The Next Level: A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life

David Gregory's life has come full circle. Despite a love for writing and liberal arts in high school and college, David opted for a “more practical” business degree that launched him into a successful ten-year career in compensation management with three consulting firms and Texas Instruments. After a decade of spreadsheets, however, he was ready to look for a career offering more personal meaning. David returned to graduate school, earning a master's degree from the University of North Texas with concentrations in communication and sociology. During that time, he began creative writing in the form of two short screenplays, one dramatic and one science fiction. He also started a periodic newsletter before joining a Christian ministry as staff writer and editor. While there, he coauthored two nonfiction books, The Marvelous Exchange and The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out. While earning another master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, David entertained a new craft: writing fiction. He decided that in a culture dominated by sound bites, reality TV, and the Internet, communicating through story could reach otherwise untapped audience. Taking some material on worldviews that he had planned to put into nonfiction form, he began writing Dinner with a Perfect Stranger. David's current study focuses on the postmodern worldview and how it intersects with the Christian conception of God, meaning in life, and the process of knowing (epistemology). He is currently writing his second novel. David lives in Texas with his wife and two children, where he works for a nonprofit organization.