Childrens Ministry Online

Try anything once, do the things you love as often as you can

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

Today’s my birthday, so I took the day off. My wife made plans to take me to do something on Friday, so I had the day to do whatever I wanted. I chose to do something I don’t really get to do nearly as often as I like. I went to see a movie. A month ago I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D and fell in love with the world and experience created by James Cameron. I figured that watching this on my TV on DVD can’t compare at all to the big screen experience, so I figured I’d see it one more time. Rarely do I see a movie twice in the theater. I saw all the Lord of the Rings movies more than once (that’s a no brainer) as well as the new Batman movies. It’s got to be a special.

I’m the same way with my books. I love books. I also have a lot of books. People often come into my office for the first time and say, “Wow, you’ve got a lot of books. Have you read them all?” “Most of them,” I usually reply. But what I don’t tell them is “you see that shelf, I’ve read those 2 or 3 or 4 times.”Every year I add 20-40 new books to my collection which causes a bit of a dilemma.

1. Between my bookshelves at work and my bookshelves at home, my space is limited. Although the rule hasn’t been clearly defined, I know that there is a limit of how many books I’m allowed to own. So, when I put new books on my bookshelves, I’ve got to take some off as well.
2. With all the new books to read, how do I make time to repeat my favorites?

It’s an interesting balance. I love new adventures! I’ll try just about anything once. If I’m sitting in a restaurant and they’ve got something like crickets on the menu, I’m getting the crickets (actually I won’t, because I got those last summer and they weren’t that good). My wife an I are always looking forward to visiting new parks, new restaurants and new places to experience (why we’re currently trying to knock off our list of best BBQ in TX and best swimming holes in TX). When it comes to books and movies, it’s the same. It seems like there’s an endless flow of “new” to try. But how do you balance new adventures with the comfort of old favorites?

When it comes to books, what are your favorites that you come back to time and time again? What about movies? Places or experiences? Here are mine:

Books: I read my Bible through yearly (right now). I’ve got a short list of leadership books that I’ll pick one each year and read it again. Two books I’ve read 4 or more times are a Tale of Three Kings or The Life You’ve Always Wanted. For fun, I’ll re-read any of my Stephen Lawhead books again… although he’s got many new books I haven’t touched yet. Also, I feel a Lord of the Rings re-read coming soon.

Movies: My wife and I will watch the Lord of the Rings movies once a year (did I just mention Lord of the Rings three times in one post? Have I just outed myself?). I’ll usually watch Tommy Boy and Goonies every year as well. Every few years I watch other favorites like Braveheart, the Never Ending Story or other favorites from the 80′s.

Places: At least every year to 18 months, I’ve got to get into the mountains. I either need to climb one or ski down one. At least every 2-4 years, I’ve got to get my Outback prime rib fix. Most importantly, if I don’t get a muchaco from Taco Bueno every 3-6 months, I’ll go nuts.

What about you?

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Avatar: a game changer

Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.

Most people I talk to really enjoyed this movie. I know that this movie isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but when you ask most people about what they thought, you get this wide-eyed response, “wow” it was amazing. Despite it’s “amazingness,” it does have several flaws. It’s incredibly agenda heavy. The story isn’t bad, but it’s not incredible by any means. The plot is predictable. If you remove all those things from the conversation, you’re left with the thing that truly makes this movie spectacular. The scale of CG that looks so incredibly real is mind baffling. The movie is essentially a 3 hour cartoon, but not a cartoon like you’ve ever seen, you feel like it’s a place you’ve been to. When coming out of the theater, I was thinking about the last time I had so much fun at a movie, where I so thoroughly enjoyed myself, I didn’t want it to end. For me it was probably the Lord of the Rings as they were so well done and I’d been anticipating the movies for so long (I saw the midnight showing for all three).

Here’s why this is important. It’s estimated that 500 million was spent on this movie. The studio claims to have only spent 230 million, but outside funding and even funding from James Cameron himself got the total cost up to 500 million. Epic! More notably, after just 4 weeks in theaters, Avatar has brought in $429 million. Not only is this movie going to be profitable, it will go down in the history books. After only 4 weeks in the theater, it just passed “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” as the 7th biggest money making movie of all time. Unheard of to do so well so quickly. Titanic sits at the #1 spot at almost 700 million. If any movie’s going to dethrone Titanic, Avatar probably can. Due to Avatar’s success, we’ll probably see more like it. More studios will rally toward success and rethink the way they make movies. This will inspire creativity in new ways. It’s a game changer.

We’ve seen other game changers. Three years ago when the Wii came out, it totally changed video games. Xbox and PS3 are making modifications to catch up with what Nintendo did right. Apple did it with the iPhone. For three years, no other phone has been able to do what the iPhone could. I think iPhone’s reign over the phone world won’t last too much longer, but to remain in that spot for three years with not significant contender? Amazing, they changed the game.

When I look at ministry, I see some game changers out there. Not a lot, but some. A decade ago it was the purpose driven movement. I was only part of a purpose driven church for a short time, but the purpose driven philosophy greatly impacted how I do ministry. There’s no doubt that Orange has been a game changer. I think ministry was beginning to look at what to do with family, but it was Reggie’s vision and leadership (and experience has he’s been living this out for a very long time) that rallied children and student pastors from around the world.

Game changers are never predictable. That’s what makes them game changes. If you had to guess though, what do you think is next?

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