“Missionaries, not mercenaries.” How many times have you heard that? But before he started a career in technology, my friend Jesse was a real missionary. And in Mexico, he had a terrifying experience.
I’ll let Jesse tell you the rest…
I was staring straight down the barrel of an AK-47.
On the other end was a corrupt Federale.
Or at least someone dressed like one.
I was in my early 20s, bright-eyed and stupid enough to think this was all somehow part of the adventure.
At the time, I was a missionary in Mexico, working at an orphanage caring for children with disabilities. It remains one of the most incredible seasons of my life.
Every once in a while, a group of us would pile onto an old school bus and head into neighboring towns to share food, clothing, and the Gospel.
This particular trip was taking us toward Ensenada.
We didn’t make it very far.
About half a dozen Federales — or men dressed exactly like them — pulled us over. Suddenly there were AKs shoved into our faces. They roughed us up and demanded money.
Then came the part I’ll never forget:
“Give us the money, or we’re taking the girls.”
We gave them the money.
Obviously.
And somewhere in the middle of this completely insane situation, this bus full of twenty-something missionaries started praying and singing.
I realize how bizarre that probably sounds.
But that was missionary work to me.
Not the AK-47s. Thankfully.
It was the idea that when the world around you gets ugly, you show up anyway. You bring whatever you have—food, clothes, encouragement, hope — and try to leave people with a little more than they had before you arrived.
I had no idea that lesson would eventually become my career.
Zero to Animator
Years later, I started a nonprofit called Brayhaus.
The idea was simple: teach creative and technology skills to kids who otherwise might never have access to them.
One Saturday, I called a local library with an experiment.
“Can I borrow your computer lab and teach people how to make an animation in an hour?”
I called it:
I figured a handful of people might show up.
Instead, the computer lab was standing room only.
We had people from about six years old to sixty sitting at computers together, and within an hour they weren’t just watching me animate.
They had made actual animations they could share with someone.
More importantly, they had learned something about storytelling.
The library loved it.
Then other libraries started calling.
Before long, I was getting requests from across the state to come teach Zero to Animator.
Fortunately, I’d asked that first library for permission to record the workshop. We got the appropriate waivers, put a camera in the room, and afterward I posted the class online.
I didn’t think much of it.
Then the company that made the animation software found the video.
They lost their minds.
They flew me from Portland, Oregon, to Boston.
And essentially said:
We want you to build this.
So I built an entire learning management system from the ground up and turned that little library experiment into a free online animation school.
It ultimately taught more than 60,000 students.
The company’s user base grew past 100,000 users, and we reached roughly $3.5 million in revenue in less than six months.
Then they gave me possibly the greatest job title I’ve ever had:
Software Evangelist.
And I’m not exaggerating when I say it may have been the greatest job I’ve ever had.
I literally got paid to travel, eat with people, talk about animation and software, teach, give talks, and get people excited about making things.
I even gave TED-style talks about it.
My job was basically:
Go make people fall in love with this thing you love.
Which is when I realized something funny.
I’d spent years thinking I’d stopped being a missionary.
Apparently, I had just changed what I was evangelizing.
The AK-47s were thankfully gone.
But the lesson I’d learned in Mexico never really left.
Go where people are.
Bring them something useful.
Teach them something they didn’t know they could do.
Care about them before you ask them to care about what you’re building.
Sometimes that’s food and clothing from the back of a school bus.
Sometimes it’s teaching a six-year-old how to make a cartoon in a public library.
And sometimes, apparently, doing that for one room full of people is enough to accidentally reach 100,000 more.
— Jesse
I hope you enjoyed Jesse’s amazing story. For me, seeing how scary the world can get puts life in perspective. What we’re worrying about probably doesn’t matter!
What’s more, those terrifying experiences can become something positive in the future.
We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
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