Bryan Bearden will experience a number of "firsts" this holiday season.  

It’s the first season he will celebrate with the Texas Rangers as World Series Champions (which resonates deeply within the sports-centric Bearden family). Son Carter and fiancé Lori got married in June, so it’s their first Christmas as husband and wife. It’s his first season to celebrate with a new grandbaby, as Abigail was born in July.

It’s also the first season he’ll celebrate without his father.

Our families are our most kindred spirits. Perhaps no one knows this better than the Lufkin-based Business Process Consultant, whose family roots run deep in Deep East Texas. This holiday season, Bryan reflects on the legacy that he’s inherited and that which he looks to pass on to his five children. In matters of both family and professional fortitude, Bryan stands steady as a rock. As a business process consultant, he provides a level of consistency, calmness, and collective trust among his clients. As a family man, he exudes the same qualities in different ways.

This season has a funny way of bringing things full circle for all of us. Our Kindred Spirits are front and center in this phenomenon. The firsts, it seems, keep coming, year after year, providing at least a glimpse of the true essence of this incredible season.

The Loss of a True Kindred Spirit.

In Bryan’s early years, his father Hershel worked as a barber before the calling to ministry moved his career path in a new direction. The family moved to Lufkin in 1979, and his father preached at a local church there. A trip to India inspired his move into ministry.

As the founder of India Evangelism, Hershel spent many months of the year there establishing churches, and providing resources to aid in the development and strengthening of congregations. He even started a children’s home in India that housed 150 kids.

“Along with the children's home, he saw a need to help the widows in India.  He started a sewing school for the widows to learn a trade and gave them a commercial sewing machine when they graduated so they can earn a living.  We plan to keep these 2 programs going,” Bryan said.

A diagnosis of Parkinson’s hardly slowed his father down, but five years ago, Bryan made the decision to return to Lufkin to spend more time with his father. Time, of course, that he wouldn’t trade for anything.

“We lived right down the road from him. I could go down and watch basketball games with him. He would come out to the kids’ sporting events. He attended so many of the kids’ school functions. Being able to have that time with him, I don’t regret moving back down here one bit,” Bryan said.

Hershel passed away over the summer, and as Bryan approaches his first holiday season without him, he recognizes the difficulties but also appreciates the legacy left behind.

“Watching my father work so hard all these years taught me to always work hard but never forget the real important things in life.   The family and looking out to help others always comes first,” Bryan said.

The Strength of the Kindred Spirits Around You.

This season, Bryan finds himself literally surrounded by a supporting cast of family members. His wife Melissa, whom he married in 1992 serves as a teacher at Central ISD near Lufkin.  There’s daughter Savanna (28) and husband John; daughter Callie (25), husband David and granddaughter Abigail; son Carter (25) and wife Lori; Son Tanner graduates Stephen Austin State University in May, and daughter Macie attends Texas A&M.

Family plans aren’t firmed up yet for Christmas, but Bryan knows one way or another, they’ll all be together. They’ll treasure the time with David and Callie, as they’ll be heading off to Odessa in early 2024. They’ll cherish time with the grandbaby. They’ll reflect on the lives of Hershel and Bryan’s mother, Pattie who passed away several years ago.

Time marches on. The time together, not one second taken for granted.

“I am most proud of my kids – not one time has any of the 5 ever caused me a problem.  They all finished at the top of their class rankings and went to college to pursue a career.  They are great people who have made excellent choices throughout their lives,” Bryan said.

The Legacy of Kindred Spirits Lives On.

The culmination of events that was an unforgettable 2023 for Bryan essentially comes full circle this season. The things he loved about his father – the little ones from sitting down for a Rangers game, to the big ones that teach us to be the people we become – live on in the children he and Melissa raised. They will reverberate inside the walls of a crowded Bearden home later this month, through sounds of chatter, cheer, and commiseration.

Sure, this season brought more than a few “firsts” for Bryan and so many others, and that’s how life goes. The funny thing about this season and its magical moments? It reminds us to cherish them and to celebrate them as if they were our last.

“Family is important in this season to me as I get a little older I want to enjoy each year because we never know when will be our last,” Bryan said. “This will be my first without my dad there but we will carry on and the memories will always remain.”