Pigeon Forge!
Submitted by Carl on Sun, 08/15/2010 - 15:11
Last week was a real blessing!! I didn't do any speaking at all, took time completely off and went to Pigeon Forge with my wife, son, daughter in law and grandson! Above is a very momentous occasion. As any of you that know me know, I love disc golf. My son and I got to play a course in Tennessee. That allowed us to get baby Trey out on the course for the first time! You gotta' start 'em young if you want 'em to be good! It was really a nice time to reflect and get away.
I worked the whole time, but I didn't speak. I had a very special opportunity to take young folks through the Smithsonian Institute so i had to study to prepare for that. Here's how the week went.
Sunday, got to hear Pastor Mike speak at my home church. That's always a special thing. His series on James is fantastic. Check it out at http://www.b3church.com/#/sermons. Hit "Launch Sermon Player" to get to the sermons. Really good series.
Monday morning we took off for Pigeon Forge. Took about 5 hours to drive down. We stopped in Asheville to play a short round of disc golf and get Trey's picture. Got to the cabin we stayed in and immediately took off for the town. We went and watched, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at The Miracle Theater. Truth be told, I'm not a big "show" guy. Especially musicals. This was fun though, I really enjoyed it. We paid the extra to get the 'Behind the Scenes' tour. Very fun! I was so blessed by how overtly Christian this theater is. Back stage you see BIble verses posted on the walls everywhere and constant reminders that the performers are sharing the Gospel with their talents. They had some of the most friendly employees I've ever seen. They do a very good job, support these guys if you get there.
The show was not biblically accurate of course. They warned you up front it wasn't and that they wanted it to be 'fun' as well. I didn't have a problem with that because the told you up front. One line that my son caught, which we always try to do when we watch anything, was how Joseph said something to the effect that, "With a little "luck" anything is possible!". Now, in the original aparently that's about all that was said, in this version they added, "With a belief in God, and a little 'luck' anything is possible." The whole 'luck' thing, as my son pointed out to me, just about defeats the whole history of Joseph! At least they made an attempt to soften it up. Personally, I was happy my son had caught that point. I don't know if I would have to be honest. Worked about 3 hours that night on the talk for Saturday.
Dennis and Tish at Dollywood
Tuesday we went to Dollywood! Again, some of the nicest workers you'll ever find anywhere. They do customre service well in this town. We couldn't get baby Trey on his first roller coaster unfortunately. His mom wouldn't let us.
Masami and Dennis after the water ride.
I don't know what's up with that, but she laid down the law so I had to capitulate. Seriously, we had a very nice time. Very family friendly, clean and fun. Worked about 2.5 hours on the talk for Saturday.
Wednesday we went to Wonderworks. Same thing on the workers, they did a good job. I wasn't as wowed by this place to be honest. Cool concept for sure. If you have a child that you could do some of the things with it would be cool. Got some good pictures on the moon.
I also got to lay on a bed of nails, that was cool. (It did hurt though!)
Just so you don't think I was cheating, here's a side view!
After this we took off to come home. It was great to have 2.5 days of taking it easy. I just had to get prepared for Saturday. I spent about 4.5 hours that night preparing.
Thursday I spent the whole day working on the Saturday presentation. From 8:30 am all the way to 6 pm with a break for lunch. At dinner at 6 and then went back to work on the presentation to about 11 pm. Long, productful day!
Friday I spent the morning getting prepared to leave. It was Masami's birthday, which is why we went to Pigeon Forge as well. Got a hair cut, did some work around the house, worked on the talk, picked up a young man from Grand Rapids, Jordan, who came to Annandale VA with me. He's a high school senior and wants to be a speaker in the future. His family is awesome and it was a privilege to have him join me on this trip. Hoping to encourage and equip one of the future evangelist. My camera battery went dead before I could get a picture of him. I'm still in VA and no battery charger, that's the worst! Jordan and I boarded a plane and got to Reagan International Airport around 9 pm. Got to the hotel about 10:30 pm. I worked until 1 am on the talk!!
Saturday we got to the church around 8:30 am and set up. I did the talk that I'd worked on for so long, praise God, it went well. We then took almost 100 students and parents to the Smithsonian. I walked three different groups through the museum and pointed out a number of items. Had a number of items pointed out by young folks as well. It really went well. I need about an hour to tell you guys everything that went on. The 3 hours I was walking the different groups through the museum, we had folks filming people on the outside, as well as filming the youth who had gone through the museum. Great feedback. Pray for me that we can figure out the most productive way to use this material. I'm dreaming on somthing right now where we made a video out of it to show how to do this type of ministry and the impact that it can have. If it's the Lord's will, we'll do it. Please pray. When I get the photo's and other materials for the other folks I'll share some more. Needless to say the youth really, truly reponded. We went back to the church, had pizza, debriefed so to speak and then I did another talk. They were there the whole time and none of them slept. I had wonderful, wonderful conversations with 10 year olds all the way up to the parents of the teens who attended. They all share how much they had learned and how encouraged they are. I challenged this church to get some of their members trained to start leading tours through the Smithsonian. What a wonderful ministry.
Sunday, I've spoken three times already and speak once tonight. Very encouraging responses. I am so blessed the Alan and Julie Jenkins and Robert Loop have come to help me at this event. They are what we call VCC's, Video Conference Coordinators. They are volunteers for AiG and truly blessed my. If you've got a church or group where you'd like to have someone come and share with but don't want to bring a speaker out, we've got folks like the Loops and Jenkins that can do that in many parts of the country. Just shoot me an email and I'll get you in touch with the person to make that happen.
