The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Turning 60

October 28, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Turning 60 used to be something old people did. Now, evidently, it’s something really cool people do.

So says one of the dozens of birthday cards that adorned my desk this morning. So many cards! From so many wonderful friends and Christian brothers and sisters in our church at GCR! What an overwhelming surprise! All the cards are really sweet, some of the cards are really funny, and several of them contained Whataburger gift cards–I think I’ve got enough in Whataburger gift cards to eat until I’m 70! Here are a couple of the funnier lines in the cards on my desk today:

~ If you were to take all the 60-year-olds in the world, and lay them end to end…
very few of them would be able to get back up. 

~ If ever there was a time to laugh and celebrate and dance the night away…
it was about 10 or 15 years ago. 

~ It’s the little things that remind us we’re getting older, like how young people have a hard time reading cursive…
but you don’t. 

~ And God said, “Let there be light.” Then, lo and behold…
there was your birthday cake!

 

 

 

 

I was also greeted by a few dozen Dr Pepper and Whataburger themed birthday cards from the kids in our GCR children’s ministry. These cards are everywhere–on my desk, behind me on the credenza, on my book shelves. A couple of them poked fun at my age–Margo and Lucy, I see you. My favorite is from Priscilla who wrote on the inside of her card, “Happy Birthday, Allan. With Gusto!” She’s alluding to the instructions I give our church every time we do a responsive Bible reading together–she’s listening! (as a reminder: you can always click on any picture to blow it up bigger.)

I’m still not sure who designed and hung the banner that’s on my wall this morning. Clever. How long am I supposed to leave this thing up?

Then, there’s this new picture of our awesome GCR youth group on my desk, all doing that heart-shape-thing with their hands. I assume they took the picture last Wednesday night. Super cool. I love those guys.

The Big 6-0 Birthday-Palooza started Friday afternoon when Valerie and Carley showed up unannounced in my backyard, each holding a twin grandson. They and Whitney and Carrie-Anne threw a big bash for me on Saturday, with some of our best friends from here in Midland and all the way from Amarillo! It was a Dr Pepper themed party with Dr Pepper t-shirts, Dr Pepper balloons and banners, Dr Pepper cake, and Dr Pepper presents. And the date was serendipitously perfect: October 24. 10-2-4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob and Judy Judkins stole the show in their Dr Pepper costumes. Lori Thomas gifted me with a box of Depends. And Valerie put a slide show on a loop in the living room that featured all of my life’s most awkward phases. The bowl haircuts. The teeth. The clothes. The feathered wings and braces of my senior year in high school. Yikes. It felt like the funeral slide show starter kit. They’re not throwing this away. They’re saving it. They’re putting it in a funeral folder. When I die, they’re going to tell the funeral home they’ve already got the slide show ready. A few of the pictures were so bad that people started waiting for them to come around again. “It’s coming. Two more slides. Here it is!” I think my sister, Rhonda, provided the most embarrassing of the pictures. Very helpful.

It wasn’t until everyone left that we opened up the cards and discovered Judy’s masterpiece. The front of the card is a gem–this is going to be framed and displayed prominently in our game room before the week is over. But the real work of art was inside where Judy included a personal poem she wrote just for the occasion of my 60th birthday. It’s about me as an embryo and developing fetus inside my mother’s womb, experiencing Dr Pepper for the very first time, when my mom popped open a can to wash down her lunch. The language is graphic. And hilarious. I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to publicly post the rhymes that describe “the party inside my mother’s uterus.” But we laughed out loud around the kitchen table Saturday night and passed it around and laughed some more.

Today, I am acutely aware of the hundreds of really good people our gracious Lord has placed in my life to love me, to encourage me, to teach me, to challenge me, and to walk with me. I am thankful for my family, for this GCR Church, and for the friends who have blessed me by sharing their lives with me for big chunks of 60 years now. I thank God. And I thank you.

Now, I’m off to read Dog-Man to four knuckleheaded 5th graders at Emerson Elementary. Those of you wishing me a good day today, it’s a really good day.

Peace,
Allan

Politicians and Biblical Authority

October 27, 2026 / / 0 Comments

James Talarico is in Midland today, quoting Scripture as his supporters wave signs that say “Love Thy Neighbor.” The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate is stumping in West Texas in the home stretch of what appears to be a super-tight race. Talarico is an intriguing figure who stands out in stark contrast to almost every other politician in our broken political system and our polarized culture. It’s compelling to hear a powerful politician quote the Bible so effortlessly, so knowledgeably. It’s attractive to us Christians to hear a politician talk about loving all people because they are created in the image of God, standing up for the marginalized in the name and manner of our Lord Jesus, breaking down barriers to bring people together in community, and “flipping tables” against the rampant corruption of our broken system.

But he is misusing the Bible. And Christians should call him out.

Talarico says he is David, Ken Paxton and Elon Musk are Goliath, and he wants Midland to be his slingshot. That’s fine. I get it. It’s okay to use biblical stories to illustrate earthly points. It adds to the overall biblical literacy in our society, and we can use all the help there we can get. It’s fine and good to seek out Scripture for Christian principles and ethics to guide policy points and political decisions. Quoting Scripture in analogies and allegories is fine.

But Talarico uses Scripture as his authority for specific policy positions. He uses the Bible to validate his party’s platform. He says he’s fighting for universal health care “on biblical grounds” because Jesus never asked for a deductible when he healed the sick. When Jesus fed the hungry, he didn’t price gouge to turn a profit, so he’s pushing for price controls “on biblical grounds.”

Wait. Different Christians can study the same Bible stories and come to different policy conclusions. All Christians can agree to love all people, stand up for the marginalized, and work for unity, and come up with very different ways of doing it. You don’t have biblical authority just because you’re quoting Scripture.

Talarico keeps saying that the Bible is silent on abortion. I believe the Bible spells out very clearly many eternal principles that should inform abortion policies. He downplays the issue because, the way he tells it, if the Scriptures don’t address it, we shouldn’t divide over it. Well, the Bible is silent on health care deductibles and price controls, too; yet he constantly and unapologetically makes that leap. But he won’t allow that same move for abortion. That’s a misuse of Scripture.

Pete Hegseth does the same thing. He quotes Isaiah 6, “Here I am, send me,” in reference to making war. Donald Trump ends a social media post calling for war and the destruction of an entire civilization with “Glory to God!” Quoting Scripture does not give you biblical authority.

I’m afraid Talarico is borrowing from Trump’s playbook, using Scripture and biblical language to unify Christians into a predictable and profitable voting bloc. The Republicans have done that to great political success for a platform that increasingly excludes the poor and the marginalized, and harms the minority and the immigrant. Talarico is using the same tactics, appealing to Christians as a voting bloc, to promote a platform that pushes gay marriage and abortion. Single issue voters have seen where that got the Pro-Life movement. Anti-abortion Christians elected Trump, and now there are more abortions performed in the U.S. than before he became President. You need a microscope to even find Pro-Life language today in the Republican platform.

Christians are not a voting bloc and quoting Scripture does not give a politician biblical authority.

Politicians get away with abusing Scripture because we rarely call them out or, worse, cheer them on. And we don’t have any prophetic voice in our culture if we call out one side for abusing Scripture but not the other. In that case, we have a faith formed by party partisanship instead of political views formed by our faith.

Peace,
Allan

A Whale of a Missions Sunday

October 26, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I cleaned out my Jonah folder for yesterday’s finale of our Missions Month sermon series on Jonah. I made one more horrible pun and showed our church family two more cartoons that only I think are funny. And then we gave.

The goal for Missions Sunday yesterday at GCR was an ambitious $281,600 to fund our foreign missions efforts in 2027. But, just like last year, our merciful God blew that goal right out of the water. God opened up our heart and our wallets yesterday to the tune of more than $483,000! And the money is still trickling in this afternoon!

Thank you to my brothers and sisters at GCR. Thank you so much for reminding me again about the Golf Course Road Church.

I’m reminded that I belong to a very missions-minded, very generous, very over-the-top giving church. You people give. And I’m so honored to belong to you. I also know you truly believe in our foreign missions initiatives. You are committed to our goals of sending more of our own people out into the field. You are dedicated to our efforts to bring salvation in holistic ways, to partner with God in restoring all of an individual through medical missions, justice missions, and evangelistic missions. You are completely partnered with our missionaries and their families. You pray at night for little orphaned children in Kenya and for the destitute and sick in Zambia. You email and send care packages to our teams at SerCris in Brazil and Mission Lazarus in Honduras. You’re invested in everything we’re doing in global missions, with who’s where and what’s happening when. I love that about GCR.

And I am so privileged to be your preacher.

Thank you so much to our hard-working missions committee and to our wonderful shepherds and ministry team. And to you. Thank you.

I believe our giving yesterday truly reflects our gratitude and joy in God’s amazing grace. I believe our generosity was motivated by our genuine love and concern for all of God’s people all over the world. And I believe I should never, ever take that for granted.

It was a really beautiful Sunday. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Peace,

Allan

I Work for the Lord

October 22, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Cornell Green, the great Dallas Cowboys defensive back from the trailblazing 1960s and the championship ’70s, died yesterday at 86. Gil Brandt took a flyer on Green, a star basketball player at Utah State who had only played one year of high school football, offering him a $1000 signing bonus in the summer of 1962 to try out for Dallas. And he went on to dominate the NFL, never missing a game in 13 years, helping the Cowboys get to two Super Bowls and winning one, and picking up multiple Pro Bowl and All Pro honors along the way. He belongs in the Cowboys Ring of Honor, for sure, and maybe even the Pro Football Hall of Fame–several people are making those cases today. Dallas Morning News writer Kevin Sherrington is pointing out that if Green hadn’t been so good, Brandt likely wouldn’t have been given the leash to sign future non-football-players like Bob Hayes, Pete Gent, and Toni Fritsch. And Carl Lewis. I added that one. RIP to Cornell Green, the greatest #34 in Cowboys history.

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Jadyn, Jim, and I joined almost a hundred preachers and congregational ministers in Waco earlier this week for a one-day ReMission Conference at the Crestview Church of Christ. I’ll have more to write about this gathering tomorrow and in the coming days, but let me share this with you. This is especially for the preachers. Jeff Brooks, the longtime preacher at Lake Cities CofC, read this to us at the end of the night Sunday. He says it was written by Mike Cope and delivered to a group of preachers in 1993, and he’s held onto it all these years. After hearing it, I know why. If you are a preacher, I pray this encourages your soul. If you know a preacher, I hope it gives you some insight.

I Work for the Lord
I love it when some of my brothers and sisters at church express their appreciation for my ministry. A note of encouragement in the mail is worth more than a year’s salary. An arm around the shoulder with an affirming nod by an elder is a rescuing arm. A smile from the pew when I make eye contact is a vaccination that protects me from the despair and discouragement that so easily seep into my life. I love my brothers and sisters. But I work for the Lord.

It hurts when some can only find fault, when they question my motives, when they belittle my attempts to lead, when they gossip about me behind my back. That kind of treatment is a third-degree burn. But I work for the Lord.

Sometimes my conscience is clear: I feel like my motives are noble; I know that my preparation has been thorough; I remember that I have ministered not only to the people but with the people. A clear conscience is a vacation that can be enjoyed any week! But I work for the Lord.

At other times my conscience isn’t so clear. It’s a bit murky. I know that my motives are mixed, that my mind wants to be fully devoted to the Lord while my life lags behind by about half a lap. I feel a deep sense of inadequacy. I think the people deserve better. Someone more genuine. But I work for the Lord.

So while judgments about me swirl all around, I must remember that only one judgment counts. And while every day my feelings soar or sink based upon the evaluations of people, I must remember that there is a Great Day coming. Ultimately, it is the only day that counts.

Because I work for the Lord.

Peace,
Allan

Don’t Bite the Bait

October 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The rage bait that I have successfully avoided for years by being a conscientious resistor to digital media generally and all social media particularly is now in my mailbox. If you live in Texas, you have probably received the fake flyer sent out by the shell company registered last month in Sheridan, Wyoming, designed to appear as if it’s from the Transgender Education Network of Texas. The brochure is deliberately fabricated with words and images and triggering phrases to enrage Christians, to inflame in us the decidedly un-Christian emotions of fear and hate.

Don’t bite the bait.

I could write pages this morning on the evils of this fraudulent brochure and the one(s) who has paid millions of dollars to ensure it landed in your mailbox. Instead, I’m going to re-post here what my good friend Darin Wood, the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Midland, wrote yesterday:

“Friends, this past Sunday, I stood at the pulpit in our church and declared our political opponents–whoever they might be–are NOT our enemies. I stand by that. We can disagree without being angry, cruel, or fearful. That’s what makes this brochure going out across Texas so dangerous. Whoever sent it isn’t nearly as important to me as why. Clearly, the purpose of this brochure is to stoke fear, division, and rage. From my social media feeds, it has worked in spades. This is EXACTLY what Satan wants, especially right now. It lines in cleanly with John 10:10. While I’m 100% on board with protecting our children from propaganda and the lies of the enemy but please, friends, don’t allow Satan to scare you into hatred.”

Well said, Darin. And true. Thank you, brother.

The brochure in our mailboxes proves there’s too much money in the political system. And too little decency. Too little concern for community and the greater good. The power-hungry people in our broken political machine decided a long time ago that their party’s ends justify any means. Both parties. They’ve both gone so far past the line, the line is only a dot in the rear view mirror. Followers of the crucified and risen Christ Jesus do not give in to any grabs for power or fear mongering or hate. We build up and do not tear down, we create and do not destroy, we reconcile and do not divide.

Don’t bite the bait.

Peace,
Allan

New Club, New Fun

October 15, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I started my second year of Fun Club yesterday with four squirrelly little 5th grade boys at Emerson Elementary, and I’m anticipating another really transformative experience–for the boys and for me. Fun Club is an Opportunity Tribe program that allows me to minister with two of our GCR local missions partners at the same time. Emerson’s counselors, in connection with Op Tribe, set me up with a small group of at-risk kids I meet with once a week during the entire school year. Every Wednesday during lunch, the boys and I meet together in the reading room or, on nice weather days, at the picnic tables outside, and they eat while I read them a book. We’ll also usually play a game, something like UNO. I do my best to connect with the kids and develop enough of a relationship so I can affirm them and show them God’s love and grace.

Last year, Emily got me together with three little 4th graders: Zachary, A.J., and Jacob. This is a picture of us on a last Wednesday of the month when I brought Chick-fil-A. They loved Dog Man. I read one chapter out of a Dog Man book, out loud, every Wednesday for a whole school year with these guys. I would try to do different voices for the outrageous characters and have them do all the sound effects. Have you ever read Dog Man? I never felt like it was making anybody any smarter. It reminded me of the Captain Underpants books my nephew, Wade, used to love back in the ’90s. But more obnoxious.

These are the boys in their more natural state. I love the gang signs. Classic.

Anyway, in my second week with these three, I decided we would play Taco-Cat-Goat-Cheese-Pizza–it’s a fun little card game I highly recommend for all ages. Before I dealt the cards for the first round, I very clearly laid down my mentoring philosophy. I looked those three boys square in the eyes and said something like this:

“I am not going to let you win. At the Fun Club training last month, they told us to occasionally let one of you win. If I were to win all the time or one of you were to lose too much, it wouldn’t be good for your self esteem. So, every now and then, I’m supposed to let you win. Well, I’m not going to do that. I am going to destroy you every time we play anything. I am not going to take it easy on you at all. I’m going to try my best to win every game we play and you’re going to do a lot of losing. I’m going to dominate. Constantly. All the time. But, sometime before this school year is over, one of you is going to beat me. At some point, one of you is going to win. And it’s going to feel so awesome because you will have earned it. It’ll be real. I’m not going to let you win. When you win, it’ll be because you earned it.” 

Something like that.

So I dealt the cards. And they killed me. I came in dead last. They demolished me.

As the bell rang and we began gathering the cards to put back in the box, Jacob leaned back in his chair. Way back. With an overly-serious look on his face.

“Mr. Allan, we didn’t let you lose. You earned it.” 

I still see Jacob and A.J. at Fist Bump on Monday mornings–I don’t know where Zachary went. They run to hug me and they still remember our secret handshake they made up and they still call me “Larry” and remind me of that first day of Taco-Cat-Goat-Cheese-Pizza. I love it.

I made a speech to my four new kids yesterday, too. It was shorter. But just as serious.

“I am not reading Dog Man.” 

Peace,
Allan

 

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