My friend Brian

Brian has given me a lot of good press.
Who's Brian you ask?
Well you can get a pretty good idea by visiting his blog- bedrock3.blogspot.com. In that widely read blog you will find that he is a pastor with a heart to reach people in a non-traditional church setting and atmosphere.
He has also been my friend since second grade.
In school I always envied his intelligence. Brian made math look easy. He always comprehended stuff that made my head hurt. He had read books that were DEEP. You know, no pictures. We played basketball together in school, probably the only thing we had in common and it cemented our friendship. I was asked about doing Campus Life in Martinsville, which I accepted. If I recall correctly I asked Brian to help me, he accepted. Our first ministry.
My marriage was a product of him as his then girlfriend setting me up with a blind date. Four years later I was married.
After college Brian got a great job with IBM. I starting working for an industrial supply house.
I would talk with Brian once and awhile, and then...
I heard he was going to seminary.
Brian had grown up in a very traditional church, as did I. The only time he spoke about his church was to comment how the youth would sit in the balcony and goof off during the service while the adults struggled to pay attention. I think Brian saw the church as someplace that people went because they were just expected to. I think Brian wanted the church to be more than that, he wanted it to be alive, relevant to the community, a place were love and hope could be found.
He tried to pastor a traditional church, no dice. It seemed they were unwilling to change to broaden there reach. So he did the best thing I think he could have done.
He planted a church.
Talk about faith! Talk about fearless! Now he will tell you that he has had his moments when he wasn't so sure about it, but I'm also sure he would tell you the journey has never been dull.
He became the head of church planting for the midwest region in our denomination, were he works to help others plant churches.
Brian isn't perfect, like all of us he has his faults, but I still find myself envying him, not so much for his head knowledge (which is still WAY over my head) but for his heart and passion to reach people that have given up on the church.