Positive Post Tuesday: Brian Ayers

We had the pleasure of having dinner with Brian Ayers and his wife last Friday.  Brian is currently the media director of The Community Church.
Brian and I go way back..about ten years.  We first “met” at Target, where we both worked.  “Met” might be stretching it.  We eyed each other from a distance.  I was suspicious of his long hair and rock music that he cranked in the warehouse.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if he had his suspicions of me.  But we were 15/16, and I was definitely immature.
Fast forward a few years.  We met again at a youth group called Fire Escape.  This time we actually met, and it was cool.  He had cut his hair short (not that I have a problem with long hair).  I think he was still attending a church down the road, and so was I, but Fire Escape was where all the cool kids converged, and where I attempted to be cool.
We’ve never had a super close friendship or anything, but we’ve shared a lot of the same interests (music, church, technology, etc.)  There were a few years we were disconnected, as I lead my family on a wild ride of church hopping and business adventures.  But a couple years ago we tried to settle down at The Community Church and stayed for about a year.  Brian had been on staff for a while and was currently the youth pastor at, you guessed it, the Fire Escape.  I was excited for him, because of two things.  For one, I knew he was called to be in the ministry.  And second, I was glad that the church-which is somewhat family run-had let an “outsider” in a key leadership position.
Although I am not attending The Community Church anymore, Brian and I have become blog/twitter buddies.  Brian has a lot of wisdom when it comes to leadership and he has a very creative eye.  He has a humble heart and is willing to serve wherever needed most in the church.  And he is helping me learn to have a heart for people outside of the church.  I was very excited when he married an awesome gal…and I can’t wait for them to have kids! :P
And Brian has so kindly agreed to be my personal library.  Since I am working on getting out of debt, I’m not buying books right now, and none of the books I want to read are at the library yet.  So yea, he’s awesome!  Thanks, Brian.
Check out his blog and his twitter.

And now, it’s your turn to lift someone up.