By Frank Roberts
When I became a Christian over thirty years ago, I was excited to see the way God would use me. As I explored this in my early Christian walk, I came to my own determination that this either meant becoming a pastor or writing a check to put in the offering, since surely God doesn’t need GIS…. I did briefly look into becoming a pastor, but the practical side of me concluded that I had made a significant investment in both an undergraduate and then a graduate degree that bolstered my use of GIS, so given that I would continue down that road. I then spent the next 30 years going deeper and deeper into the GIS/IT rabbit hole.
This work has been wonderful and allowed me to use the analytical part of my brain and mash that up with the creative and artistic side. I imagine God had that part of me all figured out when he knit me together, and likely had plans for it!
Over the last year or two the verse that continues to percolate through my brain is Romans 12:6, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” I’m not sure if I have been doing it well, but one of my superpowers for the past 30 years in GIS has been meeting people and keeping in touch with folks. That is one reason I love going to the Esri Users Conference and other events. I have amassed a rolodex (is that a thing anymore?) of thousands of contacts. As an example of God using our gifts, I responded to a post from another member of the CGIS group, Bryan Nicholson. He and his colleagues at Every Home were looking for some individuals with knowledge of ArcGIS Experience Builder and other Esri web components. I had spent a lot of time with Experience Builder and several other Esri components, so I thought perhaps I could provide some help.
After meeting with the very nice folks at Every Home (https://everyhome.org/), I determined that it was time to go to my contact list and connect them with someone that would be willing to help them. After making a few phone calls I was able to locate just the guy. Within a few weeks, Every Home was connected with my contact. We then listened through their requirements and determined that a simple custom ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript web tool would be the best fit for them. My contact then worked closely with the development team at Every Home and was able to not just give them a fish but teach them how to fish and create and modify their own ArcGIS Maps SDK app.
My hunch is that I am not the only one on the CGIS thread that has contacts or as the Bible says, “different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” I am continually amazed at the experience in my own life that I get to share with others, and hopefully help them do their “certain thing well”. I look forward to the stories from others who are connected with this group!