This past Sunday was my final week as Sabbatical Pastor at The Neighborhood Church. Pastor Joe is back in the saddle after four and a half months of rest (which, for Joe, somehow involved climbing mountains, running ridiculously long distances, and hiking around Europe).
A year ago, Joe and I had coffee, and he asked if I would consider stepping into a pastoral role on a short-term basis, so I eased into it, and now I’m easing back out.
I’m at peace with what has been, as well as what is next, and I’m deeply grateful for the trust Pastor Joe and The Neighborhood Church family placed in me. I’ve enjoyed preaching, leading studies, serving communion, and having sidebar conversations with people about the spiritual life.
I’ve also been building things, not just for The Neighborhood Church, but for all kinds of churches, which leads to what is next.
Just before the turn of the century (we’re talkin’ pre-Y2K!), my brother, a web developer, helped me set up my first church website using Macromedia Dreamweaver (later purchased by Adobe). In 2005, Wordpress released its 1.5 version, which included the ability to create static pages in addition to blog posts, and since that time, I’ve been building websites for churches, nonprofits, and small businesses ever since.
I jumped on social media early and joined the staff of one of America’s largest churches to revamp an influential online community for pastors and leaders. I went on to write a book about how churches can use social media to spread the gospel and lead communications workshops at conferences around the country.
I have long-term experience keeping one foot in the church world and the other in tech and communications, which has helped me to help many leaders amplify their message. But now I’m feeling the need to focus, driven by a burden I feel for modern churches and their leaders.
So I'm not only devoting all my professional energy to helping leaders communicate more effectively, but I’m also developing new tools, the kinds of tools I wish I’d had as a church staff leader.
Three things, and then I’ll let you go.
Thing #1:
If your church or your organization needs help with its website or its communications, let’s talk. Pick a free half hour on my calendar, you tell me what’s going on, and I’ll tell you what I’d do. If I can help, I’ll say so. If you don’t need me, I’ll say that too.
Thing #2:
If you’re a communications leader or volunteer at your church, I made something small for Advent. It’s an Advent communications kit with an eight-week timeline, social captions, emails, Canva templates, and a website checklist, written for churches by someone who’s been in your chair. And it’s only $12, because church budgets are what they are.
Thing #3:
I’m currently building software for church communications leaders. It’s a planning dashboard I’ve wanted for about fifteen years. More on that in a few days.
Walk Humble isn’t changing. It’s still the place I write about faith, humility, and forward progress without pretending. But you’ll see a note like this once in a while, filed under “Field Notes,” and if that’s not for you, you can unsubscribe from the notes while keeping everything else.
Thanks for being part of this most recent chapter of my journey. I can’t wait to see what unfolds in the next one.
Brandon
PS. If you’d rather get the practical stuff by email, I keep a short list for communications and field notes over on brandonacox.com.