About
My name is David, and I am currently working for Access America Transport, a 3rd Party Logistics company based out of Chattanooga, TN, where I work in the IT department. In May, 2009, I graduated from Covenant College with a B.A. in Community Development. The summer before, I spent 3 months doing a research internship in the Philippines with Food for the Hungry.
Following graduation, I moved to Boston, MA for a year & 1/2 where I joined TechMission in June, 2009 as an AmeriCorps intern to help the Technology Team in maintaining TechMission’s websites by programming and assisting with server administration. I also helped to maintain the office network. After a year with this position, I worked for Acquia, a company that provides Drupal services for 6 months, as a systems administrator, before I moved back to Chattanooga right after Christmas in 2010. Having taught myself most of what I know in the IT industry, I am excited about pursuing a career combining my community development degree with my IT skills and experience.
In addition to my full time job, I own and operate my own computer technical support and IT consulting firm, Smooth Stone Services. We provide web hosting solutions, IT consulting, and technical support to nonprofit organizations and have the vision to eventually work worldwide.
I envision pursuing a career that combines both my passion for community development with my IT knowledge. I have begun putting together a business plan for launching Smooth Stone Services into a full-time operation that provides specific services to churches, non-profits, and community development organizations around the world. I am very much interested in learning about and pursuing opportunities to work overseas.
In one of my college classes entitled “Living and Working in a Multi-Cultural Context,” I really enjoyed learning about the different types of cultures in the world, and how people communicate. I believe strongly that the key to successfully doing faith-based community development is to learn where the people are, physically and spiritually, whom one is working with.
I try to avoid terms such as “serving” or “ministering to” because I believe that these notions build a parentalism / “god-complex” attitude in the “developer”, and can create an inferiority complex in those whom one is working with. Instead, I believe that community development must be first and foremost about building healthy relationships.
As Bryant Myers says in his book, Walking With the Poor, “Poverty is a result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.” Being able to facilitate the building of healthy relationships is what I want to ultimately pursue. If God would have me do this through launching an IT firm geared specifically for non-profit organizations, churches, and other community development organizations, then great! But I am equally interested in thinking about a lifetime of work overseas. Perhaps I could combine the two! Who knows?!
In my free time, I enjoy running, hiking, riding my bike, cooking and eating and fellowshipping with my friends, and much more. I also enjoy quail hunting, fishing, and of course, doing community development work and doing computer stuff. I’ve never really been into the TV or movie or gaming scene. Instead, I like to stay active.
So I’ll finish talking about myself with this quote which is one of my favorites of all time, by Duane Elmer, in his book, Cross-Cultural Conflict: Building Relationships for Effective Ministry: “Love is culturally defined. When we truly love others, we love them in their own context, in keeping with the way they define love. We can’t express love in a vacuum. It can be expressed egocentrically (my way) or sociocentrically (as the other person would define love).”