Graham Kervin
BACKGROUND
Birth date: January 17, 1980
Hometown: Houston, TX
Parents’ names: Mike and Shirley Kervin
Siblings’ names: Brittany Kervin
CONTACT
Current address: 1225 Westheimer, Abilene, TX 79601
Current phone number: (M): 703-582-2648
Email address:
EDUCATION
High School: Klein High School
Graduation Year: 1998
University: University of Arkansas- Fayetteville
Bachelor Degree: Bachelor of Architecture
Graduation Year: 2003
Other Degree: Master of Divinity with a Missions Track
University: Abilene Christian University
Projected year of finish: 2006
Other plans for future study: Possible language courses
CHURCH INFO
Home congregation: Fairfax Church of Christ; Fairfax, VA
Other congregations with which you’ve had some past involvement:
· Bammel Road Church of Christ; Houston, TX
· North Street Church of Christ; Fayetteville, AR
Ways you’ve helped in serving the church:
· Helped plan, organize, and lead activities
· Participated in numerous service projects at home congregation and with other churches
· Led and participated in Bible studies
· Given devotional thoughts and sermons
· Helped in other worship service roles
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
People remark that I seem to have the following positive personal character traits:
Leadership, happiness, humor, optimism, and energy (to the point of too much at times:)
A personal character trait that I am trying to better is:
Learning to love indiscriminately and, with that, to donate my time more willingly to others.
I believe my spiritual walk is strongest now in the following areas:
(e.g. prayer, study of the Word, praising God, etc.) I feel that I have really grown in my study of the Word and beginning to draw cross-textual conclusions, analogies, and insights; noticing God’s hand more and more in places, people, and events; being honest with God and myself in thought and prayer; relinquishing control of my life to God’s will.
I believe I need to better my spiritual life concerning the following areas:
Becoming more vocal and more forceful in my testimony to others about Christ and His message of love; praying steadily and continually; learning to trust less skeptically in faith and love others more genuinely.
THE WORK IN OLOMOUC
I feel my strengths will best be displayed in the following areas:
· Leadership in decisions, direction, and church and team roles
· Preaching and public speaking
· Knowledge and understanding of biblical history, theology, and conceptualization
· Service-oriented commitments
· Adeptness in learning and speaking Czech
· Bible studies with Czechs
· Contributing excitement, energy, and encouragement to activities and worship
· Designing a church facility down the line
My first interest in any mission work came:
Through sequential campaigns to Prague where I was paired to students with whom I felt particularly able to talk and study with about the issues with which they were struggling.
Subsequent events or mission efforts that increased my interest:
Discussing and dreaming about the possibility for long-term work with Corey and Mitch and realizing that our dreams could actually become realities; the survey trip in 2001 that put us in locations that grounded those dreams and gave us tactile references for future work; God’s subtle guidance towards my personal training and development for long-term mission work.
A list of mission efforts I’ve been involved in:
· Habitat for Humanity week in Robbins, TN; Summer 1995
· Service trip to Wichita, KS; Summer 1996
· Campaigns to Prague, Czech Republic; summers 2000 and 2001
The greatest lessons I’ve learned as a result of mission efforts are:
That God can indeed employ his mighty power through the imperfect instruments that we are regardless of our limited knowledge, fears, and weaknesses. We have been created exactly as He has planned us to be and that it is through those very weaknesses that the majesty and mercy of Christ is best displayed. God orchestrates our lives perfectly according to His plans and desires and timing and our submission to His purposes can wield incredible results in both our lives and the spread of Christ to others.
The following event or thought was the most influential in stirring my interest in Olomouc:
Long nights on our balcony in Prague talking with Corey about the need for Christ in the CR; having similar conversations with Mitch to bolster that excitement.
I appreciate and enjoy the following things about Olomouc or the Czech Republic:
I love the culture in all of its effluences, including the ‘national’ hospitality that comes when you get to know someone personally. Czechs eagerly give of what they have to make the other as comfortable as possible – a quite Christ-like attitude.
I look forward most to the following aspect of being in Olomouc:
As intellectually driven as Czechs are and as much value as they place on ration, logic, and tangibility, I relish the idea of confronting them with something as far from that as possible: a life of love that testifies to God and Christ who transcend the physical and categorical. I look forward to the Jesus-inspired transformations that will follow when Czechs begin to embrace that and experience their own complete and total Pauline conversions.
I admit I am afraid of or concerned about the following aspect of being in Olomouc:
The uncertainty, especially with the unforeseen, and our lack of immediate training and preparation for those situations we haven’t expected yet. I am apprehensive about our complete removal from American (comfortable) culture and the ease of access to our family and friends here: it is scary to not be able to see our loved ones for months, even years, at a time. I fear that I will occasionally not allow God to fully glorify Himself through me because of doubt, fear, or selfishness.
I believe I’ll probably be most surprised by the following aspect of being in Olomouc:
Hoo-boy, there’s no telling. I want to be surprised by the receptivity of the Czechs to our purposes there and more importantly, the message of the cross. I will be surprised - amazed more appropriately - by the ways that God directs our team to reach out to others and the methods He chooses to manifest Himself. Other than that, everything else:).