I’m Confused! I don’t understand this whole Fight Pastor thing.

By Pastor Brandon on 1/20/10

I was planning on calming any concerns people had about Fight Pastor/ Fight Church at the Annual Vision Meeting but thought I would answer some questions ahead of time. In conversations I have had or my staff has had with people about Fight Pastor the same questions keep coming up. Often times these questions left to the imagination become larger concerns than they need be. So consider this a Fight Pastor question and answer page. My hope is that your questions or concern is answered, if not, please email me and ask!

Before I begin, let me remind you that I started Canyon Creek Church over 5 years ago. The church is, and has always been, one of my passions. Di and I have given everything we have (financially, relationally, spiritually, and emotionally) into seeing this missional community develop and grow. I am the same pastor I was when I started this church. Fight Pastor has not changed me or my focus. So with these answers, please give me the same grace and understanding you always have. There is no hidden agenda or information being intentionally withheld. My simple, succinct responses follow each question.

What is Fight Pastor?

Fight Pastor started as my personal blog about two years ago. Christian oversees our church website and our web statistics clearly showed him when I blogged on things that interested me and didn’t just do the typical pastor blogs you see on every other church website that our blog reads spiked up dramatically. He encouraged me to continue blogging on MMA and linking it to the church site. My MMA blogging improved our ranking in search browsers and has increased our website hits immensely.

So needless to say, I have been the Fight Pastor for awhile. Last summer, at UFC 100, I was interviewed, as a fan, about the UFC. The reporter discovered I was a minister and became very intrigued by a ministers interest in MMA. I ended up being the centerpiece of his article. This article was then picked up, reposted, or rewritten by a number of other national MMA news websites. Making Fight Pastor, in MMA circles, somewhat of a household name. That is when the attention increased for our church. Our website views began to shoot through the roof. We started receiving numerous emails and phone calls from people inquiring about the church. People started visiting the church because of my “cheesy” MMA blog. (Several of these articles are listed under press at http://www.fightpastor.com)

I decided to, personally, trademark the name Fight Pastor. I decided to develop a retail Christian MMA apparel brand. Sell advertising on my website. Host UFC Fight Nights more regularly (the church had been planning to do this anyways because of the huge response to each event). I actually decided to do all this back in July. I was asked to put it on hold until after the capital campaign at the church, which I did. Immediately after The Amazing Race ended I had several newspaper outlets call and ask to do exclusives on Fight Pastor. The intrigue has always been a pastor into MMA. The articles started coming faster than I could communicate and reassure the church about all this.

Bottom line: I trademarked Fight Pastor. I started a side business called Fight Pastor. It is a retail Christian MMA apparel brand. We sell apparel, host Fight Nights in co-operation with the Canyon Creek Church, sell web ad space, and sponsor various fighters.

How are you paying for this? Is my tithe going to this pet project of yours?

This is one of the biggest concerns we hear about Fight Pastor. Are resources of the church going to help you get this off the ground? The answer to that question is a resounding NO! Di and I invested our own money into this venture. If you heard that your tithe was going to help this you were misinformed. Fortunately, a business with zero overhead is easy to personally finance.

How do you personally afford to go to all these fights in Las Vegas?

I save and budget like all of you. Since I don’t gamble or drink a trip to Vegas is actually fairly inexpensive. Look at it this way, I can go to 5 fights in Las Vegas for less than the cost of a family to go to Disneyland. Best of all, whenever I go to fights it is a business write off.

Is this distracting you from your primary focus which should be Canyon Creek Church?

This is the other question I get asked most often. I have worked about 80 hours a week at the church, since I started the church. The church is my passion. I have invested everything into CCC. If Fight Pastor distracts me from CCC, I will drop it quickly. Remember, I have always had side endeavors in addition to the church. I have taught at Northwest University for the past 5 years. I also do a tremendous amount of outside speaking. I have proven to be able to juggle a lot and have it not affect the church at all.

So how do you have the time to invest in Fight Pastor?

Remember, MMA has always been a hobby of mine. I have been spending time on Fight Pastor for the last two years in addition to everything else I have been doing. To accommodate Fight Pastor in the future I am no longer teaching at Northwest and am limiting my outside speaking.

Are you going to quit, move to Las Vegas, and work for the UFC?

Believe it or not, I have been asked this a lot. No, I love my job. I have an incredible life. My family loves it here (though I personally hate the weather). The church has a bright future and I believe every dream I have had in ministry can happen at Canyon Creek Church. Besides, I am not raising a family in Las Vegas. You can’t beat the school system in this area!

How does your wife feel about all this?

MMA is my hobby. Other guys hunt, fish, snow ski, play video games, etc. I am into MMA. Just like most women tolerate their man’s hobbies, she tolerates mine. Honestly, nothing has really changed for us.

How is Fight Pastor different than Fight Church?

Fight Pastor is our retail brand. Fight Church is a ministry to the MMA community (which is a very large subculture) that Christian and I are starting. We want to develop an MMA chaplaincy, create a curriculum, host Fight Churches,  and start a camp program. We don’t have a lot of information on this yet because we are still praying it through. My plan is to have Fight Pastor generate enough revenue to finance Fight Church.

How is Fight Church going to be connected to CCC?

Fight Church will become our ministry to the MMA community. It will be an organization we will partner with. We partner with MOPS to minister to young moms. We partner with Alternative Missions and Mission Dispatch to support missions efforts. We partner with Cedar Park Athletics for our sports programs.

So is Fight Church going to become the focus of our church?

No. The reason I have hardly mentioned Fight Pastor or Fight Church in front of the church is because I don’t want people to think it is the focus of our church. Our church’s primary focus is to be a missional influence in our culture. That has never and will never change.

I don’t like MMA. Do I have to be involved in this?

No. I am not a Mother of a Preschooler. I am not involved in MOPS. I support MOPS and believe it is a valuable ministry but I am not their ministry demographic. Consider Fight Church another missional arm of our church. You are involved in some of those efforts and you aren’t in others.

All this is great Brandon, I just don’t understand why we’re doing this.

I have over 5 years of history leading Canyon Creek Church effectively. If that is your honest feeling, I am simply asking for grace. Give this some time. Watch it from a distance. See how it develops. It might turn into something great. It might fizzle out and die. Either way, Canyon Creek Church will remain a great church.

Thanks for all your support of Di and I over the years. The future is bright for our church. I believe God is doing something interesting with my hobby. He is taking it and merging it with my passion (ministry). Fight Pastor and Fight Church just might have a bright future too! Thanks for taking the time to consider all this. If you have any questions, don’t let them linger, call or email me.

Pastor Brandon

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