Brandon Hall
Who is excited? I am.
Hello there! My name is Brandon Hollis Hall. I am 22 years old and am very excited that I get to see G-d through the eyes of the poor and make new friends this year at mission year.
I was raised in an amazing Christian home, by ordinary radicals, and was fortunate enough to have the support of my parents through most of my crazy endeavors. I have spent pretty much the last five years touring in bands, and working pretty un-rewarding jobs. I have a huge heart for kids, and for the underdogs of this world, or the untouchables. I think i have a harder time loving those already loved, than those who have never been hugged, or loved at all. After listening to a band, who got me turned on to a book, who got me turned on to asking the Father a lot of questions, I have decided that I cannot sit idle any longer. It’s time that my dreams of service become acts of service. I feel G-d saying Jump.
So
I.
Am.
Jumping,,,,,,,, finally
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Brandon Hall's Blog
Wanna know the truth about Mission Year????????? / Feb 16, 11:40 AM
Let’s face it. I am jumping up and down, with my arms to my sides that I keep shaking as if trying to get off some invisible water. My head turns from the right to the left. It’s almost as if I am about to do some strenuous activity, or risk a significant amount of money on a gamble. But I just need to let you guys know something. So this is the preparation. Except instead of running shoes, I have on toms, and instead of jogging shorts, (which dear G-d I would never wear) I have on blue jeans, and instead of a sporty tank top with matching headband, I have on a black button up and my hat that I got from my roommates friend. Ok I am going to take a deep breath and just say it.
Ready?
Inhale,,,,,
“This,,,,,stuff,,,,,,is,,,,,,HARD!”
There I have said it. Ha-ha.
I am sick and tired of getting up every morning at 7:00 am to do bible study with 5 other people who also don’t want to be awake at that ungodly hour when we all don’t have to be to work till around 9. I am sick and tired of leaving the house at 8:13 to be at the bus stop and wait in the freezing cold, rain, or intense heat only to get on the bus and then train and travel in 45 minutes what would be a 4 minute car trip. 4 miles takes me 45 minutes. BLEGHH. Then I am tired of reading the curriculum which I may or may not like reading and then have to discuss it as a “family” every week. I am sick of forced conversations. I am sick of conflict that comes about from spending almost every waking second together. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Yet, this is what I have been called to do.
To return evil with love.
To beat swords into plowshares.
To be intentional with everything that I do.
To love, to learn, to get out frustrations,
To live in solidarity with the poor,
To plead on behalf of the imprisoned.
To be pro life and mean it as all life, not just babies.
To be pro-life means that I want to see all of G-ds children live. And for those of us who believe, this means abolishing the death penalty, and being ready to adopt some kids if we are really against abortion.
So although I am sick of community, and I need a sabbatical, this is who I am called to be, and how I am called to live, laugh, and love.
I see mission year like the loud mother who is right, even though she arrives at her conclusion absolutley different than I did, and who took a different route to get there, and arrived there faster. Some days I hate her, and want to push her off the cliff, then on days where I am thinking more clear-ly-er haha, I love her and am thankful that she pushes my buttons so (un)tenderly (yet FREQUENTLY) and the fact that she only wants whats best for,,,,,,,,,,everyone but me! haha.
I am kidding!!!!! (kinda)
2nd Cor 4:8-10
“8) We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9) persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10) always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”
So inhale again,
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
And here we go unto another day.
Praise be.
Comment [3]
What new mystery is this? / Jan 14, 05:51 PM
The more I get to know G-d,,, the less I care what that looks like, or how it makes me look.
Love, love, love, love,
the gospel in a word is love,
love your neighbor as yourself,
for G-d is love,
____________
When the dryness and the rain finally drink from one another,
the gentle cup of mutually surrendered tears, COME ON!
_______________
Oh my G-d, how sweet is the sound,
I know it saved but is it changing a wretch like me?
________________
At all costs. / Jan 5, 10:42 PM
I am the kind of hard headed person that has to find things out for himself, and usually the hard way. I like to think of myself as a truth seeker though. I want to know what the truth is no matter how much it hurts, or makes me re-think things, or makes me take roads that other people will not enjoy me going down. In that way I guess I am very selfish. If someone says to me, “Brando, don’t go down that road, at the end of that road is a fat-guy-eating-bear who will gobble you up, because you are a fat guy!” I would probably head down the road to see if I could out smart or out run the mean flesh eating bear. And might I add that I like Stephen Colbert am deathly afraid of bears. Ha-ha. Right after high school, everyone said go to college, and get a degree, so I went to college,,,,, for half a semester. Ha-ha. I left and toured the country several times in different bands and worked with my hands when not on tour, by laying floor, or tile, or roofing or other construction jobs. To be completely honest though, I loved it! I loved touring and being in a different city every day, and the lack of sleep and the camaraderie that I had with the guys in the band, it was amazing. I even enjoyed the manual labor that had me outside more than inside, and working with my hands. I like working all day on something, that at the end of the day or week you can step back from and look at and go, “Oh yeah, I just did that”.
This also applies to my faith. Too often the church discourages the hard questions instead of encouraging the pursuit of truth. People that I live with will tell you that I am very much into finding out why things are the way they are. I want to know who is making my clothes, how they treat their employees, and how they do business. I care a lot about the treatment of people and their freedom to pursue difficult things. I myself have views that are hard for many people of faith to hear, but I have a story, or more often than not, a person that I can apply why I believe what I believe. For example I don’t drink Coke or Coke products. Not that I think you shouldn’t, but when I found out that they are responsible for deaths in South America, I can’t drink it. And I love the taste of Coke. Now when I try to drink it, I see the faces of the slain, over a mass produced product, and then the coke tastes like blood. I don’t wear Nike. Nike uses child labor. Not that I really ever cared about labels, but even if I did, how could I wear a product made by the blood, sweat, and tears of a child. We do not treat our children this way in America, why do we accept the treatment of people anywhere like this. These are hard things to stand against, but if we don’t stand up who will. I also don’t wear Christian label t-shirts. Like the Satan is a nerd t shirts, or those cheesy shirts that are made to look like “secular” brands. Like the Abercrombie and Fitch shirts that Christians made that say A bread a crumb and fish. Lame. And more often than not if you follow the trail of money, they lead back to some business men with not so very Christ-like business ethics.
“We have bastardized the Gospel for a catchy slogan.” – Rich Mullins.
Jesus screwed up my Christianity. Ha-ha. I know that sounds weird but he did! Many times throughout my life I have felt that American Christianity looks far more like the Sanhedrin than the church of Acts chapter two. I spoke the right lingo, my political views were just about lined up, I shined up my shoes for services, all of that. But then Jesus came along and spoke to my life. He spoke about a backwards kingdom, where the last is first and vice versa, he talked about loving my enemies, he flipped some tables, he was truly difficult to be around for the religious people of that time. He questioned things, and turned them on their backs. He got people to pull coins out of fish’s mouths; he turned water into wine,,,, FOR A PARTY!!!! Can you imagine if he did that today? He walks into a church reception for a deacon and in the midst of the party Jesus goes, “Enjoy!”, and then the Hawaiian punch that everyone is drinking turns into merlot? Why do churches seem to have never ending chalices of Hawaiian punch. Its so sugary that it will take the paint off the wall. haha but back to my story. They would FREAK! They would call Jesus everything but a nice Jewish boy, and send him away with whispers of him being satanic. But I find in my walk questioning things because Jesus was so radical. When Christians down other religions, or sing songs lined with war lingo, I question it. I have found so much beauty in the Koran, and the Koran and the Bible share many of the same books from the Hebrew Scriptures! We dont have to be unified by a common enemy. We needed to be unified by the G-d of peace! And with Jesus saying, “you have heard it said eye for an eye, but I say to you forgive everyone everything!” how can we sing songs about G-d taking care of, (and I don’t mean in a charitable way) our enemies. It’s sad when Toby Keith sings a song about putting a boot in another humans behind and some Christian people that I have met, will hold their heart when they sing it.
“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
Proverbs 4:7
Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Like the As tall as lions song says. We are called to be love. An unquenchable love. A love that surpasses all understanding. If we read some first century history, we will see that the overwhelming love of G-d was seen by taking care of not only the christian poor, but the worlds poor. Because the worlds poor, are G-ds poor. We are to return Love when evil is thrown at us. We serve in a backwards kingdom. We are to invite our enemies to our parties! We are to Love our brothers and sisters who arent beautiful, who don’t smell good, who arent easy to get along with, as well as the rich who live in lonliness.
G-d is good.
We are not.
I want more of G-d, and less of Religon and less of me.
Religon kills, steals and destroys.
G-d brings freedom, Enlightenment, power, peace, grace, happiness, challenge, sacrifice, refining, love, and charity.
I don’t care if it offends people, I want the truth, the truth of my G-d.
I need it.
At all costs.
Comment [1]
Oh the times they are a changin' / Nov 16, 06:31 PM
1st kings 19:11-12
11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
G-d was in the whisper.
We need to hear some whispers today.
I still remember the whisper I heard years ago that said, “Hey, maybe this G-d stuff is true.”
It was hard for me to find Jesus honestly. Because I had to dig through some spiritual crap that I had learned in order to find him. When I would read the scriptures even as a kid in high school, something didn’t make sense to me. What I read in the bible told me stories of poor folks, who traveled around depending on G-d for everything. Some people even had to walk around for 400 years with only one pair of shoes! (That never wore out I might add!) I lacked seeing faith lived out in a radical (ordinary) way. I of course saw many loving gestures as I grew up in faith at my hometown church, but I did not see any danger to being a Christian. I read about danger though. Boy did I read about danger! I read about Christians having to meet secretly as to not be killed, I read about the soldiers coming to take Jesus away and peter drawing his sword and cutting ole’ dudes ear off! (To which Jesus then had to go and put back on ha-ha) The bible is full of these radical guys that sometimes had to sell their cloak to pick up a sword. Running from the law Bonnie and Clyde style with no crime committed other than the refusal of submission to Cesar! It didn’t make much sense to me then to be walking into an auditorium to find G-d with hundreds of other people on Sunday mornings with rich feasts of stale crackers and Welch’s! Although I must admit for whatever reason,,,, I did find G-d there. At least the beginning of G-d finding me started there.
I had the mountaintop youth-group experiences that would wear off as soon as the you know what hit the fan. I longed for intimacy with something that I had been told I could only hope for. I knew that I could not see G-d, but I could not just deal with spiritual masturbation either every 6 months when we would go on an event. So I was looking for a way to find the G-d of comfort, peace, and incredible danger in my hometown in rural Kentucky. And you know what, to my surprise, HE FOUND ME!
But not on my terms.
He didn’t use a sword fight, an explosion, a fire, or anything sweet that I would have seen in an Arnold (Schwartz- however you spell it) movie, he used a gentle voice by a gentle friend to lead me in the right direction. I wanted to be the Christian badass growing up, and by that I mean listening to loud and fast (Christian) music, and having my hair long, (before G-d started taking it away from me at age 18, but that’s a different story) and wearing (p)leather jackets, yet while being a two issue conservative voter.
I looked up to guys like Sonny from POD, and Josh Scogin of the chariot in their disapproval of the way things were. And people around me knew not to even mention a HYMNAL around me because I would spazz out on a tradition is boring rant. How foolish I was.
But I found G-d in the faces of my poor brothers and sisters. I found the face of G-d in the eyes of children who didn’t have a home to go back to. I and my spiritual nothingness had finally found the tangible Jesus by getting on my face and going in the alleys.
We have our mega screens in church. We have our lights, our sound systems, our rock show mentality, and none of those things are bad essentially. But maybe one thing that we are lacking, would be some whispers.
.
G-d forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Comment [2]
forgiveness is divine but never pay full price for late pizza / Nov 10, 10:00 AM
G-d,
Help us to remember that Jesus never says to the poor, “Come find the church!”, but that he says to those of us in churches, to “Go into the world and find the poor, hungry, the homeless, and imprisoned”.
Sometimes we as Christians and I say WE and I mean WE, forget what Jesus did. Americas Neon Bible of religion has us looking for G-d through things money can buy. Yet Jesus tells us that anything we do for THE LEAST OF THESE, we have done unto him. We can find the face of Jesus in the homeless and the poor, if we will go into that bad part of town that too many Christians steer clear of! We expect too often that people who need Jesus will come into our buildings of brick to find him, but this is false! We are to go out and find the hurting and the hungry and give them comfort and food! Don’t believe me? Read scripture! It contains tons of examples of exactly what I am talking about! Christians are too easily offended. THE GOSPEL IS OFFENSIVE! Ha-ha. It’s beautifully and marvelously offensive! Although, it is easy for me to slip into the vein of thinking that G-d cares more for the poor than he does for the wealthy, but my roommate Matt shared with me that G-d cares for both the same. He gave me the example of a mother with two children, one sick, and one healthy. She loves both the same, but gives a bit of extra attention to the sick one, because at that time the sick one needs it more. Which I think is a beautiful example of G-d’s love for us. Both the sick and the wealthy suffer from disease, the poor with hunger, and thirst, and the wealthy with loneliness, emptiness.
And G-d please let this healthcare bill pass. My neighbors NEED IT.
Christians, please don’t mask your unwillingness to pay higher taxes with the façade’ of the quality of healthcare. It’s easy for Glen Buck to say that socialized healthcare is bad, of course, because he can afford the systems we have now! But come take a walk in my neighborhood and tell the single mothers that their children do not deserve to be healthy. We need to start asking these “televangelists” why Jesus had so little, and they have so much.
G-d give us the courage to step out in faith and love one another.
And forgive me my sins, and help me to take every thought captive as I try to let you sync up our hearts
Amen.
Comment [2]
