This past weekend we celebrated my leader and pastor, Brian Bruss’ 25 years on staff here at Life.Church. Brian was Craig Groeschel’s first hire here at the church as the worship pastor. Brian was part of the church before it was called Life.Church. He was part of the church before there were multiple locations. He was part of the church before it was the ”cool” place to work. Brian started off as a worship pastor for Craig and then transitioned to Campus Pastor about 10 years ago. He has been a part of the Oklahoma City, Arizona, NW Oklahoma City, Rio Rancho, and Norman Locations.
25 years is a long time to be at place let alone in ministry. Ministry is one of the most rewarding, but it also is the most painful and heartbreaking as well. Every single week you get to experience people turning away from a sin filled life to a life in Christ, but you also see and walk through some of the most dark and difficult seasons with couples and individuals. As we celebrated Brian and his 25 years of faithful service at Life.Church I think about the different seasons he has probably walked through not only personally, but also with others.
Celebrating Brian is special to me because he has has been a part of my story since one of the first times I walked into Life.Church. Kara had recently left her job at Chesapeake Energy to go back to school and get her second Masters Degree in Dietetics. Kara had a couple friends from her work that she wanted to stay connected with so she joined a LifeGroup they were starting. That LifeGroup happened to be going to Life.Church so she started going with them. She in turn invited me to start going to church with her as well. We had been attending another church, but weren’t really involved and we were looking for something fresh. Life.Church was a pleasant surprise. Now when I first walked into Life.Church I was not totally buying it. I though it was a little odd the way they did things as I was used to churches with a little more legalism. I was also hyper-critical as I had some pretty significant brokenness in me as well. I was extremely insecure. I knew Jesus, but I wasn’t following Him at the time. I didnt have a prayer life and I was not reading my Bible. Most of my thoughts and actions were “me” centered. I was had some pretty addictive tendencies that helped me cope with my insecurity and feelings of inadequacy.
We started attending Life.Church at the NW Expressway Location where Brian was the Campus Pastor at the time. We were some of the last people to walk in and we were some of the first people to leave. No one really knew us and we didn‘t know anyone either. We came to church, but we weren’t doing a whole lot with it. We did this for four years. Just about every week though Brian would see us and smile and wave. There wasn’t a conversation or some earth shattering thing that he did. He was just there consistently each week smiling and waving.
Fast forward four years later I began pursuing a role at Life.Church. Ministry was really one of the last things that I thought I would ever end up doing, but my life had been changed and I had some gifts and skills that I could use at the church so here I was pursuing a role as a LifeGroups/LifeMissions Pastor. Brian was one of the pastors in one of the many interviews I had. I remember after they offered the role to me Brian came by and spoke some encouraging words over me. Three years later I took a demotion in my role as I wasn’t performing quite at the capacity that was needed. I spent 4 months at the Life.Church OKC location and one day Brian walked in. He and my campus pastor at the time called me in the office and asked if I would help him out with the Norman location as they didn’t have a LifeGroups/LifeMissions Pastor at the time. They asked if I would get a pulse of how things were going at Norman and report back. So, I got to do that for a few weeks and then they offered me the job. I was not expecting that at all. I gladly excepted and for the past three years I have been able to sit under Brian’s leadership.
I’ve gone through some tough seasons at Life.Church, but I can say that I am more confident, bold, courageous and empowered because of Brian’s leadership. I am a better leader today because of Brian. He believes in his team so much. He empowers us and trusts us. He is a consistent and faithful leader that helps center us young, competitive and more insecure leaders. I’m proud that I get to sit under his leadership in this season. Who would have thought that all those years ago when I first walked into Life.Church as a broken and insecure personal trainer and group fitness instructor that I would now sit under his leadership again and be a centered, secure, and confident pastor leading over a few hundred people directly and indirectly. Congrats to my leader and pastor for 25 years of faithful ministry. May my ministry be as faithful and as impactful as his.
