How On Fire Media Got Its Start
Finding one’s calling in life can be a difficult and winding road, but pursuing the journey with trust leads to amazing things.
When I was an undergrad student at Texas A&M University (’97-’01), I was certain that I wanted to earn a business degree with a technology specialization and enter the business world upon graduation. That’s how I was going to make money and be wealthy.
But something interrupted that perfect plan I had envisioned.
While involved in the Catholic campus student ministry next to campus, I encountered an author whose books I devoured nearly as quickly as I devoured Mexican food.
Dr. Scott Hahn’s writings engendered in my heart a deep love for Scripture and early Christian church history. I couldn’t get enough. Books like “Rome Sweet Home,” “A Father Who Keeps His Promises,” “The Lamb’s Supper,” and “Hail, Holy Queen” began to reveal to me how the entire story of the Bible culminated in the New Covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus and the ongoing work and mission of His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Simultaneously, my commitment to attending daily Mass with hundreds of other undergraduate students began to transform my heart. I yearned to go deeper in my study of theology. So, I enrolled in a 3-year Master of Theology program at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio where I sat in class with Dr. Hahn. I was blessed to work for him in his home office while completing my studies.
During those 3 years, I devoured book after book. I grew a beard. I considered going on to seminary to pursue the Catholic priesthood. But, one day, a saintly professor who founded the catechetics program at Franciscan pulled me into her dimly lit office to initiate a conversation that would be life-changing. Her name is Barbara Morgan.
For those not familiar with the term: Catechetics is the art and method of transmitting the Christian message effectively by means of teaching for personal conversion.
There’s a saying among catechetics students at Franciscan: “God loves you and Barbara Morgan has a plan for your life.” What I’m about to tell you has happened to countless other theology students at Franciscan as I was to find out later in my career.
Barbara looked me in the eye and said, “Carson, the Church needs good catechists. Would you please consider working for the Church as a Director of Religious Education? I have many pastors coming to me asking to hire our graduates for jobs as soon as they graduate.”
There was much more to that conversation that I don’t quite recall, but I know that it was a turning point. From that moment forward, I began to discern a leadership and teaching job within the Church upon graduating. It was in that vocation, or call from God, that I would find fulfillment, purpose, and joy. I also met a beautiful young woman, Rebecca England, serving on the campus RCIA team under Barbara’s direction. We began dating.
Newly minted with a graduate degree, I found myself leading and teaching adult faith formation at St. Mary Catholic Church in Brenham, Texas – the town where the famous Blue Bell ice cream is made and distributed in those old fashioned creamery trucks. Those were the golden years. I helped many adults from various backgrounds enter into the Catholic Church through the time-tested process of discipleship. The personal fulfillment from those days cannot be overstated.
Rebecca and I exchanged marriage vows in the sanctuary of that parish church, and with due time, we discovered she was pregnant. She wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and there was no way I could support both of us – and a baby – on the meager church salary I was earning.
At the same time, the Bishop of Sacramento, California began a nationwide search for a Diocesan Director of Evangelization. I applied and was offered the position at double the salary I was previously making. We up and moved from small-town Texas to the busy suburbs of Sacramento where I commuted to the chancery every weekday for the next five years.
The idea of having a much larger impact among the 107 parishes within the Diocese of Sacramento was alluring and full of promise.
Those five years were joy-filled and included their fair share of hardships. As I poured my heart and talent into the job, the Peter principle proved true for me personally. My job became more and more of what I didn’t originally sign up for, and the pay never improved. My assigned administrative duties replaced the work that originally brought my heart joy.
I immersed myself in the world of web design and coding through paid online courses while getting my daily workout on the eliptical in one of our small bedrooms. Web design and development had always been one of my hobbies, and I enjoyed it tremendously. To make ends meet, I began to serve my own clients on the side in the realm of web development, working early mornings before leaving the house. Upon returning, I would work late hours into the night .
With time, I was working two jobs: my day job for the diocese and the morning/evening job for my growing list of happy clients. This became such a burden that it was too much to bear.
One morning as I was pulling out of the driveway in my silver Toyota Corolla, our two daughters, Thérèse (5) and Bernadette (2) picked Gardenia flowers from the shrubs lining our small house. They ran up to my open car window and handed them to me, expressing how much they missed and loved me. Rebecca was watching from the driveway with a big smile, and my heart melted.
I was missing them, and I knew something needed to change.
With the encouragement of several close advisors, I made the big leap of faith every entrepreneur has to stomach at some point in their journey. On August 15, 2012—the Solemnity of the Assumption—I formally resigned from my diocesan role and committed to working from home, to launch a new business that had been growing in seed form.
This business allowed me to spend far more time with my beautiful growing family while allowing me to exercise my personal passion in web development and make an even bigger impact than before by means of beautiful web creations for my amazing clients. In addition, this freed me up to engage in more ministry, the passion I found earlier in life.
Fast-forward to the present.
Today, On Fire Media is a team of 20+ creatives who share a tight-knit culture of prayer, joyful service, and relentless personal growth. Many on our team have at one point worked for “the Church” in some capacity and now have what I experienced: the joy of working from a home office with greater availability to their families.
Best of all, we know our work every day serves a greater purpose than putting food on the table or fulfilling our desire for personal or financial freedom. We’re helping good people do great work… work that is transformational and exponentially life-giving. What we’re doing will have rippling effects throughout time far beyond our short years on this Earth.