About Me

Hmmmm, well, my name is Branden Garrett.

Physically:

My family lives in Muskegon, MI, and we all love it. I have a sister, Emily, that can tear your head off with her bare hands (but can also sew an entire dress from scratch and cook a proper French meal), a wonderfully loving mother, and very wise father. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family. We are all leaders and we all think our own way of doing something is the best way. As we age, however, we are learning to learn from each other and do things together.

I grew up in Grand Rapids, MI – attending Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conferencein Muskegon every summer. But right before high school my father wanted to start a ministry devoted to helping Christian resolve disputes between one another (ICORVI), so we moved to Muskegon full time. I attended Mona Shore High School and shared a room with my sister for four years. I was very involved in Mona Shores' Choir, eventually becoming an Allegro (06-09) Choir Board President (08-09), a member of Chamber Choir (07-08), and The Rocktet (08-09).

Currently, I am attending Michigan State University; however, in the fall I hope to attend Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI. I started going to MSU because they have an accelerated political science college, but after a year of that I knew that wasn't for me. I came back only because living at home seemed pretty lame for a 19-year-old male. All in all it has been a great experience though. I made some amazing friends, and I learned so much about myself.

Spiritually:

Again, I have a wonderful family. Both my parents came from strong Christian families, and they both grew up going to Maranatha. They didn’t miss a beat with Emily and I, Maranatha every summer, being involved with Calvary Churchin Grand Rapids, helping grow Ada Bible Church, helping start Crossroadsand now, Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake.

For me personally, I started strong as a kid, loved Ada Bible Church as a middle school-er, struggled to find something in Muskegon until I found Mona Shores Baptist Church and more importantly John Schindelbeck, Cedar Campusand Intervarsity my freshman year of college, and now I am super excited about Harvest Spring Lake. 

My mother has always told me that I have a sensitivity to God that is rarely seen. I'm not sure if that's mother talk or if its true, but what is true is Christianity and Our Father intrigue me more than anything else in the entire world. I cannot get enough. I have always been blessed in school, but nothing keeps my interest like the Bible, Christian literature, understanding the soul and morality, and ancient biblical history. In high school I would read books on these topics in class when I was supposed to be learning how to take the derivative of f(x)=ax^2+bx+C or anything else I was supposed to learn in high school (though I did graduate with a 3.7). So it makes sense that I haven't done so well at MSU, I don’t really fit.

My heart's focus has, is and will be on Our Father. However I will be the first to say that my heart has been distracted more then a numerous amount of times. High school was rough for me; I developed two Brandens. One that truly loved Our Father and His Kingdom and one that covered all of that with perverted versions of God given things.
 
By the time senior year came, the "life" Branden was almost completely covered. But in God’s ridiculous way he torn down almost everything I had built up, and started rebuilding.
 
That’s where I am at now, rebuilding. Rebuilding confidence, rebuilding trust, rebuilding love, rebuilding relationships, rebuilding everything. It’s really hard some days and I don’t always make the right decisions, but all in all I feel life coming back to me.