Yo, yo, yo, yo!
Welcome to my website: the hub for the Bible teaching resources I have developed, Pastor Brandon 'b.Side' Alvillar. This site is home to the various ways I share the truth of Scripture, including podcasts, daily devotionals, and other creative avenues, all emphasizing God's character, nature, purposes, promises, and His role in daily life.
My Story
I grew up in the Los Angeles area of Southern California in the 1980s. I was a creative kid who got into drawing and illustration. I played around with drums and Latin percussion for a while. I took up DJing at a very early age and got really good at it. I got to travel all over, playing deep house and drum and bass in some really cool venues. I had some pretty cool experiences. Later, I got to work in recording studios and even built my own. I had the opportunity to work with some cool people, travel, and do some amazing things as a producer. Altogether, though, that life wasn’t helpful to my soul. I found myself in bad environments filled with darkness and bad influences. The dark times FAR outweighed the highlights. That life was rooted in selfish ambition and arrogance, and I felt every bit of separation from God. The outward success didn’t overshadow the dangers I put myself in or the inner emptiness.
Thanks be to God. The saving grace of Jesus Christ changed my life. In one moment, God showed me that the life I was living would not only lead to death but to hellfire! My success was a hoax. My money meant nothing. The friendships were worthless and vain. The first years of my marriage were miserable. In a moment, the LORD put these truths in my face, and I had a decision to make.
The day the LORD called me and redirected the course of my life – by force – He also called me to be a teacher of His Word. I had no prior desire to do so. I had no training. I had no resources. I hadn’t even read the Bible with any seriousness at that point. Still, the LORD made it clear through very strong internal convictions and miraculous circumstances He authored over time. He was going to use a self-righteous hypocrite to teach His truth. Since then, He hasn’t been shy about reminding me of my true nature to keep me in check. Being called to ministry and to handle His Word responsibly with fear and honor has taught me so much about the extent of God’s mercy, grace, patience, power, wisdom, and righteousness. He’s done things in my life and used me in ways I still can’t understand. That was nearly twenty years ago.
Many years later, the LORD is still putting up with me. Somehow, I’m still teaching the Bible. God has changed my heart and perspective, giving me a strong burden to meet the practical and spiritual needs of those who struggle to connect with modern church culture, including youth, young adults, and even men and women who serve in the first responder community. Sure, I teach the Bible, but God blessed me with the opportunity to use my past creative skills to share the truth in creative ways with people who think differently. So that’s what I spend my time, energy, and resources doing.
Why The Name b.Side?
I started DJing at age twelve with dual cassette decks, eventually upgrading to turntables and vinyl by age fifteen. So naturally, I’ve had a few DJ names over the years. When I started producing music, a buddy of mine called me “b.Side” as a joke. When he explained his thinking, it made sense. My name is Brandon. The name b.Side starts with a “B.” That works. He said my style of DJing and my music production reminded him of “B-side tracks” you’d get on vinyl records. I wasn’t the “pop radio version” on the A-side. I was the track on the flip side. He said that concept matched my personality, too, since I was always interested in “zigging” while the world was “zagging.” Listening to him explain, I couldn’t argue with him. So the name stuck. People started calling me b.Side.
Since becoming a believer and servant of Jesus Christ, this name has taken on greater personal meaning. Now, the concept of “the A-side” reminds me of the “natural” version of me. The selfish version of me. The version of me that lived as a bitter, rebellious, arrogant, and self-righteous jerk. I don’t want to be that guy. I want to be the b.Side version of that guy. I want to be the LORD’s remix of that first guy. So, where I used to spell my name “B-side” with a capital “B,” I now use the lowercase to remind myself that I must decrease so the LORD can increase. I use a period instead of a dash to remind myself of an important truth. This new version of me has an end, and it isn’t about me. There is a distinction between me and the One who is making use of me. God has taken the DNA from my old “self” and flipped it. The version of me God is using isn’t a “popular single” that the world knows about and loves. The track God is making out of my life is a gem – a sleeper that only a few people know about. Still, God is putting it out there for people to hear, for His glory.
