SmallTall Ministries

Here’s what Bryan has been up to…

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‘There’s enough for all’ “Jesus had a lot to say about money, but the songs we sing in worship rarely do.” These words from the album description of Bryan Moyer Suderman’s 2007 album, My Money Talks, provide a snapshot into the goal of the album: to intentionally provide songs for churches that help them talk about mo...

This article gives a good sense of what Bryan Moyer Suderman has been up to, including why there haven't been a lot of posts to this SmallTall Ministries page. Looking forward to being part of this annual event as the featured musician for the Network of Biblical Storytellers Canada. Registration opens tomorrow.

Featured Musician Bryan Moyer Suderman | NBSCanada An interview with our Festival of Biblical Telling 2023 delightful Story Concert performer.

Does this CD cover look familiar to any of you?

This week is the 20th anniversary of the official "release" of my first little collection of songs. For a few months I had been writing some songs, intended to be a way for us to sing our faith with children, and as part of the new "missional church" emphasis that was part of the birthing of newly-restructured Mennonite Church Canada. I had sung some of them at different events here and there, and there was a sense that they ought to be shared in some way with the broader church.

So we made simple recordings at the (then named) Faith and Life Studios in Winnipeg, with just me and my guitar, and 50 copies of a CD with half-a-dozen songs were burned by Darryl Neustaedter Barg in his basement. Those 50 copies were brought to Abbotsford, BC, as part of a "missional church travel bag" of resources put together by folks like Kathy Giesbrecht, Jim Loepp Thiessen, Ingrid Loepp Thiessen, Elsie Rempel and others, to be made available at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly happening there at the beginning of July.

Those 50 copies were snapped up very fast, and someone went home to burn more copies (the number 200 sticks in my mind, but I can't be sure). Yes, burned CDs - this was in the days before downloads and social media and "shares" and "likes" on Facebook... in fact, it was several years before Facebook existed...

These songs started to find their way in the world, being sung by different communities. And the reception of these songs, and the encouragement I received and my own sense of call, gave rise to a new vocation of songwriting that became my almost-full-time self-employed vocation for 17+ years.

20 years ago this week. I am grateful.

Last week I got to participate with a few songs in a virtual book release for Lori Guenther Reesor, a friend and long-time colleague-in various-ventures and conversation-partner-about many (and money) things. Lori has just published a book that embeds her wisdom and experience (and humour and artistry) in the fictional community of "Peach Blossom Church." Lori has thought a lot - and researched and worked with churches - about money and giving/generosity/gratitude/grace (and other words that don't start with "g"), and is now sharing of the abundant insight and inspiration that she has gleaned in this narrative/conversational form.

Think Wendell Berry's Port William, Kentucky or Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, Iowa. Perhaps a closer comparison would be to Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christian" and Sean Gladding's books "The Story of God, The Story of Us" and "Ten"... communicating insights and biblical/theological/ecclesial reflections in the form of "fictional" dialogue drawn from real-life experience.

Think also of "The Wealthy Barber" in terms of frank and practical conversation about money matters, but from an explicitly Christian faith perspective.

Lori's passion (her "superpower") is helping churches talk about money. As it happens, back in 2007, in partnership with Abundance Canada (then Mennonite Foundation of Canada), I put out "My Money Talks," an album of songs for worship, focused on economic stewardship themes. In other words, a bit of a soundtrack for Lori's new book - helping congregations to sing, as well as talk, about money.

A free copy of the "My Money Talks" CD is available for those who buy a copy of Lori's new book - see the link to do this through CommonWord in Winnipeg, which hosted last week's virtual book launch event (thanks, Arlyn Friesen Epp). You can also buy Lori's book without the the CD, if you like... but hey, I've got plenty of copies of the CD that I'd love to give away, and if you're interested in talking (and helping congregations talk) about money, maybe you're interested in singing (and helping congregations sing) about it too...

Copies of the songbook for the "My Money Talks" collection are available as well - see the link for that in the comments below.

Special Book/CD Bundle: Growing a Generous Church and My Money Talks CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre

How can you tell Bryan Moyer Suderman misses travelling and singing with different communities? Lovely time last night with Mennonite Children's Choir of Lancaster, who asked Bryan to be one of their “guest artists” this semester. They are preparing “virtual choir” videos of a couple of his songs, and last night was a live Zoom session, with singing, questions, and more singing. So much fun, and rather emotional to pull out all these instruments that don’t get out much these days...

A couple of recent publications that feature Bryan Moyer Suderman and his work:

- Voices Together (new hymnal for Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA) - includes 3 BMS songs
- Making Waves: 50 stories about Sharing Love and Changing The World, by Judy Clemens, author of several YA books who heard Bryan sing/speak/teach in Ohio several years ago

(see comments for links)

Getting ready to lead the second of a 6-part online Bible study series on Mark's Gospel, at the invitation of the Young Adult group of Kern Rd Mennonite Church in South Bend, Indiana. Enjoying this new experience (leading Bible study online on Wednesday evenings), and appreciating that there are no special visas required for this kind of work!

I have just updated the "schedule" page of my website to reflect how engagements have changed in this time of pandemic. Feel free to have a look, and be in touch if there are possibilities you'd like to explore...

Schedule | SmallTall Ministries Schedule NOTE: During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, live in-person events are cancelled. Bryan has been doing a range of online events via Facebook Live, Zoom, and pre-recorded video, and remains available for engagements in these formats. See below for the engagement schedule (past and upcomi...