What up world!?  Man the last two Wednesdays have been a blast!  Last week Rachel and I finally got to hang out, we left baby Kennedy with Grandma Harrison for a few hours. Man, I bet Grandma hated that. (sarcasticness)  Any-who Rachel and I went and hung out at S.W.A.T’s Schools Out at Spin City evening down in Pigeon Forge.  It brought back so many memories, the good ole’ skating rink, backward skating (not possible for me), reverse skating (I survived) and my favorite….COUPLE Skate, which was off the chain.  Dudes I have not skated in like 10 years and I just knew that I was gonna break my tail bone or one of someone else’s bones.  But as it turns out I did not even fall one time, by the end of the night I was a master roller blader, minus a few off balance moments and the whole thing about not knowing how to stop myself without hitting the wall.  But by far the greatest sight of the night had to have been Mr. Pastor Scott holding on to the side for dear life, I love that man, and by the end of the night he was skating around like Apolo Anton Ohno, sept for on roller skates instead of extra long ice skates.  To wrap it all up the night was awesome, the S.W.A.T band did an amazing job and Joey had a killer message, there were no broken bones and my wife was HOT out there on her skates. 

Word to the wise, after removing your publicly used skates after 2 hot hours of skating do not, I repeat, DO NOT inhale, you could die.  Those skates smelled like hot corn chips smothered in pig fat.  Just some advice from one who experienced this exact incident.

Now on to KIDZPLAYCE and this awesome Wednesday.  We had our first McFlick today (a $1 movie and some Mickey D’s for lunch).  We went and saw The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, pretty good flick if you ask me, then we made our way over to the McDonald’s for some snackage.  We had 19 Kids for our first McFlick, no one got lost and we got a couple compliments on how well behaved our group was.  Huge plus in my book.  I haven’t had so much fun at a McDonalds in a long time, all the kids got some Kung-Fu Panda action figures in their happy meals and there was like a Kung-Fu Royal Rumble going down, it was great.  These kids are the best, and our volunteers are even better.  I cannot wait until our next outing.  I am truly blessed to be in this position and share my life with these kids. 

I Love this Junk.

Outie 5

This my friends is the numero uno reason why this summer is going to be off the hook, I am going to have a kid (pictured above in the smaller of the two red circles), can you believe it?  I Charles Benjamin Van Hook III, the same man who paralyzed his own eyes with jalapeno juices, the same man who almost got murdered by the energizer Bambie, is about to be responsible for another human life.  I keep telling everyone I am “ready” and everytime I make that statement they all keep laughing at me, so I have decided to offically change my statement to “I am excited about learning how to become ready to have a kid.”  Whatever that means and whatever the statement is all I know is that I am stoked to see this little baby that God is so greatly blessing Rachel and I with, and Lord if you would like to allow her to come out with a head full of dreads that would be an amazing double bonus.

Moving on from baby…

We have got so much planned for this summer here at the Gathering, many churches sit back and cruise through the summer while everyone is at Disney World or the beach, but not us, these next two to three months are going to be jammed packed with all kinds of savory goodnesses.  The only cats I will let slip out of the bag right now are some of the summer plans for KIDZPLAYCE, you “big” church people will have to wait a couple weeks to hear about yall’s summer goodnesses.  As for now lets check out our KIDZPLAYCE summer agenda, shall we….

Sometime in May: A Baby?

June 11th: McFlick, which equals some Mickey D’s and a 1$ Movie at the extravagant Sevierville Picture Show (movie theater)

June 27th: Berry Blast, the kick-off for our summer series which ironically is entitled Berry Blast and will be a study of the Fruit of the Spirit.  Full of inflatables, games, food music and mucho mucho fun.

June 30th -July 3rd: Camp Kid Jam, KIDZPLAYCE’s very first camp experience for the Elementary aged kidos

July 16th: McFlick, Round two

July 22nd: Possible Zorb Day (Insurance questions & approval pending)

July 30th: McFlick, Round three

Sometime in August: Back to School

There is a quick peek at the KIDZPLAYCE summer in an Egg shell.  So, kids, parents random people that stumble across this blog the Kids and leaders of KIDZPLAYCE are bout to have the Bombest summer in Tennessee history, let the countdown begin. 

Before I leave you on this day, just remember that myself and this woman will be raising a kid in less than a month.  (there was no lead in the paint, so I was told)

So this afternoon as I sat in the ol’ KIDZPLAYCE office sippin’ some bottled water, throwin’ back a few Girl Scout cinnamon and sugar coated peanuts and re-vamping our Small Groups I suddenly recalled on of my first experiences in Children’s Ministry.

It all began while we were presenting a series which focused on Moses and the Exodus of Egypt.  This particular week our Bible story centered around Moses and the parting of the Red Sea.  Throughout this adventure I will introduce you to two characters (elementary students), for the sake of numerous privacy acts and Internet regulations, let’s call character A, “Alfred” and character B, “Bernard”.

Moving forward, as we gathered into our small groups and began to discuss Moses and the tremendous faith required in parting the Red Sea, I began to see the wheels in these kids heads start spinning.  I just knew we were going to be in line for the 20 questions version of Small Group on this day, but surprisingly there was not a peep.  Then i realized the kids were all focused on the aluminum pan full of water setting on the table to my right.  Acknowledging this I decided we would jump directly into the hands on part of the lesson and get to the discussion part later.  Walking over to the table I grabbed this pan of water (which was of course filled to the brim) and attempted to lug it back over to the group.  Inching ever so slowly as if I were a Chinese Acrobat tip-toeing across a piece of dental floss, taking into account every detail in the wind direction and speed I successfully returned to my destination arriving without spilling one single drop of water on the carpet or any of the children.

I began with a few ground rules for our little activity, in order to try and part the water you could use one of two methods, your hands, or your breath.  The only other stipulation was that there cold be no water spilled outside the pan.

The action began with a Jim Carey like, Bruce Almighty, part the tomato soup hand gesture which was quickly up scaled by the red faced blood vessel bursting attempt to part the water with ones breath.  Both obviously did not work, so little “Alfred” raised his hand and politely asked for a turn.  With a determined face and quick action he placed both hands into the pan in the prayer position then gradually pulled his hands apart attempting to divide the water right down the middle.  Needless to say this attempt by little “Alfred” was not successful.  He sat back with a heartbreaking look of disappointment on his face.  Then out of the corner of my eye I witnessed something that blew me away.  Little “Alfred” had remembered the story of Moses and how much faith he had that God wold part the sea and save His people.  “Alfred” recalled our main point for the day which told him that anything is possible with God.  So, “Alfred” folded his hands, bowed his head and began to pray.  I was mesmerized at the faith little “Alfred” had showed.

Following a quick five to ten second prayer “Alfred” requested a second shot.  He reached into the pan with his hands folded and once again attempted to part the water, but once again it was not successful.  As “Alfred” sat back, I made an effort to address his faith and use it as a teachable moment for the kids.  I think I had pronounced one syllable when I heard someone shout, “I CAN DO IT!!!”  As fast as my super fast tiger-like reflexes are, there was no stopping our second Character, “Bernard” and his Jackie Chan like moves.  With one swift karate chop, “Bernard’s” forearm smashed into the aluminum pan folding it in half faster than a birthday card from Granma with no cash inside.  Water took off in all directions plastering us as if we all had just gotten off the Log Fume ride.  The entire room fell silent instantly, all eyes were on me, my face began to burn and transform into a fruit punch like red color, my hands began to shake and my heart pounded underneath my shoulder-padded western shirt.  “Bernard” sank back to his dry piece of carpet and uttered a soft muffled apology.  I gladly accepted it with a sarcastic grin and two thumbs up.

“Bernard” did not have the right answer and he did what many of us do, he simply acted, without taking the time to ask God, without sitting quietly and waiting on that still small voice.  I think we could use a few more “Alfred’s” in this world.  Of course he did not part the water during this activity, but he did have the faith that God could do it and he set back and listened for that voice.  Thank God we have a Pastor who is not afraid to sit quietly, listen and obey.

Let us Listen

Astonished, more simply put, amazed is how I walked away from this weekend’s services.  This year’s Chest of Joash weekend was a holy and pure moment in the life of our very young church family, and a service that will stay ingrained within my mind for a life time.Over the last three weeks back in KIDZPLAYCE we had been attempting to explain to the kids the story that goes along with our annual Chest of Joash service.  I wasn’t quite sure the children would be able to fully wrap their minds around the multitude of sacrifices and prayers that were going to be lifted up and surrendered on this special weekend.  But each week we continued to share the story with them, praying that we were able to teach it with a method that made sense for them.  Each child received their own chest and was encouraged to place their personal offerings and prayers inside.  Then, on the weekend of December 1^st & 2^nd2007 during my second Chest of Joash experience these kids absolutely blew me away.  I sat on that front row during each service and watched child after child walk to that chest with their family, weeping together, kneeling down together and calling upon their Forever Friend.  They got it, they understand!  This realization of Trust and Sacrifice that took me 20 years to appreciate, these kids seized during their elementary years.  Each child and adult had the privilege to experience this amazing God filled service and I am so excited to hear about the miracle prayers that will be answered in the coming years as a result of this holy weekend.Each week I walk away from KIDZPLAYCE reminded to take a timeout and experience a little childlike faith, I see that sometimes I need to take a step back and learn a little something from these children instead of getting caught up in trying to teach them all the things I think I know.  One thing I learned this weekend, when you let God know you are trusting Him, He likes to provide you with an opportunity to walk it out. 

To say this past week was jammed packed and busy would be a tad bit of an understatement, but as I reflect on it, every hour that was spent was well worth it.  On Halloween night we saw somewhere between 700 and 1,000 people on the church campus for our annual Trunk or Treat here at the Gathering, and there is no way in the world we could have pulled that off without all the help from the many volunteers that dedicated their time to assist us.  I cannot thank you all enough, you guys are great.  Upon this eventful evening I discovered many important things that made a lasting impression on my life. First, I should have never ever been forced to pitch a baseball in a real game during my college career, and never again will I let it happen.  As if the 10 hit batsmen, 3 home-runs, 2 triples, 5 doubles, 7 walks, 1 strikeout and an ERA (Average amount of runs given up per 9 innings) somewhere in the neighborhood of 97 wasn’t a good enough indication, the 62mph that flashed up on the speed pitch in front of all the kids didn’t help anything.  For my defense I did break the 70mph mark but it took a running start from halfway down the parking lot. Next, babies are cute on Halloween, and any other day for that matter, even if they’re dressed up like skunks, onions or string peas.  Next year I have to come up with something really good for my kid, maybe an aardvark or possibly a prune,  I haven’t really decided yet.  Man, I cannot wait to be a daddy, I hope my kid likes me.Furthermore, if I am ever in the market for a car with wood-panel siding and sails, I know who to call.  The Podster got my vote for the coolest trunk/car, as well as the motor-trend award for sweetest new pirate concept car.Lastly, cake walks are awesome. period.On top of Trunk or Treat, and getting everything painted and ready for the weekend service, I got to witness one of the greatest things our Lord has allowed us to do here at the Gathering.  This past week we began Christmas at the Gathering, our goal was to register 500 children and provide them with a new bike, new winter coat, games and a Christmas dinner basket for them and their family.  Registration was intended to go through this week but we had over 1,500 children register in the first 5 days.  It is amazing that we were planning on doing this for 500 kids, and even more amazing that the Lord blessed us enough to give to all of the 1,500 children that registered.  Next year we are planning on doing Christmas at the Gathering on a whole new level and pray that God blesses these children and their families. It is so great to be a part of a Church that gets in the community and gets their hands dirty doing some work and giving back.  I just thank everyone who jumped in this past week and made it what it was, y’all are the best.out