I’m sorting and processing through a combination of life plans, personal stuff, and different ideas and concepts. Stigma Marketing has been growing – I’m in the in-between phases of having made it through early plans to having customers and now needing to shift into a different gear.

The initial emphasis with Drunk Pastor around Easter was just to write. It helped me in a lot more ways than anticipated as well as challenged me further. At this point, there’s a clear vision and mission for Drunk Pastor, however, it’ll take time to flesh it out and get it all online.

In general, it’s been a lot of sprinting. I’ve bitten off a good chunk of work and then let this idea keep growing. Here are some general updates:

• Egongelicalism is still a thing. It’s something I process and test with others. It comes up in some of my development work and other Christians. It’s something I can’t unsee and others can also see it.
• Stigma Marketing has finally been more…”embodied” by me. The nuts of that mean that it has taken me a couple of months to refine the model, get past some personal fears, dust off some old skills, and figure out how to stitch mission and authentic values together with marketing and development. It’s there now. It has already been fun practicing, growing, and becoming comfortable again but with a different perspective. I still struggle believing in myself but that’s my issue.
• As a Certified QPR trainer, Suicide Prevention Training is something I’m going to offer for the next year. It fits with my story and Stigma Marketing’s mission. It’s something that is needed and personally I’m excited to offer it again.
• The Gospel of John is something I feel like I need to write through but first I need to do something with The Samaritan Woman at the Well. To be honest, I have too many writing ideas but I digress. I’ll be exploring John with “Not A Bible Study” (up next) in connection with Genesis. I’m interested in it for a lot of reasons, including a better historical understanding of the first-century church.
• Not A Bible Study – We’ve had a couple of them and they were small. But the conversation dynamic and interest are serious. I’m struggling a bit with marketing myself, especially when I’m asking people to show up to something. However, I don’t think anymore that “Not A Bible Study” is just about a study. It may take months and longer to play out, but I think both the content and the group around it are important. We’re going through Genesis from its original context and not from a particular denominational loyalty while showing how John uses Genesis to make some important points.

Developing Drunk Pastor, there are several goals and aspirations.

• Social media content system and schedule
• Launching YouTube
• A writing plan for blog and books
• Grow newsletter and email content
• Develop Patreon

Up until February, I was working as a GM at a fast food chain. I did it, proved to myself I could, and learned a lot. Looking back, yeah, I learned a lot from a surprising place and people. I have to skip most of that here. Two things I learned were that I’m not meant to do that and that I had to face and change some more things.

In February, I transitioned out and back into what I was doing before. Some of the early plans didn’t work out as hoped and there was some juggling…maybe a ball or two dropped. I was trying to figure out a lot internally, a lot more than I thought I had to. I was leaning into work I had done before but differently now. Things had changed and were different, better. I had a better grasp and more experience. All the things were there, it was just a matter of doing the work.

Currently, I’m “making it work” and the lessons are pouring in, especially in the last couple of weeks. I have this, Drunk Pastor, which houses my personal, faith, ideas, and the stuff I want to engage the world with. It’s my “brand.” The name doesn’t matter as much as that I’m doing something with what I have to work with. It’ll be where I build a platform and a message, work out my stuff, and put it out there to see what happens. Writing has been something that I for far too long talk too much about and don’t do enough of.

It’s a back burner thing, my “hobby” and down-time focus, but a passion and clear direction. I’m focusing on just writing and getting in the habit of it again, finding my voice after a lot has changed. There’s some website setup and other audience-building things I’m doing but, right now, the game is just to keep writing for now while I tick-tack it together. There are a lot of other things that need to be done.

Professionally my world is under the category of my business, Stigma Marketing. It’s taken a bit of figuring it out while I go but I have what I do down, if that makes sense. Stigma’s purpose, its identity, how it does it, and what it does. I started with What (what I could do) and, apparently, worked backward. It literally just came together.

“Stigma” was a name I came up with years ago, a play off of stigmata and Jesus. It’s taken on deeper meanings since then with suicide prevention work (and my suicide journey), addiction, and dealing with my mistakes and shame. It’s about grabbing your story and owning it.

The schtick with Stigma Marketing is that it’s a collaborative agency for small business owners and individuals to help make their dreams more possible by helping fill in gaps, equip, and empower their efforts. We specialize in professional graphic design, web design, professional & copywriting, and marketing support. The language is there, but it still needs work. I have a meeting tomorrow to do some of that. My heart is really to build some connections in Missoula. I was called here….I still am.

Personally, I’m working through some of the things I had been putting off, getting into a rhythm and mode, loving my partner, and trying to figure out what this evolving me needs to do in this world. Personal development is an active thing…sometimes haphazardly…often times, but at least it keeps coming back to that.

I would have done these last few years differently if it were not for the lessons I apparently could only have learned this way and for where I’m at now with the tools I have…I feel “ready” for whatever it is. I’m also a lot less naive about myself, which is nice when I don’t have to look over my shoulder to check for my ego.

You can always check My Bookshelf to see what I am and have been reading, as well as what is my top lists.