GYC Conference 2024: Wherever He Goes

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Walking in His Steps: Integrating Faith and Career

Mildred Mabirizi

Victoria Okotie

01 The Divine Compass: Making Career Choices that Honor God

Good morning and welcome to our session, Walking in His Steps, Integrating Faith and Career.

This is session 1, which is the divine compass, making career choices that honor God.

And this session is geared towards high schoolers before we get started, let's have a word of prayer.

Our dear heavenly father lord, we are so grateful that you have given us life this morning.

We are thankful that you have brought us to this conference.

That we can be able to follow you wherever you lead us my dear Heavenly Father.

Father Now we ask that you give us your Holy Spirit.

Actually Lord, I ask that you give us a double portion of your Holy Spirit.

That we who are going to be speaking, that you will speak through us.

And those who are hearing, that you open their minds, you give them understanding, that they'll hear your voice, that they can make the decisions that honor you, my dear heavenly father, and expand your kingdom, especially in the times in which we live.

For this we ask and we thank you for hearing and answering our prayer in Jesus's name.

So in this session, we are really glad that you are here and where we are actually going to start is that We are going to ask, most of the times we'll tell people, put away your phones, put away your tablets, but we are going to need interaction from you guys.

So if you have a phone, if you have a tablet, great.

If you have a notepad, we'll ask that you write your answers because we'll have the live interaction and it will be up on the screen and maybe you can give us a thumbs up because I notice people give me thumbs up if you agree with something or not, okay?

So we're gonna get started off by wanting to know who is here and where you are in your academic journey.

Which is what grade are you currently in?

And for those of you I see you guys already you know pulling out your devices and scanning the code.

If not, you can go to slido.com and the code up there is 1946673.

Thank you very much for the participation.

Those of you who are just coming in, welcome.

And if you're just joining us, feel free to participate in the survey.

We just want to see who we have in the room.

So it looks like we have juniors and seniors split, and then sophomores, freshmen.

I'm curious to know the other category, where do you fall?

If you are chaperone, if you can raise your hand.

All right, let's move to our next question.

When you think about your future career, what is the most important factor in your decision?

And again, this is all anonymous, so don't worry.

Think about what factor is really key in your career decision.

It could be the amount of money you can make.

And I appreciate that I'm seeing money as a big 1.

Money and God's will, happiness, enjoyability, engaging.

Following God's will, we have money, enjoyability.

Positive influence, we have here how long it will take to complete and if it will be enough to retire, not required to work on Sabbath as a good 1, whether I enjoy it or not or if I make good money, if it honors God, a flexible schedule, career security, helpfulness to others, engaging, time, freedom, joy and money, fulfilling, faith and happiness.

Do you feel you have a clear guidance from god regarding your career path?

Or sometimes I'm sure, and other times I'm not.

All right, sometimes I'm sure, and other times I'm not.

So you have chosen the right place to be.

Let's tell a little bit about ourselves, who we are.

So my name is Victoria, and I was born in Colorado, Colorado Springs.

And then shortly after, about 2, they returned back to their home country in Nigeria, and I spent my formative years in the northern part of Nigeria.

I went through my elementary and also my high school.

And I remember struggling with what to do when I get to college.

And the challenge I faced was that there were many things I was good at.

I used to be in the debate club and my dad felt that I should go into law And I really didn't quite want it because it wasn't really what I wanted to do.

We talked about it and then he felt like I should become an architect because in high school I was really good at technical drawing.

I just loved the art or the creativity in that.

But then I wanted something that was challenging.

I was attracted to the physics and the chemistry, you know, the challenge of it.

And actually, my dad would recruit us, my sisters and I, in his workshop and we would be his apprentice helping him.

And so we all decided to go into engineering and technology fields.

But so I started college in Nigeria in chemical engineering.

And then I felt the Lord impressing me to return back to the United States.

So at the age of 19, I packed my bags, and alone, I came back to United States.

And I moved to Colorado, and I put myself through college.

I went to Colorado School of Mines, and I got a chemical engineering degree.

I spent the next 17 years of my life working in the energy industry and traveling the world.

My first job was a field engineer in Thailand.

And from there I went on a stint to Oman, came back to the US, I switched companies, and then I moved to Alaska.

I had trained as a chemical engineer, but then I thought that I would work in the energy industry in the downstream part of oil and gas.

But God had his plans for me, and the jobs I got was in the upstream part of the oil and gas industry.

02 Faith-Fueled Success: Jumpstarting your Career with Christ at the Center

We are glad that you're here for our second session, which is our faith-fueled success, jump-starting your career with Christ at the center.

This session is geared towards collegiate, but we also understand that there are people who might be here who are not in college, so we welcome you and we are glad that you have chosen to join us for this session.

Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer.

Our dear heavenly Father, Lord, we are so privileged this morning that you have given us life.

And you have not just only given us life, but you gave us Christ to come to die for us.

So that way, we have no excuse not to follow you.

So here, Father, we come this morning and ask that you give us a double portion of your Holy Spirit for us as speakers speak through us hide us my dear Heavenly Father behind your cross so that these young people will see only you that they will hear your voice Give them your Holy Spirit that they can hear your voice, my dear Heavenly Father, that as they go on to the journey for where you have called them to apply themselves with their capabilities, with the abilities that you have entrusted them with, that they will bring glory and honor to your name, that they will be able to serve others and expand your kingdom, my dear heavenly father, we pray.

Thank you for being here, and thank you for hearing and answering our prayer this morning in Jesus' name, amen.

So, whatever comes to mind, and don't worry, it's anonymous.

So, what comes to mind, What is that factor that weighs when you think about your future career?

We have work-life balance, money for sure.

Financial stability, Sabbath excuse, not bringing work to home, yeah.

Okay, gospel opportunities, we have satisfaction, God's calling, retirement, income, impact, passion, Status, learning, joy, security, my purpose, serving people, healthy life, mission, competence, time, service.

All right, I'm gonna begin by sharing a little bit about my story and just a synopsis so you can get a feel of who is this lady with the microphone?

So I was born in Colorado, Colorado Springs.

And not too long afterwards, they returned back to their home country, Nigeria.

So I spent my formative years in Nigeria, for those who are familiar with Nigeria, in the northern part of Nigeria.

And I went through elementary, went through high school, and then I started college in Nigeria.

My dad is an engineer and I just felt drawn to engineering because I love the art of solving problems, you know, creating solutions to problems.

There's this creativity and design that comes with engineering.

And so the Lord was speaking to me to return back to the US.

And so at the age of 19, I packed my bags.

And alone, I came back to the United States.

And then I put myself through school, Colorado School of Mines, and I studied chemical engineering.

My plan was to work in the energy industry in the downstream segment, but God had his plans.

And upon graduation, actually, it wasn't college that I met Mildred.

We were the only 2 Adventists in our college.

And it was a small engineering school, yeah.

And so we became fast friends and we've remained friends since then.

And I, during college I was quite active, I was involved in student organizations.

And we walked also, we walked when we were on campus.

We walked in the financial aid and admissions.

I did not get a job in the downstream part of the oil and gas as I taught.

Rather, my job was in the upstream part of the oil and gas industry.

And so I ended up working as a petroleum engineer.

So I spent the next 17 years of my life working as a petroleum engineer.

My first job was in Thailand as a field engineer.

From then, I moved to London and moved to Houston.

From there, I moved to Abu Dhabi and then moved back to Houston.

So I've walked overseas as a single, walked overseas married, and then walked overseas with a family.

And at the end of my 17 years, the law said it was time for me to leave corporate.

So I left corporate, and I founded my consulting firm, providing technology solutions.

And that was also when we co-founded Touchpoint providing career consulting.

All right I will tell you a little bit about me.

So I was born and raised in Uganda up until I turned the age of 19 and I came to college in United States to go have electrical engineering degree.

I actually started out from 1 college and I transitioned to another college because it was specifically geared towards engineering and it was a really good school.

Victoria has told you, we were both active in school and, you know, worked while I was in school, and also had an opportunity to have internships while I was in school.

When I graduated, I started off working for a manufacturing company before I transitioned into the oil and gas and I got to work downstream, which I didn't get to work.

I worked downstream, I worked midstream, and throughout my career God has moved me quite a bit within you know within the US just like you had Dr.

Victoria I have moved around lived in different states like you had the Michigan and lived in Colorado lived in Illinois lived in Oklahoma lived in Texas 2 times and that's why it is, you know, for us we use the portion corporate missionaries because I've moved, I've moved like Dr.

Victoria as a you know single, I've moved married and I've moved also with with our kids twice And that's why I've moved and gone to places where the church that I've moved to said, we prayed for people like you.

And that was very humbling to know that we were prayed for and we showed up and God used our work to move us to the church in answer for the prayer that the church had.

So that was really humbling, hence where we use the terminology, if you had an introduction, of corporate missionaries.

And in my career, I have also transitioned roles into different roles.

When I worked, whether it was engineering and manufacturing as a maintenance engineer, or as a leader, leading people, managing people, or as an advisor, advising senior executives.

So it's been a first experience, and we are both, like we said, we are passionate because we've mentored so many people, young up until people who are transitioning their careers.

They've been working for 17 years, and they're looking for something else to do that God has, you know, God would like for them to do.

We've used this business when God, you know, led us into this business, because before we used to mentor and just do it, but we've used it to witness to people where we've mentored or coached or advised people who do not know the Lord, and we said, hey, before we start this session, can we have a word of prayer?

People broken down and prayed or say, this is exactly what I've needed.

Now we are absolutely so excited that we now, it feels like we are coming home where we get to use this gift and experiences that God has given us to be able to advise Seventh-day Adventist young people.

So it's such a privilege for us and such an honor.

And feel free when we are having this conversation to ask us questions.

And this is the link when we are talking, if you have questions for us, ask the questions and the questions will be in so whenever we get to the end, we will be able to pull up the questions.

And if we don't answer all questions and run out of time, we, in session 5, our last session, we will be able, we'll come prepared with your questions and we'll be able to answer them.

Even when you go at night, When you think about a question, feel free to put it in and we'll answer it during session 5.

Series

Walking in His Steps: Integrating Faith and Career

02 Faith-Fueled Success: Jumpstarting your Career with Christ at the Center

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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