In their day they were the dynamic duo. One was the pastor, the other the assistant. One was charismatic, the other the work horse. Both could hit a softball further than about anyone else I’ve ever met. Get them on the same team and they were unbeatable. Both had incredible talent and million-dollar smiles. They and their wives merged at the perfect time, built a multi-million-dollar building, and took Calvary Tabernacle to a different dimension. In their day, they were an unstoppable force.
There are people who just go together. Laurel and Hardy, Jordan and Pippen, and Siskel and Ebert. For me, in the early 80’s it was Jim Larson and Jim Brannon. An earlier blog recounts the impact of Pastor James Larson on my life, but the story would be incomplete without Jim Brannon. He was the secret behind the sauce. While Pastor Larson beat the tambourine and preached vision, Jim Brannon was the ultimate second man. Pastor Larson envisioned it; James Brannon made it happen.
I am not sure that Calvary Tabernacle’s current building gets built without him. He was comfortable with, and understood his role as Robin, the second man. Whatever it took for the church to succeed, he stepped up. He wasn’t scared of hard work. I saw him in mud filled holes, working on pipes, and on sky-high scaffolding. He also wasn’t afraid of making hard decisions, he often had to be the bad guy, make the tough calls, and because he was willing, things got accomplished. Ministerially, he served the Indiana Youth Department, preached when Pastor Larson was gone, and filled any void when he saw a need.
Before coming to Indy, he was an important cog in the success of the church in Stockton California pastored by Kenneth Haney. He served in many roles, working with the youth, assisting with construction, and doing whatever was necessary to see that the church succeeded. His agenda never seemed to be about titles or accolades, it was about stepping up, getting the job done, and seeing the Kingdom moving forward.
Leaving Indy in the late 80’s, he and his wife would start their own church in Livermore California. As with many areas in his life, he had to dig it out, make sacrifices, and hard choices. Those choices often brought criticism, misunderstanding, and difficulties, yet he and his wife never wavered in their commitment to the message they lived and preached. I know their work in at Christian World Church in Livermore has come with great sacrifice, heartache and pain. Yet, meet them and both of them will greet you with the biggest smiles, have you laughing uncontrollably, and one would think they had never experienced pain or had their hearts broken. Mary and I see them as giants of the faith and some of the finest Christians we have ever met.
Thank you, Jim Brannon, for doing what so many aren’t willing to do, be the second man. You set the gold standard for the role. You have led with excellence as a pastor, dad, grandpa, and businessman. I admire and appreciate you, and I am thankful for your example. You have not only been someone that I look up to, but someone I wanted to emulate. Mary and I are proud to be able to call you and Janet our friends. Your reward in heaven will be greater than you could ever imagine.
As I reflect on back on important people in my life and ministry there is a man that impacted my life in such a profound way and is the reason I decided to walk with God. I was twelve when my parents left a small church and brought me to a large church in Indianapolis. The pastor at the time, N.A. Urshan, while a great man, was in my eyes, old. He was in his early fifties, his messages seemed to be over my head, and church seemed to be all about what I couldn’t do. It was just a couple years after we started attending that pastor Urshan left for a position in St. Louis and a new pastor was voted in. The new pastor instantly arrested my attention. He was 25, had a smile that wouldn’t quit, was energetic, 6’7”, played basketball, and had a passion for sports. I was 15, loved sports, especially basketball and needed a person of influence.
Within months of James Larson becoming my pastor, I had surrendered my life to Jesus, was filled with the Spirit, and my life was forever changed. He was fun, charismatic and creative, loved to worship, and his messages were convicting, yet relative to me as a teenager. I didn’t think that fun and God could go together, he showed me differently. In his daily life I saw his humanity, he didn’t mind mixing it up when playing basketball, in fact, he instigated some of the fights during the games, he was highly competitive. Playing softball, he was brash, and could hit a ball a country mile. His messages often brought up the Minnesota Twins baseball team or the Vikings football, all which appealed to me.
He and his wife were incredible people of prayer. My passion and commitment to prayer is directly a result of watching their lives. Multiple times a year we would have prayer and fasting revivals and every night the place filled to capacity. Miracles happened, lives were changed, but most of all, those who set under James Larson developed a lifelong love for prayer. Beyond the prayer revivals, he would be in the prayer room before every Sunday service, crying out, circling the room, praying, and pleading for God to move in the service. His passion for prayer was contagious, the place would be packed, so much so that people would be waiting in line to get in the prayer room. It was commitment to prayer that fueled my love for prayer, my ministry, and caused me to teach so passionate about the need to have a daily prayer life.