Member Spotlight: Ryan Bradbury of Be the Gift and Ready to Rise

Why SMI? Joining Samaritan was a natural step for Ryan and Tanya Bradbury

For Ryan Bradbury, sharing the love of Christ is as simple as meeting a need.

The northern Colorado husband, father of five, and business owner spends his days putting his own needs last. A former Samaritan Ministries staffer, Ryan is now a program coordinator for Be the Gift, a faith-based nonprofit that serves single moms by repairing and maintaining their homes. He’s also the founder of Ready to Rise Ministries, which serves veterans in the area.

“I want my kids to see me model what I believe, and the only way to do that is actually go live it out,” Ryan said. “I need to get out of my four walls. I need to be around the community.”

He hopes others around him witness his servant mindset, too.

“I’m motivated by wanting to impact people for Jesus,” he said. “I pray every day, ‘God, would you help me impact people for Jesus today?’ And I pray that with my family every day.”

Serving single-mom families

Ryan joined the mission to serve single-mom families in January 2024 when he started his program coordinator role at Be the Gift. The organization was founded by his former youth pastor, the late Chris Johnson, and Chris’ wife, Marilyn, who modeled a servant’s heart for Ryan.

“(Chris) always had a heart for outreach,” Ryan said. “I worked with him as an associate youth pastor, so not only was I in their youth ministry, but I was mentored by him.”

Chris took notice of a demographic in his own community that needed to be reached with care and support, and Be the Gift was born.

Meeting them where they are

Be the Gift’s staff and volunteers work an average of two projects per week to complete home maintenance and repair on single- moms’ homes in northern Colorado so the mothers can focus on raising their children.

“We meet them where they’re at,” Ryan said.

Circumstances vary widely—from mothers dealing with abuse to financial hardships or neglect.

“What I’ve found is that most single moms are living paycheck to paycheck, and they want to keep their home,” Ryan said. “So, by us coming to them, we are helping them offset that cost of some home repair so they can pay their mortgage.”

Modeling faith in action

Be the Gift volunteers offer prayer before starting every project, which models a dependence on Christ to any nonbelievers. The organization also maintains relationships with the mothers, helping them as much as they can with their homes’ maintenance needs.

They also invite them to the ministry’s annual Christmas banquet.

“All of this gives them hope,” Ryan said. “It helps them have a sense of ‘people love me and care about me.’ So, it’s modeling faith in action a lot. But we also want to proclaim our faith, too.”

Ready to Rise

Through a connection with Be the Gift, Ryan recognized he could also serve northern Colorado veterans.

“Every time I’d hear stats about veterans’ mental health struggles, I would just get mad at it,” Ryan said. “And I’m like, ‘God, if there’s a way I can help serve that demographic, just lead me to that.’”

And so He did. Ryan started what would become Ready to Rise by helping a veteran who was cited for weeds getting out of hand in his yard.

“We talked to him and came up with a plan to simplify his front yard,” Ryan said.

His goal is to complete four projects this year for veterans who have health concerns or financial needs. Unlike Be the Gift, where projects are done all throughout the home, Ready to Rise focuses on xeriscaping, which emphasizes using plants that thrive in the local climate, and other outdoor projects.

“We’re going in and we’re focusing on some of the outside stuff,” Ryan said. “We’re doing things like xeriscaping, painting, or deck repair, or building ramps for wheelchairs.”

‘Like a silo effect’

Some of the volunteers with Ready to Rise will also be veterans themselves, offering them to be in community with one another.

“They kind of get in a place that’s like a silo effect” and need to develop relationships, Ryan said.

Ryan is also currently developing a program that will offer therapy for veterans.

“We want to help provide some Christian therapy, focus therapy, and use maybe some equine opportunities with farms and ranches in the area for veterans and their families, and really minister to them,” he said.

Another goal of his is to create an honor experience for family and friends to invite veterans they know and hold an event just for them. He compared it to Tim Tebow’s Night to Shine event, but it would be something special for veterans.

“There are a lot of veterans in their 30s and 40s that are just frustrated because of their time of service in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Ryan said. “It’s like the Vietnam veteran experience where they came home and just weren’t appreciated. My heart goes out to people who have mental health struggles in general, but I know that particular demographic is really struggling, and I know that Jesus can provide healing.”

Working at Samaritan

Ryan worked at Samaritan for three years in various roles, interacting directly with members, coaching staff members, and serving in a leadership position.

He said he enjoyed his time at the ministry, admired the leadership, and learned a lot.

“The core values were modeled well,” he said. “Leaders treat people like people, not employees. The Christ-centered aspect of Samaritan is next-level. That’s something I want to implement in everything that I am a part of.”

‘Be open to give’

Ryan believes that God has equipped him with compassion for people, and with a willingness to go to them to care for their needs.

“When you meet a need, ministry happens,” Ryan said. “It could be your neighbor next door. It could be a co-worker of yours. There are needs all around us, so just be open to give your time, talent, and treasure generously to people around you.

“If we did that as the Body of Christ, it’d be amazing to see how many people would respond to that and go, ‘Man, I want what you have because I want to live like that.’”

How to pray for Ryan:

• For provision of resources for Ryan to be able to carry out upcoming projects.
• For Ryan’s programs to impact more lives for Christ.