Bustle in Your Hedgerow

New Blog

2009-02-09T10:11:00.000-08:00

200 is apparently my limit.

Check out www.bradleyjamesbryan.blogspot.com for a more frequent, less ranting blog.

Signing off of the Bustle,

Brad

200th Post!

2008-12-30T12:30:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!

My Favorite Year

2008-12-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

Sitting around today with my parents, watching 3 episodes of MASH of course, I began to realize that, except the second week of December, 2008 has been my favorite year ever.

Here's why.

Music: It was an unbelievable year for new rock music. Fleet Foxes, Cold War Kids, Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, TV on the Radio, Blitzen Trapper, Death Cab for Cutie, Guns N' Roses, Bob Dylan all top my list for the year. But the prize has to go to the return of the metal militia...Metallica is back baby! AND I got to see them this year. On a personal note, I came to realize this year that I'm a pretty dang good songwriter.

Movies: This year brought us Iron Man, an actually good Hulk movie and, of course, The Dark Knight, the greatest super hero movie ever made and my favorite movie of all time.

Education: After a little hiccup, I actually had the best and most educational year I've ever had at St. Paul this year. Thanks to Drs. Douglas Powe, Harold Washington and Robert Martin for giving us even a little glimpse into your intellect and passion.

I got to be in my bro-bro Mustoe's wedding.

My cousins, Nate and Matt, got engaged and my cousins, Amanda and Brad, had a beautiful baby girl.

I preached at Missouri United Methodist Church, a place that's very special to my family, IN FRONT OF MY FAMILY. And then spent the week with the whole Bryan clan. At the service, we all were blessed by being involved in the baptism of my nephew Braeden.

I realized I might be actually good at tennis.

After the break-in, I was overwhelmed to discover just how surrounded and cared for I am by the people in my life. And, just how much my congregation does actually love and care for me.

I had most of my clothes, my computer, my iPod and my acoustic guitars with me at the time of the break in. And, except for the drumset and electric guitar, every playable instrument has already been replaced by friends.

I made and strengthened relationships with amazing, incredible people, from NE, KS and IA all the way to the UK. I don't dare attempt to list the names of the people who have touched my heart and made my life so full this year, but thank you all.

Remember when we elected Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States? That was awesome!

And, most of all, I asked the most beautiful and amazing and caring and loving and laughing person to be my wife...on top of a Rocky mountain! I have never in my life smiled like I did when I asked her. She told me that, but she didn't need to 'cause I could feel it myself. Vee, I am so proud, so happy, so freed, so complete, so lucky to have you in my life and to be blessed by being in yours.

So, yeah. Not a bad year. Although, 2009 doesn't look to shabby either. Have you seen that Wolverine trailer?

Peace, B

ps: oh yeah, and the whole graduation, commissioning, marriage thing...but, my God, Wolverine's coming in May!!!

Newsworthy/Outpouring

2008-12-21T22:09:00.000-08:00

I know it's not the Kansas City Star or the United Methodist Reporter, Andy, but my recent...um...happenings made the Saint Joseph News-Press this Sunday morning.

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/dec/21/ministry-goes-two-ways/

Also, the outpouring of support continues:

Mandolin from a congregant.

Ukelele and lap dulcimer and stack 'o movies from our friend Paul.

Keyboard promised from Dad's church.

And Lindsey, love of my life, got me a new djembe (hand drum) for Christmas.

These gifts and a sizable financial gift from my church AND several from individuals have been a wonderful overwhelming blessing.

I am surrounded by amazing people.

Community

2008-12-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

This week I experienced community, in its true form, its purest state. I was and am overwhelmed by the power of community.

Tuesday evening at 7:30, I was on the 5th page of 15 pages on my last paper of my second to last semester of seminary ever. I had reached that first point in writing on a roll. I was picking up speed and could see my way to the end, and I was proud of my work. Then my landlord called.

My neighbor had called my landlord and told her my backdoor was standing open and all my lights were on. I gave my landlord permission to go in. She sent her husband and he called me back. Yes, my door was open. Yes, my lights were on.

I didn't really care that much until he said, "Did you have a drumset?"

My house had been robbed. The phrase broken-in-to implies that something was broken. But it was not. There are two doors on the back of my building: one downstairs that leads to the laundry downstairs and to my apartment upstairs, where the second door is. Sometimes, I don't lock that second door after taking the dog outside, since the back door is supposed to be locked and only the people from the building have the key. So, robbed is the right word. They were there for awhile, and took some strange things.

I was stuck in KC. I was on the phone with the police and the bank, my friends were frantically looking up professors' home and cell phone numbers, and Lindsey was on the phone with her mom and my parents. I paced. I was put on hold by the bank and "Roll to Me" was the song they chose to play. First of all, this is a horrible song, the opposite of rock and roll. Second of all, it starts with the words "Look around your world pretty baby, Is it everything you hoped it would be?" I'm calling the fraud division of my bank to put a hold on my account because someone just stole my check book. NO! Stupid, my world is NOT everything I hoped it would be.

I was frantic. My friends were frantic and did not know what to do or how to do it. (Even though they did exactly what I needed them too). My friends in class found out on facebook and wanted to do something but couldn't. They offered to go with me to Saint Joseph. I went to Lindsey first.

I wanted to be there. I couldn't think beyond that point. I couldn't think about my final papers and project still due, couldn't think about getting Lindsey to the airport in the morning. I just needed to be there. So, we drove and our friend Justin met us there.

I had to be there, but I shouldn't have gone. DVDs, DVD shelves, DVD player, Stereo, one Pioneer speaker, Bart Simpson talking doll, air matress pump (not air matress), 30 tshirts, long sleeve tshirts, dress shoes, dress shirts, all my ties but one, blazers, polos. Gifts from Lindsey: rain stick, wooden African xylophone, antique hammer dulcimer, castenets, turle shaped guiro, mandolin, ukelele, antique metal djembe. Other instruments: electric guitar, amp (gifts from my parents), keyboard, both of my other djembes, and one six-piece, cherry red, Pearl Stage Custom drumset, with Zyljian KZ high hat cymbals and Sabian crash and ride. They took my drums.

They looked on a top shelf in the closet, brought down a box marked "Children's Nativity Set", didn't stop to think about looking inside, and took the present I bought for Lindsey for Christmas.

They looked on my desk, saw the plaque that reads "Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, in all the ways you can..." and picked up the air matress pump that was plugged in next to it.

They took my drums.

We made a police report. Not optimistic. We cleaned up the house. That helped.

Lindsey loves me enough to give me what I need even though its the opposite of what she would choose. I needed to be alone. Lindsey hated that idea, but loves me to the point that she gave me the space I needed. I stayed up, alone, thinking, praying, reading (they didn't take my books), playing (they didn't take my/dad's guitar, it was with me) 'til four or so and drifted off.

Next day: teachers' gave me an extension, Lindsey was in New Mexico and my friends wanted to know if the party I had planned for Wednesday night as an end of the semester party was still on. I assured them that it most certainly was. Called my DS, Steve Cox and he told a story of being robbed and the robbers not taking anything, so he felt violated AND lame. He knew how to talk to me in that moment. Talked to my dad and he told a story of his mom and dad being robbed in Lincoln. Talked to my sister and she was robbed in Warrensburg. Dad offered the big picture, Stephanie, my sister, offered to watch eBay for my stuff.

Then, I fell down the stairs on campus. I wanted to break down in that moment. Wanted to punch something, break something. Wanted to cry. That was too much. I decided to go to Saint Joseph early. My friends said they had something before we went. So, on our way out, we stopped by their rooms. My friend Mike handed me a dvd player with a surroud sound system. My friend Jamie hands me three of my favorite movies. My friend Zach hands my a bottle of homemade peppermint schnapps. I can't decide which I'm more thankful for.

So, we had the party. I was surrounded by my friends, by my community. I wanted Lindsey there, but it was good.

Next day: went to the bank to change my account. When I first told Mary why I needed to do so, she said nothing and went on with the transaction. A few minutes passed, and quietly, handing me my new checkbook she said, "People are just getting desperate," and my anger went away.

My neighbor noticed (first) and didn't ignore (second).
My landlord left his family dinner table to check on my things.
My friends gathered 'round me, sprang into action when I asked for things, were silent when I needed them to be, hugged when I needed them.
Lindsey called everybody she could and got in the car with me because I needed to be there.
Justin got in his car because I needed a friend there too.
My DS knew how to talk to me.
My family rallied with support and love.
And Mary from the bank said exactly what I needed to hear.

Community. In the end, that's all there is. Relationship, community, the people.

When community can be so strong in the midst of losing everything, you realize that community is the only thing.

Thank you all.

B

Hiest

2008-12-10T12:40:00.001-08:00

My apartment in Saint Joseph was robbed. Cleaned out. DVDs, stereo, drums, ALL OF THEM, drumeset, djembes, rainstick. Electric guitar, amp, keyboard, ukelele, mandolin. Clothes, shoes, dress shirts. Maybe 50% of the presents Lindsey has gotten me over the years, and the present I got for her this year.

I feel so...I dunno. More later.

Chinese Democracy

2008-11-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

Axl Rose is a pre-madonna. Axl Rose is a whiny, self-absorbed, childish diva.

But here's the thing. Axl Rose is also one of the great lead singers ever, maybe the best alive today. That's right, you heard me. Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, both still alive; but, Plant doesn't want to sing Zeppelin anymore and Jagger's just too old. Regardless, Rose is one of the best.

I was 10 years old when the last Guns N' Roses album was released. 16 years later we have been giving the gift of Chinese Democracy. It's good. Not 16 years good. Not Pet Sounds good like Axl apparently was shooting for. But it's a great rock record.

But it's not a Guns N' Roses record. Without Slash playing the leads, there is no Guns N' Roses.

What Chinese Democracy really does is show the Nickelback's and Hinder's of the world what a rock lead singer is supposed to do. What rock singing is supposed to sound like. (God, when will people learn that Nickelback is the opposite of music)

If it were called Axl Rose's School for Rock Singing, maybe it would have been great. But, as a Guns N' Roses album, it's just pretty good.

Glad to be back, B

The Perfect Storm

2008-11-24T13:16:00.001-08:00

Adulthood can be delayed, but not avoided.

A perfect storm happens, as in the underrated film of the same name, when two or more powerful weather systems collide and join forces.

In a total span of five weeks, May 15th to June 25th, I will 1) graduate from St. Paul School of Theology, 2) be married to Lindsey and 3) be commissioned as an provisional elder in the United Methodist Church.

I have been a student for 20 of my 26 years. This is part of the delaying of my adulthood; going straight from a high school student to a college student to a graduate student. I don't know how NOT to be a student. I don't mean the kind of life-long, everything's a lesson kind of learning. I don't know what it looks like to not be enrolled in school. And, because of a few past mistakes, I have a more-than-full load of courses all of which require exemplary performances between now and diploma time.

The pressures and stresses of simply planning a wedding aside, becoming a married person is the biggest thing I've ever done with my life. I am thrilled to have Lindsey in my life and to be a part of hers, and I am ready to give my whole self to her. But, its stressful enough when two lives become one, two houses, two families, two bank accounts, two places to spend the holidays; add to that the uncertaintanty of an itinerant pastor's life, of really not knowing where our first house as a couple is going to be until weeks before we're married, and the unfair expectations placed on pastors' spouses by congregations, pastors, cabinets and bishops. And, lurking behind the scenes and far ahead in the future, is the thought of fatherhood, of starting a family. I want to be a father, but I'm still a child.

Commissioning should mean answering God's call in my life to serve the least, last and lost, becoming part of a tradition, both ecclessial and familial, of life devoted to the love of God and neighbor. Unfortunately, commissioning means paperwork, interviews and stress. I go into this process wanting to be true to myself and to my theology that has been formed through 26 years of experience and study, but also terrified of saying the one wrong thing that will end this journey. I go into this process meticulously parsing each syllable of my answers to the Board, not to gain a better self-understanding and be better prepared for ministry, but so I'll pass the test. Commissioning means, probably, a new full time position and while I know the cabinet and the bishop strive with every appointment to consider the gifts and graces of each pastor, the needs and contexts of each congregation and the lives of each family, they can still send me, and Lindsey, anywhere. Anywhere! Not only do I feel called to ministry in Kansas City, my future spouse, the woman to which I'm willing to give my whole self, is succesful here and has worked hard for 12 years to get where she is. And they could send us anywhere? When I take my vows I will affirm and support the itinerant system of the United Methodist Church, just like I will follow the church's stance on ordination and marriage of homosexual persons for as. But that won't mean that I will suddenly stop thinking that our church structure, system and stances are in need of serious reform or stop hoping to be a part of that reformation.

Graduation May 15th. Wedding May 23rd. Annual Conference June 6th. Appointments June 28th. The Perfect Storm.

Let me be clear:
My seminary education has been an overwhelming blessing. The people it has brought into my life, the people with which I have been able to learn, the growth and fruition of an identity as a pastor. Unbelievable stuff.

I love Lindsey with all of my heart, I am ready to be her husband, I thank God everyday for the love, challenge, support, guidance, comfort and laughter that she brings me. I could not be more excited to become Bradley James CoreyBryan, as confusing as that may be to the people who already get my name wrong.

I am prepared and excited, bursting at the seems actually, to begin the next phase of God's ministry in my life. Simply being allowed to preach and teach and sing the love of God in Jesus Christ, to care for the children of God and to be a part of creating the kingdom of heaven on this earth (no, I don't mean bringing about war in Israel, Pastor Hagge) is an astonishing, awe-provoking, embarrassing, overflowing joy.

Sometimes joy can be terrifying. Especially for a shoe-gazer like me.

I hope this sheds some light on my blogging absence as of late. There's been some other things on my mind.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. I am thine and thou art mine. So be it. Whatever may come, so be it.

Peace, B

The Case for Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2008-10-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

On the previous Halloween blog, I claimed Silence of the Lambs as the best horror movie of all time. Since then, I've watched, again, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Here is the case for TCM being the best horror movie ever.

1. It starts creepy, stays creepy, ends creepy. From the start, with flashbulb shots of decomposing body parts, high strings and clashing cymbols soundtrack and shot of the sun as an object of forboding instead of comfort, TCM creates an atmosphere of creepyness and uncomfortableness that grabs you and doesn't let go. The disturbing images, music and, of course, plot, continue throughout. And we end with the classic shot of Leatherface dancing in the street waving his chainsaw around and the girl's eyes that glimmer with insanity.

2. It's scary, but mostly disturbing. There are moments in TCM that make you jump and scream and grab on to the person next to you. But, most of all, you can't get it out of your head. It disturbs you, disrupts your sleep, ruins road trips. Case in point: yes, the first time Leatherface jumps into frame, hits the guy over the head, drags him back and that great stainless steal door slides shut, you jump and scream in fright. But, the image of mostly-dead Grandpa sucking the cut finger of the protaginist, the couch made of bones or even the watch with a nail through hanging from the tree get stuck in your head and don't come out.

3. The filmmaker, Tobe Hooper, trusts in the capacity of the audience's imagination. You see the hook, you see Leatherface pick the girl up, but you don't see the hook go in. You see the chainsaw move toward the gut of the person, but you don't see the cuts being made. You don't need to; your imagination will come up with something worse than the director could show you. (Hostel, Saw, I'm looking at you!)

4. The girl gets away. She is not saved by anyone, she doesn't save anyone herself (like Jessica Biel saving the baby in the remake), she just gets away. Sure, she's completely driven insane by her experience. But, sometimes that's all we can ask , just to get away with our lives. And there's no stupid set up for a sequal, just a girl in a truck and a maniac dancing in the street with a chainsaw.

Thus, with its reliance on the deep dark disturbing recesses of our own imaginations and its creepy-crawly mood, from images to camera work to music, Texas Chainsaw Massacre could be the best horror movie ever!

Pleasant Dreams, B

The Raven

2008-10-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.`'

Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door
-Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating`'
Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.
'Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."
'But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!
'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!
'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?
'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!
'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Happy Halloween, Brad

Are You Scared?

2008-10-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

What makes a great horror movie? The antagonist? The protagonist? The make-up effects? The music? The answer is yes.

I love horror movies. I'm not quite an afficionado, but I know my stuff. So, in honor of Halloween, the wonderful time of year when even American Movie Classics plays Friday the 13th 4, the one that Jason isn't even in and the killer is actually Cory Feldman (what?), here's my offering of horror movie rules, winners and losers.

There's basically three types of horror movies: nightmare inducing, movie-theater-scream-inducing and vomit inducing. The all have their merits and their crown jewells. For my money, the nightmare inducing horror flick is the best. The villian you see in your dreams for weeks after watching is better than getting scared a few times in the theater by a villian you barely remember.

For years, the golden age, the nightmare genre ruled. In the 90s, Scream ushered in a new era of the, well, scream-inducing movies. And the 2000s gave us the wonder of Saw that introduced the bile-moving horror flicks. With every good revolution comes backlash of course: punk movement gave us Good Charlette, Nirvana led to, ugh, Puddle of Mudd. And Saw, an excellent horror movie, led us to the point of watching plotless, gruesome torture movies. Sitting in a theater watching a man get castrated, by rusty scissors OR vagina dentata (see Teeth), is not scary, its gross.

No, my friends, I am a traditionalist. Its the movies that get into your head, that haunt your dreams, that are true horror movies. They may not be "scary" in the theater, you may not jump out of your seat and grab your seatmates arm in shock, but you can't get them out of your head. Reagen in the Exorcist, Michael Myers in Halloween, Jack Torrence in the Shining. These are the faces I see in my nightmares. Not the goofy knife-weilding killer from Scream.

Alright, my argument for the best horror movie of all time: Silence of the Lambs. Not a horror movie. Bullshapoopi. Sure, there's no ghosts, no zombies, no monsters, nothing supernatural at all. But, sit down by yourself, in the dark, turn off the phone, no interruptions, and then try, just try I DARE you, to not see Hannibal Lector's eyes in your dreams for weeks to come. Try not to hide your face from the screen in the climatic night-vision scene. Try not to hear Hannibal's voice when you close your eyes. In terms of sheer nightmare inducing, horror movie power, you don't get better than Hannibal the Cannibal.

Enjoy Halloween, watch scary movies, visit haunted houses.

It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again, B

Midterm Papers

2008-10-12T19:28:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the recent break. I've been working on midterm papers, getting a passport, filling out charge conference paperwork, writing a sermon series, finalizing reception plans, etc. etc. etc.

Be back soon. Peace, B

To Set at Liberty Those who are Oppressed...(HBI warning-hot button issue to follow. please read and discuss)

2008-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

...with Liberty and Justice for All.

Fighting for justice and against oppression is what we're SUPPOSED to do, right? As Christians, as Americans, as Humans. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, right? Is there anybody who doesn't agree with that?

Liberating the oppressed, reaching out and responding to the marginalized, showing hospitality and kindness to the outcast, is how Jesus defined his own ministry and the kind of ministry to which he called the disciples.

Instead, certain people in certain churches in certain contexts have decided, and continually decide, to be the oppressers. I'm trying not to generalize. I recognize and affirm the individualilty and particularity of each human person.

But there are A LOT of people who seem content with their oppression, even comfortable with it, even proud of it. Building fences, building fences to bolster the fences, denying people communion, denying people the right to worship where, when, how, to whom/what, they please.

Here it is, folks. I have to say it. It might trouble some of you, it might get me in trouble. But right now, I have to say it:

1. Saying that women don't have the right to preach is oppression.
2. Saying that homosexual persons don't have the right to preach or marry or even become members of a church is oppression. And a church, say the United Methodist Church, that does not allow ANYONE to preach and proclaim the gospel is a participant in oppression.
3. Denying anyone communion EVER is oppression.
4. Thinking your tradition's baptism is better or, um, more official, is oppression.
5. Building fortified fences on our borders is oppression.
6. Calling to claim English as America's official language is oppression.

The ultimate oppression is the idea that one person, one group of people, one tradition, one nation can have complete and sole ownership of truth (or of God, which might be six and one). If you (I) ever, in any way, think you (I) are (am) better than anyone else or have a clearer understanding of the mysteries of life than anyone else, you are (I am) wrong and you are (I am) oppressing.

The questions:
1. Knowing this, saying this, believing this, how do we claim Jesus Christ as the way to salvation?
2. How do we show tolerance to the intolerant? Kindness to the unkind? Love to the hateful? Are we supposed to? Aren't we supposed to hate what it is evil and cling to what is good?
3. How do we teach "liberty and justice for all" to the affluent, the liberated, the powerful?
4. How are we, individually and collectively, participating in oppression and what are we doing, individually and collectively, to set at liberty ALL those who are oppressed?

The answer, always: grace.

Your friend, brother, partner, collaborator, Brad-owner of one microscopic atom in one grain of sand of the vastness of the truth of God.

An unexamined life is not worth living.

One for the Hip Column

2008-09-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

This week, my brother Andy, posted a punch-in-the-gut story from the Dispatch that said "Morningstar is a United Methodist Church, but it seems more like a hip, contemporary, evangelical church."

Well I think this is pretty hip. After 9-11, Bush's psuedo-gestapo homeland security agenga grew as fast and as out of control as a Bugs Bunny snowball rolling down a hill. It has now reached all the way to a place named, of all things, Friendship Park in San Diego. Friendship Park, for GENERATIONS before Bush, was a place for familes and friends to meet between Mexico and the United States and feel whatever community one can feel between the links of a fence. George Bush will now take away even that amount of contact. They're putting in another fence!

Well, one pastor, the one above, Pastor John Fanestil, has decided to offer whatever he can. He can't stop the administration from erasing the words from Lady Liberty, but he can preside over Holy Communion.

Every Sunday afternoon, Pastor Fanestil goes to Friendship Park and serves communion to families on both sides of the fence, helping them participate in the sacrament together by handing the bread and cup through the links of the fence.

This is true communion. What it is supposed to be. What it is supposed to mean.

Oh, and Pastor John Fanestil, he's a United Methodist. Count one for the hip, contemporary, evangelical column.

Brad

This Week's Poll

2008-09-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Wow. Six to Six between the Babe and Mickey. Two more days, who's it going to be?

The Call (LCP: long, church-related post warning)

2008-09-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

Over the next few months, as part of my continuing journey to ordination in the United Methodist Church, I will be asked over and over to explain, reflect, define my call to ministry.

My call has a spiritual aspect and a practical one that comes from growing up in a pastor's house. By spiritual call, I'm not one of those people who has heard God's voice in the back of his head (like, oh i don't know, telling the people that God wanted me to be president.) I don't deny some people's audial experience of God, it just didn't happen to me.

When I was 17 years old, my youth group at Schweitzer United Methodist Church in Springfield, MO, went on a fall retreat. We went to Camp Wilderness, or Wilderness Camp, a UMC sponsered camp in southern MO. During this retreat, during one of the private reflection and prayer times, I went out by the lake and sat down. I found myself asking the question, do you want me to be a minister? I couldn't think of anything else, the question just kept circling through my head. And, like I said, I didn't hear a voice, no one answered me, Charlton Heston didn't come down and say "Let my people go." But, when I asked that question, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace. A sense of right-ness. There's no way I can make anyone understand, but I think that's the way it's supposed to be. I just knew.

The practical side of my call came through the process that almost everyone goes through when they're 17 of just trying to find something to do with their lives. I knew I wanted to teach, I wanted to play music, I wanted to work with youth and children, I wanted to write, I wanted to speak, I wanted to help people, I wanted to work in mission and service. (And, being 17, I still wanted to be a rockstar drummer, so I did stay in bands throughout college) But, I watched my dad do all those things growing up. Everything I wanted to do, in one job. So, I decided I didn't have to pick one, I could do everything my heart was telling me I was supposed to do, as a minister.

And that same year, the spiritual call came as well, so I didn't look back. I applied to one college, got a full ride scholarship on the strength of my writing (which i subsequently got cut in half on the "strength" of my study habits), signed up as a religion major/sociology minor in my first week, assigned to my first churches before graduating and have been in the process ever since.

But, my call has evolved since then. The non-descript, fuzzy edges of "ministry" have become clearer. I believe I am called to urban ministry, to ministry in Kansas City proper, to ministry with young adults. I am not rural, I am not suburban. My gifts and skills and talents and call and culture are for city ministry. I want to be in ministry with urban young adults-the First Friday Art show crowd-the River Market concert crowd-the downtown loft crowd, but also feel called to be a part of homeless ministry, fighting the racial divisions in Kansas City, reaching the ever-growing international community of KC, bringing church back from the suburbs into the city, stopping the skyrocketing homicide rate, speaking out against the meth trade, etc.

Let me be clear: I am not denying the life-changing ministry that can be and should be done in rural areas or suburban areas or small towns. Or evaluating any one of them as better than the other. It's just not me, it's not my community, my context, my call.

Full discloser: I also LOVE Kansas City. I love the plaza, westport, 18th and Vine, Arther Bryant's BBQ, the Western Auto sign, Irishfest in Crown Center, yes even the Royals and Chiefs.

Of course, I also feel called to ministry within the United Methodist Church, which means I am part of an itinerant system that moves its pastors around on appointment basis and will be asked if I am willing to "go and serve where ever I am sent." The answer is yes, but i also feel called to be a part of reforming the 300 year old system of itinerancy. (i.e. what it does to families, what it does to smaller churches, what it asks of spouses, how it fits in our flat-earth, ditigal culture)

Finally, another piece of my call that has revealed itself more clearly through my seminary years, is the call to be a part of redefining what counts as worship, what worship looks like, how worship functions, what worship sounds like. As I told my DCOM board, my personally ideal worship style doesn't exist: my sanctuary would look more like a theater and my service would look, feel, and sound more like a rock show. I don't want a praise band, I want a professional level band that plays smart, poetic, powerful, iconic (directs one through to connection with God), and, most of all, MUSICALLY SOPHISTICATED worship music. -Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, Here I am to Worship, Open the Eyes of my Heart, and especially *shudder* Jesus is My Friend, don't count. In addition to bringing these things into the sanctuary, I also want to bring worship outside the sancutary. Art shows, concerts, experiencing nature, literature, a good meal, anything in all God's creation can connect us to the Creator God.

This is my call, as I see it, as I feel it. I pray that we all constantly search for the ways in which God is speaking to us and calling us in to ministry (everyone, not just pastors). A call is NEVER defined, it is always changing, always growing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal,
Brad

Dear Bishop, Cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry,

2008-09-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Background: In the United Methodist Church we go through an extensive process of discernment and preparation toward becoming ordained as an Elder in Full Connection. It's called candidacy.

To whom it may concern:

The process of candidacy should be a grace-filled time of personal reflection and discernment, of celebrating that myriad ways God calls people into ministry and the diverse gifts that each of us have been given. It should be affirming, strengthening, growth-inducing.

Sitting around the lunch table at St. Paul School of Theology today, I heard a sadly common story of a recent candidacy interview with a District Committee of Ordained Ministry. The interviewee was spoken to condescendingly, broken down, beaten up, actually insulted and eventually not allowed to be certified a candidate because he was too intellectual. The person was treated as an inferior. He was told that teaching was not a job pastors were supposed to do. He was told that instead of entering into a conversation with a troubled youth, he was supposed to tell them God loves them and give them a hug, and then shown by one of the committee members what a hug looks like. He was asked how old he is, 23, and told that he has some more learning to do and to come back in a few years, delaying even further the age in which he could ever become an ordained elder. He was asked a question by one committee member who then immediately left the room to answer a cell phone call and told to answer to the committee. He was told, basically, that he was wrong, that he needed to get right, and that right meant the opinion of the committee.

I have typed for too long and too much about this. This is not the exception, this is the common experience of my friends and colleagues. One friend will not be commissioned this year, not because he is not eligible and certainly not because he is not ready, but because the district committee lost his paper work. One person who mentioned the desire to transfer conferences was told by the conference she would be leaving that she could leave, but don't expect to be welcomed back.

There is so much that the process of candidacy should be, so much that it should accomplish, so much ministry that it should build, so many gifts that it should affirm and strengthen and explore. Unfortunately, a grace-filled, affirming, collaborative, learning, diversity-celebrating, conformity-avoiding, empowering experience with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry and the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry is the exception, not the rule.

I don't want to draw lines. I don't want to talk about us and them. I don't want to speak for young adult clergy, or candidates of all ages. But, the stories are piling up.

As I prepare to answer questions for commissioning in the United Methodist Church (the very same questions, btw, that I have answered twice a year for 8 years now), I should be excited about the freeing process of self-reflection, looking forward to working in collaboration with the Board and my mentor to become the best possible pastor I can be, I should be examining my own gifts for ministry, lifting them up, strengthening them, sharing them with others.

Instead, the only thing I feel is fear. Will I pass or not?

Dear Bishop, Cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry,
We need to fix this and we need to include the voices of the people GOING THROUGH IT in order to do so. There is so much more that this process could be.

Dedicated to answering God's ever-changing, life-changing call on my life,
Reverend Brad Bryan

Three Completely Unrelated Topics

2008-09-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

On the way in to Kansas City this afternoon for my week of school, I passed three large pickup trucks with three large bumper stickers on them. The first read, "I Love My Carbon Footprint."
The second one said, "Piss off a liberal, buy a gun," with a picture of a handgun in the middle of the words. The third one, my personal favorite, "Suckin' Gas n' Kickin' Ass!" God bless America.

I've heard the new Metallica album and I believe that while Death Magnetic can't compare to Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightening, it definately approaches ...And Justice for ALL, and clearly surpasses the Loads and St. Anger. (Only a few of my readers will understand what that meant!) Here's the thing about Metallica: the only way to rank or critique a Metallica album is to compare it to OTHER Metallica albums. That's how you know the band is huge.

On a more serious note, SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. There's no "may" or "might" left on the box anymore. It simply says, SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. There's a powerful and difficult article in this week's Newsweek about how we're losing the fight against cancer. 1 in 2 men will get cancer at some point. 1 IN 2!!!! Sure, most of that is prostate. But, men who get prostate cancer aren't participating in an activity that knowingly causes it.

I started smoking when most of us started doing the things in our lives that hurt us, college. I smoked cigarettes for five years, and got down to the occasional cheap gas station cigar and the very occasional expensive cigar shop cigar. But, then occasionally turned into any time I was out with people. Then, any time I drove anywhere.

Why do we do the things we do to ourselves? Sorry, that was a little judgemental. Why do I do the things I do to myself? It's not just smoking either. It's eating. It's not working out. It's not studying like I should. Why? Why can't I stop the voice of selfish justification that always makes it ok to have that one next cigar? That comes up with a perfectly good reason to go to Taco Bell at 2:00 in the morning!

Well, as far as the smoking is concerned, I'm done. For good. Never, never again. If you ever see me with a cigar in my hand, slap me in the face. I'm done. It causes cancer stupid.

Taco Bell will be a harder battle.

Peace, B

The Times They Are A-Changin' (sort of)...

2008-09-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

My brother, http://www.entertherainbow.blogspot.com ,has finally graced the world with an opinion on the current political race that no doubt will inspire a few others to blog there own reflections on the conventions, campaigns and coverage. I know it made me want to talk about it.
I'm no Fareed Zakaria or Jonathan Altar, but here goes. LRP warning: this will probably be a longer post that will ramble at times, so get some coffee and find a comfortable chair.

In Andy's first warning he mentions the misnomer (sp?) that pastors are not to have, or at the very least, express their political opinions. Of course, the pulpit is no place for politics but in an informed, civil conversation, why should pastors be expected to be apolitical? We're people, too! (was that whiney?)

Okay. Both camps say we're heading in the wrong direction. Both camps say we need a change in Washington. Both camps use the same evidence to support the need for change. both camps have seemingly interchangable mantras of Yes We Can or Change We Can Believe In or I Believe in a Better Way (kudos to Barack for using a Ben Harper song and not anything by ABBA)

Here's the thing. We thought change was coming two years ago when the democrats regained voting power in the Senate. The new government has, largely, failed to change anything.

The whole system is so entrenched that its hard to believe that any one person or administration will change it all that much. I believe this election year has started a process of changing the ways of Washinton, one that won't fully be developed until i'm an old man, say 37. Obama's not going to ride in on a white steed and throw out all the lobbyists, get the dems and rebs to sit down and smoke the peace the pipe. McCain, voting with Bush 90% of the time, is certainly not going come in guns blazin' and say "the Maverick's in town, this town ain't big enough for partisan politics." It's not going to happen. Things will change simply because different people will be in office. But the lobbies aren't going away, the never-ending campaign culture isn't going away and the 50/50 split isn't going away. As long as money's invovled, as long as special interests are invovled, as long as reelections are invovled, it'll be Washington as usual.

(here's the rambling part) About this Muslim thing. I want to make perfectly clear: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT, HAS NEVER BEEN, AND NEVER WILL BE A MUSLIM. But here's a question, why does it matter? In 2008, are we really still that obtuse and arrogant and ignorant to believe that a Muslim person couldn't be the cheif executive of the United States. Our nation, founded on the priciples of religious freedom (to name one), has officially seperated church and state. It shouldn't matter. neither candidates faith should be an issue. But it is. I praise both candidates for distancing themselves from the crazy Christian supporters that came out of the woodwork. Jeremiah Wright, James Haggee, Dobson, Robertson. James Dobson actually called on the members of Focus on the Family to pray for rain during Obama's speech. How very Christian of you! And then there's Rick Warren. Get them on the same stage, ask them the same questions, and let your worshippers make up their own damn minds. Thank you, Pastor Warren. They shouldn't have had to campaign in a church in the first place, but such is our country, and you handled it well.

I don't want my PODUS to have time to go to church. I don't want my president to bring religion into every decision. I do want them to have hearts of compassion, mercy and justice. Every religion on earth shares these tenants, and oh, atheists can be compassionate too. It shouldn't matter.

OK. No turning over the tables of the money-changers, no great hope for change, we covered the religion thing. What else?

Can we talk about Sarah Palin for a second? She's an intelligent, successful person who cares about her family and the people she's been elected to serve. But has there ever been a more rediculously transparent political move? It's like the GOP is saying, "Hey Hilary supporters, this person has boobs too, vote for her now." And it turns out, it's been kind of a political train wreck. Where's that 200 million dollar check from the federal government for the project that was cancelled? You know, the one you supported until the US government scrapped it and ONLY THEN did you agree it was a bad idea? Cindy McCain? Closest state to Russia? What?! How does being governor of a state with a population smaller than the city in which Obama honed his political chops prepare you to be a heartbeat away from the PODUS? It's insulting, is what it is. It's an insult to our intelligence. (and, I agree with Obama and McCain that family should be off limits, but just think for a minute what would happen if the tables were turned. If Obama had a 17 yr old daughter who was having a baby. What a field-day that would be for the GOP?)

Speaking of Hilary supporters, get over it! How many times does Hilary herself have to say she supports Obama for you to listen.

Now, the coverage. Journelistic integrity died when 24 hour news stations were born. Just like video killed the radio star, 24 hour news killed the unbiased, factfinding reporter. I go to www.bbcnews.com for my election coverage. "A lot of people are going to pre-supposed such and such, so let us be the first to presuppose such and such." The best politcal news team? Come on, people, this isn't 7th grade. In a political knowledge poll, people who got their news EXCLUSIVELY from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report scored 20% higher than people who watched the real news. Karl Rove as a political analyist? Oh yeah, that should be totally unbaised.

Alright, here it is. The ultimate faux-pah (sp?). Don't talk about religion or politics. But, here it is. I am supporting, voting for, hoping for Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead the next administration of the United States. Primarially for their promise to find a reasonable end to the war in Iraq. I'm not naive enough to take a campaign promise without a large grain of salt, but we have to get out of Iraq and I think Obama has a better plan than McCain.

And finally, I leave you with the same pessimistic hope as my brother. That politics itself will change. That the constant, junior-high bickering will stop, the campaign culture will stop, the lobbyists and speical interest groups will stop, the "this is why you shouldn't vote for these people" strategies will stop. That we can help the poor and oppressed, acknowledging the systemic failures that birth poverty and create opportunities for personal development and responsibility. That we can promote, encourage and work for peace while facilitating the security of all people. There is too much need in this world, too much violence in this world, too much hunger in this world for politics as usual.

I pray (yes, pray, i'm inserting my own religious views into politics) that we can come together and fight for the things that really matter.

Hopefully yours, Brad

www.procon.org
www.dividedwefail.org
www.bbcnews.com

This Week in "What The...?!?" News

2008-08-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yo.

Thanks for your comments on the last topic everybody and thanks for your kind, but misinformed, voting on the drummer poll. John Bonham is the best there's ever been and ever will be when it comes to rock drumming. Every one else who beats the skins, from Brad Bryan to Neil Peart, is just trying to play like him.

And now, onto business.

This week the LPGA announced that they were instituting an English language test to be given to all golfers. Hey LPGA, WHAT THE....?!?! This isn't even closet racism, its just racism. Ethnocentrism, arrogance, racism. Pure and simple.

One may wonder why the lady golfers association decided to start this new program. Because, and I want everybody to listen closely to this, too many Korean players are winning championships. Korean women dominate women's golf. Over 60% of tournaments played are won by a Korean woman.

Here's an idea, American golfers who have chosen systemic racism to solve your problem...PLAY BETTER GOLF!

In a sporting world in which the US Open, tennis, is dominated by Russians and the best men's players are Serbian, Spanish and whatever Federer is, in which the US Redeem Team won its gold medal over a Spanish team with four NBA players on its starting lineup and the best players in that league are from the Virgin Islands, Spain, China, Argentina and Canada, yes, Canada and a world that can nominate a half-white-Kansan, half-African, raised-in-Indonesia-and-Hawaii man named Barack for president, the LPGA, instead of globalizing and expanding has gone back in time to 1950s Mississippi. Get with the times LPGA and if you're tired of getting beat by the Koreans...uh, practice, practice, practice.

Flabbergasted,
Brad

ps: no offense meant, but if you still think Barack Obama is a Muslim, then I think you're kind of an idiot. (this is the exact thing Mom warned me about, but come on people!)

Question

2008-08-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Either I'm gearing up for another school year, or I have completely lost my mind. Either way, I opened St. Athanasius' book On the Incarnation the other night and read it cover to cover. In it, Athanasius makes the case for the divinity and humanity of Christ, the need for the incarnation and what it means.

Now, I'm an incarnation guy. Some people are baptism people, some focus on the cross, still others on the resurrection. Realizing that they all, of course, go hand in hand, the incarnation is the most important thing Jesus ever did in my opinion.

Like any good doctrine of incarnation, and therefore salvation, one must begin with the NEED of salvation. Why do we need saving? So, a question came to my mind reading Athanasius' account of original sin that lead to the incarnation and the salvation of all.

How does one form a sound doctrine of original sin while denying the act of the original sin itself? In other words, what's original sin without believing in Adam and Eve? And, maybe more important, does it matter?

I pose the question to the blogosphere...

Thanks, B

The Wesley Project

2008-08-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hey, everybody,

For the past couple of years, I've been writing new tunes to Charles and John Wesley songs from the United Methodist Hymnal. My friend Mark, http://www.stupidityensues.blogspot.com/, found out that this is actually a real thing done by a guy named Carl Thomas Gladstone. Check out http://www.carlthomasgladstone.com/wesleyproject.htm. I wrote mine completely unaware that this was going on, but its pretty cool. My big brother Andy has rewritten quite a few, as well. He says there's usually two types of Charles Wesley hymns, the "fight song" type and the organ opera that's way too hard to sing.

Here's the problem. Modern songs need a chorus. If you want a congregation to be familiar with a song and sing along, the song needs a catchy, easy-to-sing, memorable repeated section. The biz talk for this is the hook. The song needs a hook. Charles Wesley didn't write hooks, he didn't know what they were. So, you've got to find a line within the song to use as a chorus. "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God would die for me?" from And Can it Be that I should Gain, is a great chorus.

Another problem is the language. I don't change the thee's and thou's, I kind of like them. But, some words that rhymed when Charles wrote them, don't rhyme any more. And, the line above is actually shouldst die for me, but who wants to sing the word shouldst?

So, here's a little song list that I've got so far.

Maker In Whom We Live: This is the first one I wrote, and it sounds like it. A regular G, C, D praise song.

Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose: Never heard this one done in its original form. Probably a reason for that. The backward, Yoda speech of this one called for a reggae beat.

Praise to the Lord the Almighty: Not a Wesley song, but I'm pretty proud of this one because it uses not one, but TWO capos (that's right Mustoe, I did it, two capos) Ask your nearest guitar player what a capo is.

Christ Whose Glory Fills the Skies: A Pearl Jam-y slow rocker, needs a full band and a Ryan McLouth lead guitar line.

Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me: #183 in the UMC hymnal, a poem translated by John Wesley who called it the cry of his heart. I like this one.

O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done: A beautiful song about the passion of Christ. Naturally, I did this one as a blues song.

Christ the Lord is Risen Today: A St. Paul favorite and probably the most complex one. Andy, Ron and Joel sat in the back picking out the Pearl Jam section, the Dave Matthews Band part, the U2 bridge. Impossibly high pitched U2 bridge, why do I write music out of my own range?

Depth of Mercy: A clear Jack Johnson rip-off.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain (Amazing Love): The newest one. Just a classic rock song. Needs a full band to really be appreciated.

O For a Heart to Praise My God: An upbeat bluegrassy tune. Needs slide guitar and Mr. Clayton Peak on banjo. Actually had to write a chorus for this one.

Jesus Thine All Victorious Love: A bluegrass ballad. Screams for a fiddle part.

Jesus, United By Thy Grace: This one's for the boys of Blessed. A complete, exact rip-off of our 8-minute, four-chord jam.

I have some other arrangements of non-Wesley tunes: Holy, Holy, Holy. There's Within My Heart a Melody. Psalm 29. For the Beauty of the Earth.

There are passionate, powerful words in our hymnal. But, the music doesn't exactly speak to my generation. Looking forward to sharing these songs with you whenever I can.

Love, Peace and Rock n' Roll,
Brad

Shadows

2008-07-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

I've spent my life living behind some pretty wide shadows. Not physically wide, of course, my brother can play hide and seek with a 2x4. But, you know what I mean. In two weeks, these shadows come together in what I alternately refer to as the perfect day and the perfect storm, depending on the kind of day I'm having.

The Bryan family is gearing up for our first family reunion in years. And, like all family events, the reunion begins at church. On August 10th, I will be guest preaching at Missouri United Methodist Church in Columbia, MO. Not only will this be the largest congregation to which I preach, but included in this congregation will be Bishop Monk Bryan, Rev. Jim Bryan, and Rev. Andy Bryan. And, since the Bishop Bryan will be in attendance, there's a good chance that the Bishop Schnase will be there.

This is clearly the biggest preaching day of my career. And while my sermon has been written for quite awhile, this is the most nervous I have ever been before any particular proclamation.

Let us dwell in the shadows for just a moment.

It is difficult enough to be a younger child. By virtue of age alone, your older siblings get things done before you. They graduate sooner, get jobs sooner, have children sooner. But, my brother Andy is no ordinary older sibling. An honor student, actually a rediculous honor student that worked hard and loved school. A proficeint musician. A "well-behaved" kid. Just about everything a parent could want in a child. And, a hero. One of the most profound moments of my life is seeing my brother cry after returning from a vacation and learning that his dog, Jackie, had died in the kennel while we were gone. Seeing my Superman break down tore me down. But what I was too young to know then was that my brother, instead of proving himself not a man, was redefining for me what it is to be a man. I actually wrote an essay for english about it called "Does Superman have super-emotions, too?" Sometimes, I can resent my brother. The pride in our parents' face, and specifically Daddy Monk's (that's the Bishop, our grandfather) presence at his ordination service. The collection of communion plates and chalices that mostly come from Grandfather's collection. The fact that Daddy Monk wants Andy to have his old piano even though he already has one. But, always, I love my brother. I am proud to be his brother. And I want him to be proud of me. And, there he'll be on Sunday morning, hearing the word from me.

Then there's Dad. Everything I know about being a man, being a pastor, being a husband (in 300 days), comes from him. Dad is a well-known, well-liked, well-respected elder in the Missouri Conference. A delegate to General and Jurisdictional conference numerous times. Exceptionally successful for a pastor. I live to make him proud. And I'll be preaching from his pulpit in two weeks.

I don't really need to go very deep into explaining why having Monk Bryan for a grandfather can be hard. I'm preaching at his old church, where he is the pastor emeritus. He's been going to Annual Conferences for 90 years, he was bishop of Nebraska. He is HUGE in the United Methodist Church.

So, yeah, little Brad has had a lot of shadows to deal with. I dream of the day that I can introduce myself at Annual Conference as Brad Bryan. Not Andy's brother, or Jim's son. I can't wait to have an interview with the Board of Ordained Ministry (the folks that kind of hold my career in the palms of their hands) that doesn't start with "I knew your Grandfather".

But as I get older, the shadows that seemed to hide me, the one big giant carrot held out before me that it seemed I would never reach, have become the trusses that hold me up, my bulwark never failing. I am not my brother, nor my dad. Although I have learned from them, I am a very different person. And I know that no one expects me to be anybody but myself, but the shadows of legacy will always be there.

Our family has been blessed to be able to be involved in God's work for generations, but I, just like my father, will tell my children that under no circumstances should they become pastors.

I am proud of my family, I am proud to be a part of it. But, I want people to respect me, my gifts, and my call. In two weeks, at my father's current church, my grandfather's former church, with my brother doing music and my grandfather baptizing my sister's son, Braeden, I hope that I can show them, but mainly myself, that I can stand on my own two feet.

Monk, Cornielle, Glenn and Carmen's grandson, Jim and Caryl's baby boy, Andy and Stephanie's little brother, Cori, Wes and Braeden's uncle and Fiona's dad, Bradley James Bryan.

New Features

2008-07-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I know its nothing drastic or anything but I've made a few changes to the ol' blog. First, I feel I've lightened up a bit since I started the Bustle, so I'm lightening the color. What do you think?
Also, I have finally put up links to some other blogs. If your name is not Adam and you'd like a link here, just let me know. And finally, I've started the poll of the week feature. I love reading comments. But what's the one negative thing about reading comments? Reading, right. So, each week I'll ask a different question and poll all you wonderful people and then explain why your wrong! For a while, it will be different variations of "Who's the Greatest?" This week, guitar players.

Hope you like it.

BB

Curse Words

2008-07-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Alright Mom, I love you, but let's do this.

I curse. I curse around my friends. I curse around my colleagues. And I curse in ranting blogs when my acceptance of the stupidity of our humanity reaches a boiling point.

I don't curse around you, kids, my parishoners and my professional/educational superiors.

There's a button inside that automatically switches off the bad words when certain people are around. So, yes, America, I use curse words. Just like most EVERYONE else. Oh, and any youth group kids that know I have a blog, they curse when we're not around too.

I'm not afraid of people in my churches knowing that I sometimes use these words, I think the percentage of people whose opinion and respect for me as pastor would go down is quite small. But where I agree with my beautiful, wonderful, loving mother and her incessant "mom" comment after a particular lar (long, angry rant) is professionally.

I learned at this Annual Conference that a lot of people read my blog. A lot of people in the ministry life will come over through the link on my big bro's blog. And I've heard the argument that you should treat your online persona-blogs, facebook pages, etc.-as a constant resume and job application.

Well, if Bishop Schnase or any members of the cabinet spend 5 minutes of their day reading my personal, ranting, insignificant thoughts on this hard-to-find, purposely-misspelled drop in the ocean of the blogosphere, then welcome. This is who I am. Sometimes I use extreme language when my feelings on a certain subject are extreme. AND if they do stop by and see the occasional curse word or insult thrown Bill O'Reilly's way and it has a negative effect on my career, then...well...I don't want to be something I'm not to get a job. (hmm, that sounds like another l.a.r. directed at the UMC, making people be something they aren't so they serve in ministry!)

So yeah, I curse. Not in conversation. Not for no reason. I curse when I'm mad, frustrated or in pain. Like a human. And when people are being stupid, petty, greedy and selfish my language can get judgemental. Like a human.

Mother, I love you so very much. I live to make you proud. And I never want you to stop "mothering" me about my taxes and language and eating habits. But, maybe if you could stop doing it on the comments page for all my friends to read!!

Human...being,
Brad

Are You Ready for Some...Whiny, Spoiled, Overpayed, Greedy, Selfish Grown Men Acting Like Babies

2008-07-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, football fans, its that time of year once again. Our favorite teams are going back to work, getting ready to bring us quality football for another season. And then there's Devon Hestor, Chad Johnson, Plaxico Burress and other NFL players who are refusing to show up for team practices until they get more money in their contract.

In what fantasy world does this work. How do they not just get fired? This isn't a union, by the way, they aren't striking. They are unhappy with the contract THEY SIGNED and are holding out for more money. Any other job in the world, the boss would say, "alright, see ya, good luck."

These grown men, these professional athletes who get paid for playing a game better than the rest of us, just are satisfied with the millions of dollars they recieve for running fast and catching balls. They want more millions. They are greedy, selfish a-holes. Excuse me.

Hey, NFL contract hold-outs, you look rediculous. You're acting like babies. Shut the frack up and play football.

What if our doctors wouldn't operate until they got more money? And, on the other side of that same coin, they are so many more deserving people who SHOULD not go to work until they get more money: teachers, police and firefighters, soldiers, the men and women who build our roads, maintain our bridges.

These men aren't just playing their fiddles while the world is burning, they want gold-plated strings.

So, you whiny little brats, shut your mouths, take your millions, thank your gift horses, go to practice and PLAY!

I love football,
BB

Camp Jo-Ota 2008/Batman Review

2008-07-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

The extreme lameness of this post title is due to the myriad of possible titles floating through my head: "There's Still Mud in My Ears", "I Wanna Be like Mike", "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from a 12-yr-old named Kody", "The Most Exhausting Week of My Life", "B-Rad Jeezy", "Best Batman? Try Best Superhero Movie Ever", "Yeah, That's Right. Batman has Sonar Now". All equally potential titles.

So, first for camp. Thanks to Abby for asking me to be a counselor; it was a great week. Here's some highlights. Crazy Kickball/Mudpit night was thursday. First base: a bucket of water to dunk your head in. Second: a tarp full of cooked spaghetti, baked beans, chocolate and vanilla pudding with a mandatory slide rule. Third: A kiddie pool full of shaving cream. And home: the classic slip and slide. Awesome stuff. Still waiting for the sliding into home picture of me from Abby! Then we went to play around in the giant mud pit, tried to play some actual games but the communication skills of Sarge were, shall we say, lacking a bit, so we just had a free-for-all. The sight of our not-too-small everyjobman Donnie running at me through the mud is the scariest thing I've ever seen.

And then there was Mike. The 20-yr-old male model counselor whose only job was to make us chubby musically talented, movie geek counselors feel bad about themselves. Adam Fears and I gave him a pretty hard time all week, but it is out of pure jealousy. BUT THEN, when I said I could look like that by next summer Mike said, and I quote, "That's impossible." I request, Abby, that you have me back next year just to prove him wrong!

The conversations that 12 year old boys have late at night or in cabin time are simply astounding. We had politics, McCain vs. Obama, the true cause of the war in Iraq, how many of them had officially "made-out". But, especially enlightening was Kody. Ah, Kody. Kody is an expert on the origins of things like hotdogs (stolen from a guy in Italy and sold in front of Yankee stadium), an aspiring entomologist (the pegasus beetle has a horn like a unicorn) and a fishing pro (if you curve your hand into the water to mimic a feeding frenzy, the fish will come flocking). Thank you, Kody.

I'm still tired. I'm still sore from wrestling and throwing kids in the pool (sometimes six at a time) But it really was a wonderful week.

And now, to the main event. The Dark Knight. I'm going to talk about everything here, so if you care, read it after you've seen it. This is not only the best Batman ever, it is the best superhero movie ever made. Its dark, its powerful and its entertaining. Some reasons its the best ever? Sure. Batman's tougher than ever. He gets a new suit so he can turn his head and actually fight without the awkward turn-with-your-whole-upper-body moves of past Batman. He has freakin' sonar vision in his suit...redunkulous.

And then there's the Joker. The creepiest villian since lector and the best villian since Darth Vader. In one opening scene he says, "how 'bout a magic trick?" He sticks a pencil into the table and says he's going to make it disappear. When a thug comes up and tries to front on 'im, the Joker takes the guys neck and throws his head into the table, effectively making the pencil disappear into the guys face! Holy crap! The way he licks his lips, that voice, the way we never really know the real way he got those scars. Ew, creepy.

Other reasons: the damsel in distress gets blown to pieces, the final main fight is between Batman and the swat team not the Joker. And the questions! Can we be good in an evil world? Did Batman inspire good or inspire madness? Do we die a hero or live long enough to see ourselves become the villian? If given an impossible choice, what would we do? Does a hero have to play by the villian's rules to ever be victorious? Unbelievable. Batman, Joker, Two-Face, Rachael, Alfred, Comissioner Gordon, everyone was brilliant. Clearly, Heath should get the Oscar. His voice, his lip-licking tic, his eyes. Greatest bad guy performance in any movie...ever!

I've seen it twice already and it only gets better.

Well, there's an update from the summer of Brad. Coming up: family reunion, Lindsey's b-day, Jack Johnson.

Peace, B

Come To My Window

2008-07-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Melissa Etheridge,

I must begin by saying that I'm not really fan. It's no big deal; your stuff just isn't my stuff. But your obviously a brilliant song writer and seem like a great person. I want to talk to you about something you said in your Rolling Stone interview last month. I want to talk about it because in one sentence you rejected and affirmed everything I'm trying to do with my life. And I quote, "Religion is an oppresive form of crowd control, but what I understand now is the idea that we are all one, that we come from this one higher consciousness and that we are here to create the kingdom of heaven on Earth." You can probably guess what I'm going to say: I agree with the latter and reject the former.

Ms. Etheridge, I am an United Methodist pastor, a representative of religion, and I must apologize for the ways religion has been used in the past. Religion, as I understand it, is simply the search for a connection between humankind and the rest of creation to the divine. So, whatever, however, wherever, one connects to the divine, that's religion. And, again in my understanding, creating the kingdom of heaven on Earth is exactly what religion should be doing.

Your faithful friend,
Brad Bryan

I'm tired, my friends. Tired of the way secular society sees us. Tired of how Christians are portrayed in the media, tired of how Christians portray themselves on the street. This Melissa Etheride thing is really only the last straw. I first watched an episode of 30 Days that housed an Evangelical, anti-gay rights mother with a gay couple that had two adopted kids. While the gay couple seemed intelligent, open-minded and compassionate, the "good Christian woman" who wouldn't be moved or changed in any way seemed like an ignorant, hate-filled bigot. Since then, I've been watching the tv shows for portrayals of Christians and Christianity. We have Robertson of the 700 Club, we have John Hagee who says "God caused the Holocaust" (WHAT?!), Obama's former pastor with "God Damn America" from the pulpit. Last night on Nightline they interviewed a faith healer. A faith healer! What century is this? I'm not going to put a limit on how God works, or through whom, but as I listened to this man scream at me, scream, that Jesus wants me, I thought "this guy?"

Message to the secular world, those people who happen not to go to church, NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE CRAZY! Not all of us are hateful, ignorant, arrogant, spoiled brats. Yes, about half of us are against civil rights for homosexual people. But, that means half of us are for them! And even those people that I know who hold opposite positions than I on the subject, they don't object from a place of hate, they aren't hateful, bad people. Misguided and a little naive maybe, but not hateful.

In fact, Ms. Etheridge and the rest of you with a negative opinion of Christians, most of us are quite normal; intelligent, free-thinking, hard-working, fun-loving normal people. Like everyone else, we are trying to find our way in this world and through this live and we just happen to find meaning and purpose, love, hope and peace in the life and teaching of Jesus. I am sorry for the hateful and hurtful words and behaviors of some of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am sorry for how we have represented our tradition. I am sorry for people like Robertson, Falwell and Hagee who say things that are, frankly, just stupid.

And to all my normal Christian friends out there, stand up and be counted. People are laughing at us. The people we are supposed to be reaching. Stand up! Anyone who doesn't have all the answers, stand up. Anyone who's just trying to figure out why we're here, stand up. Anyone who knows that reading Harry Potter does not, in fact, turn children into witches and wizards, stand up.

It is time, brothers and sisters, to take Christianity back from the crazy people.
Love, peace, rock n' roll, Brad

Annual Conference 2008

2008-07-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

So, I've spent a full month reflecting on the 2008 session of the Missouri Annual Conference. The following few paragraphs are quite simply those reflections poured out into the blogosphere.

I first want to say a few words about the logistics of Annual Conference. We need to decide if the AC is a business meeting or an educational opportunity. Because attempting to make it both takes away from both. I am of the opinion that the AC should be strictly business and that we should strengthen minister's school which is supposed to be our educational opportunity. I admit that the planners and facilitators of AC have probably the hardest job in the state. But, the Conference should take the responsibility to make Minister's School a stronger and more productive time and stop trying to make AC be Minister's school. (Some of this has to do with not bookending Minister's School with other conference board meetings so that no one cares or has the energy for learning together)

OK, that's it for the logistics. Now for a little deeper reflection.

The question is not, my friends, "And Are We Yet Alive?" The question has become, "What Are We Living For?" Are we living to save the institution and corporation of the United Methodist Church? Or, are we living to serve the mission of God? Um, I'm going to go ahead and not answer that question; just putting it out there. Seriously, what are we, the United Methodist Church, living for?

I also learned that a lot of people read this blog; more people than I thought. Most of those people find me through Andy's blog I'm sure. So, Andy, I'd like this blog to reach some people. Perhaps you can link 'em my way. Thanks for reading, folks. I'm going to try and keep a more regular and meaningful blogging schedule.

I also learned that Matt Miofsky is my new hero. Matt, I was one of those people who was sick of hearing your name, talking about your church at every District and Conference event, seeing your picture in every issue of the Reporter. But then you go and do something like this...and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF. No formulas, no magic secrets, no books. Just community. Just culturally, personally, scripturally, ethically, spiritually relevant worship. But the best, nay the most profound, thing you said and I quote "We're doing fine with the new wineskins, but what is the new wine we are offering?" Fantastic. Amen. So say we all.

Staying with the theme of young adult pastors that I had at one point been tired of hearing about and now have an unmatched respect for: what Emmanuel Cleaver III did with the hip-hop worship service is EXACTLY my vision for a rock and roll worship service. The pillars of hip-hop around which the service is built, the culture to which it speaks, all of that can be done in the rock community. Electric guitars, tatoos, slam-dancing, its all the rock culture and needs to be spoken to by the church.

While I stand with my brother on the overall theme, attitude and success of this year's Annual Conference (the theme of "you guys suck and why can't you do it like this") I am trying to stay more positive, so I want to talk about the best thing of the weekend. If we needed any proof that EVERYTHING we know about church is wrong and EVERYTHING we're doing is on the wrong path, it was the choir of orphans from Uganda that sang and danced for us and shared their overflowing joy. First of all, the choir started BEFORE the actual session started so a lot of people missed it. But as they were singing and dancing and telling their stories, I turned to my brother and said those words, "Everything we're doing is wrong." When's the last time you were joyous in worship? Or joyous anywhere? Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, my brothers and sisters in Christ for opening your souls to us and opening my eyes to my own.

The best and holiest conferencing that happened: in the back, conversing with my friends, Joel Kidwell, Michael Dunlap, Richard Fine, Dennis Harper, EC3, David Hutchison and all the others. Thanks for sharing your time with me.

What are we living for? Are we living for the survival of the institution of the United Methodist Church? Are we growing because if we don't we'll die? Or are we living to simply serve the mission of God in this world, EVEN IF, that mission means the death of the denomination?

What good is a man who won't take a stand, what good is a cynic with no better plan? I believe there's a better way.

Brad

ps; to whom it may concern, can we PLEASE not have some megachurches anonymous boring praise band play our opening worship? And can we PLEASE have more worship? My better plan...uh...ME! I'll play, I'll play, I'll play.

At the Movies

2008-06-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

I just know that the world is dying to know all of my wonderful ideas about recent motion picture activities so here goes.

We're gonna focus on three movies, Indy, the Hulk, and Iron Man, and I am going to talk about the endings so, if you care read on, my friend.

First, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Eh. It's alright, not great. Here's the thing. Harrison Ford was awesome, Indy's back. It's Speilberg and Lucas that screwed the pooch on this one. The writing, Lucas, wasn't great. Plot, eh. And the directing, Speilberg, too much computer. What was great about the first movies was that when Indy was being dragged behind a truck, Indy was being dragged behind a truck! And now there's sword fights straddling two jeeps and some weird Tarzan moment swinging through the trees with the monkies, both clearly CGI. And, do I really need to talk about the aliens and the UFO? I know, I've done my research, those elongated skulls are a real thing in a real tomb in Mexico somewhere. But, come on, do we really need to see the UFO take off? This isn't Close Encounters, Stevie! This is Indy, stunts, sarcasm, Nazis. I figured it out: Indy's One and Three, Dr. Jones is looking for the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, respectively. Indy's Two and Four, Sankara stones and the crystal skull...uh...who cares.

Now, the Incredible Hulk. Oh, Hulk, I don't know big guy. I just don't think you're a leading role. Now, the last 20 minutes, the fight between the TWO hulks, un-freakin'-believable. But, the whole rest of it. Eh. Again, it was good, it was a fine movie. Not great. But, can we please talk about the ending?!?!?! At the very end, as a kind of coda, none other than Tony Stark (Ironman) walks in to the bar and tells the general, "What if I told you we're putting a team together?" What?! A team!! Whose team, what team? Are the Hulk and Iron Man making a movie? Are there more Marvel characters joining this team? Next summer, will there be an Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra, and Spiderman movie!!!!?????? Oh the possibilities. I'm salavating.

Oh yeah, and Iron Man!! Awesome. Just awesome. Like my brother said, there's not one once of estrogen in the entire film. To which I said, I know, I thought it was awesome too! Robert Downey Jr. is perfect. Jeff Bridges (the dude abides) is perfect. Terrance Howard and Gweneth, flawless as always. You know why Iron man and Batman are my favorites? They have no powers! Uh, Superman is an alien people, how fair is that? Iron man and Batman are just smart, and rich, with an attitude. And Iron Man, the movie, was rediculous. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Well, that's it. Two "eh"s and one "heck yes". Had a good weekend at the Mustoe's wedding and having fun/stressing out getting ours in order. Lots of things are falling into place, and we are saving a lot of money in a lot of areas, but it is still astounding to me how much money is invovled in this day. Its like people sit around and only think about how they can take your money. People are starving around the world, but we have to pay the caterer A DOLLAR PER FORK!! Uh, no thanks, next please. But, we're having fun and its endlessly exciting.

Hang in there, Dru. Hang in there, Melody. Congrats and good luck, Andy. Congrats and good luck, Mustoes.

Peace, BB

For Melody

2008-06-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Psalm 121

I lift my eyes to the hills-
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

God will not let your foot be moved;
God who keeps you will not slumber.
God who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is you shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
God will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.

Peace, Courage, Strength. I love you, Brad

1600 Miles, 12000 ft Elevation, 1 Diamond Ring

2008-05-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

Well, friends, vacation '08 has come and gone, and I think you could call it a success.

The Drive:
Normally, I wouldn't include the details of the mind-numbing, not to mention butt-numbing, drive across the vast wasteland of Kansas. Lindsey and I set off from KC to Limon, CO after church on Sunday and, on the way, experienced the most exciting thing Kansas has to offer-tornados. You know that storm that destroyed towns in Iowa last week? Well, we drove through it. Even pulled off the road and parked under a bridge, because that's what all the cars with KS plates were doing. Under the bridge, we were aided by a nice and nervous young KS man who really took us under his wing, updating us about the status of the tornado, scaring the heck out of us with his nervous energy, telling Lindsey to "put the notebook down 'cause hell on earth is coming our way", and then relaying that his Mom said if we were driving west we'd be ok. We did, and we were

Day One:
Thanks to Mom and Dad for the recommendation of Grand Lake, CO for our pre-National Park day. Ignoring that suggestion, we instead decided upon Winter Park, which, as it turns out, is pretty much dead when the ski resort closes. The locals call this time of year "mud season", which is aptly named, but to us it was "cheap and private season." We had the Vintage Hotel, the resort hotel of Winter Park, absolutely all to ourselves. Nobody even at the desk. Highlights: Hernando's Pizza with over 20,000 dollar bills with messages written on them taped to the walls and tables and great pizza. Then, drinks and cigars in the outdoor hot tub as the cold rain sprinkled our heads. Oh, and a very informative sign on our hike that explained, complete with bronzed representations, the difference between moose, elk and deer scat (poop).

Day Two:
Into the wild. Instead of going around, we went to our campsite at Moraine Park campground in Rocky Mountain National Park, by taking the highway through the park and over the pass. It was a wonderful drive, complete with an up close, safe-in-car, sighting of a young bull moose and plenty of elk. We wound our way through the park, up to the continental divide and back down. We were driving through clouds for a while and then we broke through and could see most of the CO part of the range from the top. This is when we started to realize that in May, there's still A LOT of snow on the ground in the mountains. We got to our campsite, set up Andy's "no-trick-to-it" tent, finding out that the only trick was that it takes four adults to set up the thing easily. We had a perfect site, across from bathrooms but behind rocks as to hide us from other campers and back up against a valley that was full of elk. Elk 20-30 feet away. Well, that night was cold, a little wet, and cloudy. But we had a fire, the best one I've ever built by the way, cooked s'mores, played guitar, went to bed covered head to toe in sweatshirts, pants, socks, stocking hats and gloves. I have to say that through all of this, Lindsey was awesome. I love camping, and even I was pretty miserable. It was too cold. But she was a trooper.

Day Three:
I woke up on the ground. I went to sleep on an air matress. Aparently, 225lbs is the limit for this thing. To start our first full day in the park, we went to Estes Park for breakfast, shared an awesome omlet, brushed our teeth and washed our faces with a group of Korean vacationers in the McD's bathroom. Then we went to Bear Lake trailhead, where we spent most of the day. I can't really explain hiking across mounds of snow, but where it wasn't snow-covered the path was muddy from melt. But it was a beautiful morning, Bear Lake was gorgeous. We hiked to Alberta Falls, Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. This part of the park really could be the most beautiful place on earth. Dream Lake has a tree on the bank that is bent in such a way that it is the perfect chair and we spent a lot of time there. For those of you who know, we couldn't go to Emerald Lake because the entire trail was covered in snow and we couldn't even find it. As we got back to our camp, we made the difficult decision to not camp another night. FYI, Lindsey didn't wuss out, it was my suggestion. Rain was coming, I didn't want to wake up feeling fat on the deflated air matress again, and it was just too cold. So, we went back to Estes and got a little cabin. That night we enjoyed White Russians (THE DUDE ABIDES) and silver casserole, a dish introduced to me by my father of hamburger patties with carrots, potatoes and onions all wrapped up in foil (silver) and thrown on the fire. It was a wonderful night and we definately made the right choice.

Day Four:
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. We decided to hike to Bierstadt Lake in the morning, partly because it's called Beer Place and partly because I'd been there before and knew how beautiful it was. The hike was 1.2 miles, not a bad haul, but in those 1.2 miles we climbed 650 feet in elevation. Exhausted, we reached the top and took the wrong fork in the trial "around the lake". We figured that it would be around the banks of the lake, but it wasn't. Finally, we found the trail to the waters edge, broke through the trees and were standing 25 yards from a cow moose standing in the lake and walking toward us. We were awed and amazed by the closeness and size of her and then we saw her two kids following her in the lake and our amazment went to fear. A mother moose is one of the most dangerous animals on earth. I have to admit, I probably scared Lindsey more than the moose did, but I wanted to get out of there. So, with the moose moving in toward blocking the trail, we went off-trail keeping the lake to our left and pounded slowly through the forest getting away from the moose who had sensed our presence by then. It was stupid, we could've gotten lost, or hurt but it was better than encountering an angry mother moose. Eventually we found the trial again, and started back. Passing a few other hikers, and one family asking mysteriously "did you see two boys up ahead?" which we did not and one family from Nebraska that knew someone that Lindsey knows. On the way back down the switchbacks, as I looked across the valley to our left and up at four peaks to our right, an idea started to blossom in my head. About three/fifths up the mountain side, we stopped for a break, I saw a bottle dangerously off the trail down the slope and, of course, went to retrieve it. Pictures of my friend Justin sliding down the mountainside in Steamboat Springs came to my head, but only briefly. (He was fine, btw). I got the bottle and came back up with a smile on my face that Lindsey had never seen before. She said she almost cried at that moment, thinking that I just loved CO so much and was so proud of myself for getting the bottle. I put the bottle into the backpack, and brought back out a little red box with a diamond ring inside. And so, on the side of a mountain, with the valley to our left and the magestic Rocky peaks to our right, I got down on my knee and asked Lindsey to marry me. She giggled. And giggled. And teared up. And giggled. And said YES! At high noon, mountain time, Thursday the 29th of May, 2008, in one of the most beautiful places on earth, I asked the most beautiful girl on earth to be my wife and became the happiest guy on earth.

Day Five:
The rest of the trip really doesn't matter. We spent some time in Estes Park, then drove to Boulder, one of the coolest cities ever. We stayed at Boulder's waste-free hotel that produces, clearly, no waste and minimal carbon emissions. Our first meal as an engaged couple was at Walnut Brewery, steak and unbelievable asiogo cheese dip and a beer that was the perfect middle ground between Newcastle and Guniess, so yeah, I was in heaven. Spent the next morning on Pearl St. in Boulder, a world famous prominade and outdoor shopping/dining area. Then we decided to make the drive all the way from Boulder to KC. I highly recommend getting engaged a day before having to spend 9.5 hours in a car, 'cause we have a pretty freakin' awesome wedding planned already!

Well, there you have it. Bradley James Bryan and Lindsey are engaged! Pictures of the trip will be on Snapfish and Facebook if you have the time.

Next up, Mustoe's big day-June 21st!

Peace, Happiness, Colorado. B

In Case You Missed It...

2008-05-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been gone for awhile, friends. Lost in a world of pages and pages of theological discourse and end of semester seminary busywork. So, here's some things that have been on my mind lately.

Good show, John McCain, for rejecting the endorsment of Hagee and that other pastor. Let's say one thing, these guys, who claim that the Koran (english spelling, not traditional) mandates that all Muslims (who Hagee calls Islamics) kill as many Christians and Jews as they possibly can, are just as crazy as Jeremiah Wright and much more dangerous. Hagee believes, in clear conflict with Jesus' words, that the end times are immenant and that Christians should be actively working towards starting a war between the Iranians, the Russians and the Israelites; that it is only after Israel regains its pre-Roman empire power, at the expense of countless innocent Palestinian lives, that Jesus will return. Of course, all true belivers will be raptured and miss out on the carnage and agony of the war of wars. Believing this is not crazy: calling on Christians and the American people to work towards, hope for, pray for, war is absolutely insane. Good work, John. I'm not going to vote for you, but good work.

While we're on politics, I want to say one thing to the democratic candidates: STOP IT!! When this whole thing started, getting a democrat in the White House seemed as easy as some funny reference that's really easy to do. Now, because of Hilary's never-ending scratch and bite for the nomination, the party is divided and THE ONLY THING that she's doing is taking votes away from Obama. What kind of presidential candidacy platform is, "I'm still in it"? You missed your chance to bow out gracefully; now you're just going to lose. There is another thing in which Hilary is succeeding: white people are racist. I know not everyone who votes for Clinton votes for the white chick. But, come on. Clearly, there are a lot of ignorant people out there who still, in frakin' 2008, won't vote for a black person. Sad. Just sad.

On to church politics. Another General Conference and not all that much has changed. Some little stuff about retirement, candidacy, who can serve communion where, and a list of other stuff that really means nothing to ministry at the local church level. Not that anyone's listening but here goes. The words, "all people are of sacred worth" and "incompatible with Christian teaching" can NOT go together. They don't cancel each other out; the latter cancels out the former. Isn't reason one of the quadralateral. Well, these two sentences don't make sense together.

Here's some AWESOME stuff:
1. Iron Man...awesome. Unbelievable.
2. Looking forward: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk, Prince Narnia, The Love Guru, Sin City 2. Gonna be a good summer for movies.
3. Next week, Lindsey and I head to Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park. Can't wait. Haven't been in the mountains in a long time. The forecast is for cool weather, and might get a little wet, but Wednesday, the day we're planning on spending all of in the park hiking, is 68 degrees and partly cloudy. Perfect.
4. On the 13th of May, in Kansas City, MO, I saw Elvis Costello and the Police. It was amazing. Highlights: Elvis and Sting singing Alison togther, the multi-instrument percussion of Wrapped Around Your Finger and the encore performance of King of Pain. Amazing.

Looking forward to this summer. Gonna read some books, write some devotionals based on rock songs (maybe for a book someday), play guitar, working a camp, going to Musty-Must's wedding, getting together with the ENTIRE Bryan clan, preaching for that clan at Missouri UMC and just being and doing awesome.

I'll be back periodically. Peace.

BB

If you don't have anything nice to say...

2008-05-06T11:24:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not blogging because I'm smack in the middle of finals weeks, not because of my pledge to be more positive.

I have a lot of things on my mind and a lot of positive things going on, just don't really have anytime to blog.

Once my marathon of assignments is complete for another semester, the Bustle will return in regular fashion.

Thanks for the patience,
BB

The Pledge

2008-04-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

I, Brad Bryan, hereby pledge to not post about what I see as negative aspects of the structure and system of the United Methodist Church, my personal frustrations with the candidacy process, the present and future of young adults in the church, or my concerns for the future within the itineracy connection for ONE MONTH. From this day, until the end of school, I will not mention the United Methodist Church at all, excluding any unforseen interesting things that happen within the building of a UMC or inspiring comments or actions by a member of the UMC.

I invite my brother Andy at Enter the Rainbow, my friend Adam Mustoe at Internationally Known, my friend Mark at Stupidity Ensues and all you other blogophiles out there to join me. (Zach, delegates to General Conference are exempt and we expect nightly updates!)

And so, slightly inspired by my friend Justin's dance this morning (Where is the Love?) and my friend Katie's overall cheerful countinance (sp), here's some things that are making me happy:

1. Compiling a spring and summer reading list of books that have absolutely nothing to do with pastoral care, eccumenism, liberation theology or seminary. I'm not only tired of reading those books, I'm also tired of reading my same favorite Stephen King books over and over. I've decided to go back to the classics. First the classics of my favorite genre: Bradbury, Asimov, Poe, Ayn Rand. Then other classics: Hemmingway, Faulkner, James, Stevenson, Twain, Dickens. I want to spend my summer reading the best novels ever written, and that makes me happy.

2. The new Black Crowes, Jack Johnson, Matt Costa, Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, Black Keys and reissued Elvis Costello records. Great, great stuff all around and that makes me happy. I am always looking for new music to pick up and discover, so if anybody has found any recently that you love, please share.

3. The Police and Elvis Costello concert in a month makes me extremely happy.

4. Planning the summer vacation, summer concert and lake house days with Lindsey makes me happy.

5. Being able to play Elvis Costello, Ben Harper and Bob Marley in chapel today makes me happy.

6. Actually finding a pretty, peaceful place to go IN ST. JOSEPH!

In fact, I think I'll head up there now.

Woke up this morning, smiled with the risin' sun.
Three little birds, sit on my doorstep.
Singin' sweet songs, of melodies pure and true.
Sayin', this is my message to you-oo-oo.

Don't worry...'bout a ting.
'Cause every little ting's, gonna be alright.

Peace, BB

Encouraging Words....with just a little Spin

2008-04-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Encouraging words in this issue of the United Methodist Reporter. That's right, I read the Reporter. Former President of St. Paul School of Theology, Lovett Weems was interviewed concerning the importance of young adult clergy. And, guess what? He gets it!

Why are young clergy important?

"Energy, vision and vitality. More adept at reaching emerging generations. Closer to the culture."

What motivates younger people to a call to ministry?

"A call to serve, to be a part of something larger than themselves. It's not primarily organizational or institutional. It's a mission focus. IT'S NOT WELL DEFINED."

Explain the "lifesaver mentality".

"They're a bit uncomfortable with that. They can't do it themselves."

What about the gap?

"Sometimes there will be a two generation gap between the congregation and the clergy. You're young, you should be able to reach young people. But there's no expectation that the church should change."

What about appointments and itineracy?

"[Younger clergy] tend to be made last. The options available for those appointments are very limited at that time. There is a paying-our-dues mentality, but we can't afford that if less than 5 percent of our clergy are under 35. Less than 5 percent believe [itineracy] works well. [Its] an issue causing younger clergy to choose other traditions. It is feeling so out of control of one's destiny and how it impacts spouse and family and spouses' employment. The system is looked at skeptically by younger clergy."

What about the sense of unfairness in accountability?

"They are paying the price for inefective older clergy, so there are more and more restrictions that get put on them. They feel the primary factor in advancement tends to be years of service."

Wow, thank you. Love it, Lovett. He's nailed it. Just this week, I got a letter from my mentor about an interview with the District Committee of Ordained Ministry that I missed. I missed this meeting, because ALL the meeting times were during my class time. Not one meeting was set for Thursday, when students at Saint Paul have NO CLASS. I was also, apparently, supposed to request from him a letter of recommendation to the committee. His e-mail was the first I had heard of any such requirement. The e-mail went on to say that if I don't make the make up meetings in May, basically, my career is over and I won't even be able to go to any other conferences.

Here's the deal: I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing with the process of candidacy. Am I a pastor, am I a student? What is the conference doing to respect my time as a seminary student? Where's the liturature that tells me clearly and without question what my role in the process is? And, is there really such an emphasis on the system and the institution that missing one meeting, held at a time when no student could attend without missing class, ends my career?

Dr. Weems gets it. We have to do some SERIOUS work to recruit, support, uphold, train, connect and empower young adult clergy.

Here comes the spin. At the top of the page with the interview, there's a picture of our Bishop (who I think gets it, too) at a meeting of young adults. The caption reads: "Bishop Schnase makes it a habit to meet with all the young adult clergy from his conference." Hear the spin.

1. A habit is something you do so often you don't think about it anymore. As far as I know, this is the first such meeting of large group of young adult clergy. There have been other, smaller meetings of certain powerful, or fruitful, young clergy. But, an invitation to "all" the clergy, i think this is the first one.

2. ALL the young adult clergy in the conference? Well, I guess I'm not clergy. Me, or any of my classmates, for that matter. Only commissioned and ordained clergy were invited. In other words, only those who have gotten so far into the system. They actually had to raise the official age of young adults to 37 to get the turn out seen in the picture. Instead of inviting actually ALL the young adult clergy, including lisenced local pastors and student pastors, they raised the age!

I am encouraged and happy and excited to read Dr. Weems keenly accurate assessment of how we treat, and how we should treat, young adult clergy. I am, shall we say, interested in those words "habit" and "all" in the caption of the picture.

I would just like one chance to put my money where my mouth is. I talk a lot about this. And I know, when the time comes, it'll be time to put up or shut up. But, I guess I don't have to worry about that now, 'cause nobody's asking. And, I worry about what putting up and shutting up will look like. Will I have to show weekly signs of fruitfulness by filling out forms of worship numbers? Will I have to wait ten years to get a chance, when I'm not technically a young adult anymore, pay my dues, work my way up? I don't know.

And you know what, even after all this...I have to go to class and Thursday I have to go to work. I have people to take care of in the hospital, I have a Baccalureate service planning meeting. I am called to ministry. I choose to be a part of the United Methodist Church. There's a difference.

Brad

Facts

2008-04-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

Months after the attacks of 9/11, Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Powell, found and displayed clear and unquestionable evidence that not only had Saddam Hussein been involved in planning the attacks, he was currently producing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi people would clearly welcome any force offering them freedom from this oppressive dictator, and the US had a duty to answer.

After the shock and awe beginning of the war, a tactic that in no way purposely targeted civilian positions, stories of heroism flowed in: from the clandestine, Tom Clancy resque of Jessi Lynch to the heroic sacrifice of pro-football player Pat Tillman. These great acts of heroism culminated in the end of the fighting in Iraq, declared by President Badasss in a flight suit on a aircraft carrier.

The fighting, just like he said, did stop. The killing of Saddam's sons and the ultimate capture of the dictator himself, defeated the insurgents resisting liberation and the people of Iraq sung our praises.

The fighting, somehow, came back, but the US was, of course, prepared-country of Boy Scouts that we are. The administration took the smartest road possible: take troops out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where clearly no one important to the extremists was hiding in the mountains, and flood them into Iraq. This move again, was a great success.

The reporting of the war has been absolutely fair and balanced and truthful. The pentagon's program to partner each press agent with a "marine buddy" provided the press the freedom they needed to report with outstanding journalistic integrity. The pentagon, wisely, requested that names, faces and numbers of the dead US soldiers be left out of the press; national secruity was at stake.

As the war comes to a swift end, the Iraqi people are more than ready to run and maintain a secure democracy, having had great experience, opportunity and education in the work of politics under the previous government. The American diplomats are more than capable to bring the sectarian violence to an end, due to their vast knowledge of the religion and history of the region. Iraq will be just fine!

Back at home, our veterans, many who rightly joined the service after 9-11 because the commander and chief had given his word that US justice is swift and sweeping and always righteous, will be treated with the utmost respect, given the best medical care our nation has to offer and provided for for the educational opportunities they missed by boldly following our Commander into battle.

The attacks of 9/11 have been answered justly, the culprits brought to justice, the planners stopped from planning another attack. The people of Iraq are free, are liberated, and now feel completely safe to send their kids to the high quality schools, go to work in their not-destroyed office buildings, eat Whoppers, shop at Target and buy enormous gas-guzzling monstrosities from America...just like they've always wanted!!

April Fools,
BB

Spring Breakin' Two, Electric Boogaloo

2008-03-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Sitting here on Monday of reading week from school, trying with every ounce of mental will power to not open my books until I absolutely have to.

Spending this week doing nothing with Lindsey, which is EXACTLY what I want to be doing. And, cleaning and packing my current domicile for a move this Saturday. My new place is the top floor of an old Pony Express era, Victorian style house closer to downtown St. Joe. I have not played my drums in over a year because I moved too quickly into a house with no room to set them up and I realized as I sat down behind the school's drumset that, well, I kinda suck now. The new place is bigger, has a perfect place for my music room with the drums, guitars and keyboard, a place for my kitchen table I haven't seen in three years and a shower that doesn't make you feel dirtier as you use it. I'm pretty excited, but its gonna be a hell of a moving day. Top floor of a big old house+big screen tv=not so much fun.

Getting excited about concerts coming up: The Police with Elvis Costello in May, Swell Season (the couple from the movie Once) coming up, and summer jams with Jack Johnson.

Well, sorry to bore you with my so-called life. I'm actually bored writing this, so I think I'll stop. All St. Paul have a great break. Mary Alice, stop reading right now, close the book and go outside.

Peace, B

Young Adults

2008-03-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the original comment I was going to post in response to my brother's young adult post, but then realized it was longer than the post itself. Bad blog ettiquite.

I would absolutely love to abolish "us and them" language and thinking, but, sadly, it's not the reality right now. I hate to use the word nieve, partly because I don't know how to spell it and partly because my brother is much older and much wiser than I. I will say this, I have never felt as voiceless within a system as I do right now. I have daily conversations with classmates and colleagues concerning the state of the UMC and mainline Christianity, but they simply don't leave the classroom, because I haven't progressed far enough in the process. One the other hand, AGL told me of recieving heart-felt and standing applause along with other 35 and younger clergy people in the Mississippi conference. So, is it either be largely ignored or singled-out. I don't like either. A world without "us and them" is always something to work towards and something for which to hope and strive. But, I don't feel it, I don't see it happening. (you probably knew the pessimistic side would come from me)

I know that of all my gifts and graces the thing that was considered above all else in my current appointment was my age. They need a young pastor, here's a young pastor (who happens to know nothing about the context of farming communities, hates country music and feels called to urban ministry) but, hey, he is young. *I love the people of my congregations more than I love myself and will serve them as faithfully as I can for as long as I'm here* So, while my brother and my friend Jenn are both correct in hoping for to end the language and attitude of "us and them", it's not the reality I feel right now.

Point two: young people ARE different. The world has changed. Younger generations speak a different language, know a different reality than older generations. Here's a fact: (you also might have known that the absolute generalizations would come from me) if a congregation is in a context where there are young adults in the population and does not have an online presence, your capacity for inviting young adults to share in the ministry of God through that congregation goes down. If a pastor who desires to create messages that are meaningful to young adults does not know what The Office is or who Bright Eyes are or what the God Delusion is or what issues are facing the music business right now or what the hell the Colbert Bump is, the illustrations in the message will be less meaningful. The stories in the front of Christian Century and The Upper Room are wonderful resources for certain contexts, but maybe not for most young adults.

Point three: the problems and issues facing the church right now ARE NOT generational. They have nothing to do with age. They are cultural, contextual. The world has changed, the church has not. Questions of authenticity, relevance, community and application-take a deep breath for all the buzzwords-are questions each individual church, each conference, each denomination, each CHRISTIAN should ask constantly. Is what we are doing most faithfully serving the message and ministry of God in today's world? For example, there's a current conversation going on in my Early American Methodism class about the itineracy process. Yes, for early America, itineracy was the best method of placement for local ministers. It served a purpose, it was effective in that purpose, it worked within the context of that world. The question for us today is, what is the purpose of itineracy, the mission, and is it, in its current state, serving that purpose? We should always be in conversation with each other, across generations and demographics, asking each other if we are serving God the best we can. It is not a every 50 years question; it should be constant. Are we providing genuine and authentic and powerful worship experiences? Are we using language and media and subject matter that is relevant to the context in which we serve? Are we creating and atmosphere of true community, of acceptance, respect, support and love for the congregation and the context of our churches (btw, community is very different nowadays!)? And are we constructing worship, preaching and learning experiences that people leave from and act on that very day? These are the key questions, no matter what your context is.

No group of people, no Signs of Fruitfulness worksheet, no special taskforce is the secret key that unlocks the floodgates holding back young adults from participation in the church.

I can hear the questions: Brad, you complain a lot, but what should we be doing about this.
1. The clergy and lay leaders of the church must be in constant connection and conversation apart from the constraints and divisions of THE PROCESS. I was actually insulted by not being invited to a young adult clergy conversation with the bishop. BTW, I heard the meeting was great and the right questions were asked and the conversation has begun. But when you consider the earliest age of possible ordination, 29, restricting the participants in the conversation to commissioned and ordained clergy only isn't wise. I'm 25 right now!

2. The candidacy process is twice as long as should be and the difficulty of your interviews and papers depends on which group of board members you get on which day. I've heard wonderful stories of affirmation and respect and I've heard horror stories that remind me of cocky seniors taking stuff out on the freshmen because somebody did it to them when they were freshmen.

3. Why isn't there an Office of Contextual Young Adult ministry at the conference level? I know I just said the problem wasn't generational and there is no formula, but for a conference that is so concerned with YA's, it seems odd that this hasn't happened. I would love to sit in my office in Columbia, pick up the phone and explain to someone what an MP3 is. "Brad, I've got a new batch of 14 yr old girls, who in the world is Avril Lavigne?"

Just a few ideas, (I don't have time or inspiration or words to talk about what should happen to the itineracy process).

Look to Andy's blog for an optimistic sign off. I believe in the power of God to change lives in today's world. I believe in the connection of the UMC and mainline Christianity as a part of God's ministry in today's world.

And as far as "missing the mark" with the Rock Church stuff. That is just one idea for a particular context within the connection of the church. It is the beginning of re-shaping and re-defining worship in my own head. My big bro's just jealous that I rock harder than him. jk, i know what you're saying RAB, and we're on the same page, believe it or not.

Imperfect man in an imperfect world trying, imperfectly, to serve our perfect God, BB

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy...(hattip Mark)

2008-03-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Three articles caught my attention this week in the news:

1. There is a bill making its way through the government of Jamaica to legalize maryjane. Old people-that means pot. WHAT? The only thing I know about Jamaica is that its the most spaced-out, laidback, stoner country in the world. Smoking pot is part of the Rastafarian religion! I just couldn't believe that it wasn't legal already.

2. On the View yesterday, yes the View was on while I was getting ready for class, they were talking about a ligit article from the Washington Post about whether Jesus would vote Republican or Democrat in our election this year. Seriously?? This is a real article from a real newspaper that made its way to the discussion table of the second most watched daytime show in America. And they were actually answering it. "Oh, I think he'd be an independent," says Elizabeth Hasselbeck. I got news for ya'll, if you think for one instant that Jesus would take any part in the political system of the United States, or any other country, you are seriously delusional. How arrogant to think that Jesus would care at all for the governmental systems of this world!

3. From NPR this morning, there are more slaves in the world today, and more in the United States, than in any other time in history. The slave trade is alive and well and better than ever. With $100 American, you can go to Haiti and buy a human being to work for you under the threat of violence for no pay other than subsistance(the official definition of slavery, illegal in every nation on earth); this includes cleaning, cooking and sexual partners. (now go back and reread the question of number two. really, America?!?!) This is an unbelievable story to me. Hey, General Conference, when you're down there talking about whether or not gay people should be married, why not take ten minutes, maybe after a lunch break on some day, and talk about something that really matters in this world. Something that actually hurts people, something that's actually evil! But, no no no, gay people must be stopped. Gay people are destroying marriage, Barack Obama is a Muslim and, oh woe is us say it ain't so, our membership is down!!! Come on, people! THERE ARE MORE SLAVES RIGHT NOW IN AMERICA THAN THERE EVER WERE IN PRE-CIVAL WAR AMERICA!!!!

Slaves, AIDS, war, genocide, failing economy, homelessness, domestic violence, post-traumatic stress in our soldiers. But, no, the number one story yesterday was that some rich guy went to a hooker. WAIT, actually he didn't go to hooker, he agreed to pay a hooker, he DID nothing.

What are your priorities, what are mine, what are the priorities of the United Methodist Church, what are the priorities of the followers of Jesus?

What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding? BB

I Was There...Concert History

2008-03-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well, another concert is in the bank and on the way down to Springfield, MO, my concert experiences kept rolling through my mind. Sit back, relax, and scroll through Brad's concert memory lane...

My first concert was an MC Hammer show in Columbia when I was no more than 10 or 11. I gotta say...it...was...AWESOME!!! 50 dancers, tons of lights, tight band. He sang "You've Got to Pray Just to Make it Today" right after "Soft and Wet."

Next, my parents drove me and Tom Gibson to see Dave Matthews in '96 or '97. Unbelievable show! Funny story: somehow we're found in the expanse of the lawn by our friend Scott and two older girls from our high school, both of whom I loved with the heat of a million suns: Jaclyn Whitaker and Kristin Johnson. So, two 14 year old, big-headed, awkward kids share a blanket on the lawn with two beautiful older girls...AND THEIR PARENTS...Awesome.

The next show of any note was Ozzfest with Tyler O'Banion and Mike Elsberry. Saw some bands by the name of Taproot, Mudvayne, Disturbed, Marylin Manson and, oh yeah, the ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF BLACK SABBATH!!! That's right, Geezer, Tony, Bill and Ozzy together again. I saw Black Sabbath play Iron Man. Great day, drove the wrong way down an exit ramp, saw a crazy drunk guy dancing by himself to Disturbed and got to see my friend Larynn from CMC.

Some time in here my brother and I saw Chuck Berry at the Blue Note in Columbia. The godfather of rock 'n roll and public restroom voyuerism can still duckwalk and solo like a pro.

Next up is DMB again in St. Louis this time. Every time I've seen Dave has been better than the last.

In college, Wayne Kerr came and played a show in our church on campus. Wayne Kerr isn't a star, I don't even like him that much, but that show was awesome. It was intimate and personal. Good stuff.

Also during college, I saw Pearl Jam for 20 minutes. If you really want to see me get mad, ask me why sometime.

Toward the end of college, Mustoe, Diffie and I drove the windy road to Columbia to see Robert Randolph and the Family Band. I had been looking forward to this having heard RRFB's live album and they did not disappoint. We got there early like I like to do and got a place up front. This band really is unbelievable and everyone who reads this should see them if you ever get the chance. BUT THEN, they ask if anyone knows how to play guitar and Mustoe raises his hand and they call him up on stage. I got down on all fours to get Mustoe big behind up there. Adam Mustoe played a solo with Robert Randolph and the Family Band!!! Awesome, great show.

In 2003, Tyler calls me and says that the Summer Sanitarium Tour, Metallica's then annual trip around the country, was coming to St. Louis and that we WOULD be going. The show, featuring Mudvayne, Deftones, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Metallica, started at 4pm. We got there at 1, went straight to the front and took our place against the railing five feet from the huge stage. And for 12 hours, we didn't move more than 10 feet, no food, water or bathrooms. Mudvayne, makeupless for the first time and unbelievably musically talented as usual. Deftones, the only band in the world that has ever made heavy metal music sound beautitful. Now, through Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit, Tyler and I and about 50 others toward the front, turned our backs to the stage and raised our middle fingers for the duration of each of their sets for what they have done to metal music. (which is ruin it, by the way) And then Metallica takes the stage. There are no words to describe seeing the most powerful live band ever from no more than 15 feet away.

In the summer of 2005, I met a girl named Lindsey. Since then we have seen Jack Johnson, a show at which I fell in love with that girl named Lindsey, Dave Matthews again, a young guitar player named John Mayer, a older guitar player by the name of FREAKIN' ERIC CLAPTON, discovered our love for Trevor Hall and Martin Sexton, saw RRFB again, and Martin Sexton again, Modest Mouse with Band of Horses. Many, many times we've seen an Irish singer named Bob Reeder both at Weston Irish Festival and at his weekly gig at Kyle's Taproom in N. Kansas City. We love him. Great memories with my girl and many more to come.

Went to Tool in 2007 with friends Tom and Jeff. Laughed through most of the show out of sheer awe of the power and skill of the best drummer in metal Danny Carey.

And Friday night, I drove to Spfd, MO, met with Tom and Tyler and went to Clutch, a band I've loved for more than a decade with my two oldest friends. This was a true blue, down and dirty, sticky floor rock show. Broke up three fights, couldn't talk or hear the day after. Clutch is a balls to the wall rock band but their talent amazed me. Great show, rock 'n roll memories.

Coming up, The Police with Elvis Costello in May and Rush is coming to Starlight Theater this summer. Two of the best drummers in music history, Stewart Copeland and Neil Peart, and I will see them this year. Legendary.

Support Local Music, BB

Oscar Got It Right!!

2008-02-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

Well, another year of Hollywood's biggest night has past and I have to say, Oscar got almost everything right this year!! Here's some things I'm most excited about.

Falling Slowing from the movie Once won best song against three, count 'em, three songs from Enchanted. Once is an unbelievable movie, the Frames are an unbelievable band and Glen Hansard is an unbelievable song writer.

Diablo Cody won best original screenplay for Juno, which did not win best picture. Juno is an awesome movie and clearly the best written of last year. But, just as clearly, can't compete with No Country.

Javier Bardem won best supporting actor for the second creepiest villian in movie history, second only to Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector (which always got an Oscar). If you see this movie and don't see Javier's eyes in your dreams or hear him say "Call it, friendo" in the back of your mind for a week, you've got brass ones my friends. And, surprise, he's actually a handsome fellow. His dedication in Spanish to his mother was an Oscar moment for the ages.

Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor ever. There's no question in my mind. I've just put all his movies on the queue from Blockbuster. His indifference for the structure and politics of Hollywood is refreshing as well. Seriously, is there anyone better. Listen to him actually speak, either from last night or on Oprah or something, and then go watch There Will Be Blood or rent Gangs of New York. He is leagues above anyone else who has ever acted or ever will. The Tiger Woods of acting.

No Country for Old Men should have won best picture and I'm happy to see that it did. It's not just a great movie, it's an important movie. It's commentary on our modern world and resignation of the sheriff to that world at the end (if you still don't get the end, that's what it was about, he was giving up) are important for our world to hear right now. The whole package, directing, acting, writing, shooting, editing, all of it were better than anything else last year. Good show Coens!

Jon Stewart was a great host. He was sincere, funny and kept the show moving along. He proved to me that he truly is a great man when he called Glen Hansard's co-writer of Falling Slowly back on stage after commercial break to give her acceptance speech.

It was a great show. I actually wanted to and did sit through the whole thing and was entertained and inspired by the whole thing. Good job Oscars. I love movies.

While I'm on a movie kick, here's one more thing I thought of last night. Think about Harrison Ford for a second. Probably never win an Oscar, he's not known for his depth or range. But think about it: Han Solo AND Indiana Jones. Are you KIDDING ME? That's rediculous. Daniel Day-Lewis might be the best actor of all time, but Harrison Ford IS two of the most memorable and loved and kickass characters of all time. Can't wait for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!! Keep it up, Mr. Ford.

Watch movies, make art.
BB

Goosebumps: More Rock n Roll Church Stuff

2008-02-14T14:25:00.001-08:00

When was the last time you got goosebumps in worship?

Mine is Christmas Eve this year. It had much more to do with the woman and 1-year-old sitting next to me and the memories of Christmas Eve a year before than the service. (sorry, dad)

So another question: When was the last time you got goosebumps in worship that were caused solely by the worship experience itself?

I just listened to Live On Two Legs, a live album by the best band of the past 25 years, Pearl Jam. I was reminded as I listened that my lifetime goosebumps moments were all at rock concerts and very rarely at a worship service.

Pearl Jam opens with Release, my favorite song, as the rain starts coming down.
Metallica bursts into the opening of Fuel as 8, 10-feet-high flames shoot out from the front of the stage five feet from my face.
Eric Clapton starts the encore with the greatest lick ever written, the opening of Layla.
Dave Matthews hits notes so high, MY throat starts to bleed.
Martin Sexton sings of reuniting with his long lost son.
Robert Randolph plays notes on his lapsteel guitar that send shockwaves down my spine.

I have never felt closer to God than in those moments. I mean it, even the Metallica show. And not just close to God; close enough to reach out and touch God's face, close enough to feel the love of God for all creation radiating like the heat from a bonfire.

I have never felt as close to God in any worship experience I have ever been to.

There's three reasons worship, particularly worship music falls short:
1. The music is lame. Please note: none of the concert experiences above are from the many Christian concerts I've been to. No Audio Adrenaline, no Third Day. None of them compare musically. Giving up secular music in high school is one of the dumbest things I've ever done. Christian music sucks. The songs are awful, the lyrics are meaningless and sentimental. Worship music is emotional. Great music is transcendental. (Brief pause to remember the guru of transcendental meditation, Maharishi Mehesh Yogi, who is personally responsible for giving the Beatles the inspiration for the White Album) It doesn't tug on your heart strings; it takes you to another place, a Hole Nother Level. When I experienced a Tool concert, with the only person I have been directly involved in coming to the blessing of baptism, Jeff Green, I got to a point in the concert when all I could do was laugh. Out of joy, out of sheer hopelessness that I would never be able to play like that, out of the magnitude and power of the songs. All I could do was laugh. Lindsey knows that little laugh well. I desire with all my heart to be brought to a place of such perfect bliss that laughter is my only response in worship. But, the music doesn't compare, it can't compete. There is no candle big enough, no fuel powerful enough, for Christian music to EVER hold a flame to great rock music.

2. The musicians aren't ready, aren't good enough. I know that in praise bands there is a feeling that all who come to participate are welcome. But you can't put anybody who has good intentions and wants to be invovled up there in charge of taking a congregation to another place with their music. Rock players are virtuosos; they are the absolute best at what they do. They rehearse relentlessly and devote their entire lives to the perfection of their skill. And when they perform, everything is perfect. Now, compare that with the 15-year-old with the out of tune Fender Squire, the church organist transplanted to the Casio keyboard and the 8 vocalists all trying to outsing each other and only accomplishing to sing LOUDER than each other, which is not the same thing. There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence in our worship musicians. Nothing takes me out of an attitude of worship faster than ONE wrong note, one sloppy beginning or chaotic ending, or-especially for me-a drummer who knows ONE beat and ONE tempo and ONE dynamic. Musicallity. Musicainship. Here come the comments about worship being a welcoming environment and a pastor/worship leader not being able to say no to anyone, not being allowed to say "your playing isn't good enough." It's simply not true. Worship is supposed to be an encounter with God, face to face with the giver of life...and MUSIC. If Jimmy wants to play guitar and just learned a sloppy, halting version of Lord I Lift Your Name On High, DO NOT put Jimmy in your praise band. Repeating, there is nothing wrong with striving for excellence in worship music and worship musicians.

3. The whole service is not designed to work and fit together to provide an atmosphere of transformation, transfiguration, transportation. At a rock show, the lights, the stage, the video behind the artists, every single detail goes hand in hand, and works in absolutely perfect harmony to provide the best performance possible. Yes, I said performance. An argument I can't stand is that worship music can't be performance. It HAS TO BE!! And, every possible aesthetic componant needs to work in sync.

This serves as a wonderful transition paragraph, almost as if the writer designed that way.

I want to start a rock 'n roll church. A church whose worship services cause goosebumps and shivers EVERY week. A church that's just as much rock show as worship service. A church that starts no earlier than 10pm and goes until 2 or 3. A church with a pyrotechnics ministry. A church that looks on the inside more like the Blue Note in Columbia than Missouri UMC down the street. I want a praise band that kicks ass-that's right, I said ass-that plays music that would be played on 96.5 the buzz not the crappy Christian radio station, a band that can jam, a guitar player that can play SRV solos behind his head (big ups to Ryan McClouth), a band of real, true-blue, professional level musicians, a drummer who-like every rock drummer should-is just trying to play somehow near the level of John Bohnam, a drummer who knows who John Bohnam is. I want a congregation with ripped jeans and band t-shirts, with tatoos and metal in their heads. A congregation who knows as much about the White Stripes as they do about Jesus. A congregation who knows who the White Stripes ARE!!!

There is a huge, ultra-dedicated, ultra-forgotten population that is looking for God just like the rest of us: rockfans, punks, metalheads, neo-hippies, goths. Every church has that kid who dresses in black, wears eye make up and listens to My Chemical Romance. These kids are forgotten in the best cases and alienated and scolded in the worst cases. In between those cases, the kids are patronized by people who are genuinely trying to help but write off the situation as a phase. Something that you grow out of. You never grow out of being a metalhead, of loving rock music. That's why, if reached, these people could be the most hardcore, devoted disciples since Peter. (that whole getting crucified upside down thing was pretty hardcore discipleship)

The more I write, the more serious, and seriously possible and seriously needed, this seems to me. So, let's daydream a bit. Rev. Brad Bryan, Minister of Metal. Rev. Adam Mustoe, Minister of Pop/Acoustic/Hip Hop (for one of the white-est crackas I know, he's got a lot of hip hop) Rev. Mark Angleton, Minister of Ska. Rev. Adam Caldwell, Minister of Punk/Emo/Screamo. Rev. Andy Bryan, Minister of 80s/Doodlebops. Rev. Crystal Hughes, Minister of Jazz. Rev. Joel Kidwell, Minister of 90s/Alternative. Rev. Dennis Harper, Minister of Classic Pop/Rock. Rev. Jim Bryan, Minister of Old White Guy Music. Rev. Kevin Shelton, Minister of Music No One Has Ever Heard Of but Him.

Director of Music/Band Leader: Ryan McClouth (the greatest guitar player I have ever known)
Art Director/Stage Design: Ryan Delgado, one artistic Mexican.
Co-Directors of Lighting and Pyrotechnics: Rev. Ron Carlson and Rev. Shane Moore, can you even imagine. Ron in charge of the fire.
Door Managers (bouncers): Adam Leathers, Adam Gordon-Louch.
Ministers of Hospitality (bartenders): Rev. MegAnn Moore. Rev. Katie Trinter. (yeah, that's right Katie, i'm putting the girls in charge of hospitality)

I don't know about any of you, but this church sounds pretty badass.

Rock On People, Rock On.
BB

Sola Scriptura

2008-02-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

There's been a conversation happening in the comment section of my last post between my friend Mustoe (not Adam. Adam is Adam and Mustoe is Mustoe) and myself. Please feel free to read through this conversation. As you do, keep in mind that Mustoe and I are actually best friends and love each dearly, even dream of serving a congregation together sometime in our lives.

My friend brings up a good point concerning my Ten Most Controversial. (I hear the complaints of the fellas who actually have class with me and hear my backhand comments. Some of my viewpoints are simply not blog-worthy nor blog-appropriate)

How do we come to the conclusions we make? I sometimes wish that the "Jump-to-Conclusions mat" from Office Space actually exsisted. Wouldn't it be great if we could just lay out all the possible answers to all the possible questions on some sort of hopscotch board and whichever one we landed on, that's the one we take. No thinking, no debate, no fuss.

Alas, there is no such product. We are called, and really were created, to make up our own minds. At one point in Monty Python's Life of Brian, Brian-who is being confused with the Messiah and blindly followed by hundreds of crazed disciples-finally addresses the crowd with the thesis of the film. "Don't you see, you don't need to follow ANYBODY, think for yourselves."

Sola Scriptura refers to the belief that Scripture alone is sufficient to guide all moral, social and spiritual actions and decisions. Mustoe is very right to point out that I am adamantly against this view, especially as it is used by the "fundys" (Ryan Delgado has a great post on Facebook about the true nature of fundamentalism, btw). Anyone can, and everyone has, use scripture to support every point of view under the sun. The KKK, the extremist Jihadists, slave traders, Fred Phelps and his hate-mongering family. All say that there actions and viewpoints are guided and defined by Scripture.

I did not mean to give the impression that my interpretation of Scripture is the one and only support for my views on homosexuality, violence, luxury, etc. I don't use Scripture that way; as just another article to support my hypothesis like some holy debate team captain. I don't even like sermons that jump from verse to verse in order to prove the point of the message, usually taking all those verses far out of their original context and meaning.

As a Wesleyan, I believe in four things that must always guide our theology, philosophy, missiology and all the rest. Scripture is absolutely one of the four. The others are reason, experience, and tradition. And, I would add a fifth, conscience.

The views expressed in the last post are guided by my interpretation of scripture, my life experience, the tradition out of which I come, my own personal reflection and reasoning, and how each of those views sit on my conscience. In the case of homosexuality (which I MUST point out is not the conversation mustoe and I are having; we are having a discussion of conclusion making, not the specific conclusion) in my interpretation of scripture: 1. the homosexuality to which the Bible speaks is unequivocally wrong and sinful; it is idolitrous pederasty, having sex with young boys who serve in the Greek and Roman temples. 2. the homosexuality we know now, the loving, committed relationship between two people of the same gender, didn't exist or wasn't discussed when the Bible was written. 3. Jesus does quote the OT in the "man leave his home and take a wife" passage, but he does not say this is how marriage is defined in every case and the only way that it isn't sinful. 4. When it comes to Paul, he thinks we're all wrong for being married, gay or straight, so....5. Even if you consider homosexuality a sin, isn't there a strong message of grace and mercy and forgiveness in Scripture. Isn't there a "take the plank from your own eye" passage.

In my experience, homosexual people are no different than the rest of us. It's even hard for me to talk about homosexual people like another race, another subset of people. All of us are broken, wonderful, sinful, grace-filled people just trying to do the best we can in this life.

In my tradition, the UMC states that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. (the reason i used the same language when referring to a life of luxury). I don't agree, but as a UMC pastor I must uphold this statement in my ministry. I hope to be a part of the church that changes this view in the Book of Discipline. (btw, it says the same thing about violence, war, and gambling) As far as my family tradition, I was raised to uphold, respect, love, serve all people regardless of...well...anything. I was raised to believe that all people should have access to the same rights and priviledges.

In my own reasoning, I think about the arguments against. It is sinful: well, so is smoking and I did that, so is drinking and i do that, so is lusting and I do that...a lot. It is unnatural: while I cannot picture being with another man myself, love and committment and relationship may be the most natural things in this world. It attacks the institution of marriage: marriage isn't doing so great in the hands of the heteros, my friends. I just can't get my mind to a place that thinks, or reasons, that homosexuality is wrong.

And the point I added, conscience: it FEELS wrong to me to say that homosexual people are sinful or wrong or not worthy of marriage or somehow not as worthy as I am to serve God in ministry. It FEELS wrong.

Deep breath.

Well, there you have it. Again, I don't mean to start the be-all-end-all of debates on homosexuality. The point of this post is method: how do we come to the conclusions to which we hold? In order to better understand the views of others, we must understand our own and how we arrive at them. Method is the basis of conversation, or dialogue to use a buzzword. I respect the views of those who have come to their conclusions through a long process of reflection, study, reasoning and discussion. I do not respect the view that this is wrong, that is wrong, I'm for Barack, I'm for Hilary, I'm for McCain, my point is the only acceptable point...but I really don't know why.

Discussion and conversation is the key. Or, we could just stand on either side of the line and scream random Bible verses at each other.

I love you, Mustoe. BB

Brad's Ten Most Controversial

2008-02-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm all about conversation. The press and the politicians want us to believe that if we disagree we can't get along, we can't work together for a better world. As my friend Adam and I know, most people think that "doctrinal issues" are a reason for people to not be friends.

But, in order to be a part of the conversation, one must know where they stand, back up that stance with evidence and be able to support it. So here are my top ten controversial stances, political, religious, social and sometimes fun views that I hold close to my heart. So, here we go.

10. I truly believe that our nation is run EXACTLY how the X-Files said it was-a bunch of old, rich, powerful white guys, sitting around in a smoke-filled room behind closed doors making decisions for the rest of us.

9. Marijuana should have the same laws and regulations as cigarettes and alcohol. Cigarettes kill 1200 people a day. Alcoholism destoys lives and familes. And I've never met an unpleasant, hard-to-get-along-with or seriously troubled pot smoker.

8. If you still think George W. Bush was a "good" president, it's probably going to be hard for us to be friends.

7. If you drive a full-size pickup truck, there's a 60% chance that you're a jerk. Your jerkness is proportional to the size of tires, the amount and content of bumper stickers, the height of your lift and the relation of your truck to the actual work you do.

6. Hunting and conservation/environmentalism have NOTHING to do with each other.

5. Violence is bad, wrong and evil in every case-war, domestic violence, capital punishment, self-defense. All bad. "If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other."

4. Hand guns should be absolutely illegal for anyone but law enforcement.

3. It is REDICULOUS to think that evolution is still a theory. I can't believe we had presidential candidates who didn't believe in evolution. Isn't there an educational requirement to become the leader of the free world?

2. Driving a luxury car-a car over $50,000-is incompatable with Christian teaching.

1. There is no scriptural, reasonable, traditional or experiential reason that homosexual people should not be allowed, nay encouraged, to be married or ordained as pastor. The kind of homosexual activity in the Bible is more like To Catch a Predator than Will and Grace.

Bonus stance: Oprah is bad for America.

Let the conversation begin, BB

Politics

2008-02-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Can anybody easily and succienctly (sp?) explain to me what the hell is going on?

Delegates, super delegates, primaries, caucausi. Obama won more states but less delegates. But, he says he won more delegates. But now matter what the actual people vote, the super delegates can vote however they want.

What the hell?

And, supplimental question, should I care?

BB

The Difference

2008-02-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in Hendrix Hall of St. Paul School of Theology, waiting for Ecumenical Theology and the Unity of the Church to begin its spring semester term. Appropriately, I heard yesterday a definition of the difference between myself and the Fundamentalist Evangelicals.

It came from an NPR interview with the first director of Bush's Office of Faith Base Initiatives and the new author of Godly Republic. I can't remember his name right now, but he is a non-Evangelical Catholic and professor of Religion and Politics somewhere.

In the course of his interview, he said, almost offhand, that the difference between him and Fundamentalist Evangelicals is that they do everything they do to get other people to be Christians. And he does what he does because HE'S a Christian.

Brilliant. That's what I see and I'm sure it's filtered through the media and my own lenses, but it's what I see. Evangelism, in terms of conversion to Christianity, is what guides the theology, preaching, mission and service and ecclesiology of Fundamentalists. Discipleship, or following the example and teaching of Jesus Christ, is what guides and defines me and my ministry.

I know that some of you will say that being evangelical is being a disciple. I get that point. But, conversion just never has been and never will be the focal point of my ministry. I preach, teach, serve, visit, comfort, study, invite, welcome and love because I am a follower of Jesus Christ not necessarily to make others follow Jesus Christ.

This is a question I think every Christian pastor and every Christian needs to ask themselves. Recognizing and reflecting on why we do what we do is an important part of discipleship. And, let me make this clear, i'm not saying that one is better than the other. I'm just saying that this difference exists. Some people on the extreme fringes of both sides think that differences in opinion mean that people can't work together and love each other. That's BS in my opinion. Differences make us human, and loving, liking and living with each other, working with each other to serve the world in spite of our differences is what makes us Christians. But, it is a question we all need to ask. Are you a Great Commission Christian? "Go and make disciples of all nations" Or, are you a Responding Christian? "Love others BECAUSE Christ loved you." Niether one is right, niether one is better. But it is important as followers of Jesus Christ to understand the reasons and drives that define your minstry. And, btw, you can be both.

I declare that my theology, ecclesiology, pedagogy, preaching, missiology and ministry are defined by my discipleship and following of Jesus Christ. I am concerned with evangelism in terms of spreading and showing the love of Jesus through my words and actions; not too concerned with the conversion of the world to Christianity.

Greatest Super Bowl Ever!!! gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggGGGGGGG-MEN!!

Peace, BB

Not So Surprising Revelations

2008-01-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well, through my experience at this year's minister's school and conversations this week with my polity friends, I finally have enough material to make a new post. Acthung, Attention, Warning: I feel a rant coming on...

George Bush doesn't care about black people...in one unbelievable and yet totally believable statement, Kanye West summed up a huge problem in america.

Here's mine. The United Methodist Church doesn't know how to deal with young adult clergy or how to talk to young adults.

This year's conversation at Minister's School concerned The Emergent Church. This conversation is taking place 7 years too late as we are moving away from the Emergent Church into a new ditigal age. The best part of the three day event was the presentation by Tim Keel, the founding pastor of Jacob's Well in KC.

Here's the point: church can not be formulated. A Center for Congregational Excellence will not, can not, speak to the needs of all congregations or how to reach young people who have no interest in the church. There is NO MODEL that will work everytime, in every situation. I hope and pray that the Pathways commission of the UMC and the Centers understand this. Congregations are part of the neighborhood that surrounds them. The ministries of congregation must speak to the needs of the community of which they are a part. The methods and style of a congregation must fit within the reality of the community of which they are a part. And, the PASTORS of congregations should be experts in the needs and styles and character of the communities of which they are a part.

So, why would you move a 25 year old, relatively high-tech, pop-culture, rock and roll, city boy to two rural congregations made up of farmers and teachers? Because the UMC doesn't know what to do with young adult clergy. And because the itineracy system doesn't work anymore! Now, i love the people in my congregations more than i love myself. But, i am doing them a disservice because i don't know their needs and issues, what's important to them, i speak a different language than they do, i come from a different world than they do. I will preach, visit, lead worship, marry people, bury people and be faithful in my service to these churches for as long as I am appointed here. But, there is a limit to what I can accomplish here. And, yes, I know that we have faith in God who works without the aid of the church, and that God has plans for my congregations. But, in order to become a part of God's ministry, through the local church, the leadership of a pastor who relates to the community has to play a huge role.

I feel like I was in a setting in which I belonged with a community with which i could relate. I had a pastor who had a chance to become a great influence and mentor in my life and affect my whole career. Instead, i was told it wasn't working out and the DS's had to scramble to find a place for me.

I am in polity class right now. Learning about the itineracy covenant and the candidacy process. You really want to bring the average age of ordained ministers down: Let's talk about the ten years it takes become ordained, let's talk about the mininum salaries and lack of insurance support. let's talk about the probability of changing jobs, moving families, every three years. let's talk about the lack of respect and involvement and participation and opportunity if you're not at least commissioned.

The candidacy process is five years too long and five times too hard. There's is a better way to ensure the accountability and readiness of all clergy without taking ten years to get through the process. The earliest you can be ordained is 29. Fact. The better way to ensure accountability is through the connection and relationship between clergy throughout their careers. Supporting, encouraging, and strengthening the connections between colleagues should be the role of the Center for Pastoral Excellence, not creating a check list of effectiveness that's supposed to work for every pastor in every situation. The process has to be reformed. Instead of hearing everywhere we go to find future clergy in our churches, the process needs to be reformed.

The itineracy process is also something that needs to be dealt with in order to encourage young people to become a part of the clergy. The average person changes jobs every 8-10 years. We change jobs every 2-3, especially if we're in the process and not commissioned or ordained and on part time local church appointments. That's not attractive to people considering ministry. Why would they want to do that if they could get a good steady job, without 7 years of education, with health benefits that much much less demanding than this job is. The itineracy comes from a church-past when pastors actually rode horses from town to town. The world has changed, is changing, will change, and the church must change with it.

As part of the conversation with the Bishop at minister's I stood up and made some points about how this new ditigal age is just reality to people like me, not something to studied or a problem to be solved. And the more the church sees and lives into this new time as reality, the better. The bishop thanked me graciously for my points and then said he would love to get a group of commissioned and ordained young adults together to have more conversations just like this. Now, we're getting somewhere. Young adults want to do that too, most of us are just waiting to be asked. But, did you hear it? I am immediately left out of that converation because of the time it takes to become commissioned and ordained. I am neither. Does that mean I have nothing to give to the conversation of the church's reaching young adults? I am a young adult for crying out loud!!!!

There is no model, there is no formula. The old paradigms simply don't work anymore. The new model is intense, contextual studies of certain areas and their needs, wants, styles, and other demo. stuff. Something must be done.

For example, downtown KC has seen a mass influx of young upwardly mobile hipster type folks. The only UMC presence down there is Grand Avenue, with an unbelievable place in the history of worldwide homeless ministry. But there's an opportunity to build on the old and reach the new. Using the homeless ministry identity of that church, Grand Avenue could be rediculously effective as a young adult downtown, emergent/ditigal age church. And I'd love to be a part of it. But, as for now, I'm a lisenced local pastor, so it's hard to get people to listen.

The times they are a-changin'. And if something doesn't change in the methodology, polity, and ministry of the UMC, the times are going to leave us behind.

Stop throwing your young adults out in to the country (or for that matter your young adult rural pastors into the cities) Stop putting your young adults through hell to become a part of the ministry of the UMC. Stop asking pastors and their familes to move at an awful rate. Stop NOT offering your young adults benefits that only fulltime pastors recieve (if we boycott walmart for the same reason, what does that say about us?) And stop sitting around in conference rooms talking about how to reach young adults.....JUST ASK ONE OF US!!!!

Dedicated to the ministry of God on this earth and hopeful for the future of the United Methodist Church within that ministry, Reverend Bradley James Bryan.

Brad's New Years Resolutions

2007-12-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

For New Years 2008, I've decided to do things a bit more concretely. Usually, it's the generals-lose weight, read more, etc. This time, however, I've broken it into Brad's every day of 2008 resolutions.

1. Wake up at 7:00 from Sunday to Thursday like normal people.
2. Eat breakfast like normal people.
3. Exercise @ least 1 hour a day.
4. Study seven days a week.
5. Write a piece for my rock song devotional book-1 piece a day and it'll be written in a year.
6. Walk Fiona every day.
7. Do something for both churches every day. (I work hard, but not EVERY day)
8. Do something special for Lindsey every day.
9. Record my receipts every night.
10. Go to sleep before midnight like normal people.

Well, there you go. I guess we'll see how long it lasts this year. I hope everybody had a great Christmas and has a great New Year!

Peace in the Middle East, B

What the Hell?

2007-12-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

I really don't want to follow a post of my intelligent, funny, and kind nephew with this. but I feel like I must.

Michael Vick killed dogs. He bought dogs, watched as they ripped each other to shreds until one couldn't stand, bet money on the fights, and then killed the ones that lost and buried them in a forrest behind his house. His actions were dispicable as a human being, and as a football player, caused his team to completely fall apart and lose all hope of being successful for years to come.

So, why, why in the hell, would members of that team wear shirts that said "Free Michael Vick" to a Monday Night Football game? Why would players put Vick's number on their eyeblack? Last week, every player in the league put the number 21 on their helmets and gloves and everything, to remember a player who had, by all accounts actually turned his life around, and who was shot in his home protecting his girlfriend and his child. This week, Falcons members had Vick's number in the same place. Awful. Terrible. Disgusting.

If you aren't sickened and pissed about what Vick did, then be angry at him for doing this to your football team. Don't support a man who is personally responsibile for the failure of your team.

I myself am sickened and pissed about what Vick did. He should be exactly where he is, and I don't know anything about the law, but deserves what the law says he should get. He should never play in the NFL ever again. If Michael Vick shot a human in the leg, he would never come back. Vick killed, KILLED, dozens of dogs. Those are not the actions of a good human being, of a role model for millions of kids.

I am a Christian pastor, so I have to believe in forgiveness. I pray that Vick can change his life and stop hanging around with people who would actually do this. And that he use his influence and persona to change lifes, not only for the sake of young black men in this country, but for the sake of the most watched and loved sport in this country.

But, the NFL should not forgive him. The NFL should punish those that wore Free Mike Vick shirts, basically saying that there was nothing wrong with he did. Our sports organizations in this country must start holding criminals accountable. Why does tank johnson still have a job, carrying guns everywhere he goes? Why won't baseball say what everybody, including themselves, already knows? These are criminals, teaching the millions of children that love them, that worship them, that behaving like this is ok, that cheating and degrading the games that the country loves is the only way to break records. (that's right, America, I'm saying Barry Bonds absolutely used steriods and lied about it)

Paying your debt to society is one thing, God's grace is another. But, come on. NFL, NBA, MLB...grow a pair and finally say, if you break the law, your done. Time to take a stand.

Now, everybody scroll down and look at the picture of my crazy nephew. The world is still alright.
B

My Crazy Nephew

2007-12-10T10:41:00.001-08:00

Sitting around one night, Wesley stands up in the middle of the room, and says, like its the best idea he's ever had. "I'm gonna put my pants on my hands and my coat on my feet!!!"

Ladies and gentlemen, the upside-down boy.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Brianna

2007-12-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

From 10 year old Brianna of Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church:

No Perfect People:

Why my life is so rough who knows. God must be seeing how much I love him. No one is perfect. God is great, but no one can put their whole heart in because everyone sins. If we sin we can not be perfect. So my point is proved that no one can be perfect. John 3:16 says God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son to die so we shall no die, but have eternal life. So this means we do sin but if we repent we shall be saved. Everyone (almost at least) are always nagging and saying repent, repent but is it truly bad. God is great. God has given his great, and only son, to die for us. So why can't the world see it? Why can't they understand that God has done so much?

Why, indeed?

Message to Al Gore

2007-11-27T16:58:00.001-08:00

I was listening to a great Tower of Power song the other day called "Only So Much Oil in the Ground". There's a prechorus in the song that says "We can't cut loose, without that juice." AWESOME! Hilarious. Their concern for the earth's over-consumption of petrolium is directly-proporsional to their ability to party.

Then I thought more about it and thought that this would be a genious campaign for Al Gore for all the hipster, downtown, young adult liberals out there who are pretty much all talk and no action. Who bought Save Darfur and the Live Earth cd because it was trendy but still use too much hair spray, drive too much and smoke too much. There won't be any cool downtown loft apartments any more, no facebook, no apple martinis or whatever cool people do. We won't be able to listen to music, check e-mail, makes phone calls, surf the internet, and take pictures on the same machine if the seas start to rise. No spring break in Key West if Key West is under water.
Think about it Al.

We can't cut loose, without that juice.
BB

The State of Rock and Roll

2007-11-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

Last week my brother Andy pointed out an op-ed in the Star about the state of rock and roll music. If I were my brother, I would have links to this article and maybe even remember the name of the guy who wrote the article. I'm sure Andy will include his name in his comment to this post.

Alright, first the article. The piece was based on a recent idea and program from Steven Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen's rythym guitarist. It is a lament of the current state of rock music, the individualized and niche market nature of music today, and the general public's and musicians knowledge of American music history. He plans to produce for group who are making good rock music and start public educational programs to teach kids American music history.

Alright, first off, i'm pretty sure that this exact article was probably written about 50 years ago by the parents of these guys when rock and roll first started. It was too loud, too fast, too sexy, too protesting. And now Steven Van Zandt, probably the least important person in the Boss's 7-9 piece band, is that old, fat, bald guy who think music is too loud, too violent, too sexual, too influenced. This is the same old song and dance that we heard from preachers and politicians when Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis started shaking their hips. The unfamiliar is always bad, wrong.

He makes an argument that the Rolling Stones wouldn't make it today if they were just starting out. Because of the niche markets that are out there today, they wouldn't get radio play and any PR guy at a record label wouldn't touch them and wouldn't know what to do with their sound. I agree. And I don't think the Rolling Stones would have any problem with that! In an interview last year, Ringo Starr said that what rock bands should be doing today is tearing down everything the Beatles ever did. That's what they did. They heard their parents music and hated it, and ripped it up and spit it out of their electric amps. That's what rock and roll is.

Next, the writer relates the story of Van Zant's discovery of the Beatles and how it changed his life. And that kids today don't have that experience. This is just another example of old guys not being in touch. Kids are still discovering the Beatles and it's still changing lives. I am a late Beatles convert and yes, it has changed my life. I went to a party over the holiday and met a guy my age who said he probably couldn't name and definately couldn't sing ONE Beatles song. I can't imagine a life without the music of the Fab Four. I know it's only rock and roll (but I like it) but there's so much life and joy and love in the Beatles. There's nothing wrong with the best rock music ever made-the beatles and led zeppelin-never being surpassed. No one will ever make better music than those guys. No matter what Steven Van Zant does.

Finally, I'd just like to say to the author of the letter (a nerdy looking guy with big glasses and the wrap-around-the-sides bald guy hair) and Steven Van Zant (an old, kinda fattening, good-not-great-guitar player who relys on Bruce Springsteen for a career) that rock music is just fine! Inspired by the article, I went to the iPod and created a rock only playlist. Looking across eras (one of the advantages of the ditigal age) with a "no metal" rule, I came up with one hell of a rockin' list. Here's some bands that rock, no niche market-just straight ahead rock and roll, Clutch, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Band of Horses, Wolfmother (who sound a lot like a little band called Black Sabbath), Black Crowes, Guns and Roses (really anything Slash plays), Kings of Leon, Louis XIV, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Arcade Fire, about half of Ben Harper's stuff, Cold War Kids, Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age and so many, many more.

Rock and Roll is meant for two things and sometimes a third: 1. piss off parents 2. get girls and (sometimes) 3. call for political change. Now, Steven Van Zant and the guy who's name I can't remember are the parents that are pissed off by the noise their kids are listening too.

Just because you're out of touch with rock and roll, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it.

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, B

No Love

2007-11-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hey, ESPN! Start talking about Missouri. We're number 5 in the nation. What do we have to do to be taken seriously? Last night on Sportscenter it was, "when KU beats MU", not if but when. No respect. We beat the living snot out of the Huskers!

Mizzou-rah, Mizzou-rah, Mizzou-rah, TIGERS!!!

B

2007-11-06T06:20:00.000-08:00

Here's some stuff I'm currently excited about:
NFL football week 9. It was almost as if since the Pats were playing the Colts, everybody raised their game. Disappointed that the Colts couldn't pull it out. I hate Tom Brady sooo much. Anyway, the most yards on the ground in NFL history, the longest touchdown play of all time, a 158 passer rating for Big Ben. Incredible football games. I don't even really mind that the Chiefs lost, it was such a good football game. The last team Brett Favre had to beat in the NFL. Great weekend.

30 Days of Night. The best vampire movie since Interview. Truly sinister. Horror fans should all go check it out.

Across the Universe. A love story movie set in the time during which I KNOW I was supposed to be a young man, end of the 60s in to the 70s, set to the soundtrack of all Beatles sung in musical format. Think Moulan Rouge without the can-can. The lead guy is unbelieveable as is Evan Racheal Wood. Joe Cocker, Bono, Eddie Izzard. Great movie!

My current project to purchase a couple of Bob Dylan albums (on iTunes, mom for $10 a piece) per pay check. I've never really listened to a lot of Dylan but what i have now-The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Highway 61 Revisited-is truly genius. I know what folks were always saying. If you haven't heard much, the time and the world situation call equally for more Rage Against the Machine and more Bob Dylan.

My Christmas present ideas for my Mom and my girlfriend, Lindsey. You girls are going to flip out!!

My idea for a proposal to General Conference for a 5 year minimum appointment and an equal salary for all elders of the United Methodist Church: $45,000. I guess I'll expand this later. Basically, preachers make too much money and our churches are being hurt because of it.

Lil Caldwell. You guys could've left that one of your voice mail message, I might've called you back!!

The new seasons of the Office, Family Guy and Heroes. Brilliant.

Degree Medical Strength Anti-persperant. Finally. I'm so sick of ruining shirts.

Here's some things I'm absolutely not excited about:

Fantasy Football. I have Big Ben, LT, Dallas Clark, Sebastian Janakowski and I can't win a game. Sebastian kicks the longest field goal in NFL history and gets me 5 points. We need to change the way points are tallyed. I guess I'm just a sore loser.

Giving my sermon in preaching class and listening to a semester's worth of other student sermons from here on out. I'm much more nervous about preaching in class than I ever am at church. I was recently called "dynamic" from the pulpit by my church members. Now I have to write out a sermon (which I never do) and present a sermon in a classroom (not a worship space) at 8:00am during class time (not a worship time). Not looking forward to it. I think it's gonna be called Incarnationality. (incarnation+nationality) It's our incarnationality, the fact that God became one of us, and not our nationality (patriotism, boarder fences, national secruity, etc.) that defines us. I don't know, something like that.

The UPS Whiteboard guy. Mustoe? Gets creepier everytime I see him.

Lindsey going out of town this weekend. Feel like I haven't seen her in weeks.

Not having an XBox or Nintendo Wii. I'm tired of Madden '06 and I need to see Halo 3 already. Guitar Hero 3. Tiger Woods golf on Wii. I gotta get one or the other someday soon. Oh well, far from the most important thing in the world.

Uh, oh yeah, the world. Um, are we dying? Is the world in grave danger? Is the earth going to fall into the sea or are we going to blow each other up first? I recently read a fatalist artical in Rolling Stone that said the population of the earth will be 500 million in 100 years. The Russians are going to go to war with China, when all those billions of people run out of space and try to move north. America is going to war with Iran and that guy's crazy. I mean actually insane, sociopathic, psychotic. Maybe they'll join in with North Korea (an equally crazy man). There's not enough water, oil, land, atmosphere, trees. There IS enough money, food, medicine, but the rich people are keeping it all. Andy, I'm trying not to be fatalist here, but shit. It's hard.

People who read my blog on a regular basis and never comment. Dru, my sister, Ron. Let me know who's out there.

Not having time to blog. I hate being busy. Who doesn't.

Alright, I know it's been awhile, but everything's going good. Just school and work. You know, life.

Take care of yourselves, B

Adulthood-for Mustoe and the Donutman

2007-10-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

One of the sad facts of adulthood is that it scatters people.

I'm going to try and say this without sounding to pathetic. I miss my boys. This week, I opened up some of the old Halo maps, Blood Gultch, Hang 'Em High, and just ran around by myself. I played a multiplayer, person vs. person video game by myself.

I had an unbelievable college experience looking back and I miss it. Halo, frisbee, raquetball, Casey's, the Hut, the Zone, Breadeux Pizza/Pool Tables/Bedroom Furniture, and, most of all, the band. Making our "album" was one of the best weekends of my life.

Anyway, feeling nostalgic. I miss you guys. I'm seeing my high school boys this weekend. We need to get the college crew together soon. Hope all's well in Saint Louie and Kentucky.

Peace, B

Mizzou-RAH!

2007-10-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

Ummm, what happened to Nebraska? Sorry, Lynz. 41-6 Tigers. Wow. I was actually bored.

M-I-Z!

Go Tigers, Brad

Movies for People Who Like Books

2007-09-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody
This started out as a conversation between my brother Andy, Erin his wife, Lindsey and I Sunday night. Been on my mind, though it's not very important in the grand ol' scheme of things.

Can you even type movies into genres anymore? I think so.

There's the big three: Comedy, Drama, Action. Every movie made fits into these three in some sort of fashion. But it's harder and harder to come up with categories for movies.

Dramedy, SciFi, Fantasy, Action comedy, romantic comedy, horror, thriller, martial arts, fantasy action, fantasy romance, tragedy-drama, triumph-drama. And of course, High School Musical.

What's the difference between science fiction and fantasy? Andy says that true science fiction is feasable, it could happen or can be somehow explain by science. So, Star Wars is a SciFi movie and Lord of The Rings is fantasy. But come on. It can't be that simple. Jabba the Hut explained by science? The Force as a feasable medium for elite corps of soldiers?

Is Terminator 2 an action movie or a science fiction movie? Is The Princess Bride a romance, a comedy or a fantasy? What the heck is Moulan Rouge?

or Pocahantas for that matter? Stereotypically fictionalized musical comedy biopic with talking animals. Where's that section in the store Blockbuster?

Alright, enough about genres. Let's get down to business.

The top ten movies I've ever seen (trilogies counted as one movie):
1. Star Wars IV-VI
2. The Godfather Pt. 1
3. Braveheart (before The Patriot and Passion of the Christ)
4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
5. LOTR
6. The Jerk
7. Goodfellas
8. Resevoir Dogs
9. Silence of the Lambs
10. Die Hard pt. 1
(11. the most badass, adreneline-fueled, testosterone-filled movie of all time: 300)

The top ten movie MOMENTS of all time:
1. "Luke, I am your father." "That's not true, that's impossible."
2. The baptism/assassination scene at the end of the Godfather.
3. Jim Stewart and friends leaving the house in The Birds.
4. The reveal of the true Kaiser Scosa in the Usual Suspects.
5. The last twenty minutes of Temple of Doom.
6. The reveal of the real dead person in Sixth Sense (be honest, you didn't see it coming!)
7. The first sight of Jaws jaws. "We're gonna need a bigger boat."
8. E. T. taking off with the bikes.
9. The first word of Dwane in Little Miss Sunshine.
10. The first utterance of the now infamous line, "Yippie-kay-yay, motherf***er." Die Hard

Some interesting points here: Stephen Spielberg is involved in three of these, Bruce Willis for two, and, who knew, Toni Collete (Sixth Sense, Little Miss) in two.

Some movie moments that should've never been made:
Ewoks!! I know my brother will probably have some theological point to say why the Ewoks were appropriate but, please!! The empire gets destroyed by a bunch of teddy bears.

Kathy Bates' nude scene in About Schmidt. Every Ashley Judd movie. Godfather Pt. 3. Ending All the Presidents Men with a bunch of headlines. The reveal of The Village (be honest, we ALL saw it coming). Any fake birth filmed and put in the movie: Knocked Up, Children of Men, Hills Have Eyes II. Pocahantas as a half-black, half-Chinese, half-Polynesian and NO-part Native American for the kids. Filming Hannibal without Jodie Foster as Clairece Starling. Starting every Rocky movie with 10 minutes of the last Rocky movie, come on Sly.

And, most of all, the BIGGEST mistake in movie history, a genius of my generation of movie stars, Leonardo DeCaprio, starring Titanic. I sympathize with my brother who is not a Leo fan but kinda stopped watching him after that dreadful, never-needed-to-be-made, three-hour-snoozefest. Let's add 'em up: Basketball Diaries, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Beach, The Aviator (show me all the blueprints), Gangs of New York, The Departed, Romeo and Juliet, Blood Diamond and Catch Me if You Can. Annnnndd....Titanic. I think we can let that one slide. If you haven't seen Gangs, Aviator, Departed, or Blood Diamond, watch them this week. You can borrow Gangs and Departed from me if you want. But, people of the world who gave up on Leo after Titanic, Andy Bryan, it's time to give him another chance.

Alright folks, sorry to ramble, but I'm sitting in class and we're off on some tangent that is in no way important to anything I will ever be tested on or need in my life. I love movies almost as much as I love music. I encourage everybody to find your local independent movie theater, the Tivoli in KC and the Ragtag in Columbia. Don't really pay attention to the Oscars, but rather watch the festivals, Toronto, Tibeca, Cannes, Sundance, for what movies are causing a stir there and find them. See EVERYTHING that Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Quinten Tarantino and Clint Eastwood (yes, Dirty Harry) direct. Watch cheesy horror movies and Mel Brooks comedies. Listen to directors commentaries. Listen to actors commentaries (the Anchorman commentary is so funny it's like a second movie). Go to movies on a couple of afternoons a month to beat the prices but see movies as they're intended to be seen. (i'm really just typing to stretch the time out longer)

So, I'm done. I'd be interested in additions, subtractions, and amendments to my lists. Take care everybody.

Peace, BB

ROFLMAO

2007-09-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

I think that means, rolling on the floor laughing my ass off, but I'm not a 14 yr old girl so I don't know.

The Star Wars Family Guy...holy crap!

"I made a Darth Doodie."

Oh man. Anyway, thought I'd share my response.

BB

If it's too loud, you're too old!

2007-09-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my mother, a musician with very good and eclectic musical taste, wrote her children a "new music" e-mail. And, as I think was one of her secret goal, it opened the flood gates and wrote one of the longest e-mail responses I've ever written. So, I thought that today I'd bring my love and, modestly, more than a little knowledge about music to the blogosphere.

So, here we go, modern music 101 for the baby boomer generation.

First of all, if you were a teenager or young adult in the 60s and 70s, you shouldn't have ANY excuse for not having music to listen to. You lived through the greatest musical revolution the world has ever known. There's nothing wrong with what you're listening too. The Beatles, the Stones, Motown, Aretha, late 60s folk, Bob Dylan, are classics because they are the best there's ever been and noone will ever be better. That said, some of you, like my mom, think that the Beatles Number 1's album or a motown collection is sufficient. Not so, my friends. If you're running out of music or are too familiar with your collection, than go buy more of what you love. The Beatles are the best band that's ever been and the best at total album construction. Everyone in the world should own Let It Be and Abbey Road and proabably Revolver. It's listening to songs like Honey Pie or Octopus's Garden that makes Hey Jude true genius. So, the first step if you're feeling a little stale lately is go and buy something else in the catalog of your favorites. Carole King has made more albums than Tapestry, Simon and Garfunkel more than Bridge Over Trouble Waters. Greatest Hits albums are great for quick and easy access to the sing alongs. But studio albums are where we see the best artists at their artistic best.

The second step is realizing that not all your favorite artists are dead or in prison. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, America, Carley Simon, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Johnny Cash (somehow), have ALL put out albums in 2006-7. So, keep up with the artists you love. All of them have websites or just go to your local store and ask somebody to show you the most recent album. These artists are still around and still making music.

Alright, so now, what's happening today? Oh, honestly, not much. We are officially in the era of hip-hop. "Popular" music is rap, r & b, dance and combinations of all kinds. This is hard for some, again like my mom, who hate rapping and can't stand the sounds of computerized beats and turn-table scratches. It's also pretty hard these days if you can't listen to a distorted electric guitar. Although, there aren't really a lot of good rock bands these days, either. This should sum up the music scene right now-the greatest selling albums of this year are High School Musical, High School Musical 2, and Hannah Montana.

But there are some gems out there that I think you baby boomers out there will like. And I'll break now into list form to keep from rambling anymore.

Norah Jones-singer, piano player, very bluesy.
Corrine Bailey Rae-singer, bluesy, R&B
Joss Stone-singer, funk, Jazz, R&B (thanks, steph) Janis Joplin-esque
The Arcade Fire-9-person band, folk-rock-bluegrass-weird awesome fusion.
Bright Eyes-singer/songwriter with band, rock-folk stuff. Awesome!
The Frames-my most exciting find this year. The movie "Once" and this Scot band.
John Mayer-guitar player/singer-songwriter. One of the new Eric Clapton's
Ray LaMontagne-pure folk, just a guy and a guitar.
Jamie Cullum-great updates of Sinatra and jazz standard stuff.
Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and Matt Costa-the most laid back, chilled out music ever.

That's all I can think of right now. There's a lot of great music out there. Listen to the radio (not just NPR), go to festivals and local concerts, go to record stores and spend an afternoon listening to music. Find what you love, find what speaks to you. And never be bored with your music, there's something out there for everybody.

For those about to rock, I salute you.
BB

For all those who are interested

2007-09-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Is a Christian church without a cross in the sanctuary actually a Christian church?

By the way, I would say no. The cruxifiction and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important thing for Christian worship and in my opinion the most important event in all of history and without a symbol of that event, I don't know. It's just not for me.

Talk amongst yourselves. Well, not really, actually comment and we'll talk. No big whoop.

BB

Open Letter to DVD Distributors

2007-09-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

You know what really grinds my gears...
Why are the main title sequences included in all DVDs of TV series? You know what I mean, I don't have cable, so when I'm home preparing sermons or doing homework and need a little noise in the background, I'll put in some Seinfeld or Family Guy or Reno 911, or when I'm on the treadmill watching the Office on the iPod, I'll just hit the "Play All" button and let it run. And lo and behold, every 21 minutes, I have to sit through 30 seconds of the theme song on every single show. Come on people. We know who the stars are, we know who created the show, we all know that Stewie says "Laugh and cry" not "Eff-ing cry" in the Family Guy theme. We want content. Take the dingding theme songs off your DVDs.
And that, is what really grinds my gears,
BB

St. Petersblog: Post-Vacation Blues

2007-09-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Alright, alright, alright. So, it's been a week and a half since our last night and day in Florida and I haven't posted anything, yet. But, here it is...

We woke up early on Thursday to go down to the beach one more time before the check out time. The waves were much bigger than they had been all week. It's crazy to think that all the way across the Gulf, the winds from the Dean storm effected the waves at St Pete Beach. Anyway, we said our goodbye's to the beach and ocean, had another Cuban sandwich and hit the road.

On our way out of town, we returned to the shops on Corey Ave. (The place I said wasn't any better than the Plaza, and was actually pretty gaudy) Well, at Duet, that's right, not Duet's, Lindsey bought me a Ukelele for our 2 yr anniversary. It's pretty awesome, really easy to play and sounds great. Now, that's three guitars, a mandolin, a uke, a keyboard, a wood xylo, a rain stick, two djembe's, an Indian circle drum, an Indonesian gourd shaker, a Sri Lankan rattle, some hand-painted castanets, and a set of drums. (From Lynz-mandolin, uke, xylo, rs, and castanets)

Down the street at "The Shell Store" we went back to pick up a lovely little kresch for my brother for the ride to and from the airport (you're welcome!), and saw a display case of jewelry that we hadn't seen earlier in the week. And, so, I got Lynz three awesome necklaces and earrings. So, the point of all this, we'd like to redact our previous statement that shopping on corey ave isn't all it's cracked up to be. It turned out just fine!

We left St. Pete Beach and stopped at the actual St. Petersburg on our way to Orlando. We stopped for two reasons. To get a second look at a couple of stores on Bay Walk; stopping in one to get Lindsey's birthday present (let's talk about our anniversary being 10 days before her birthday sometime...) a square black glass clock with charcoal gray Eiffel tower embossed on it, and another to see the price on AWESOME shirts with 80's NFL logos. Mustoe, Andy and Caldwell, you guys would've loved these. The best were the old school Buccaneer with the knife in his mouth in bright orange and the old Patriot in the three point stance. Alas, these short-sleeve, faded-looking t-shirts were 50 bucks a piece.

Alright, real business in St. Petersburg was the Salvador Dali Museum. Awesome! Dali was one messed up dude, and his paintings are pretty messed up too.

They had the originals of Dali's 15 foot tall, 10 foot wide masterpieces and the one with the blocks and naked lady up close and then at 20 meters becomes Abe Lincoln. Crazy stuff.

Alright, we left the coast line and went inland to Orlando (ridin' high and smooth, by the way) That night we went to the Orlando outlet mall, which was a bust neither of us really in the mood. We had a great dinner at a steak place across from out hotel. Oh yeah, our hotel was the Wyndam Resort. Pretty sweet.

Our morning before the flight, we went to Orlando's best attraction....Gatorland!!!! 17oo gators and 10 crocs. I think I prefer to let the Gatorland pictures speak for themselves.

Well, folks, there you have it. Our first big trip together and shared with all of you. Thanks for stopping by and listening to our stories. Now, it's back to real life.

Keep on keeping on, BnV

St. Petersblog Day 3

2007-08-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

Alright folks, we are currently experiencing the "third day of vacation effect", which means that we're exhausted. So, not much today. But here's a couple of things.

After blogging last night, Vee and I returned to the beach and through the light-up frisbee around. I believe the Adam's can attest to this: throwing around a light-up frisbee on the beach at 12:00am, is just about one of the coolest things ever.

OK, this morning we got up and drove down to the St. Pete Beach shopping block which, while called Corey Ave. that is awesome, isn't much greater than the Plaza or downtown Columbia. In fact, we're probably fine saying that Downtown Columbia is much better than shopping on Corey Ave, last name or no.

Dad, this, nicely framed behind the fountain, is Lindsey's favorite tree...

At noon, Lindsey's good friend Joe came down from Ocala, Fl. We spent most of the day running around with Jose and great fun was had by all.

OK, lunch: third best sandwich of my life. 1) Shrimp Po'boy in Kenner, LA with my boys, 2) Philly Cheese in Philly and 3) a Cuban from St. Pete, FL with my girl. Unbelievable!

At the beach in the afternoon, we discovered that the sharks really were dolphins (thanks for telling me to swim TOWARDS sharks, Mustoeman) because we saw 6 or 7 more and they were, no hyperbole here, like two feet from us. OK, like 25ft. But, really freakin' close and it was amazing. Joe, having lived in FL since 2001, has never had that happen.

Also, maybe from Hurricane Dean, the waves were much bigger today. I had a good time body surfing and Karate Kidding some big ones while Joe and Linds had a bottle of wine. They joined me in the waves, Joe and I taking it easy like pros, Lindsey struggling with each wave like God was breaking his promise to Noah. One did eventually get the better of her, lifting her off her feet and tumbling around, hitting bottom. She's got a nice scraped up knee to prove it. "The sea was angry that day my friends"

Florida Orange Groves and Winery was great fun. We sampled 11 wines made of every fruit you could imagine except grapes. Fruit wine is a lot better than grape wine, but I really still prefer good ol' hops and malts.

So, as you can see, big day. I'm going to sleep. But here's something for you all to enjoy.

B n V

ps. Mom, "booyakasha" is an exclamation used under sudden or surprising awesomeness; i.e. a slam dunk or a surprise pimp-pose from your baby boy.

Peace to all...

St. Petersblog: Day Two

2007-08-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Good evening all of my friends stuck somewhere that isn't Florida!

Day two of our Floridian vacation was one of the best days of my life. We did nothing. Woke up late-went to the beach-went to the grocery store-went to the beach-went to Crabby Bill's for dinner-blogging-going back to the beach. Here's some highlights:

We have seen some wildlife off of St. Pete's Beach. This morning, as we opened the door to head down to the water, a baby lizard fell from it and into our room. In Missouri, we have mice and mosquitoes; FL, lizards. There are tons of pelicans, like this one, flying around. Now, I hate birds that aren't birds of prey. But, this little fishkiller is awesome. We watched 'em fly across

looking down and around and then WWWWWWOOOSSSHHH, straight down into the water for a mouthful of grouper.

Oh yeah, and we saw TWO FREAKIN' SHARKS. I'm absolutely, positively, like 60% sure. Just about 200 yards offshore we saw a fin comin' up out of the water. It wasn't just us. A lot of people saw it and we all got out of the water. No joke. An Englishman (I think) and I watched the water for a while but never saw it again. Crazy.

Lindsey and I both would like to thank our families for teaching us the vacation lunch. Fruits, cheese and crackers, a little sausage. Lindsey has discovered her love of fried plantains, which Brad hates, and pluots(seen here), which Brad also hates.

We've seen too many speedos but no thongs, thank God.

Saw an adorable little Latina girl whose name was, we're pretty sure, Malaria and a little Caucaisan boy who sounded exactly like a seagull.

Lindsey, along with various fruits, has discovered a calling to become a sand artist.

If that doesn't work, we can always buy shells from a wholesaler, glue all sorts of names on them and sell them for 5 dollars a piece.

We've found two sandollars and three full conch shells.

Lindsey was the furthest swimmer from shore for a short period today, a fact of which she's very proud.

Mom and Dad, remember me at the beach sitting in the sand and just looking for shells for hours? Well, turns out I still like that.

We have been doing some pondering out on the gulf as well. And we've come up with this philosophical gem: we (human beings) have NO IDEA what "big" really means. Looking out into the water, we really have no clue how big this world is or how small we are in it.

It was a great day. At one point, Lindsey asked what I was thinking and I said, with confidence, "nothing". Couldn't ask for more in a vacation...

More to follow. Hasta Manana. B n V

Oh yeah, and here's this...booyakasha!

St. Petersblog: Day One

2007-08-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well, Lindsey and I arrived safely and without much incident in Orlando, Fl late this afternoon. We then rented our car (which gave us our first vacation story not 30 mintues on the ground) and drove about two hours to St. Petersburg on the coast of the gulf of Mexico.

As I said, not 30 minutes on the ground in Jeb Bush's stomping ground, we experienced our first vacation story. We found a car at a great rate online through a company called Payless Car Park and Rental. Probably the last time we'll buy anything but shoes at a place named Payless. After waiting in line for really too long, we come to counter and are greated by a very friendly man with a very heavy Western European accent. He says we have your reservation for a two-door Hyundai Sonata. Which is exactly what we wanted since it was 15 bucks a day. Our friend with the heavy accent then procedes to tell us that for very little money we could get something a little bigger, a little nicer, the same schpeal he gives everyone. Then, observant fellow that he is, he notices by our ID's that today is Lindsey's birthday (to find out which one, you'll have to ask her). After seeing this, he offers us "much more less than 50% off" on either a Dodge Charger or a Ford Mustang, for just 40 dollars more of the total cost. That offer, while generous, put us over the hundred dollar mark for car rental which we wanted to avoid. So, we politely declined saying we appreciated the gesture but we really originally wanted a compact and we're fine with that. He says ok and goes to get the keys. He comes back with a set I am familiar with, since it is in the Dodge family (see earlier post on the new wheels). So, thinking that he's either giving us the Charger-which would, frankly, kickass-or upgrading us to the sporty new Caliber, we hear him say, almost under his breath in a heavier accent than he had before, "We have your Caravan all ready, just round corner". A little shell-shocked, we turn the corner and lo and behold, there sat our vehicle for the week, a light blue '06 Dodge Caravan, complete with stow and go seating and automatic doors. So, as is natural, I get a little upset. I say some things I shouldn't, I snap at Lindsey a little bit, I get in an all around foul mood. And then, ten minutes down the road we discover that I can control the radio with buttons on the backside of the steering wheel. Twenty minutes down the road, we find the power seat controls for the driver's side and dual-climate controls (which lynz promptly turned way up on her side). Thirty minutes later we're commenting on how roomy and spacious it is and I've got the cruise control working, I'm switching stations left and right and, as fast as a dance remix of a song that's already a dance song can cheer up two dudes after driving brush around for four hours, I love the Dodge Caravan.

That's the story for today, more to come all week, so keep checking in. Below you'll find pics of our digs for the week, our first view of the ocean together, and a few of us. I failed to get a picture of the wheels before the sun went down, but rest assured, you'll see it tomorrow.

Peace,
Brad and Lindsey

Aren't we cute!!

Pandora's Blog

2007-07-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

You asked for it, you got it.

So, I'm flipping through the channel's the other night and I stop on the O'Reily Factor, you know, for material. Turns out, Ol' Pompous Ass himself and I have something in common. There's a clip from the movie Jesus Camp circulating the airwaves this week for the release of Harry Potter. This angry, bitter lady screaming at a large group of pre-teens saying "If this was Old Testament Times, Harry Potter would be burned for witchcraft!!!" She actually used the term "warlock" as if referring to a real thing. Come on people. What about God's gifts of creativity and imagination? What about inspiring millions of kids to love reading? How many millions of kids has Numbers inspired lately? As both Bob and John Stewart pointed out on the same night, this is just rediculous. This kind of fanatacism really isn't worth a comment. But what happens when anyone goes to a public stage, says "I'm a Christian", and then procedes to say something hateful, or homophobic, or mysoginistic, or insane like "Harry Potter's evil", people start thinking that ALL Christians are like that. I just wish someone would get to level of public address and say once and for all, Yes, I'm a Christian and I happen to be just as lost, confused, scared, happy, joyous, doubtful, right, wrong, peaceful, angry, MESSED up as the rest of humanity. In other words, I'm a Christian and I'm a completely normal human being.

So, I'm flipping through the channels the other night and come across a story on Christian products. This is perfect because I also saw Michael Moore on The Report talking about his movie Sicko. It's perfect because the points are the same. There are two things that definately should ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH PROFIT: medicine and faith. The message of Jesus Christ is not for sale. If you have t-shirts, hats, mugs, stickers, posters, computer games, mouse pads, action figures, little magnetic plastic fish or anything else with a "trademark" or a "copyright" behind the name or message of Jesus...please go to your nearest Goodwill store and drop everything you've got on the back steps.

So, I'm flipping through the channels the other night and catch a rerun of the Daily Show and I finally hear put to words what made me feel so weird about the Annual Conference's new insurance policy. John Stewart said, referring to the Catholic Church's most recent tangle, "I want you all to really hear me, they had child abuse insurance!" My friends, you don't get insurance for something that you never expect to happen. You hope it won't happen, but you guess it probably will someday. The United Methodist Church has sexual and child abuse insurance. Fabulous.

I heard my two favorite lines in rock n roll history today from one of my favorite bands, Clutch:
"Condolezza Rice is nice but I prefer A' Roni"
"I've got your number, I steal your thunder, I got your mother's maiden name tattooed on my arm"
Thought I'd share.

Be careful what you wish for, BB

Summer, Summer, Summer-time!

2007-07-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! As I told my brother after the first three times he told me to "freakin' blog already", I try very hard to not let any important or intelligent thoughts to enter my head during the summer months. However, since I've been told by at least six people now to "freakin' blog already" I thought I'd appease the masses.

Here's a few things I've been thinking about recently.

THINGS I'M EXCITED ABOUT:
My new car: a 2007 Dodge Caliber, silver, with avg. 25mpg, auxillary hookup for the iPod, plenty of space for people and cargo and 17,000 miles-it's by leaps and bounds the nicest car I've ever had.

My happy, peaceful, crawling-all-over-the-place nephew, who's a month ahead of development schedule, who reaches for you when you walk in, who laughs when you tickle him, who hauls himself up with just your fingers for help and who just loves life so much.

The Simpsons movie: the most anticipated movie ever!! After twenty years, it's finally here.

Feeling like a lazy slob when I don't work out three days a week. I'm the last person anyone would have expected to EVER feel this way, but here we are.

Dad's new hair; it's about time you stopped parting those four hairs up there.

My current project to listen to every Beatles album. Not the greatest hits or the anthologies, but each album front to back how they were meant to be heard. Mustoe, I seem to remember at some point questioning your devotion to the Fab Four. Now, I must apologize and thank you for opening my eyes to true genius. Now, if you could just stop being a wuss and put some metal in your rotation, we'll be even.

THINGS I'M NOT SO EXCITED ABOUT:
Two things concerning the United Methodist Church-1. This Holsinger or Holstetter or something who's up for surgeon general I think, which has brought into light a paper he wrote in 1991 about the detremental and unnatural physical and psychological effects of homosexuality. This paper includes descriptions of the damage done to the "anus" and "rectum" and an explanation of the unnatural nature of homosexual using the image of male and female pipe couplings in plumbing to shed light into the complex and mysterious world of human relationships. And who was the benefactor and recipiant of this scientifically sound paper? Why the United Methodist Church, of course! This has put us right in the middle of the conservative bigotry and homophobia after being relatively seen as an open church for years. Distinguished delegates to General Conference (which in this readership is pretty much Dad) the time is now! It is time to stand up and say as a church that we will be loving, welcoming, embracing of all God's children!
2. The conference new young adult ministry, MC2, of which I recently tried to become a part. As I learned, there's really no room for me to help because this will mainly be a student-led ministry focused on campus ministry alone. Apparently, the only young adults the conference is failing to reach are college students, and there's no room for ACTUAL young adults, working as pastors, who are willing to help out and be an active voice in reaching and ministering to young adults.

The Catholic Church: For the second time in my life, I went to a Catholic mass and sat through a communion service of which I could take NO PART and listened to the congregation sing One Bread, One Body. One of the great old hymns about how communion brings us all together sung in the context of the "one true church". At the end of the service a young adult (imagine that) from a national group that organizes Pro-life walk-a-thons came to the lecturn and urged us all to go and protest the KC Planned Parenthood building for all the EVIL that goes on inside. We then sang the closing song...They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love. "We will walk with each other, we will walk hand-in-hand"-unless you're not Catholic. "They will know we are Christians by our love"-unless you have to go through the heart-wrenching and impossible decision to get an abortion, then you'll know we are Christians by our picket signs!

Well, there you go. Those are the summertime innerworkings of the brain of Brad.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make...
Peace, B

The Genius of Pearl Jam

2007-05-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to a lot of Pearl Jam for the past couple of days. Now, I know that most of my readers are friends and family and some of them have no interest in my ramblings concerning rock and roll, but I can't contain myself.

Pearl Jam is genius. If you have even a cursory interest in modern rock, in modern music, you need to go out and buy Ten, VS., and Vitology, three of the best albums of the 90s and Ten is one of the best albums ever. If you consider youself a musician, you need to go to iTunes, click see all albums, and buy them all! As far as guitar tandoms go, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready are right up there with Lennon and McCartney, Richards and Wood, James Hetfield and Kurt Hammet, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford and all the other great songwriting duos. If you think you're a guitar player and don't know Yellow Ledbetter, you are NOT a guitar player. And if you fancy yourself a lyricist, or a rock melody writer, there's no one better right now than Eddie Vedder. His words, his melodies, his phrasing...pure rock and roll gold. And, when Matt Cameron joined on drums, they became an unstoppable post-punk, post-metal, post-new wave, rock tour de force.

Evenflow, Alive, Jeremy, Black, Daughter, Betterman, Nothingman, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Yellow Ledbetter, Alone...simply some of the best songs ever written. So, if you want anything to do with post-80s music, do yourself a favor and listen to Pearl Jam. You won't regret it.

I will hold the candle, 'til it burns up my arm...I'll scream my lungs out, 'til it fills this room...
Peace, BB

More Reflections and Call to Action

2007-04-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so I got a little heated in light of the VT tragedy. I didn't mean to be insensitive or callous. I'm simply trying to make sense of how this could happen like everyone else. I grabbed on to the gun control issue as a way of coping, of grieving. We have 20,000 laws dealing with guns in our country, so I don't know if one more will make any difference. My entire point, which you can see if you look past the wild ranting of an angry man, is that it's too easy. I don't think hunters and self-defense gun owners would argue that or should they have any trouble with federally mandated waiting periods and more extensive background checks. 90% of global homicide victims die in the United States. (alcohol, tobacco, and firearms website) 9 of 10! It's too easy, that's all I'm saying.

But, I'm not going to talk about this today. No gun control debate this time. Here's an idea: I'm responsible. Through my brother's blog http://www.entertherainbow.blogspot.com I've been reading some discussion as others try and deal with this in their own ways. Some private, personal reflections and some professional editorials. And here's the thought that stuck: I'm responsible. We all are. I asked Lindsey what she thought about the national day of mourning and she said a very wise thing: it's because we all felt this, we all know what sitting in french class is like, the innocense, and we all felt this. We all need to feel this, we need to feel the pain of the victims, their families, AND the survivors. Imagine going back into that classroom this week. There's a girl who was a freshman at Columbine High School when shooters massacred her classmates and now she's a student at Virginia Tech. We need to feel this. We need to feel the darkness in this young man's soul; we need to feel the anger, confusion, maybe illness, in his head that drove him to take so many human lives including his own.

But here's the kicker: We need to feel this not only when it's good, hard-working American college students; not only when it's 32 people and our talking-heads are foaming at the mouth to get some new angle on the story. Everytime one of our human brothers and sisters is killed by, or even affected by, violence, we should feel it. Whether it's a bunch of innocent college French students, a young man on 12 st. gunned down in the streets, a soldier who knew the risks she was taking joining an all-volunteer military, or a native citizen of Sudan executed by their own government's hired-gun...we should feel them all. Deep inside, we should feel them. But, so often, I glance over the headlines of human lives lost, I get impatient with the stories on the news because I wish they would get to the weather already. Two lines come to my head: Jack Johnson "Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die? Least they could be descent enough to put just a tear in their eye..." Our newscasters are paid and trained to deliver the facts without emotion, we want them to, that's their role. It's not our role! We should feel it. Second: Obi Wan Kanobi "I sense a great disturbance in the force." Ben felt the life force created by every living being disturbed whenever evil grew in power and strength. Every time one of our human family is victimized by violence, evil grows in power and strength. We should all be so connected, so filled with the love that God has for creation, that we feel a disturbance in the ties that bind us together every time one of our beloved falls. Every time.

And now, speaking of our human connection, I need to make a commercial. This Friday evening, starting at 5 or 5:30 there is a rally for peace in the Darfur region of Sudan in Mill Creek Park, near the plaza. If you've been glancing over these headlines like I have been, I've done a little research. Darfur is a region in the African country of Sudan. Now, there's been civil war and infighting in Darfur for years, but there's never been anything on the scale of what's going on now. The Sudanese military, alongside the government-funded mercenary militias called Janjaweed, have marched through Darfur, killing over 400,000 people and displacing over a million. I looked up the difference between displaced and refugee. Refugees are people who have crossed a border into another country and the UN has declared them refugees, meaning they were forced out of their own country AND meaning that they have certain rights within the new country. Displaced means that they haven't left the country, usually because the army that displaced them has closed the borders. These are people whose homes are gone, destroyed, and whose ONLY source of survivals needs comes from the very little humanitarian aid that other nations can get in to them. If anyone has seen Hotel Rwanda or The Last King of Scotland (both excellent movies, must sees), This is happening right now in Sudan. We, the US/the UN, didn't do anything in Rwanda and hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered. We didn't do anything to stop Edi Amin, and hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered. If we don't do anything now, millions of people are going to die. But, dadgummit, we had to stop Saddam Hussien and his unbelievable access to weapons of mass destruction!
So, if you're in the KC area this Friday evening, please come down to the park next to the plaza, to help show support of those brothers and sisters who have lost their lives and lost their homes.

Alright, folks. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world. I didn't even talk about our Attorney General saying "I don't remember" 71 times under oath and our president saying "If anything, I'm more confident in him" afterwards. Idiots.

Peace, my friends, B

Random Notes

2007-04-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Earth Day, so suck it, Neptune!!

But seriously, I know I'm known to take some lengthy breaks from the blogosphere, but I thought that last one was pretty good! I am a needy, attention-starved, approval-seeking baby child. I need your comments to give my online rantings some kind of validation!

Where are all you people??

BB

An Unremarkable Sale

2007-04-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

As we mourn the loss of 32 people at VTech, I'm thinking about the two instances this year that have brought gun control to the front of my mind. One is, of course, the story of this guy who bought a gun and ammunition in an "unremarkable sale" (according to the owner of the gun store) for 571 bucks and five weeks later killed 31 people and himself. The other is a gun crime that happened in KC to someone I know. That's never happened to me before.

My friends, it's too easy to get a gun. Background checks, criminal records checks, psychological evaluations...nobody actually does them. One of the things Borat showed us about our country is the readiness of gun enthusiasts to talk about killing, ANYTHING, even Jews!! It's too easy. OK, you want to talk to me about the bill of rights, fine. The bill of rights came out of a particular time and place, a time and place with very peculiar circumstances. It was a revolutionary time, it was a scary time, it was war time. AND, people still hunted for food. Hunted for survival. So, the 230 year old "right to bear arms" doesn't make a lot of sense in a time in which people are getting killed in SCHOOLS, children are getting killed in schools, wives/daughters/mothers are being killed in their homes, brothers/fathers/husbands/sons are killing each other on the street over territorial feuds or the color of their clothes. OK, you want to talk to me about the whole "if we strengthen gun control only the criminals will have guns", fine. I'M FINE WITH THAT!! That's what makes them criminals. I want to think that the rest of us are different than criminals, are better than criminals, should live to a higher standard than criminals. Cops and robbers, people. That's they way it's supposed to be. When you're a kid, you don't play robbers and citizens protecting their property. (part of the problem is America's sense of ownership and the right to property, entitlement, but that's another blog for another time) NO, you play cops and robbers. Let the men and women who give their lives to protect us protect us.

it's too easy. It's too easy for a preacher's wife who's fed up with the pressures of being a preacher's wife and the too high expectations of her husband to get a gun and shot him more than once while he was IN BED! (self-defense, my ass) It's too easy for an 18 yr old kid from 12th st. KC to get a gun and blast some other poor kid because he "disrepected" him. It's too easy for a FREAKING 13 YR OLD to shoot up his school with his step-dad's hunting rifle. It's too easy for a disturbed, troubled, desperate young man, to walk into a store, slap down a NON-CITIZEN ID, and, for less than a bicycle, less than a good camera, less than a new set of tires, less than my Missouri taxes, purchase something that was only designed for, who's sole purpose is killing human beings.

I could go right now, drive out to our favorite neighborhood health-benefit-denying superstore, buy some underpants, the new Kings of Leon cd, stop by the McDonalds to get a double cheese burger, maybe a washing machine...AND AN INSTRUMENT OF DEATH AND TORTURE THAT WAS ONLY EVER MEANT TO KILL ANOTHER HUMAN! If that makes sense to you, I'm sorry. And, feel free to explain your position to me, but I will never understand it.

Rest in peace, my friends. May God give us the strength to learn from your sacrifice. B

Weight vol. 3

2007-04-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the results are in. At least, some of the results are in. I've been working out 4 days a week, using mainly weight-training stuff I learned from my own personal strength coach, who also happens to be my best friend. I've been progressing nicely, moving up in the weight i lift each week and already seeing results in my arms and chest. I'm not quite as jiggly as I was when I started this whole thing! and, mom you'll be glad to know, I'm getting those scary trap. muscles back.

I've also been trying really hard to eat better. Lots of eggs, whole grain cereal, salad when I can. One Mountain Dew a day. Ice Cream has been replaced by 100% real fruit frozen yogurt bars.

And what does this all mean? I've lost 5 pounds in three weeks...Ta Da! Ok, not huge results. But, it's something. and since I have been focused mainly on weight training and muscle growth, not cardio and weight loss (cardio work is probably my second least favorite thing in the world to do, next only to changing guitar strings) I HAVE been building muscle, which weighs a lot more than fat. So, in the end, I don't know how much weight I'll lose or if I'll meet my 215 goal. But, if i'm bigger, stronger and more solid, I won't care.

Here's the problem. I love eating. It's not just something I do, it's something I love doing. Also, I'm addicted to Mountain Dew, which is just empty unusable calories. So, I do cheat. Not a lot, but it happens.

But the good news: I see results in muscle growth already and I'm down to 233 from 238. Now the danger becomes plateau-ing, where your body catches up to the breaking down of muscles your doing and the results stop. So, that's the next challenge...

Not so jiggly, B

Next General Conference

2007-04-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting question: Why the HELL are America the Beautiful and My Country tis of Thee is our United Methodist Hymnal? Just a thought...
B

Listen all Ya'll it's a Sabatoge

2007-04-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

Psychological post for you today, stemming from a convo we had in Pastoral Care...

What kind of self-sabatoging powers does our ego, or super-ego, have over our id?

Case study: A person is so used to being pesimistic, negative, glass-half-empty. This person's comfort zone is the meloncholy (sp?). Can happiness frighten that person so much that some part of that person tries to remedy the situation with self-sabatoge, subconsciously attacking the cause of said happiness? And how, as care-givers (pastoral or otherwise), can we get a person like this to accept happiness, embrace happiness, to know that being happy is ok, is actually preferrable? Especially if the sabatoge is coming from somewhere deep underneath the surface, and, many times, the person is unaware until its too late.

One of my more intellectual questions here on The Bustle. Let me know what you think.

BB

Clapton is a god!!!

2007-04-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from MY BEST CONCERT EVER!! Eric Clapton is simply breath-taking, awe-striking, dumbfounding, flabbergasting. Just listen: Running on Faith, Layla, Wonderful Tonight, Cocaine, Crossroads and much much much more. The dude played for three hours!!! It's difficult to put into words. Seeing someone who is not only the BEST person alive at what he does, but also loves doing the thing your watching him do more than anything else in the world, it is absolutely transcendental. It takes you to a whole other place.

I've seen Metallica from the front row. I've seen the original Black Sabbath. I've seen Tool, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson I've been to awesome, intimate shows and watched Martin Sexton, Trevor Hall, Robert Randolph, and Splitlip Rayfield from inches away. Nothing compares. NOTHING.

Nothing anyone can ever say is ever going to top this. Watch:
Oh, you went on a cruise? I just saw Eric Clapton play Wonderful Tonight...
You got a promotion, that's great!! I just heard Eric Clapton play Layla...
Wow, you just ran a marathon, impressive. I just saw Eric freakin' Clapton play Cocaine...
You just flew around the world in a hot air balloon, no way..I was there when Eric Clapton and Robert Cray played Crossroads!!!!

I SAW ERIC CLAPTON PLAY LITTLE WING!! Probably one of the top five songs ever written (not to mention Layla, Wonderful Tonight, etc.) played by one of top five guitar players ever...LITTLE WING PEOPLE!

But, I have to say it wasn't all good. As is known to happen from time to time, something pissed me off. No one stood up! I know. I stood up as soon as Slowhand took the stage and was prepared to stand the entire time. But, Lindsey and I were the only ones in our section that were standing. So, to be "polite" we had to sit down. Then I looked around. No one in the upper deck was standing. No one I could see in the lower deck was standing. A few full torsos were visible from the floor seats, but-listen to this-there were people sitting down IN THE FRONT ROW! I wanted to scream but no one would've heard me. That's Eric Clapton up there people; he doesn't have to earn our ovations. He's Eric Clapton, he's a living legend, he's probably the greatest guitar player living in the world today, and he's playing for US...Oh, you don't know this song? You really want to hear Tears in Heaven? Get off your lazy ass and get on your feet, that's ERIC CLAPTON!! Eric Clapton, from the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, THAT Eric Clapton.

I finally couldn't contain myself anymore and I stood. I stood from Little Wing, the sixth song, to Crossroads, the last. I turned to my fellow concert goers and said something like that's Eric F~~~ing CLAPTON! Five or six people stood, but no more. I just don't understand it, Kansas City. I am ashamed, tonight, to call myself a Kansas Citian.

WE SAW ERIC CLAPTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BB

hahahahahahahahaha!!!!

2007-04-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight, my faithful friends and neighbors, I'm going to see Eric Freakin' Clapton!!! Just wanted any body that drops by the Bustle this evening to know how much cooler I am than you....

Expect a detailed and flabbergasted description of the show tomorrow.

I Shot the Sheriff, B

Ol' Nanny Wood

2007-03-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
My brother and I are working on a song for our Grandma's (Nanny) 90th birthday this year. I just came up with a sweet verse I wanted to share. It's to the tune of Old Dan Tucker, a traditional song on Bruce Springsteen's new album.

Ol Nanny Wood is a kind old soul
Broke a spoon in a cookie bowl
She ain't too tall and she can't really hear
Cause she's been old for thirty years

That's all, just wanted to get that out there.

B

Jimi Thing

2007-03-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

What's happening everybody? Got a message for ya!

Dave Matthews' has a song called Jimi Thing, in which he sings "Sometimes it takes a jimi thing, just to keep me floating." Now, I'm not a Dave expert like some...but I'm pretty sure a "jimi thing" is what the kids call a marajewana cigarette. But, that's not really what the songs about. It's about those little things, the quiet moments that get us through the day.

Last night, I spent a couple of hours sitting on the back porch, drinking some rolling rock, listening to the rain and playing through my very extensive list of songs I can play on the guitar. I can't tell you how much better my whole week felt. A week of papers and New Testament translations and taxes and bills, floated away as if the rain itself was washing it away. The only way it could've been any better is if Lindsey was with me. Or my boys were playing the song with me, or my family was all singing together, or I was playing a song for someone who really needed to hear it.

Apparently, playing guitar in the rain and having a few beers is my thing. I hope you all have a thing too.

I want you to think about those times in your life that you were happiest, most secure, most content, most yourself. I would be willing to bet that those times have nothing to do with budgets, taxes, deadlines. I bet there's not one bureaucratic form involved in any of those times.

I pray that you can find your thing. My brother goes hiking in the nature areas around KC. My dad lives for opening day of the Royals and being on the river with his friend Rueban. It doesn't need to be difficult, it doesn't need to be expensive. But look for that one thing that makes everything else seem a little less important, a little less pressing. Like James says, "Shower the people you love with love". Surround yourself with your friends and family. Play in the park, watch the sunset, sing in the rain. And...STOP WORRYING SO MUCH!

The next time the District Council of Ordained Ministry asks me why I don't take the process more seriously, I'll try not to laugh.

Woke up this morning,
Smile with the rising sun,
Three little birds,
Sit on my doorstep,
Singing sweet songs,
Of melodies pure and true,
Saying this is my message to you-ou-ou
Don't worry, 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing
Is gonna be alright!
-Bob Marley, Three Little Birds

Chill Out everybody, B

Good Grief

2007-03-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Hump Day, everybody. I want to talk a little more about things that "Reign Over Me" got me thinking about. it's a movie about grief, plain and simple. But, also, it shows how much we as people need each other.

Grief is a funny thing because noone ever knows how a person is going to react to it. In the movie, part of it's appeal to me, Adam Sandler's character surrounds himself, engulfs himself, protects himself with music. He buys records, THOUSANDS OF THEM, buys guitars and drums and is only comfortable with his headphones on. Oh yeah, and he also never mentions or lets anyone else in his life mention that he had a family once. You just never know what people are going to do when faced with loss.

The common response by any person of faith is that loss somehow happens for a reason or is part of God's plan. This response, personally, makes me sick. To think that there's a reason for a child's death, for violent death, for preventable death, or even to think that these deaths somehow work into God's plans for us, is absurdity in my eyes. But, that's the trick. What I think doesn't matter, doesn't mean a thing, to the person actually doing the grieving. What we as friends of the grieving must do is help the person find that thing that helps them. And if knowing that their loved ones death has a reason, a purpose, helps someone then we can have no complaint.

Grief sucks. Loss sucks. Death sucks. But we HAVE to experience it. It's one of those things that makes us human. Now, I've been pretty lucky in that I've only lost two grandparents. And I was young when it happened. But I've been through the loss of long term relationships, the loss of a secure job, things like that.

Here's what I've learned. Until we face the fact of our loss, confront it, embrace it, we will not learn from it, grow from it, or be stronger for it. We have two choices when faced with grief. Deny it and lose ourselves in the undertow too powerful for anyone to fight alone. Or face it, embrace it, sit in the dark and cry for three hours-and I mean the gasping for breath, snot running down the face kind of crying, the crying that makes you forget where you are or what you did-and become stronger, a more complete person.

A friend recently told me of a plaque she once saw that read: When God closes a door, He opens a window...but the hallway between the two can be hell.

I put it this way: Behind every cloud there IS silver lining, but there's still one big badass storm on the way.

Go see the movie. I'm interested in hearing your reactions to it, and any personal reflections on grief that you may offer.

Don't run away, don't hide, don't deny. Embrace it. That's the only way.

B

Must See Movie

2007-03-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

Not much to talk about today, just wanted everybody to know that YOU MUST SEE "REIGN OVER ME". If Adam Sandler doesn't get an Oscar, I'm giving up on the awards altogether. Trust me, go see it. Tonight!

More to come, B

Weight vol. 2

2007-03-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

I tried. I really tried on more time. However, I have to finally come down to it and say it...I can't run. Or walk. Now, before you call me lazy, there's a medical explanation for this. I have some condition of the foot that starts with o. I call it Osiris because I can't pronouce the actual term. Basically, my feet roll to the outside with every step. This should come as no surprise to anyone who's been on the basketball court with me. With my feet rolling out with every step, whether walking or running, I don't know if its a tendon or a muscle but the THING that runs down the outer side of my shin bone is tight the whole time and never relaxes. This leads to cramps, shin splints and big ol' ping pong ball swellings right above my ankle. And a lot of pain.

So, the question becomes, how does one lose 15 pounds in what is quickly becoming two months' time, without running or walking on a daily basis and without starving oneself?

1. Biking-I need a new bike
2. Swimming-I need access to a pool-I don't know if the community center I'm looking at joining has one
3. Racketball-again, access-and I need a partner
4. Weight-training-I might start looking better, but I won't loss any weight

Any ideas?

233 and holding, BB
3.

I Think I'm a Marxist

2007-03-07T06:26:00.000-08:00

Now that I have your attention, and have been red-flagged by Homeland Security, I'm serious. When you actually read Marx's words, independent of communism, they sound pretty much right on the money. Capitalism is set up to help the rich get richer and keep the poor in their place. There's no doubt that in American culture we have boo-shwa-zee and proletariet, the owner class and the working class. Those who make the products and those who own the people who make the products. We've moved away from use-value, the value of something being measured by its usefulness, and are INFECTED with surplus-value, the difference between making a pair of jeans for 3 dollars and selling them for 50. Even all the things we count as necessities, like computers, pale in use-value compared to things like milk.

The main problem I have with capitalism is the same as Marx: accumulation. In today's capitalism, someone's wealth has nothing to do with what they're worth. It's how much capital they have accumulated, usually by exploiting anyone who doesn't have as much.

Reading Marx, and use-value, exchange-value, surplus-value, I think about how rediculous money is. Think about it. There's not even any gold to back it up anymore. IT'S PAPER! Apparently, this computer I'm using right now is worth 1,000 pieces of worthless green paper, while the milk I drank this morning is worth 2 pieces of worthless green paper a gallon. How crazy does that sound?? And checks and credit cards are just stupid. I don't have any actual pieces of green paper but I have this piece of paper with puppies on it, I wrote on this piece of paper, and if you contact these people, they tell you that I can get the right amount of green paper.

By the way, agreeing with Marx doesn't make me a communist. Communism is a form of government and easily corrupted. Marxism is a SOCIAL THEORY, and in my opinion, a pretty accurate account of how things are done these days in the good ol' US of A.

You are not the contents of walet. You are not the car you drive or the job you have. You are not your frackin' khakis.

Vive la Revolution, B

Oprah

2007-03-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

For the first, and hopefully last, time, I'm going to take some advice I heard on Oprah. I need to lose some weight and get into some sort of shape, other than round (Knyuck, Knyuck). So, Oprah says you should blog it off!

As of right now, March 5th, I weigh 233 lbs. I want to weigh 215 by my birthday. I will keep updating Bustle with my progress...

Keep reading....Brad's Top 5's are below..

BB

My Lists

2007-03-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

You all are in for a treat this week. We talk a lot about what I don't like on the Bustle, but today I've decided to give you a glimpse into my favorite things. Here's a list of my top five things in my favorite category-Music.
Now, music lists are always hard because of a tricky thing called genre. When comparing musicians its hard to rate them trans-genre. These lists are genre-free. These are the best of the best, in my humble opinion, regardless of what genre they play in.

Top 5 guitarists:
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Stevie Ray Vaughen
3. Jimmy Paige-Led Zeppelin
4. Eric Clapton
5. John Petrucci-Dream Theater: an odd choice maybe. Most of you have never heard of this
guy. But, there is no one, NO ONE, faster.

Top 5 drummers:
1. Buddy Rich-leagues above anyone else
2. John Henry Bonham-Led Zeppelin
3. Neil Peart-Rush
4. Virgil Donati-independent: check him out at http://www.virgildonati.com
5. David Garibaldi-Tower of Power: funkiest drummer ever!!

Top 5 frontmen (we can discuss the difference b/t frontmen and singers, if anyone wants)
1. Robert Plant-Led Zeppelin
2. Jim Morrison-The Doors
3. David Lee Roth-Van Halen
4. Bono-U2
5. Freddie Mercury-Queen

Top 5 BEST bands
1. The Beatles
2. Zepp
3. U2
4. The Stones
5. Pink Floyd

Top 5 FAVORITE bands (BB's personal best)
1. Zepp
2. Pantera
3. Pearl Jam
4. Clutch
5.Metallica

Best Guitar Tone
Brian May of Queen and David Gilmore of Pink Floyd

Best Album Ever
Led Zeppelin IV

Best Song Intro's
Since I've Been Loving You-Led Zepp
Dead and Bloated-Stone Temple Pilots
Voodoo Chile-Stevie Ray Vaughen

Best Guitar Solos
Voodoo Chile-Stevie Ray Vaughen
Comfortably Numb-Pink Floyd
Paradise City-Guns and Roses(the end of this song is reDUNKulous)

Best Single Note (that's right, the best one notes of rock history)
Voodoo Chile intro-third time through the lick-Stevie Ray Vaughen
I Feel Good-bridge-James Brown sings "When I hold you, in my AAAAAAARMS!"

And finally, Best Drum Grooves
When the Levee Breaks-John Bonham-Led Zepp
Hot for Teacher-Alex Van Halen-Van Halen
Lateralus-Danny Carey-Tool
Knock Yourself Out-David Garibaldi-Tower of Power
Roxanne-Stewart Copeland-The Police

Rolling Stone, eat your heart out!! Feel free to make additions, corrections and other comments. Except, Andy, why I didn't include "Best Keyboardists"!!

Later peeps, B

Class pt. 2

2007-02-28T06:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the answers, Andy and Mark.

Class is a socioeconomic distinction between people. Literally, it's a classification. Now, I always thought that I was middle class and then upper middle class because of how much money my parents made. But, I've recently read something that opened my eyes a little wider. I, and most of my friends, are in the upper class. I am upper class because, first of all, I'm white. I am educated-college degree and graduate school. All these things, not just money, go into my class. The next time you're worrying about your own money troubles, DON'T? You are rich, you are wealthy, you are upper class...You have access to the internet don't you? Well, guess what, your technological awareness and access helps define your class.

In an ideal world, Andy, pastors are in the servant class or classless, somehow exsisting outside of class distinctions. But in the real world, that isn't quite so. Pastors are upper class. We are in positions of power, we are trained to speak well and act appropriately in social situations, we are highly educated compared to most. But, why does it matter that pastors are in the upper class? We have to take this knowledge into every pastoral care situation with which we are faced. We have to know that our position carries with it explicit and implicit power, BILATERAL, one-sided power. One person in the room is a pastor, the other is not. We have to fight against that power and create an atmosphere of mutuality and empowerment. But, recognize and accept our place among the upper class of our world.

Just something that came up in (school) class that actually made me think.

Peace in the Middle East, BB

Class

2007-02-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

How do you define class? And what class do you put pastors in?

My answers after your comments! B

Movie Reviews

2007-02-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Lynz had a big party for a friend, so I was all alone in St. Joe. I rented some movie to pass the time in the evenings and here are some recommendations:

A History of Violence, for adults only, but worth it. A great story and Viggo is great.

I don't see what the big deal was about MI:3. It's good, real good. A great action movie.

Idiocracy, the story of an average man, the MOST average man, accidentally frozen for 500 years and awakens as the smartest man in the world. It's a renter and a one timer. Mike Judge creates a future that is filled with stupid people. The smart people find it illogical to procreate while the less-than-average, due to unprotected sex and adultery, reproduce like rabbits. Everything is sponsored, including the presidency. CostCo is the size of NYC. And the most-watched show on the Violence Channel is "Ouch, My Balls." It's good.

My top three picks are true GUY movies. First, Crank. The story, the actor, the camera work, the soundtrack, the actress. Everything about this movie screams Testosterone. Chev Chelios, yes really, is injected with a poison that will kill him if he doesn't keep his adrenaline high. And then, it's an hour and a half of him keeping his, and our, adrenaline as high as it goes. If your in the mood, a great action flick.

The Proposition is an Aussie western with Guy Pierce and it's classic. Probably one of the top three Western's I've seen. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Tombstone...this holds its own with both.

And, if anybody hasn't checked out Tony Jaa yet, go rent The Protector and Ong-Bak, The Thai Warrior. NO ropes, NO computers, NO stunt men. Unbelievable matial arts. Check it out.

My little contribution to the movie world...more important posts on the way.

B

You've Got to be Kidding!

2007-02-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,
It's been a good few days for cynical bloggers like myself. My rather bleek view of American culture has come to fruition.

Thursday, Anna Nicole Smith passed away. I'm not taking anything away from the tragedy of a human life coming to an end. But, here's how I found out about it. I turned to CNN to catch the daily reports from Iraq and Congress, etc. However, instead of keeping up with the daily events in this complicated time we live in, I was watching all-day coverage of Anna Nicole's death. Now, Anna Nicole Smith lived a hard life and I'm sure she wasn't a bad person. But, CNN? You've got to be kidding!! This person is only famous for being in Playboy, marrying a dying billionaire, getting fat, starring in her own drug-induced reality show, getting hot again and dying. Meanwhile, thousands of children are dying everyday because they don't have enough food. As I watched CNN newsreporters talk about who out of four men is the father of Anna Nicole's baby, American and Iraqi casualties for the week went scrolling across the bottom of the screen so fast I blinked and missed them. Seeing Wolf Blizter talking about Anna Nicole led to my sermon for this week..."Don't You Have More Important Things to Do?" Matt. 25, the parable of the sheep and goats...the answer is yes, there are many, many more important things to do.

The biggest night in music was last night. While I missed the reunion of the Police going to dinner with my family (a much more important and rewarding thing to do, by the way), Lynz, my sister and I saw most of the end of the show. The Dixie Chicks??? You've got to be kidding? First of all, who the hell knows the difference between Album and Record of the year. Second of all, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Mayer, John Legend, Gnarls Barkley and countless others made exponentially better albums this year than those twangy sisters and that loud-mouth psycho lead singer. Now, I haven't given much regard to the Grammy's since Jethro Tull beat Metallica's Black Album for the first best metal album. But, come on. It's supposed to be based on music, not on taking a stand against a president and standing up for yourself. Neil Young, Pearl Jam, the Boss, Green Day, etc. all have SONGS dissing the president, not just a few words said on stage during some European concert. Awful, just awful. That's bushleague, Grammy acadamy, that's bush.

That's all folks,
B

Super Bowl Reflections

2007-02-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

One more biggest game of the year is behind us and here's some reflections:

Rex Grossman wasn't ready. Peyton Manning was. It was a good game, but the Colts cleaned house. Clearly the better team. But here's what I really want to talk about.

I counted four times when Marvin Harrison ran out of bounds instead of lowering his head and plowing forward for another three yards. It's been slowly happening and I noticed it a lot last season. TO, Harrison, Kennison. They all would rather run out of bounds and not get a first down than take a hit. When receivers are sliding to avoid hits like QBs do, it's not the NFL anymore. So, in the grand tradition of guys who couldn't do what pro athletes do on XBOX let alone in real life, I want all the pro athletes out there reading Bustle to listen up...........MAN UP!!! We pay you millions of dollars to get hit, to get that first down no matter what it takes, no matter if you leg breaks and three guys have your facemask, get the first down!! For the love of Ditka...lower you sholder, bite your lip, and power through.

And how superbad was Prince? Awesome, totally awesome. That little transexual can play a guitar. Prince covering the Foo Fighters...Awesome.

Next year, if I hear Super Monday, once...I might punch someone. And, ESPN? It's time to stop talking about it. It happened. The Colts were on fire. Move on.

Just some random rantings on the biggest week in football. Gotta go do homework.

Peace, B

Brotherly Love

2007-01-31T06:55:00.000-08:00

I've been trying for over a month to somehow put the experience of the birth of Braeden James Bryan into words. And, I've decided that I can't.

The uncle/nephew relationship has been a big deal in my family my whole life. My uncles have uncle names! Sam, Bob, Phil, Jerry, Jack. They have uncle jobs...a salesman, a moneyman, a trainman, a musicman, and a mathman. And they are a big part of why I am the man I am.

So, when my sister asked is I would help her with pregnancy and birth, I said yes, without really considering what I was getting myself into. I went to birthing class (as it turned out, my best friend Bates was in the same class), I watched THE VIDEO, I practiced the positions and the massages-nothing below the waist! It was 4:30 Sunday Christmas Eve morning when my sister called me. I answered the second time she called and she said the magical words, "I think we should go to the hospital." So, at 5:30 we got to the hospital and I thought we would be headed home within hours. I just knew that this was a false alarm. But, then the doctor came in and said, Let's have a baby.....

Holy Crap! It's actually happening. We're gonna have a baby. I'll spare you the details of what happens next. I didn't see anything. I whispered in her ear, held her hand, carried her puke bucket. And, about 40 minutes after she went in, I was the first non-medical person to hold Braeden James Bryan on this earth.

I've never felt closer to my sister, closer to myself, closer to God, than the moment they handed me this screaming, writhing, breathing, living, perfect little boy.

Brotherly Love, Unclely Love, It's a Beautiful Thing.

I love you, sister, little nephew. I'll do anything for you for as long as I can.

Peace, B

The Bustle is Back

2007-01-31T06:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, over a month since my last post. And a crazy one it has been. I helped my sister give birth to a beautiful baby boy, Braeden James, and I moved to St. Joseph, MO. I'm working on getting online at home, so I don't have to wait until a particularly boring class period to blog. You've been very patient with me and trust me, there's much more rantings and ravings in me and I'll be back more often.

Peace, B

Da Vinci Code and Christians on Television

2006-12-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

I reenter the blogring after a brief hiatus with this:

Why didn't anybody tell me the Da Vinci Code sucked? I mean, in all the talk and controversy surrounding this movie, seriously i don't know a magazine or news program that DIDN'T talk about it, no critic ever mentioned that it was a bad movie. The dialogue is awful, the plot is too convaluted to provide any good dialogue. The actors have to spend to much time explaining what's going on. "It's the codex, oh and by the way, this is what exactly a codex is....." Ugh. The plot also means that none of the characters ever develop. I didn't care about any one person in this movie. Not one, except maybe the best character Silas, who they kill off before the end of course. And the one way to save the film, Silas following Tom and Sophie to the Abbey and having a final confrontation of good and evil, was blown when Silas, a professional assassin and fixer for Opus Dei who whips himself with a cat-o-nine and wraps some spike thing around his thigh to feel Christ's suffering, gets killed by some beat cops. WHATEVER!! Killing off the only interesting character in the film led to the disappointing, anticlimatic ending that everyone with half a brain had figured out the whole time. After Silas died....nothing happened. the whole rest of the movie, nothing happened. I know that I'm not a critic. I liked T3: Rise of the Machines. But i know a failed movie when I see one. Dry dialogue, no character development, and no climax qualify as BAD MOVIE.

There was something else too. Everybody check out Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on NBC. One of the leads, the female whose name excapes me now of course, is a devout, sort of conservative Christian. But get this, she's not crazy. There's a Christian on television who's not depicted as a raving lunatic or pious fathead. She's struggling with how to be faithful living in a secular and even skeptic world of Hollywood comedy. She curses, she has premarital sex, she has a since of humor. In other words, she's a REAL PERSON. When most Christians on TV are blowhards like Pat Robertson or bleeding heart softees like the dad on Seventh Heaven, this girl, whatever her name is, is the closest thing to a real christian I've seen. Just a regular person, trying to be faithful but also trying NOT to be a dork, or a Jesus freak, or a NeoCon Crusader, just trying to be real. Plus, it's a great show.

Alright, peace. BB

ps: not that i want to throw my hat into the ring in the whole marriage talk but here's my point: the STATE should not use the BIBLE as its reasoning for a ban on gay marriage. Our government should be run by rationality, by people of faith or not, and any rational person can see there's NO REASON THAT HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD TELL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS THEY CAN'T GET MARRIED.

Kindness Addendum

2006-12-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well, after posting about the Kindness Campaign last night...I hear that Vee gets pulled over at 8:30 in 15 degree weather for going thirty miles an hour in a school zone. Cops who pull people over for ten miles an hour or less, especially if the total out-of-control speed is THIRTY!!, are just doing it to be jerks. They're mad because they're up early, or their boss is a jerk, or they just get off on the power of it. I see people pulled over a lot around town, and it seems to me that there's more important things for the cops of Kansas City, one of the highest per capita murder rates in the country thank you very much, to do than to bother people who are going 55 instead of 45 down 71. It's a freakin' Highway, it says so on the sign. Everybody speeds. Especially cops. I'm glad you met your quota this month guys, oh wait, did you hear about the double homicide last night on Troost? No, you were stopping the menace to society speeders? I see.

Ok, minor set back. When you go out of your way to be kind, you're not always going to feel the love thrown back at you. We have to get over that. Lower our sholders and power through. Bite our lips, grab onto something and give it hell. Whatever.

I'm still calling on the regulars and cursory readers of Bustle to begin the Kindness Revolution. Be neighborly. Be helpful. Be curteous.

You stay classy, Blogosphere.
B

Kindness

2006-12-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

I have to say right off the bat that this post was inspired by a South Park episode.

What ever happened to people being nice to each other? I owe someone a thank you. The second to last time I was in Columbia, I was having trouble with my wiper motor. The kind of trouble that required me to tie a string to a cluster of wires, run that string out of the top of my hood, through my open window (it was the first ice of the year!), and into the cab of the car so that I could pull the wires tight when the wipers went out. Anyway, as I had pulled over to readjust my ingenious solution, a girl of about my age pulled over and asked me if I needed any help. A girl, alone, stopped to ask me, a guy alone, with a dark Blazer in the dark night in an ice storm, if I needed any help. Well, whoever you are, thank you.

I didn't know how much this act of kindness touched me until tonight. If I didn't choose South Park over SportsCenter tonight, I never would've known. But, it did touch me. Because, it was so unfamiliar. I really didn't even know what to say or do other than mumble "No" and "Thanks" because I am so unaccustomed to kindness.

We live in a world in which you can't help anyone change a tire because THEY might abduct YOU, or they might think YOU are going to abduct THEM. I see a young woman, or old woman, struggling with groceries I don't even consider asking to help, because I'm afraid of what she'll think of me.

Some people say we should practice random acts of kindness. Not so my friends; I propose the start of a strict, rehearsed, and habitual campaign of kind acts done for people who you may or may not know. Who's with me? Do something nice for someone today. Completely uncalled for kindness.

You can change the world with your own two hands...
BB

Agency-Mt. Moriah

2006-12-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

After two months of waiting and a postponment by the bishop, I've finally found out that I'm going to the same churches that we thought I was going to from the very beginning. Agency and Mt. Moriah are two small churches just a little south of St. Joseph, MO. From all I've heard, they are made up of many young professionals who don't want to live in St. Jo or KC, they want a young pastor and the facilities and resources of both churches are solid and well taken care of.

I'm still waiting on a lot of details, and getting frustrated a little bit, but I'm pretty excited about news from friends like Steve Campbell and Phil Nemier and folks from school who know the area who all think I'll be a good fit and happy with my ministry at these two churches. I'll be moving to the south St. Jo area, living in small house there, and making a little more money than I'm making now. Of course, I will keep my little corner of the blogosphere informed as I get more info. And, for those of you in Missouri, look forward to a moving date!

Thanks for thoughts and prayers for me and Lindsey through this time of anticipation and now transition.

Peace, B

Incubus

2006-12-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

This is a post for the Adam's: What happened to Incubus?? Now, you and I have disagreed on this for three albums now, but come on guys. I'm all for artistic development and following your heart in creating your music, hell I even liked the new, short-haired, martini-drinkin' Metallica. But, Incubus has consistantly put out three ablums with two or three good songs on them and the rest are cleverly disguised Clay Aiken songs. This new one has three good songs, Light Grenades, Diamonds and Coal and something else I can't remember right now. The rest of the songs are boy band songs. Boy band lyrics, boy band melodies, boy band harmonies. Four songs use the One-two-three-one-two-three-one-two-one-two pattern.

Come on guys, it's time to fess up. Mustoe, I know you have a not-so-secret boy crush on Brandon Boyd. Caldwell, we've been with these guys since the beginning. But, come clean, they just don't rock anymore. In the words of the Bob Rock produced, slowed-down, best selling heavy metal album of all time, Black album.....It's Sad But True.

Peace, B

Reading Material

2006-11-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

For you and for me.

Reading for me: I realized last night, sitting in Worship class listening to a lecture on "Choosing Music for Worship", that my wonderful school will continue to ignore anything remotely related to the postmodern movement. I need to catch up on my reading, so blogosphere-Andy, Parents, Adam's, Howie and everyone else-I request some titles with which to start getting caught up on postmordern worship, postmodern theology, postmodern ecclesiology, etc. And, in the interest of my days in the Socialist Republic of Fayette, if anyone HAS these title and wouldn't mind sending them my way, that would be great....I am a poor man with no idea where my checks will come from after Jan 1st. Anyway, I look forward to your suggestions and getting caught up so hopefully i can join in on some of these wonderful conversations.

Reading for you: There's a couple things I'd like to comment on this morning. I haven't been to blog world since Kramer went Krazy. First, let me say that Richards was inarguably wrong. However, was the tape(or phone, actually) just not rolling during the actual heckling. I echo Adam Leathers point of imagining being in YOUR office, or perhaps behind the pulpit, and two drunk morons stroll in and start harrassing you. The issue is not the racial slurs. Family Guy could've said the same words and everybody would've thought it was hilarious. The point is..."50 years ago they would've had you upside down with a f***ing fork up you ass". That's what Kramer said and that's why he owes the world an apology. He should not be blacklisted, pun intended, his career should not be ended over this. He lost his temper, we all do. After offering an explanation other than "I don't know what came over me" and giving a sincere apology, he should go back to busting through doors and busting our sides. I'm just glad we've got something to get TomKat and K-Fed off our minds for awhile, until the next celebrity scandel comes along of course. Oh, by the way, we're still in an unwinable war. American soldiers and Iraqi teenager freedom fighters die everyday in a war we should've never started. And where the hell is Osama Bin Laden? Oh, and that whole congressional child abuse thing, where'd that thing go? OH OH Oh and how 'bout the millions of people dying of Aids in africa, who's going to "liberate" them? Kramer made Newsweek people. Aren't there more important things? (ps. I'm so glad Brittney has found a suitable replacement for K-Fed to help her seem not as trashy....Paris Hilton...my point being, why do I care and why do I even know about this!!)

I guess that's all I got for right now. Take it easy, sleazies. Look forward to your suggested readings.

Peace, B

This is Re-dad-gum-diculous!

2006-11-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

Talk about incommunicado, huh? I went out of town, got sick, or just didn't have much to write about. Until now.

My friends, I am more stressed out than I've ever been in my life. Some of you know how big this is, because I'm not a guy who gets stressed easily. But, here's what's going on.

I have no idea where I'll be working and/or living as of January 1st. The bishop wanted to wait until Cabinet meeting (when all the DS's got together) to decide anything about my fate. This is good and bad. Bad-I won't know until sometime next week if I have to move sometime next month. Good-The bishop, the Schnase himself, wants to be a part of the conversation. I have daydreams about them creating a position for me on the District or Conference. I could be Director of Keeping Old White Preachers As Hip As They Can Be Or At Least Informed. Or something.

Here's the other thing. My sister's having a freakin' baby. Mom, in her wisdom, said women have babies all the time. Yes, but not my sister and not with ME IN THE WOMB...er...ROOM! I'm excited but terrified. I just know she'll go into labor on Christmas Eve, or New Years Eve when I'm preaching, or on moving day. And, this would be about half as frustrating if we didn't have to deal with, oh I'll call him, "The SOB", in the WEEKS...yes, weeks...after the birth of my new nephew.

So, yeah, I'm freaking out a bit. I can't sleep, not that that's different from usual. I've been working out again to try and help with the nerves. But, I'm pretty much wound tight 100% of the time. Put a lump of coal [in my hand], in two weeks you'll have a diamond.-Ferris Bueller, edited edition.

Oh yeah, AND, Mustoe-Harley's getting ready to get a new girlfriend and have little angel puppies. Shaq, our yellow lab of 13 years has a tumor on her liver and has stopped eating. The chart at the vet that measures dog years by weight and other things says she's over 110 years old. The chart stops at 11 with dogs over 55 pounds. Shaq weighs 65 pounds and is 13 and a half. She's a wonderful, quiet, loving, loyal dog and we'll miss her. And she's a looker Harl. Watch yourself.

Peace everybody. Peace of mind and Peace on earth.

Gobble, Gobble. B