Church has a stereotype of being boring. For me it used to be like that until I joined youth group at Brookfield Christian Reformed Church. I first went in nervous, I didn’t know anyone or any of the leaders in the group. In eighth grade, Pastor Brandon welcomed me and is approachable. He is engaging and incorporates entertaining methods of teaching. Now he asks every Sunday, “Are you coming tonight? It’s gonna be fun.” Unless I’m out of town, I go here Sunday nights.

At my church, there are two youth groups: The Bridge (formerly What’s Up) and On the Edge. My first experience was in The Bridge. This is the group for junior high students from sixth to eighth grade. I started going when I was in eighth grade. Here I would be able to grow my faith in my church and meet others I hadn’t meet yet.

I avoided it the first two years. At first I didn’t want to go, thinking I would be bored and sit alone in the back and waste my Sunday night. Brandon greeted me and led me to my small group, which is a group of guys in my grade. I was glad he did that as now I have friends here and we all get each other to go each week. He outlayed the plan for the night at the beginning of the meeting, we went on to talk about the football game, Bears vs. Packers. I am a big sports fan and so are many of the leaders at my church. Brandon was a Chicago Bears fan and in Wisconsin those type of people are not greeted warmly. He is my pastor, but you have to make sure he knows the bears are a lousy team after the loss earlier in the day.

He likes to workout occasionally, is gluten intolerant, likes to bike and is the associate pastor at Brookfield Christian Reformed Church. He has been there for about five to six years now. He comes from Illinois thus his bears fandom and is a devoted, vibrant, and genuine leader in youth group and in church.

In On the Edge, our high school group, I joined the Ideas Team. This team helped plan out activities and other events for the youth group. I joined the group after an activity Brandon had us do. In Ideas Team we can plan out activities and suggest changes to the structure. Our biggest change we have made would be bringing back the Lock-in, a sleepover in the church. Its loaded with activities and food and goes all night long. Brandon really liked this suggestion and he said it could be a good time to get to know others.

In June, a group of us went on a mission trip to Rehoboth, New Mexico. There we helped the community with projects. Some of our group went and helped on a roof. I was in the group that helped out at Vacation Bible School. I had to led around a group of 5 children to stations around the church and school. We had to watch videos and do crafts. This was a experience I wasn’t fond of but I turned to enjoy it (not a fan of kids). I was impressed by Brandon as he was paired with the worst kid there, some could say. The kid, Noah, was not the best behaved like the energizer bunny always full of energy. He would make loud noises during the lessons and would never stay still. Brandon was tasked with dealing with him for the whole day from around eight o’clock to lunch at around one o’clock. He showed me and others you can really be a major factor in the kid’s level of engagement . He was super active and Noah seemed to be more behaved then usual with the group. He taught me an important thing that day, even if your situation isn’t ideal, you can make the best of it and enjoy the good moments.

Overall, without Pastor Brandon I think my faith would look a lot different, I would like to thank him for what he has done in my life. He has strengthened my faith in God which is allowing me to profess my faith this year. I thank him for making boring subjects interesting and engaging a quiet, close-minded kid to open up and grow in his faith and confidence. I thank Pastor Brandon (even if he is a Bears fan).