The Noticer Project: some influential folks

The Noticer Project is a worldwide movement to “notice” the five most influential people in your life!

Noticing those five people can be as private (just a letter or email) or as public (posting to your Facebook page or blog) as you choose, but this grassroots movement is meant to encourage us to step outside our busy schedules and avoid waiting until a wedding, graduation or even a funeral to take notice of the special, influential people in our lives.

Not every person that you choose to “notice” has to be an old friend or family member. It might be that you choose to notice a Good Samaritan that changed your life or someone like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, whose sacrifice made a difference for you many years later. The important thing is that by noticing those who have made a difference for you, you not only acknowledge their contribution, but you may gain a new perspective on your own life.

For me, it’s too hard to decide who have been the most influential in my life. Well, that’s not true. It’s easy to name the top five: Mom, Dad, Mark, James and Rachael. But they’re certainly not the only ones who have made a difference in my life. And to be honest, while they’re the easiest ones to name, they’re probably the most difficult ones to describe in a paragraph or two.

So I’m going to look outside my family for my part of The Noticer Project. I’m going to tell you about five influential people in my life. Not the only influential people. And not necessarily the most and not in any particular order. Just five people who have made a difference in my life.

And by “five people,” of course I actually mean seven.

Amy Kanning was my Sunday school teacher in high school. She taught us, loved us and challenged us. I still remember some of her lessons – squirting toothpaste out of a tube to illustrate how you can’t take words back, making Valentines and holding them up for a Polaroid photo to remind us how much we are loved, and a heartbreaking talk about how sometimes if we don’t say the things we need to say, we won’t get a second chance.

I accepted Christ before high school. But He became real to me during those teenage years, and part of that is thanks to Amy’s teaching.

Dorothy Mullikin was my piano teacher from grade school until high school graduation. She saw in me a talent she deemed special and worth cultivating, and she never gave up on me. Even when I gave up on the piano. Even when I didn’t practice one minute between lessons. Dorothy took me to seminars, prepared me for contests and challenged me to learn more and better and faster.

You know how they say, “Never stop learning”? Well, for a time, I did. I left my days of music behind, burned out and disenchanted. But those things that Dorothy taught me and the love she showed me have never left my mind and heart, even if my fingers are a little rusty.

Brock and Julia were my Freshman Family Group leaders at the Baptist Student Union. They embraced their role as our leaders and mentors, even letting some of our group members jokingly call them “Mom” and “Dad.” I never did; I didn’t need new parents. But I did need them. I needed their knowledge, wisdom, accountability, leadership and so much more. We went through a lot in that group – both good and bad – but I credit making it through my freshman year, heck, my freshman WEEK, to those two juniors who chose to shepherd and love a group of freshmen. I may not have called them Mom and Dad, but they were my family away from home that year and for years afterward.

Carrie was one of my best friends my freshman year of college. She lived down the hall and was in the same university choir I was. She was also a cheerleader and the tiniest, cutest girl ever. She loved the Lord, loved to sing and struggled with figuring out what to be when she grew up. She went to Florida over spring break with some friends instead of going home to see her parents. The week after she got back, though, she drove home to see them. On her way, she was in an accident and died.

Loving and losing a friend like that taught me so much. That people my age could die. That life is short, fleeting, precious. That I shouldn’t blow off a friend just because I was spending time with another friend…the way I did the night before Carrie went home. That I should forgive myself for that. That nothing cements friendships like a tragedy. I miss Carrie. I wish we would have had more time together. But in just a few months, I learned a lot from her. And because of her, I am a different person.

Bob and Barb Archer were the leaders of our Adult Bible Fellowship class at church. And they were the leaders of the church plant that we were a part of following that class. The Archers are a couple that are so blessed and called by God to serve young married couples. They loved us, taught us, challenged us and helped us grow exponentially in our faith. I learned so much from them.

Like I said, these are just a few of the people who have changed me. I love them. I’m thankful for them. And I could never not notice the impact they’ve had on my life.

Who has influenced you?