Help us welcome Ian Crosby as he joins the staff at Veritas, reaching out to 6th-12th graders.
Why Student Ministry?
That’s a hard question to answer in a couple sentences! But, simply put, I want to see people impacted by the Gospel. I believe that if leaders and parents are invested in and partnered with in the discipleship process of students that we will see a generation of students who don’t only participate in church now and in the future but a generation of students who contribute to the life of the local church through serving, pastoring, giving, and loving others. Teenagers are in such a critical stage of development and I want to see the Gospel take root and shape the adults that these young people turn in to.
What’s you’re favorite down time thing to do?
Going to let you in on a secret – I’m an introvert. So, my favorite things to do by myself on my down time are to drink coffee, play a (terrible) round of golf, play some video games, take pictures, and read. If my wife and I have down time together, we love going out to eat, watching movies, and are trying to work up the courage to join a bowling league.
Tell us about your family.
I’ve been married to my wife, Morgan, for just over 3 years. She teaches in Marion ISD. We have a Great Dane, named Walter who is scared of everything and thinks he’s a lap dog.
You moved back up here after spending almost 7 years in the Dallas, TX area. What do you miss most about Texas?
Without question, the plethora of excellent Mexican (Tex-Mex) food. That’s one thing that we’ve had to lower our expectations on since moving here.
What’s the worst coffee you’ve ever had? The best?
I want to preface this answer by saying this: I love coffee. Yes, I love really good coffee but I love coffee so much that I will drink pretty much any (non-flavored and non-tampered with) coffee you put in front of me.
The absolute worst cup of coffee I had was at my previous church. One of my really good friends and coworkers had never made coffee with the coffee maker there before but decided he wanted to try without asking for help. Needless to say it had the consistency of mud and tasted like lead. But like I said, I love coffee so I definitely still drank it.
The best coffee I’ve ever had…that’s a tough one. I’ll give my top 3 in no particular order. 1) On a mission trip in Guatemala the place we stayed the first and last night had some of the best coffee around. 2) Dash, here in Cedar Rapids, has some of the best coffee around and some of the best I’ve had. I especially like their Honduran Coffee – so shout out to them! 3) There was a coffee shop in Dallas called Mudsmith. They had the tastiest nitro cold-brew I’ve ever had.
What are you most excited for/looking forward to working at Veritas?
Naturally, I am really excited about the future of Veritas Students. We have a great staff team that I love and our leaders are top notch. I’m really excited to see how God uses all of us together to do awesome stuff. Outside of our student ministry, I just really love the staff and leadership of Veritas. I’m excited about the vision and the direction that we are running in and I can’t wait to see how God impacts the community through this church!
Is it bad that I talked more about coffee than Veritas?
What’s the most interesting book you’ve read?
I’m not exactly sure what is meant by interesting so I’ll give you a couple that really intrigued me. The first is a pair of works I read in college for a philosophy class: Plato’s Parmenides and Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Can I tell you what they were about now? Absolutely not but I remember being fascinated and captivated by the reading and discussion of those two. Jump over to fiction, and Animal Farm is one of my favorite fictional works along with the Lord of the Rings series.
What’s the most useless talent you have?
I can quote 85% (rough estimate) of the entire TV Series, The Office. But that’s not really useless – it brings joy to myself and all around me.