Hello

Brandon Piety here hailing from the fine midwestern United States of America. I have lived all over this grand country and finally my family settled in Nap Town, that is Indianapolis, IN for those of you not from Indiana, that would be most of you. I am pretty young dude, twenty-two. I went to college in Cincinnati and now call Grand Rapids MI home. There I work for XXXCHURCH, am finishing college and basically rock this little city.

Some of you may be familiar with the X3 podcast it on there that almost every week the guys and gals I am on with find some way to make fun of me. I enjoy it to some extent. Some not so exaggerated stuff about myself includes enjoying electronica music - it might be geeky to love music made with machines and computers but I dig it. I do like messing with computers, macs only. I am a recovering avid player of Halo, I was second best at my university. I now play only socially and with those above the age of MA-17. To clarify I do not endorse playing video games avidly or underage, okay everyone good, cool. I wear high tops, drink too much coffee and sushi is a close second to mother’s chicken parmesan as a fav food.

XXXCHURCH is very close to home for me. We go way back. I heard about it from my youth pastor when I was in high school, six years ago when I was sixteen. I went to him because I was fed up in dabbling, stumbling, struggling, basically just looking at pørn on the internet. Shawn, my youth pastor kept me accountable with X3watch then and still does to this day.

I had the opportunity to intern under Craig, the leader of X3 two years ago. That summer changed my life - it was the most focused and driven group of people I had ever been around. The rest is history I guess, it is crazy it has been two years. Visits to prison, porn shows, Europe, Vegas-twice, and many long drives in the Pornmobile. I now work full time making this all happen with a great team, El Clinto, Craig, Michelle, Donny, Sam and the interns and many more.

Why blog every week? Why spill my guts on here? This movement/website changed me. That is it. It did. I was 16 and it inspired me to change myself, to let go of things holding me back so I join God in changing the world. I want more than just the same repeating junk that is out there. I want to pass it on.

I hope you check this blog out weekly as we explore struggles, freedom and adventures.

Ali wrote on April 16th 08 at 03:23AM

Praise God that He has put you where you supposed to be. You guys are doing a GREAT job, love u all! By the way, regarding the podcasts and the way the others make fun of you. Honestly i think that Crissy danger has a crush on you ;)

Brion wrote on April 17th 08 at 02:37AM

God put the thoughts in your head and the desires in your heart for something better. It' feels good to have no secrets doesn't it? The "Every Man's Battle" & "Every Young Man God's Man" books have helped me a lot. I would suggest them to any guy who wants to strengthen his spiritual integrity, and read real stories of real people who rose above sexual temptation.

James wrote on April 18th 08 at 04:36AM

Thanks for your testimony and your passion. I look forward to the coming weeks. Pax Christi.

Sandy wrote on April 18th 08 at 09:52AM

Thats great that xxxchurch changed your life Brandon. Let us know when Jesus does. That's the testimony I want to hear.

Josh wrote on April 18th 08 at 12:43PM

Seriously, I know exactly what you're talking about and how you are feeling.

No joke. X3 has changed my life, and I'm not talking about the porn aspect of things because my story with porn is a little different than any I have ever heard before in my life.

But, X3 has literally moved me to get out of the pew every single day and into the places around me where people need tangible help. For that, I will always love XXXChurch.com.

Mark wrote on April 19th 08 at 05:09PM

The bible says abstain from the appearance of evil, which is a command not a suggestion. The website and everything about it appears evil. Just thought I'd give you guys a little common sense.

Josh wrote on April 19th 08 at 11:07PM

Mark, have you seen www.xxxchurch.com/harrypotter?

Probably the most evil site I have seen by far- mixing the two most evil things, Harry Potter and a Christian Porn Site.

Evil Evil.

:)

megan wrote on April 20th 08 at 10:51PM

In response to Sandy's comment.... Jesus has obviously changed Brandon's life, otherwise he wouldn't be being transparent about his past and allowing God to use his background to help other people. Jesus is at the core of this ministry and for you to accuse one of His followers of not being changed by Him is an insult directly towards Jesus and what He is doing in Brandon's life. I encourage you to pray about how Jesus is working in YOUR life, and ask Him if tearing down other Christians is what He has called you to do. I trust you are praying for this ministry, since you are so quick to point out your objections.

Jonathan wrote on April 21st 08 at 06:55AM

Thank you megan, the Church is made up of so many parts. This ministry is just one of the many. XXX church is talking about issues and reaching people for Christ that many of our churches in America turn their backs to. Our God is so very big. So much larger than our (us humans) broken misunderstandings.

Greg wrote on April 21st 08 at 06:11PM

In response to basically everyone that is bashing this blog:

Why are you insulting eachother and this blog? it's ok to disagree with it but what purpose does it serve to call this church, or whatever it is evil? and comparing it to harry potter? that website doesn't even exist. so here's my response to all of the negative comments in the order they were made:

1. (sandy's comment) admittedly, i find it kind of weird that Jesus isn't mentioned once in his blog, but we all make mistakes with our words. i don't see why you need to be insulting him like that.

2.(mark's comment) that's great that you know something the bible says; it also says God does not judge by external appearance (Galatians 2:6), and that we are to be imitators of Christ(Philippians 2:5). the only thing that i see that makes this site at all questionable is the URL (the reference as the "#1 christian porn site" is obviously a joke). the URL was most likely chosen so that if someone is searching for porn online and type in XXX that this site will be one of the hits. if you're going to use the bible, at least put a reference so we can look at the context and understand that the verse really supports what you're saying. anyone who knows enough of the bible can quote verses out of context to serve their own purposes, satan himself did it when he was tempting Jesus after he fasted for 40 days.

3. (josh's comment) once again www.xxxchurch.com/harrypotter doesn't even exist. and if it did, and you consider the two things to be the most evil things, thanks so much for spreading around what you consider evil.

so those are my thoughts, agree or disagree.

Matt wrote on April 21st 08 at 10:35PM

Brandon I think its great that you feel you can open up to people like this, and your story has given me a lot of hope. Its not fair for some people to rip on you for this and i hope that continue to help people as you are

El Clinto wrote on April 22nd 08 at 09:16AM

Everyone give B-don a break, this is his first blogger experience.

Josh wrote on April 23rd 08 at 10:31PM

@Greg: I was completely joking about the Harry Potter bit. Just trying to point out how stupid Christians can be about things.

I love XXXChurch and I enjoyed reading through Harry Potter.

lol...

-Josh

Corinne wrote on April 23rd 08 at 11:04PM

Brandon--this is the first time I've checked out XXXChurch. It's sweet. Your blog was the first I read and I just had to tell you that you are well on your way to changing the world with God all around you. It's more than obvious that you're giving Christ all the Glory, so for those that don't recognize that, it's just too bad. Keep rockin'!

Jonathan wrote on June 26th 08 at 01:31AM

Is your last name really Piety? If so, that's awesome.

Thank you for taking time to share with all of us.