Brandon grew up in Mequon, WI playing soccer and studying music. He moved to Madison in 2003 to pursue a BS in Biochemistry at UW-Madison with the intent of going to medical school. During his junior year of college, he placed his faith in Christ and was changed forever. At the beginning of his senior year, he became involved in the Navigators, a Christian campus ministry. About this time, he also began attending Blackhawk. He graduated in May 2007, and after a summer mission trip to Japan, Brandon felt the Lord’s calling to full time ministry and withdrew his medical school applications. He got married in June 2008 to his wife, Valerie, whom he met in the Navigators and they now live in Middleton. He is currently employed part time at Covance Labs as a metabolism analyst while interning with Blackhawk. He enjoys music, traveling, the outdoors, and “The Office.”

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are having a great holiday season!  Just wanted to let everyone know the various trips that are going throughout Winter Break, encourage prayer for those trips, and for spiritual growth for those attending. First we have Urbana in St. Louis, going from Dec 27-31, which focuses on mission work. We have about 10 students attending Urbana, so please pray for them.  Next we have Passion going on in Atlanta with about 25 students driving down.  This conference runs from Jan 2-5 and focuses on the idea of complete Lordship in the lives of students. Lastly, we have the Georgia Service Trip, where we partner with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for people in need. This trip goes from Jan 9-16 and has 10 people attending, which is the maximum allowable.

I ask that you pray specifically for safe travel as everyone will be driving to these various trips, which are very far away, and it’s winter…need I say more? Also pray for the spiritual growth of those attending and that God would use these trips to change lives where He desires. Thank you for your prayers and love.

In Christ’s Infinite Love,

Brandon Ryan

Wow! Study Day is finally here!  Study Day was one of the first events I came to at Blackhawk and was definitely one of the things that got me to keep coming.  If you have never heard of Study Day, and you’re a student, then you are in for a treat!  Basically, Study Day is a day that college students can come to Blackhawk, find a quiet place to study, or not so quiet if that’s how you roll, and also watch movies, play games, play sports in the gym, and eat FREE FOOD ALL DAY!  It is just a great day to hang out with friends, get a little studying in, have some fun, and eat FREE FOOD ALL DAY!  Also, around 9:00 PM there will be a worship session put on by the worship leaders at Blackhawk, and often times these worship sessions are some of the best of the entire year, not to be missed.

So if you want to come to Study Day, doors open at noon, and stay open until midnight, with food being served the entire time.  If you don’t have a ride out to Blackhawk, no worries, there will be bus shuttles coming through campus all day long.  All of the information on the shuttles can be found on the Blackhawk website.  Hope to see you there!

Hey Everyone,

With the weather reports as they are at this point, we have decided to cancel tonight’s party.  We’re very sorry we have to do this, but we have to put safety first. We hope to see you all at Study Day, though, December 18!

Happy Snowing!

B

This idea is so interesting to me. Like so many intangible things, it is something that I always want more of; but the more I gain, the more I realize I don’t have.  This is something I yearn for, I am still such a mystery even to myself.  Things I know about my behavior that I have no explanation for, or why I act a certain way in a certain situation, I have no idea.  All the time I wish I had a manual for myself.  These days we have many tools to help us gain knowledge of ourselves, what our personalities are and how they function, how we behave in social situations, what our greatest strengths are, and for Christ-followers, even how the Holy Spirit has gifted us. It is amazing to use these tools and see how accurate they truly are when they describe us merely from answering a set of test questions (though they definitely can be wrong). Yet these merely tell us the bare bones of who we are, there is still so much to understand, experiences to take into account, and change occurs constantly.  There is only One who knows us through and through. We can seek Him and know Him better each day, and as a result we tend to learn more about ourselves as well. To know ourselves can help us in so many ways, especially when it comes to understanding the people around us. To know what we are and how we act, allows to understand people that are not like us and helps us to love them more effectively. So pray for your own self-awareness and learn to understand and interact with others better as a result.

As some of you know, I spent the summer of 2007 in Japan doing missions with college students with the Navigators. One day my fellow missionaries and I rode a bus downtown. Well one thing to know about Japan is that people riding on public transportation, even if they’re friends, don’t really talk to each other to prevent being overheard; for they are an introverted society, very comfortable with silence. Another thing to know about Japan is that they, as a country, are fairly environmentally conscious. So, for example, when a bus comes to any extended stop (like at a stoplight) they actually turn off the bus. Well the first time I rode on the bus in Japan, you can imagine the feeling of awkwardness that came over me the first time they actually shut off the bus. The combination of no one talking, no motor running, and just not knowing what was going on made for an extremely uncomfortable moment.

Why was that moment so uncomfortable? Well the main reason, I think, is that as Americans we have an incredibly hard time dealing with silence. Most of us straight-up don’t like it; and when we are in silence, its really only silence externally, while our minds and hearts are still racing with thoughts and worries of the day-to-day inside. How do we just sit in complete silence comfortably? Well one method is to live in Japan for three months, you’ll get real used to it real fast But I think it really just takes discipline. We need to take time out of our day to really just sit and reflect. And bringing God into the picture, those are moments that He will be able to speak to us the best, when we aren’t distracted by everything else, when we are simply taking some time to be alone with Him and nothing else.

So how long has it been since you spent some time alone, in silence, and allowed God in? Hours? Days? Maybe months? Well when you think about it, God above all else, deserves the very best part of us and our time, as He is the source of all that is good in our lives and our lives in of themselves. Doesn’t He deserve the best? Give it a shot and I’m sure God will meet you where you are when you make an effort to take some time for Him.