The news has been out for a little while, but I think it’s worth explaining here. After much prayer and petition, I decided to leave my position at The Veritas Forum effective in May. I love the mission of Veritas, and I don’t think there’s any other ministry doing quite what they do. But I realized that my life goal is to be on the speaking side of Veritas and not the planning side, and that I need to take the proper steps to get there.

The first step is to go back to school. I know a good amount about the Bible for someone who has only been Christian 5 years, but it’s not nearly enough to start teaching about it. I’m hoping to eventually do a PhD, but that will require learning the Biblical languages – Greek and Hebrew – which means I need to go to seminary or divinity school.

Before I do that, I want to be able to afford it. A couple years ago, my pastor very helpfully gave some of us copies of David Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, which explores how people get into and can get out of debt. A lot of people go deep into debt to pay for school. If I were going to law school or medical school, I think my end salary could justify this because I could pay off the loan in a reasonable length of time. This isn’t the case for graduate degrees in the humanities. I know I’ll have much more peace of mind and flexibility if I save up the money before I go to school. As for scholarships – it’s possible that I could get a scholarship, but they’re harder to get for masters degree programs. Even if I got a scholarship, it wouldn’t be a full-ride, which means I need to save up.

It’ll be much easier to save up if I’m living at home, so I’m moving back to Irvine. I love my parents dearly and we get along well, so I’m looking forward to making this transition. Cambridge rent is sky-high, so I’ll effectively be saving $10,000 a year by making this switch alone. (That’s more than 1/4 of the total tuition right there if I go to Fuller.) As for my actual job, I’ll be doing tutoring in Irvine. If anyone is looking for a tutor, I can do high school English, history, and SATs, or middle school and below in all disciplines. I’m also cooking up a innovative idea for SAT tutoring that I’ll probably announce in the nearish future.

In the meantime, if you‘re looking for a great company to work for and have mad project management skills, I’d strongly suggest looking at the positions open at The Veritas Forum. Check them out at: http://veritas.org/about/jobs/

We’re currently looking for a Northeast Regional Director and a Southwest Regional Director.

My Testimony in Christianity Today was made public today. Check it out here – http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/atheists-dilemma.html

Note to future self: double check the title before you give permission to publish. I really wish it had been “An Atheist’s Dilemma” and also maybe “Meeting Jesus at Harvard” (since I’m not a representative of all atheists and my encounter with Jesus at Harvard lasted all four years and beyond, not merely a moment). All’s well that ends well I suppose.

Just an additional note – I noticed in some of the comments that people said my testimony was “unconvincing.” I’d just like to clarify here that this piece is a testimony and not an argument. Obviously, there is not enough time and space in three pages to go through every argument for or against God’s existence AND who Jesus claimed to be AND the authenticity of the Bible. So please, if you’re Christian, don’t send this to your atheist friends to say, “Look! Here’s why you should believe!” That’s not what this piece was intended to be! But if you are looking for more thorough answers, I’d encourage you to check out my writings page where I’ve got more arguments (and not just my personal story).

Also, I’m going to be doing a radio broadcast on Peacetalk on Tuesday on the basis of this; more details to be posted later.