To "Brian" is a verb known only to former NBC students of a certain era, when one of our tutors, whose first name was Brian, took immense delight in finding links between people - interconnectedness to give it it's posh title.  For Brian and I the connections were (a) that he had been 'senior friend' to my then minister and (b) that his former church secretary had worked for me in industry.  The 'Brian' links go way beyond the ubiquitous 'six degrees of separation.'  For example, my then minister trained alongside the person who now co-pastors a church with my then nextdoor neighbour whose uncle worked with someone who worked for me... and so it goes on.

Today's bit of Brianing arises from the latest BMJ (Baptist not medical version) and an article on church health.  A couple of years back I was invited to join a group looking at Baptist congregational health in the East Midlands and, as resident expert (she says modestly!) based on my research reading passed a bibliography to the group.  Today the article I read clearly emerged from that reading, so told me nothing new (even if it is published ahead of my research!) but it led me to a spot Brianing.  The author is the sucessor at his church to the person who was my predecessor at the Gathering Place.  However, he is soon to move to a church Leicester (it's public knowledge so I can say it; think Bricklike Portal) where (a) I once preached with  a squint (in 2003) and (b) one of the Gatherers worshipped as a student in the 1980s.  This minister is also my successor as BMF rep for East Midlands, so there's some near circular Brianing in there somewhere.

All good fun, for me anyway.