Update: Switching to Weekly

I’m taking a break from Tend Your Brand for the next 10 days to focus on client work and big-picture planning for Restore Graphics. I’ve been disciplined since January of this year publishing every weekday without fail, and I’ve built up a catalog of over 150 posts related to church branding. This habit has been incredibly good for me personally, and I’ll absolutely be finishing out the year. I wanted to get through all of 2025 without missing a beat, but deadlines and life events are a thing that sometimes gets in the way. I’ll be taking a breather for the next 2 weeks, after which I’ll get back into the daily writing headspace. If you don’t see Tend Your Brand come back on September 1, please hold me accountable and reach out to light a fire under me!

Last week, after nearly four years as a Designer at the Voice of the Martyrs, I turned in my resignation. As a long-awaited answer to prayer, the Lord has called me into something smaller, better, and more focused. The story behind this change is a testament to God’s faithfulness, so I thought I would share it here. For years (close to 8 years now), I’ve had this dream of working for myself. Starting a design agency was something I considered seriously 4 years ago when my wife and I moved back to our hometown of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, but it wasn’t the right time. God provided my amazing job at VOM, so I tabled the idea. Another year passed, and suddenly three churches called me within the span of a week asking for help redesigning their logos. It was a hectic summer and we were in the middle of building our house, but I loved every minute of it. At the end of those projects, I realized “there’s something here.” I started focusing all my effort on figuring out how to do more church rebrands. My wife joined me in praying for more clients. I made a lot of mistakes, but eventually stumbled into one project after another. I still can’t believe it’s happening, but it is! Please pray that the Lord blesses Restore Graphics and makes it bear fruit. Thank you to all my former clients for being incredible to work with, and encouraging me to continue pressing forward with excellence and all for the glory of God.

I recently had the privilege of meeting Dr. Michael Reeves, Author, Professor, and President at the Union School of Theology in the UK. He had just finished speaking at an event, and I knew I had to ask him for any encouragement or advice he could give to you lovely people in the Tend Your Brand family. He was gracious enough to think my question over and offered an amazing reply. Here’s what he said: Braden: What advice or encouragement can you give to church leaders who are trying to better communicate their vision and galvanize their congregations? Dr. Reeves: I’m reminded of what Jesus said, “Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” If you don’t believe in your vision, your congregation won’t believe in it either. If you’re bored with your message, the people you speak to will sense that lack of conviction. Seek God’s guidance sincerely and ask him for the conviction and resolve to preach your message with full-throated zeal. So there you go. I don’t feel like I can say it any better than he did, so I’ll leave it there. Hopefully his wisdom was encouraging and re-centering for you. P.S. It felt too much like paparazzi at the time, so I didn’t get a photo with him (maybe I should have anyway - ha!).

Building, creating, and doing business is how many of us are called to glorify our Creator. By building businesses and influence in every sphere, we’re carrying out the dominion mandate and bringing more of creation under submission to Christ’s lordship and rule. This is true whether our work is in law, construction, medicine, or design. I love serving churches because it’s a chance for me to reflect God’s creativity and what he is already doing in each local church body to advance his kingdom. All this while pointing back to the timeless truth of the gospel. Sometimes that looks like symbolism in the logo itself, and other times it’s the overall feeling of reverence, optimism, or hospitality that you can bring out through other visual elements. My work has gained attention from secular designers from time to time, and I don’t think they quite understand what it is that I do. They don’t see how working with churches can be profitable. The truth is: it’s not the most lucrative market. I price projects at below what I believe the value is, but even then many churches aren’t willing to spend ministry dollars on branding. That’s okay with me because I’m able to pour myself even more into other projects that ARE a perfect fit. Because of this approach, I’ve gotten to have those conversations with my peers about why I continue to work with churches. I’m driven by more than just money. If this were all taken away tomorrow, I would still praise God for it. I feel invigorated and fulfilled by the work he has called me to in this season of life, but I know it is a gift and that the next thing he leads me into will result even more in my ultimate good and his ultimate glory.