moment where I felt like I want to do ministry for the rest of my life. And I think that’ s what God has for me. But as far as just getting opportunity and reps, it was growing up in church and just there being a need and jumping in and having the opportunity.
[ WM ] So how did you get from Central California to the Northwest?
[ Canaan ] I was looking for a Christian university to be able to study at, just be in a Christian environment, and serve on worship teams, but then also studying in an environment like that and get more theological education. And so, my parents went to a school called Bethany University down in Santa Cruz.
And it was a great school, that’ s where they went to school and met. It was an Assembly of God school. We were an Assembly of God church. So, I was kind of looking within the covering, okay, what universities do we have?
And Bethany ended up shutting down when I was probably 12 or 13, something like that. So, I was looking elsewhere along the West Coast and Northwest University caught my attention in Kirkland. And I so came up and visited Northwest, met people, and talked with counselors and saw what potentially I could do at the school and scholarships and whatnot. I visited and absolutely fell in love with the school, with the place. I’ m from a very dry, dusty, hot part of the country. So, the rain wasn’ t a negative to me. I was actually pretty excited for seasons and foliage and things staying green and some mountains. So, I fell in love with the area and went to school here. I’ d done an internship with my church. I was a licensed Assemblies of God minister when I moved up here at 19. So, I did my undergrad in communication, and then I got my master’ s degree in ministry leadership. I kind of sandwiched it. I wanted to study how to communicate effectively and read more, write more, that sort of thing, and then sandwiched it on the other end with some ministry leadership.
So that’ s what brought me up here and met my wife up here. And yeah, there’ s more there, but we’ ve stayed and we’ ve loved it.
[ WM ] That’ s a really good story, Canaan. So, a couple things before we get into the album. We live in an increasingly culturally and politically polarized world, and you serve in a community that carries perception. That is the community has a perception to the rest of the US. But there’ s one thing that can cut through all the stigma against the church. It’ s the presence of God. How does the presence of God impact your local church and community?
[ Canaan ] Yeah, that is the truth. I mean, it’ s the power that we do everything in because those systems are great, and creating environments with lighting and production and whatnot, those are all wonderful tools that God can use and they’ re good things. But those things on their own don’ t change lives. It’ s His power, His presence, His anointing. So, we are a church,
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