Born in San Diego, then raised in Berzerkeley, CA, I went back to San Diego to get my Bachelor’s of Science in engineering from UC San Diego in 1996. My wife, Minda, and I were married the year before I graduated in the summer of ’95.
After graduation, we got on a plane and flew to Orlando, FL to join the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. We are now in our second decade as missionaries with Campus Crusade. We have three beautiful little kids, Elsa, Theo, and Abigail whom I read to as much as I can and share many smiles and hugs.
I love my job and place in ministry because it allows me to express myself artistically, and explore creative elements of ministry, while staying connected to the vision of reaching every lost student with the gospel. I spend most of my free time reading the paper or US News, playing sports, surfing the internet for fun documentaries, and hanging out with friends and family.
I was introduced to photography by my 8th grade art teacher who sent me out to shoot 12 pictures of our freshman football team. We lost the game, but I was fascinated by the dozen grainy black and white images I captured.
Over the next 5 years I dove headlong in to photojournalism, but moved over to video after the director at the local NBC affiliate asked me to assist on an anti-abortion piece he was shooting. Working with broadcast level equipment and moving images allowed me to even further express the creative ideas in my head.
While majoring in Video Production at The University of Arizona, I also began to work in sound reinforcement at concerts and at church. In the past 17+ years on staff, I’ve dabbled on the side with videos, photography, sound reinforcement and graphic design. In the fall of 2005, I moved from field ministry to the Creative Arts Team as a videographer and editor.
Our productions with the Creative Arts Team utilize High Definition Video, edited on Macs running Final Cut Pro and mastered using DVD Studio Pro.
Joseph HanfordI trusted Christ as my savior 5 weeks before I graduated from college. Some older men in the church asked me, “Do you have a Sunday School class yet? No? Then you’re in our class!” EVANGELISM EXPLOSION was the name of their class, based on the book by the same title. So, my very first year of Sunday School was comprised of weekly how-to-share-your-faith training augmented by Thursday night home visitation outreach.
Since that time, I’ve continued to be fascinated with how to connect our non-Christian friends with the gospel. But I’ve also felt frustrated that so few people feel able to do that. Not knowing how is one key reason.
Doing ministry on college campuses has convinced me that people WILL respond to the gospel if we will offer it to them, and it really helps if we feel confident that our message and methods are relevant and have solid footing.
I develop personal evangelism methods that equip believers to share the love of Jesus and to share the gospel of Jesus to a wide variety of people in a wide variety of settings. This might range from how to do acts of kindness for our co-worker, to how to transition from a conversation about sports to Jesus, to how to expose flawed logic in broad charges like, “You Christians are intolerant!”
A podcast entitled OVERFLOW broadcasts what we develop here. It launched in Fall 2007 and can be found at www.OverflowToday.com. Printed copies of each show are available as well. Bottom line…I love to train others to share their faith. I love to see Christians realize that it’s not that complicated. The core of the gospel message already has sufficient power to convert…it needs no help. Yet Christians can become more apt to step out and share that gospel if they learn ideas and approaches that match their personalities and match their culture.
Growing up in a small town in North Carolina, I’m a southerner at heart. I have a BA in Economics from Duke University and am in love with the ocean and with surfing. Snowboarding, sailing, and running are other activities that bring life.
I grew up in Berkeley, California. That explains a lot by itself! Growing up, I enjoyed drawing stuff and building stuff and trying to be funny. At the same time, (and I don’t really remember this much but) my parents said I was always thinking about the deep issues of life.
I started out majoring in Design at UC Davis. Honestly, spiritual things didn’t matter much to me. I was a typical college student trying to get good grades, do well in sports, and find a girlfriend! But God began to bring circumstances and people into my life that eventually drew me to a personal relationship with Christ.
A few years later, I transferred to Cal Poly SLO to major in Architecture. I enjoyed Architecture (and Philosophy) but it was there I got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) and soon became a student leader. During my senior year, someone challenged me to create a video for an upcoming CCC Conference. What a blast! I graduated and joined the staff of CCC. My first assignment was at the University of Washington in Seattle doing evangelism and discipleship there. I continued to look for creative opportunities including graphics, video, writing skits, and developing evangelistic presentations to be used in the campus dorms. Eventually, my creative nature won out and I switched to doing creative stuff full time.
My first opportunity to do that was as a video producer with Lightstone Productions (formerly Paragon Productions) which was the media arm of the History’s Handful ministry of CCC. Later, I was the Director of Media for IMPACT XXI and Lift Up America where I learned a lot about graphics and websites.
God has given me a passion for creative communication. We have a great God, a great message, and a great ministry. I want to use the most creative, relevant, and effective means to help others know that too! I guess good things can come out of Berkeley!
