Canyon Creek Church lead pastor Brandon Beals photographed at his church in Lynnwood on Dec. 3. He uses mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting in his sermons.
To those who know him, what’s written on Brandon Beals’ license plate is exactly what they’d expect.
But if all you know is what Beals does, it might come as a bit of a shock.
Beals is founder and lead pastor of Canyon Creek Church in Lynnwood, but the three letters on his white 2009 Dodge Challenger say more about the 38 year old than a Bible and a pulpit ever could:
“UFC.”
“I’m an mixed-martial arts fan who happens to be a pastor,” Beals said from an upstairs office where signed pictures of Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters and NFL greats share prominence with a two-century-old Bible. “This is who God made me to be.”
On Saturday, hundreds will gather to watch a licensed Pay-Per-View screening of UFC 107 in the same first-floor meeting space where Beals delivers his sermons — an event Beals hope to turn into a monthly ritual.
That same day, Beals will launch a for-profit mixed-martial arts merchandise and fight sponsorship brand he hopes will help him achieve his dream of establishing a chaplaincy in mixed martial arts.
The brand’s name comes from the nickname a Yahoo! Sports writer gave Beals when he discovered the muscle man of God this summer — Fight Pastor.
The words “fight” and “pastor” don’t exactly fit together. But they do fit Beals.
Beals fell in love with UFC long before he led a church. A love of boxing he developed as a kid in Mill Creek led Beals to take up wrestling while at North Seattle Christian High School and begin a health and workout regimen that would lead him to bench-press 400 pounds.
In 1993, Beals saw the first-ever UFC fight on Pay-Per-View. He hasn’t let up since. Beals has watched dozens of UFC events and posed with countless fighters. He knows the sport’s president, Dana White, and regularly blogs his picks for upcoming matches on his Web site. He rides a Harley Fat Boy, sports eight tattoos and rocks ’80s heavy metal.
He also might be the only pastor to call himself a Facebook fan of 5-Hour Energy drinks.
“I preach five times every Sunday. That’s how you make it through the day,” he said.
It was in high school that Beals gave his life to Jesus. He founded Canyon Creek Church in 2004 after years serving as a youth pastor in Everett and Modesto, Calif. And as any church member will tell you, hardly a sermon goes by where Beals doesn’t mention something related to the UFC.
Seventeen UFC fighters have so far recorded video greetings for Beals to use to introduce parts of his latest sermon series about the life of the Biblical king David, which his team is promoting with a trailer, an edgy movie-style poster and a name borrowed straight from the sport — “The Ultimate Fighter.”
