love for people and His desire to have relationship with them. Furthermore, Jesus went out of his way to love the people that others did not. For me, one of the best ways I can exemplify the life of Jesus is by loving and serving others, regardless of who they are or what they have done. I feel it is my responsibility as a Christian to show others the unconditional love Jesus offers by loving them unconditionally myself. Serving people and building relationships with others is an extension of that.

3. Building relationships and getting to know people. I believe that all ministry is relational. Having innate or developed organizational, logistical, or leadership skills is not important if I cannot foster meaningful relationships with other people. I have found that taking the time to get to know people and walk through life with them is enjoyable and rewarding on its own, while also creating opportunities for me to share Jesus with them. Interestingly enough, I have found that this often deepens my own relationship with Jesus. I have learned that ensuring my relationship with Jesus is always growing is the best way to approach growing my relationship with other people as well.

I love working with people who are passionate about what they do and believe that there is a greater purpose to the work they are doing. I believe people who have this mindset are key for not only success and growth, but also for providing stability and optimism when things are difficult. I find that I am drawn to work with others who work hard and have a can-do approach to work like myself, while working well on a team. Age has never been a big impediment for working with others for me. I have worked with people my age, people younger than me, and even people twice my age or older.

I have a passion for youth and young adult ministry. I love serving students, whether they are Middle School, High School, or College-age students. Spending time with them, getting to know them, and walking through life with all the while pointing them to Jesus is something I care about deeply. Beyond that, I believe God loves seeing followers who have a heart for serving others. So ensuring that those who are serving, whether they are volunteers or staff know that they feel loved and cared for is important to me, and one of the reasons my wife and I felt at home within Hillsong Phoenix so quickly. This is something Hillsong Phoenix does very well, which resonates with my heart. Finally, I love looking for ways I can provide for the needs of others. God has provided for my family’s needs in some pretty miraculous ways. So in return I have found that one thing I can do is look for other families with unmet needs, and if God has blessed my family with the ability to help them we do, whether that is donating a car, providing a meal, or paying for gas, for example. The way in which we help someone is not important as long as we trust and believe that we are being faithful to providing for a need God has directed us to provide for, because God has been so faithful in providing for our needs.

Marriage/family issues
Parenting
Financial stewardship

[A]bilities

At-home dad to a beautiful, precious one-year old.

Middle School Ministry Director.
Petty Officer Second Class, United States Coast Guard.

Passion and ability for connecting and building relationships with people from different places and backgrounds. I am relationally-oriented, but that does not prevent me from also excelling in accomplishing logistical tasks effectively as well. I have an extensive back ground in working on a team and also leading people while being under authority myself. I am self-motivated, able to work well under pressure, and I love taking initiative when an opportunity presents itself. I also design characters and rules as a hobby for tabletop board games played by thousands of people; which has developed a skill for thinking outside the box and coming up with creative and effective solutions to problems.

As a Middle School Ministry Director in the past, and an RDG leader now I have preached various lessons and done several series’. These include topics like dating/marriage, listening for and understanding God’s voice, loving God and loving others, understanding the Bible, how the Bible applies today, and the importance of serving.

While I believe that I have several valuable skills and talents, as well as a willingness to always learn and better myself, I believe my greatest personal asset is my generous spirit and willingness to serve. God has blessed me immeasurably, and so I feel led to bless others with a willing heart whenever I can. This, I believe, is tied directly to the heart I have for loving and serving others, regardless of who they are.

[P]ersonality

50-50 Extrovert/Reserved

50-50 High/Low Risk

Peace Maker

People Driven

50-50 Follower/Leader

Team

Variety

Your Primary was ‘The Retriever’, with your Secondary coming in as ‘The Otter’, and here are the descriptions of your Personalities, and how they can be used for God

Golden Retriever- Good at making friends. Very loyal. Retriever personalities do not like big changes. They look for security. Can be very sensitive. Very caring. Has deep relationships, but usually only a couple of close friends. Wants to be loved by everyone. Looks for appreciation. Works best in a limited situation with a steady work pattern.

Strength: Accommodating, calm, affirming
Weakness: Indecisive, indifferent, unable to express emotional, too soft on other people
Limitation: Seeing the need to be more assertive, holding others accountable

Otter- Otters are very social creature. Otter personalities love people. They enjoys being popular and influencing and motivating others. Otter can sometimes be hurt when people do not like them. Otter personalities usually have lots of friends, but not deep relationships. They love to goof-off. (They are notorious for messy rooms.) Otters like to hurry and finish jobs. (Jobs are not often done well.) The otter personality is like Tigger in Winnie The Pooh.

Strength: People person, open, positive
Weakness: Talks too much, too permissive
Limitation: Remembering past commitments, follow through with discipline

[E]xperience

I grew up in a Christian home, knowing all the right answers in youth groups, small groups, and bible studies, but never really put my belief into any of it. I got into a bad relationship while I was in High School where I was the victim of manipulation and abuse. This put me in a dark place, even after breaking up. At one point I contemplated suicide, but it was in that moment that God intervened in my life. I turned to God and placed my full trust in Jesus. I set aside relationships my final year of High School, choosing to instead focus on climbing my way out of depression and focusing on building a strong foundational relationship with Jesus. I enlisted into the military shortly after High School, and while I was in boot camp God made it clear to me that I His will for my life involved vocational ministry. I believe all Christians are called to ministry via the Great Commission, regardless of vocation, but I firmly believe vocational ministry is part of God’s plan for me. In an effort to obey God’s will and further learn more about God and His Word I enrolled in Grand Canyon University. I pursued a BA in Christian Studies, with an Emphasis in Biblical Studies, and graduated at the end of 2017. During this time, and after separating from Active Duty, I felt God leading me to serve students, which is why I worked as the Middle School Ministry Director at a local church. Towards the end of my college coursework, I again felt like God had change coming for our family, but it didn’t become clear what His will was until my wife and I attended Hillsong Conference in 2017. I knew that I would be stepping down from my ministry position to finish up my degree and focus on my family, as my wife was in her 3rd trimester of her first pregnancy at the time. At conference, I very clearly heard God speak to me multiple times, telling me that Hillsong Phoenix was part of His plans for us, and that we needed to start going right away. When I mentioned this to my wife she said she felt God communicating the exact same thing to her. We began attending Hillsong Phoenix right after I stepped down from my other ministry position in November of 2017 and immediately looked for a way in which we could serve. This led to us become part of Hillsong Glendale’s youth team, as well as opening up our home for RDGs every week. I am now at a place where I can clearly see God’s faithfulness and provision in my life, and I actively listen for His voice. I aim to ensure that I pour out as much as I can into others while I am poured into myself.

Hillsong Phoenix, Glendale Campus Youth Leader, Phoenix/AZ, RDG host. January 2018-Present.

Arizona Hills Community Church Middle School Ministry Director. Anthem/AZ. August 2015 – November 2017.

Liberty Church, Pensacola/Florida. May 2013-August 2015.

Becoming a husband.

Becoming a father.

While in college, the transmission on my truck completely went out. Fixing it was going to cost more than the car was worth, and my wife and I, while actively saving up for another car, didn’t quite have the amount saved up that we were comfortable with yet. I had an immediate and pressing need for a vehicle, not only so my wife could get to work, but so I could attend my classes. The very next day someone at a nearby local church who had heard of our need GIFTED us a car in pristine, working condition, to use for as long as we needed it. Their only condition was that we gift it to someone else in need when we no longer needed the car. We used that car for a couple years, and once my coursework at Grand Canyon University was complete, we gifted the car to a local church, who then gave the vehicle to another young couple in a situation similar to ours.

Wrestling with depression and suicide in my past has given me a heart for those who also wrestle with such darkness in their lives.

My wife and I believe financial stability is an important component of our marriage. We make sacrifices and work hard to ensure that we do not have debt. We had been debt-free our entire marriage, until our daughter was born. We had a quote from our health insurance company for what everything was supposed to cost. My wife’s OBGYN bill was paid long before our daughter was born, and we saved aggressively, so that on the day she was born we happily paid our hospital bill in full with cash. We were then surprised when we began to receive thousands of dollars worth of medical bills a few weeks later for things our health insurance had not made us aware we would be responsible for. For the first time we were in debt, and it was debt we had not expected. We had to work hard for a little over a year to pay off this sudden and unexpected debt. It strained our budget past its breaking point, but my wife and I managed to work together to get it taken care of. Through this experience I have developed a great compassion for those who wrestle with debt and or poverty themselves.

Before I became a Christian I made some poor choices, especially within a relationship with a girlfriend in High School. Even after this relationship ended, and early on as a Christian, while wrestling with my depression I also had to face an addiction to pornography. Through the mentorship of my Youth Pastor, the accountability of some new Christian friends, and putting my trust completely and directly in Jesus I was able to overcome that addiction. I have never forgotten how difficult that journey was though, and have a heart for mentoring men who currently struggle with a pornography addiction themselves while also teaching young men the dangers of such an addiction so that they can hopefully avoid it themselves.

Wrapping It Up

The Challenge: Based upon your S.H.A.P.E. Assessment above (the way God wired you), If you knew you couldn’t fail … and ‘lack of money, or time’ was not an obstacle… list your Top 3 Things you would ‘Focus’ your Life on, next to #1 Loving God & #2 Loving Your Neighbor (these would be your ‘3 God-Sized Dreams’ for your life)?

1. My Relationship with GOD

2. My Relationship with Others

• Putting Your Spouse First
• Your Kids Second
• Everyone Else After those

3. I would serve struggling young couples in my city, helping them lay foundations for a strong, healthy marriage and financial stability.

4. I would want to create a place in the heart of Phoenix for at-risk young men. A place where they could find mentors and the help needed to break the cycle of poverty and find success, all in an environment that would expose them to the love of Jesus.

5. I would want to create a large (national/international) accountability network for men that have struggled with pornography addiction in the past or are currently struggling with that addiction. Something that not only implemented internet accountability software, but offered practical tools to avoid the temptation of porn and had research teaching about the harmful affects porn addiction can have. All while creating the means for men to interact with one another and build meaningful relationships with each other that hopefully went beyond just an accountability partnership.