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STUDENT PORTFOLIOS  |
J. Clark Viar
1011 Bill Beck Blvd, Kissimmee, Florida 34744 (240)727-1068 jcviar@gmail.com PERSONAL HISTORY Let me start by telling a little about myself. I am blessed to be in the position that I am in at Florida Christian College; I would have six years ago never seen myself as any kind of church leader. I did not have the faith. And I did not have the confidence to be able to lead anyone in ministry. Once I had assumed my leadership roles in various areas in the Church through youth ministry and my camp service I began to change and I felt a strong call by God through His Spirit to serve in vocational ministry. So, here I stand today as nothing more than a humble servant to the king who loves me. As a minister in training, I recognize my accountability not only to God, but to my superiors. I also fully realize that my actions reflect upon my integrity as an individual and on my faith. I shall always attempt to be beyond reproach and humbly accept correction when I am in need of correction. I bring with me small groups and leadership development skills that were entrusted and taught to me through much study and private instruction individually by professors of Florida Christian College. I have always been part of the Restoration Movement. As such, I believe in the movement's primary theologies including baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is the only source for spiritual guidance and theology, and that we are not the only Christians, but Christians only, as stated by Alexander Campbell. I am a current member of Winifred Road Church of Christ (instrumental) in Cumberland, Maryland. I am engaged to my wife to be, Hannah Dickerson, and we are very excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in ministry together. Our future plans include getting to learn more about ministry, learning church life in the context of ministry, and the eventual planting of a church within the State of Alaska, to a people who only have seven restoration churches within their entire state. EDUCATION Allegany College of Maryland (Cumberland, MD) Class of 2010, A.A.S. in General Studies (Letter of Recognition in Web Page Development) Florida Christian College (Kissimmee, FL) Class of 2013, B.A. in Bible and Preaching ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Tri-State Christian Service Camp, Involved since 2007 Junior Counselor: Summers of 2007-2008. Responsible for encouragement of campers, cleaning duties around the camp and occasional camp fire sermons. All jobs performed were voluntary. Camp Lifeguard, Summers of 2009-2011. Responsible for keeping pool safe and clean, rescuing the lives of others when needed, maintaining drinking water, and managing camp waste water. Voluntarily taught lessons, spoke for campfire and vespers, lead teams, and performed where needed in the camp. Only camp paid position. Grace Landing, January 2012 - Present Grace landing is an aging out of foster care/homeless young men's group home for young men between the ages of 18-25. Our goal at Grace Landing is to give these you men a Christian foundation, the skills and knowledge to provide for themselves in their life, whether through college or another career, and to become active and involved citizens in their community. Resident Assistant: Responsible for house upkeep and for spiritual, professional and life guidance for young men. Live in the house with the young men, lead a weekly Bible study, and enact discipline and discipleship when needed. Union Park Christian Church, September 2011 - February 2013 Youth Minister (Preaching Internship and Part-Time Work), responsible for Grades 6th-12. Responsible for teaching materials for all Middle School and High School grades, oversight and training of all youth sponsors, oversight of youth's spiritual growth and development including Wednesday night youth group worship, and assisting the Senior Minister in his job(s) in his ministry, including Preaching when needed.
I believe that the way to build an effective ministry and church is through what I like to call a "Baseball approach." This is inspired from Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Church." The process must of course start with the church reaching out to its local community. Through this outreach we develop personal relationships with people and grow those relationships in order to bring them into the body of Christ, His Church. Then through preaching and effective teaching lessons we train them to the teachings of Christ and plug them into a small group, whose leaders and members will disciple them into become Christ like individually and with each other. This will then develop leaders and provide workers for our outreach. A visual of this method is provided below:
Although we as a church do many events associated with fellowship, food, and church community, we also have programs and events that are for more of a spiritual and intellectual growth as well. These programs are a vital part of church growth, and are very important. Whatever I do as a minister to supervise these programs, these programs MUST include the following dynamics, and if they do not, must be re-evaluated and adjustments made. This is also the values that EVERY believer in our congregation should have. This paradigm was originally from LifeBridge Christian Church in Colorado.
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