The Story of Toys

The people at Pixar can do no wrong! They keep cranking out some of the absolute best entertainment in the motion picture industry today. The incredible thing is it's all clean, family-friendly fare. Each offering they've given us over the past twenty years has been solid! Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc., The Incredibles - even the short films they produce are better than most of the stuff coming out of Hollywood! And then there's the staple: The Toy Story Trilogy!

I watched the third installment last night and I was just blown away! Once again - a great story line, remarkable animation, hilarious dialog, the pulling of the heart strings - It was all there! What a classy way to say goodbye to these characters we've fallen in love with through the course of the three films! It is arguably the greatest film trilogy of all time. I know there will be those who will point to The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars movies, but no other film trilogy has been as consistently good and has had the ability to have each film potentially stand on it's own merit more than Toy Story.

At the end of the day, the charm of the Toy Story franchise is it's familiarity - It's our story. Any one who ever had a toy box as a kid can relate to the nostalgia that Pixar invokes with these wonderful films. Thanks Pixar for giving us the story of these unforgettable toys that have helped us remember what our own childhood was like!

A visit with legacy

I had an incredible visit this weekend with my Uncle Vernon and Aunt Carolyn Ables and their son Greg. Last year, not long after Father's Day, God gave me an idea for this year's June message series: A series called Legacy that would include my Father's Day message. The whole idea revolved around bringing my uncle and cousin in to present our church with an example of Spiritual Legacy. You see, both my Uncle and my cousin are pastors. My Uncle Vernon pastors a great church in Searcy, Arkansas outside of Little Rock and my cousin Greg pastors a wonderful church in the greater Tulsa area in Oklahoma. Most of you know my dad was a pastor and I followed in his footsteps, just like Greg followed in his father's footsteps. My dad and my Uncle Vernon have another brother, my Uncle Tracy who is a pastor as well and he has sons who have followed him into ministry! 

So many people in our church are first generation Christ followers. Meaning, their parents and grandparents didn't serve Christ - They are the first in their families to make that decision. I wanted to provide them with an example of multi-generational Christianity so they will have the faith to believe God to help them begin their own legacy of faith! 

What a great weekend it was! Greg and Uncle Vernon preached an incredible message and Greg even surprised me with an old film strip of our Great, Great Grandfather from 1935 who was a pastor and church planter. (I'll post more about him in a blog entry soon including the afore mentioned film strip!) Both my uncle and my cousin commented this weekend on the impact my dad had on their lives and I realized that all of us have been effected by the legacy my dad left behind. Along with the joy of having my family in services with us this weekend, we also had some awesome time to hang out with them along with my sister Holane and her family, laughing and talking about all the great times gone by. Today was the first Father's Day Greg was able to spend with his dad since 1994! I'm glad we were able to arrange that! It was a great opportunity to visit with legacy! 

Camp Courageous 2010

For over ten years, our church has been offering a summer day camp for kids ages 5-12 called Camp Courageous. Our Children's Pastors Marty and Anna Hoey do a fantastic job hosting the camp with the help of dozens of volunteers. This summer, over 400 kids are enjoying the camp. This year's theme is "Toys!" Along with awesome chapel services every morning the kids get to go swimming, bowling, ice skating, to the movies (this year they're seeing Toy Story 3 - Do you see the theme reflected here?) and on Friday they get to enjoy a lot filled with fun jumps to play on!

My kids always enjoyed attending the camp when they were younger and for the last several years they have volunteered as junior leaders. All the camp staff and volunteers really go all out to promote team spirit and unity and hopefully this pic shows how enthusiastic my guys are about their team assignments. (Maybe you can tell Chase is on the Blue team!)

At Crossroads Church we believe in leading our kids into a personal relationship with God at the earliest age of accountability. Camp Courageous is just one of the ways God is using our church to impact kids for Christ in a powerful way! Thanks to all who make our ministry to children possible!

Greatest of all time?

            Michael Jordan                                                                                                        Kobe Bryant

Not even close - MJ is the greatest of all time!