18 Aug Our new Director of Youth & Family Ministry, Wil Decker, doesn’t hold back: here are 7 things he likes about himself and 3 he doesn’t.
Though he’s only been with us a short time (welcome, Wil!), he’s excited to bring imagination, laughter, and real talk about life and having a relationship with God as a young person to our congregation.
A Graduate Resident from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Wil has extensive ministry experience with ages 2-18 and has served alongside volunteers and student ministry staff from Idaho to Alaska to Tennessee, working with young people and discovering how much he loves it.
He generously and bravely agreed to let us get to know the real Wil by sharing 7 things he likes about himself and 3 things he doesn’t!
7 Things I Like About Myself
1: I like my curiosity - but I haven’t always appreciated it.
This is something about myself that I’ve had to grow comfortable with as I’ve gotten older. It’s not something teachers or administrators always love about people who are underneath them, but…I really love my curiosity about anything and everything. I know that, as a kid, it sounded like I was questioning authority, but at the end of the day, I just love to know the whys and hows of how the world works. I love where it’s gotten me, and that I continue to do it. I’m pretty proud of that
2: This one can make me a terrible competitor, but….
…I genuinely want to know what kind of person you are. I want to see how people are thinking their way through a project or process, and sometimes I have to pull myself back because I know we are trying to get something done (which is why this trait makes me a bad competitor), and I have to stop asking questions, but… It’s so fun to keep learning what makes people tick!
3: “Please let me be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.”
I love my dog so much, and I really like the kind of person I am around animals. In fact, if I come over to your house and you have a pet, your pet will probably end up getting far more attention from me! I love the book “The Grace of Dogs” by Andrew Root. In it, he talks about how the deep connection between humans and dogs is absolutely spiritual—and why it hurts so much when we lose them. There are a few animals I have a bit of caution around—snakes and spiders being two —but I love talking to little kids about their favorite animals and why they’re their favorites. And it’s a wonderful way to talk about creation.
4: Ask me about my tattoos!
I have tattoos, and I love them. There is one that’s messed up on my arm. It was a word meant to say “angel” in Greek. I passed Greek in undergrad, and I was so happy! When the artist pasted the word on my arm and asked if it looked right, I said “Yes!”, and 45 minutes later, I’m looking at the word, and it seems like it’s missing a couple of letters. Somehow I had shown him the wrong word from the book I brought. So instead of “angel,” it says “fish basket.” The artist was mortified and wanted to “fix” it right away, but I said no, because now it’s my story.
I know there can be negative connotations around tattoos, but I am very intentional about the ones I have and the ones I want to get in the future. Everyone seems to like them, and I feel a little bit like a walking conversation piece.
5: This one taught me about self-care.
I do like my beard. I am pretty happy about it. It’s one of those things that, as a kid, I thought would make me look so much more grown up and mature, and maybe it does? But it has also become something that helps me practice taking care of myself. The grooming and care of it, the shaping of it. It’s become a nice point of focus for self-care.
6: Anyone hungry?
I like that I love to cook. We talk all the time in the church about different ways you can pray or have spiritual practices, and for me, one of those practices is cooking. It feels right that I’m taking time to concentrate and shape ingredients, and then hopefully, at the end of the day, if I’m not just eating it by myself (and of course tossing a taste to the dog), I’m sharing it with others. That fellowship is important. And delicious.
7: "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being."
I like the me that is an amalgamation of all the people that I love—Kate di Camillo, Ernest Hemingway, Emily Dickinson, Batman, the Sandman comics, and so much more.
I also like that I’m an amalgamation of all the people that have loved me. Like Mr. Rogers says: “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being.“
When I say all the people out loud, it might seem a little all over the place. But pull on any of those threads that make me up, and they are all connected!
3 Things I Don’t Like About Myself
1: I run out of juice faster than I’d like.
What I constantly pick myself apart for is that I’m a fairly introverted person. Which can be hard as someone in my position. And I love my job! I can pull off being an extrovert for a while, but the second my social battery is dead, I need to recharge a little bit.
2: I’ll just say it - I struggle with anxiety and depression.
It’s just part of how I’m built. I’ve had to get professional help, and I’m on a great med regimen, but there are days that I’m spiraling and wishing that it wasn’t so. It’s still something I’m coming to terms with.
When I’m getting to know young people, it’s wild how many of them say “Oh my gosh, you deal with this too?”
So much children’s programming is geared towards happy feelings. But some of the most amazing kids' shows talk about all of life, and the challenges we face. That is what made Mr. Rogers so great.
3: I should all over myself.
I keep catching myself thinking “I should have.” I spin about what I should have known or should have been able to do, or should have done better.
But to bring it back around to the beginning, it also feeds the curious part of me. If I think I should know something, then I remember I can start asking questions and learn what I don’t know.
I’m trying to be more patient and not expect myself to know about everything before I do! Eventually, I’ll figure it out.
I’m so excited to be here at WCC, and I can’t wait to hear what you like and don’t like about yourself too!
