OK, I’ve finally gone and done it. (by popular demand, I might add!)
Often when I am speaking somewhere (or anytime Star Wars comes up, which it does occasionally in my life) I mention that I got to go see Star Wars Episode II nearly a week early at one of the only fully digital theaters in the country (which had scenes not in the release for the general public since George Lucas kept tinkering with the film even after it was shipped off in film to theaters across the coutry and only digital projector theaters actually showed the version that you now see on the DVDs, not many people realize that.)
Anyway - what I often mention is that when we came out of the theater (and yes, I went dressed as a jedi with a friend) we were interviewed by two national networks, both of which aired that night across the country. We were only able to get a copy of the CBS report.
What did I finally do? I put it up on YouTube. (Again, only by popular demand, it’s rather embarrassing actually!)
FINALLY - disclaimers related to the video you are about to watch:
The quote “$110 in tickets” was not because I was going to see it that many times, but was taking my Kids Church Krew when it opened in theaters.
The quote that got me the most grief was “Yoda kicks butt.” I know, as a children’s pastor, that is practically swearing - but if you’ve seen the film, we finally got to see the Jedi Master Yoda FIGHT at the end and it was an entirely new experience, so when I came out and was asked what I liked best, that was the first thing I said. Once they found out that I was a children’s pastor and my friend was a youth pastor (now converted to children’s ministry) they asked us a lot of questions about kids, culture, and the value of good wholesome films like Star Wars, but my “Yoda kicks butt” was the still the main quote they went with, though I kinda liked the line they coined, “these pastors by day, Jedi by night.” Not bad.
(I’m the one with my Jedi hood on the whole time because my hair was a mess and I was trying to hide my identity a little.)
Oh, and yes, it was Mother’s Day - we both ditched our Mother’s to attend this event. Also in this video is the boy who invited me and his mom and dad and his sister, and her friend, and so I must end by saying THANKS again to them for remembering that I was a Star Wars nerd and inviting me to join them and allowing me to bring a fellow Star Wars nerd with me.
Several years ago (before I blogged on an official “blog”) I created a page that showed me and my friend Ryan Yoder assembling my Lego Star Destroyer, which at the time, was the largest Lego kit that Lego had ever created up to that point.
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I often am telling kids about it (as I was this weekend in Canada) and wishing it was posted on my blog, so I am posting a post about the post where I posted about it: For all the pictures step by step (and cool star background) SEE THE ORIGINAL LEGO STAR DESTROYER POST.
 It took us two full days to assemble the 3000+ pieces of this Lego work of art! So now it is linked and searchable on my blog so I can just tell kids, search my blog for Lego Star Destroyer and you’ll find a link to it!
Well, the second Leadership Lab will be live in only a few days and is titled, Visionary Leadership. I’ll post more about it when it goes live, but due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the 100th Toybox Tale, “A Day in the Life of a Children’s Pastor,” - made for adults, rather than Kids, I did it again, bringing back one of the most asked-for characters I (kinda) created, NoDuh, the Wise One.
In this, the 101st Toybox Tale, you get to listen in on the private session of a children’s pastor with her counselor… NoDuh, the Wise One, as he gently lets her know, that in order to survive in children’s ministry leadership, She Must Confront Vision!
You Must Confront Vision!
ENJOY! I’ll let you know when the rest of LAB 02 goes live!
Luke got to hold his first light saber this week. It wasn’t his, it belongs to his kissing friend, but she let him hold it. It was a light up one from a circus…
Without any instruction or prompting, he knew exactly what to do with it:
Strong in the Force Luke is
Attacking his father!
Good thing it was only a toy!
Being a dad is so much fun!
Uh oh, gotta change a diaper now. Light sabers are fun, but there is the practical side to fathering too… peew, gotta go!
Here is a picture of my Canadian buddy, Tyler, doing what he loves best:
READING!
I have never met Tyler in person (yet!) but I hope to some day! His parents are missionaries in a remote part of northern Canada, where kids church looks like this:
(Tyler in the yellow shirt)
I got to know Tyler via his mom when I learned that he is a big fan of Toyboxtales.com, my novel (Order of the Ancient), and my blog. In fact, I am blogging about him today in order to encourage him with his new blog, since I just discovered tonight that he credited me as his “inspiration” to begin his blogging career:
Maybe some of the zillions who come here can visit his blog and leave a comment to encourage him!
Here is Tyler, at a local landmark–the moose head at the gas station, with the autographed copy of my novel I sent him after I learned that he only had the downloads and needed to clear up some harddrive space and was sad to lose it. (The book was released originally online a chapter a week, which is when Tyler read it)
Here is Tyler in trouble with the UFP, er, I mean, the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police). Not really, this was at a police station open house.
According to his mom, Lori, in explaining her son’s fascination with my websites and ministry, said Tyler “was happy to find an adult with an unnatural fascination with Legos, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc.”
I think he is just a Children’s Pastor in the making! But whatever God’s plan is for this young man, I’m excited to watch it unfold.
