In 1998, my family and I took a break from design. We spent 6 1/2 years in Peru working with multiple nonprofits, planting two churches, leading treks through the Andes and raising a family. (Three of our children have dual citizenship.) We came back home with fluent Spanish and a deep appreciation of Latin culture. I pastored a small church in Wheatridge, CO, then served as Outreach Pastor at a larger suburban Denver church for 5 years. In that time, we focused on outreach, micro-entrepreneurship, sustainable development, and leading clean water projects in West Africa, central China, and North Africa that brought clean water to over 200,000 people.

During that season, I kept designing, developing website themes from scratch for WordPress and Drupal, crafting logos, maintaining my creative skills and learning to communicate the intangible vision of a large charity in ways that generate tangible results and draw people to collaborate and further that mission.

I understand what it’s like wanting to invite others into your vision for a better world. I know what it’s like being on the field working day and night to make that difference, then inviting others so they can see the vision and passion and join you in it. I also understand the frustration when words just don’t seem to convey your heart or connect.

So, I learned to tell those stories in ways that capture the imagination of those very people, the ones who can help change the world.

I also discovered that the process is the same whether you run a mission or a machine shop. People are people, they all have heart strings. All you have to do is find the chords that resonate. That’s where I can help.

I can help you tell your story too, engage your audience, and increase your impact. As you can see it’s become much more than design. It’s a way of thinking—approaching problems to find powerful, holistic, and aesthetically beautiful solutions.