be_ixf;ym_202412 d_10; ct_50

EU Alumni Perspective: Ty Carter & CBC Alumni Perspective: Megan Carter

Name: Ty & Megan Carter

Graduation Year: Ty – 2007 | Megan – 2011

Major: Ty – Electronic Media | Megan – Contemporary Worship Leadership

Current Position: Ty – Church Anywhere Director | Megan – Next Steps Pastor (@ First Capital Christian Church/Church Anywhere)

City and State: Corydon, Indiana

 

Tell us about your career and what you do now.

Ty: After graduation, I started the first 4 years of my career right at EU! I worked with ITAV & helped build my base knowledge of office management & live production. Shortly after my first daughter was born, we packed up and moved to St. Louis to help plant a church (mobile church in a theater) and I was also working at Joyce Meyer Ministries in their broadcast, web, and print departments. While in St. Louis, my wife and I made the decision, since we now had 2 daughters, to follow what was best for their future and made the final decision to move to Indiana. Here, I’ve worked in both internal and external marketing agencies helping lead digital marketing campaigns, brand awareness, and social media management – those brands include Humana, Boost Mobile, and The Joint Chiropractic. Currently, I am the Church Anywhere Director of my church – the digital arm of our ministry. This includes leading our filmmaking, digital marketing, and facilitating teams for both domestic & international church microsites.

Megan: I help people involved with our church, either online or in-person, to find their next step. One way we do that is we partner every person who is baptized with a next step guide who walks beside them for the first six weeks after their baptism and provide them with lots of resources as they begin this journey. I also have the privilege of helping people discover the gifts and passions that God has placed in their lives to find their Jesus Cause and live their lives on mission. I work side by side with our Discipleship pastor to help create disciples who make disciples. This year I became a board-certified mental health coach, and I am heavily involved with our mental health ministry by creating a mental health video series, meeting with people, plus my mental health blog & podcast. A unique part about my job is I also get to help with making films. First Capital Films was born out of our lead pastor’s passion and cause. It has grown over the last 5 years and on September 22, 2023, we have our film “I Can” being released in select theaters nationwide. My role was assistant director and I got to work with some ridiculously talented people, cast and crew both!

What is your favorite memory from Evangel/CBC?

Ty: The 48-hour film challenges & late nights in the studio shooting for Strobelight.

Megan: The fresh baked cookies from Zee’s (If you know you know!)

How did Evangel/CBC help you identify/develop your calling?

Ty: Evangel taught me to think through my identity in Christ in a corporate world. So many times it would have been easy to chase the money & corporate ladder, but there’s a lost and dying world that needs to hear the good news of Jesus…and they’re not always going to come inside a church. Media is an easy way to reach and plant that seed!

 Megan: CBC allowed me to follow my calling in the area of worship, and that took me to a couple of different churches that prepared me for what I am doing today. Even though I am not exclusively in worship ministry, I do still get to help out. Worship ministry is where I started on staff at my current church as a youth worship leader. It took all those steps to grow me into the person I am today and to reach more people for His kingdom than my worship ministry alone would reach!

How did your experience at Evangel/CBC prepare you for life after graduation?

Ty: Evangel taught me about work ethic, attention to detail, and deadlines.

Megan: What prepared me the most was how a majority of the staff and professors built relationships with the students. They truly cared about how students were doing and wanted them to do their best. I saw and experienced professors spending extra time so that a student could understand a specific topic. Being there for them in a crisis, and sometimes just listening. Everything I do in ministry is built on relationships with people and deeply caring for others. I had a great example of that at CBC.

What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?

Ty: Take chances, network, and seek God for His wisdom – there are things you can control & things you can’t. Learn to know the difference. Keep the main thing the main!

Megan: Be prepared for what God has for you, and a lot of the time it won’t look exactly as you pictured it. I always thought I would lead worship in a church, but God took things I learned in my classes and outside my classes and prepared me for what I am doing today. If you had told me in college that in 2023 I would be a next step pastor (plus the first female pastor at my church), speaking at conferences about digital ministry, becoming a mental health coach, and working on producing/creating films, I wouldn’t have believed you. Live your life “ready for anything” that God throws at you. Sometimes you have to do it scared and trust that God has your back.

 What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel?

Ty: Someone who is humble, hungry, and smart.

Megan: Does the candidate take action? When in leadership does the candidate sit back and delegate, or are they out front leading the way and serving right alongside everyone else?  I would also ask them what problem they would want to solve, where they would enjoy serving in, or what people group are they passionate about helping.