I am the President and CEO of The Burning Bush Christian Bookstore (http://TBBbookstore.com/). The vision came out of recognizing and acting on the need to provide a quality and experiential resource to support one’s Christian lifestyle. We currently operate our store online, with the expectation of transitioning into physical stores in the near future.

My blog is focused on Professional Development and Relationships. I write on entrepreneurship, leadership, business & management, family & marriage, and will also feature book reviews from various genres of writing. Not all of my writing fit neatly into these categories, and I also tend to write as new insights are discovered.

MY BIOGRAPHY:

Landscape Architecture – Urban Design:

Oddly enough, my major in college and previous source of income was in Landscape Architecture, with a focus in Urban Design. Basically, I designed and provided construction documents for small-scale projects such as individual homes, medium scale such as neighborhoods and center cities, and large scale such as regional planning. Creativity has always been central in all that I do, and the satisfaction comes in seeing a vision come to fruition.

Retail Management:

In addition to my career in Landscape Architecture, I have ten years of experience in retail management from while I was in college. Looking back on that experience, the thing I miss the most was helping people… interacting with and serving customers and coworkers. Sure, anyone who works in customer service will tell you that this field can be extremely demanding, but there are more highs than lows, and at the end of the day there is satisfaction in knowing that I was able to contribute to a someone’s day. So even though I was happy in designing neighborhoods, there was something inside me tugging for me to do something more with that experience.

The Burning Bush – Planting the seed:

My wife and I were dating at the time, and I had recently attended a men’s conference sponsored by our church. Previously, I had discussed with her how it was so much of a challenge to buy Christian literature near my home… bibles, Christian fiction, gifts, anything to help build up my faith. I was so excited about the conference… I was telling her about the speakers and what some of the topics were and what we talked about. In the middle of my high-energy speech, she interrupted and pondered out-loud “The Burning Bush!!!” I kind of looked at her, perplexed, and said… “Huh?” she said The Burning Bush should be the name of your bookstore. The burning bush was a topic of one of the speakers of the conference, and it totally made sense (one day I will post why). Right there, at that moment, was the birth of the vision of The Burning Bush Christian Bookstore inside of me.

Theatrical Set Design:

My creativity and knowledge of structural elements within design has allowed me to channel my creativity into the realm of stage theatre. Set design is a satisfying area of design in that although deadlines are usually tight, the design can be realized in a short period of time… bringing to life a new creation. I had the honor of  creating the set design for A Woman’s Dilemma in 2009 written by Christophere Walker, A Raisin In The Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry in 2009, Welcome to Bethlehem in 2007 written by Thalia Hughes and produced by Abundant Life Family Worship Church, and consulted on annual spring plays produced by South Plainfield High School’s which include Zooman, by Charles Fuller in 2007 and a compilation play by Othell Miller in 2008. This experience has allowed me to channel and form the “experiential” nature of est design to The Burning Bush Christian Bookstore.

My Interests:

My #1 interest is my family. Being a newlywed (August 01, 2008), I truly and thoroughly enjoy being married. I do not think that I have had this much fun my entire life. While my wife and I do not have any children as of yet, our family has recently grown with the addition of a four-month-old cockapoo puppy named Peanut.

My hobbies include hanging out with my wife, running, traveling, and I plan on taking up golf in the near future. I am a member of Abundant Life Family Worship Church in New Brunswick, NJ, where I serve in the missionary ministry and Boys to Men youth ministry.