https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTh61dW6JcM

I started this YouTube channel almost 4 years ago as a kind of passion project and I honestly never imagined it would reach the scope and scale that it has.

And the reason I never expected that is because I’ve always been reluctant to think of myself as a voice that ought to be heard by thousands of people. I’m terribly underqualified and I’m no great model of holiness or piety.

And what that has taught me, and I’ve alluded to this in past videos, is that God can do amazing things even with dullard like me as long as we’re willing to say yes. And you don’t have to look far in scripture to be reminded of this fact. The heroes of the Bible were not heroes to begin with. They were people like Jacob, David, Jonah, or any one of the apostles.

I sometimes think about times and places where people like St. Albert the Great, St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Thomas Aquinas could be found virtually at the same time in the same place and I think, why are we so deprived? Even if we can’t have a contemporary version of these great saints, could we at least have “a this generation’s” GK Chesterton?

Because, in case some of you haven’t noticed, the Church is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. Vocations of all kind have collapsed, scandals are the norm, the majority of Catholics don’t believe its most fundamental doctrines, and the appetite to root out corruption is non-existent.

And if you live in a place like I do, you haven’t been able to receive communion for 9 months and counting because we are more afraid of the dangers posed to our mortal bodies than we are to our eternal souls.

In short, our best and brightest seem to be few and far between. So, as unattractive as it might be, our second or third-rate picks are needed to fill in. And that’s where people like me and maybe you come in.

I think the time for standing on the sidelines and waiting for someone or something to renew the Church has expired. We have to stop waiting for the first-pick soldiers or workers or whatever analogy you want to use to save us. The vanguard is depleted, and it is now time for the reinforcements - as reluctant as we might be.

And my experience of saying, “Yes, Ok, I’ll do something,” even though I’m insecure about it, even though I feel underqualified, even though nobody knows who I am, and even though I don’t think it will work, has turned into an astonishing realization that God can do unimaginable things with such crude raw materials.

And the fact that such a surprising outcome has materialized, in my experience, has challenged me to consider what it is I’m called to be doing – because up until now, I’ve been trying to pay enough attention to my day job while still publishing content on here as if it’s a side thing.

But as speaking opportunities and book opportunities come in, I keep turning them down because this isn’t the focus of my career and I’m not going to sacrifice my domestic commitments with my family to to make time for those invitations.

But I think it’s time for me (and you) to stop pushing those promptings off into an uncertain someday. Someday I’ll write my book, someday I’ll be available when people ask me if they can interview me, someday I’ll stop asking myself what I can do to help and actually do something. Well, someday doesn’t come if you only ever wait for it.

But I’m also keenly aware that I can’t take the steps I’d like to take without your help. I can’t wrestle time away from my day job and continue to provide for my family. I can’t grow my publishing efforts without having a group of people that I can rely on for critical feedback and collaboration.

And perhaps you can’t respond to that prompting to make a difference in the Church without the encouragement of a community of people where you can share ideas, resources, and experiences to draw from.

So, in the interest of all of those things, I’ve developed an idea and a website for us to try to collaborate in the work that we all feel called to and the desperately needed renewal in the Church. And I’m calling it, the Reinforcements.

It’s for those of us who are tired of letting things unfold the way they are and feeling helpless to do anything about it. It’s for those of us who feel called to do something, but don’t know how and maybe feel underqualified.

Well, perhaps this is one such opportunity where God is inviting us to do something and as long as we are willing to say yes, he’ll ensure that some good comes from it.

So, the Reinforcements will be a collaborative community where we are able to interact, share ideas, pray together, study together, and support one another in our efforts as Reinforcements in the Church. And you’ll get access to interact with me to lend my advice and experience, including my professional advice as a branding and communications expert.

And I’m also hoping that it will be a chance for me, as well as you, to withdraw from conventional social media to some degree and replace it with something more worthwhile instead of the mindless newsfeed distraction.

There are multiple tiers with which you can join, sort of like a Patreon arrangement, but also with a free option for those who want to participate but don’t feel they can support the initiative financially.

I think I’ve done all I can while treating this apostolic work as a pastime, but if my experience has taught me anything, I shouldn’t be treating it as a pastime anymore. But I can’t do more than I have been without your help. So I’m asking you to prayerfully consider joining the Reinforcements if any of this has resonated with you.

And one extra perk for joining is that for certain levels, you’ll receive a giftbox from Glory and Shine. I’m currently using their beard balm as one of the many things they make including soaps, lotions, scents, lip balms and more. 

I’m extremely grateful for their help in getting this up and running so even if you don’t sign up for the reinforcements, consider checking them out and supporting them.

So that’s it. I’m excited to see what happens and I’ll look forward to interacting with you on the Reinforcements. You can join by going to www.brianholdsworth.ca and follow the promptings to join the Reinforcements.

And thank you so much for considering it and for your support so far.