week 1 journal.

The first week of j-term at Lindenwood University has come to a close. I must admit, I was not really looking forward to spending three hours in a classroom everyday. However, when I met everyone in my Creating and Managing Your Online Personal Brand class, I knew it was going to be a fun group of people. But who knew that we could all learn so much and have that much fun in just four days together? In the first week of class, I learned way more than I expected.

This week was a busy one. I created a few blogs, gave a couple of presentations, and got to know my fellow classmates. My favorite part of the week was when everyone gave presentations on Friday. I became exposed to a large group of individuals who are making a difference, mainly in the communications world. My choice was a lady by the name of Kris Carr, who has turned her battle with cancer into an adventure story. I became so intrigued while researching this incredible woman. Usually for presentations, I do not find myself really impacted by the information I find. This time it was different. Kris Carr is an inspiration to anyone, even if you do not have any health issues. By researching her, I learned to turn desperation into inspiration and to truly live life to its fullest. Kris Carr actually has a documentary of the first fours years of her fight with cancer.

I also learned how social media outlets, such as Twitter, can truly make an impact. Throughout this past week, many people in the class including myself sent out “tweets” to successful men and women who are where we might want to be some day. It was so exciting to see these people actually tweet back! At first all that I thought about was how cool that was and how laid back these people must be. However, something much greater can be learned from this. Little did we realize at the time, but we were building connections with these people. Social media can be used as a way to network with others. Yes, people would consider website such as Facebook and Twitter as social networks, but the network part of it did not really click with me until just recently. I am looking forward to making new connections through social media. To learn more about using social media for professional networking, I found this article on Mashable (aka: one of my favorite websites): Use Facebook for Professional Networking.

A few other fun things I discovered this week were HootSuite and Wordle. I am not sure how I feel about HootSuite yet, but I am loving Wordle. I may be addicted, no big deal. Overall, I am highly looking forward to the next two weeks of this j-term class. The people in there are hilarious and intriguing, and I cannot wait to see what else I can learn. What started out as uncertainty has turned into excitement over this class.

Kris Carr.

Kris carr.

View more presentations from hchristine91

synopsis&objective.

I am a hard working, passionate musician with experience leading worship in churches and prayer houses.  

 

I aspire to obtain a position in full time ministy leading worship and speaking to young people.

starting point wordle.

my wordle.

starting point.

|what I’m all about|

My name is Heather Christian, and I am currently a senior at Lindenwood University. I am pursuing degrees in both Advertising and Public Relations. While I am studying in the communications field, I plan on going into full time ministry upon my graduation in December 2012. My passions in life are music and speaking. My dream is to lead worship and possibly do work with conferences across the country. I am currently a worship leader at Church on the Rock in Saint Peters, Missouri.

|but why communications?|

Although I plan on going into ministry, I strongly believe that having knowledge in the communications field is very important. The three things I love the most are music, public speaking, and writing. This is why this field is undoubtedly the perfect area of study for me. Someone going into the ministry field needs to have strong communication skills. I think that more people should take advantage of a blog to post their thoughts or things they have learned. They may not realize how effective a simple blog post, something outside of the Facebook and Twitter world, could be.

|dreams, goals, aspirations|

As I said earlier, I am currently a worship leader at my local church. I know that this is what I have been called to do, and I have a zeal for living it out. I plan on continuing in being a worship leader, however in the future my goal is to get involved with a Christian conference. I have a heart for speaking to young people, most specifically young ladies. I feel that there are too many girls in the world dealing with low self-esteem and getting caught up in the wrong relationships. Through my own personal experiences throughout my life, I have learned many lessons. I have gained a lot of wisdom about self-confidence and relationships. graciously been given the opportunity to share my heart with many teens who are dealing with these kind of issues. This is why I would love to travel and speak. I make it my goal to help whoever I can and give advice to whoever asks. Since I also enjoy writing, I aspire to write a book someday, or multiple books. I want to reach out to people in any way I can, using as many outlets as I have available to me.

Since I have set high goals for myself and plan to live out what I am passionate about, I believe that networking is key. In ministry, as well as in many other fields, who you know can really make a difference. Because of this, I have already started to build as many connections as I can. The more people I know and build relationships with, the more opportunities will come available.

|who I’m looking at|

There are many people that I look up to, people who are where I want to be someday.

The first is a man by the name of Keith Leak (facebook||twitter). Keith is the current worship minister at Church on the Rock. He has toured with many Christian gospel artists and has made his own music projects. If it was not for Keith, I would not be where I am today. I have learned so much, and am continuing to grow thanks to him.

The most important female role model in my life is Nichole Stewart (facebook||website). Nichole is a worship leader at Maranatha Church in West Virginia. I had the pleasure of building a relationship with her. She and her husband, JD, have taught me the basics of ministry, how it works and what to be prepared for. Nichole is one of the most incredible vocalists I have ever heard and she has helped me to become a stronger leader.

Two people that I have not had the chance of meeting (yet), but have still become influences for me are Brian (twitter) and Jenn Johnson (twitter) (website). This couple are the worship leaders at Bethel Church in Redding, California. Their ministry has blessed me so greatly. Jenn Johnson is a woman that I aspire to be like. She is not only an incredible worship leader, but a gifted speaker as well.