The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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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

 

Answering the Call

October 5, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Missions Month at GCR has become just about my favorite time of the year because we get to hang out with some of the very best people I know. Brad and Melissa Hooley, our Nexus church-planting partners from the Mountain View Christian Church in Kalispell, Montana, spent the weekend with us and we had an absolute blast getting caught up on everything the Lord is doing up there. We grilled fajitas for ten Saturday night and ate and laughed and prayed together around our dining room table. Brad and Melissa led our communion time Sunday and then we celebrated GCR CrocktoberFest with a Crockpot potluck feast after church. While the little kids played loudly, Jason Kumalo told us all the great salvation things God is doing in and through our Namwianga Missions partners in Zambia. Brad and Melissa joined us in the DP room Sunday afternoon to watch the Texans yellow flag themselves into a loss to the Cowboys. Then we hoofed it back to church for a pizza party with the GCR group that visited Kalispell three summers ago when Mountain View Christian first launched. We capped the night with a rousing game of “99” back at Stanglin Manor in which I was the first one eliminated and Brad ran the table to win. Mostly graciously.

I’m not even sure it’s possible. But if it is, I almost had too much sopapilla cheesecake.

God bless the Hooleys–all six of them!–and our brothers and sisters at Mountain View Christian.

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To help us better understand our God’s will to save the whole world and our role in his salvation plans, we are spending four Sundays in Jonah–one chapter of the story per Sunday. One of the takeaways from yesterday’s lesson is that God’s call is very clear. Always. He tells Jonah to go and preach to Nineveh. Very direct and to the point. There’s no misinterpreting or misunderstanding God’s call on Jonah. It’s really very simple. Go and preach to Nineveh.

Nineveh is the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians are Israel’s national enemies.

Jonah doesn’t misunderstand God’s call. God’s call is crystal clear. Jonah just disagrees with God’s way of dealing with the bad situation in Nineveh. I can almost hear Jonah:

Nineveh? Seriously? Those people are terrible! You don’t preach to people like that; you wipe ’em out! You destroy them! Those people are despicable! They have no regard for human rights! They treat women horribly! They’re always starting wars! They kill people at the drop of a hat! They don’t believe in our God! They don’t share our values! They’re all crazy! Come on, God, you’ve seen the news! Those people are insane! They’ve always been that way and they will be that way forever! They’re trying to take over the world and force their philosophy on everybody! They’d love to see us all dead! Have you read the things they write? Have you seen their videos? The best thing that could happen to them is you blowing them to Kingdom come! We should turn that whole part of the world into a giant sand trap!

I’ve been reading Jonah’s forwarded emails.

God wants all the people of Nineveh saved. He wants them to repent and come into a saving relationship with him. And God wants to use Jonah to make it happen. But Jonah doesn’t want to participate in the salvation of this particular people. So Jonah runs. I think he knows he can’t run away from God, but maybe he can get lost in another culture, another place, where he can ignore God. Jonah can maybe immerse himself in other things. He can become overly occupied with his possessions, his job, his hobbies, sports, a house, maybe a wife and kids.

The country we live in would tell us we have “enemies” in Iran. You may know that Iran is one of the two or three places in the world right now where Christianity is growing the fastest. Our government would tell us we have “enemies” in Russia and China. And our God loves them and he wants them to be saved. We know that. But sometimes our language and our prayers and our forwarded emails and posts don’t reflect that.

How quickly we forget that while we were God’s enemies, Christ died for us.

We have “enemies” right here in Midland. You have “enemies” in your town, too. Enemies of our property values. Enemies of our employment figures and tax rates. Enemies of our political positions and comfort zones. And our God’s unmistakable call is to take to them the Good News of salvation in Christ Jesus.

It’s clear.

We believe our Lord meant it when he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We believe in the Great Commission. We understand Christ calls us to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and all over the whole world, to the very ends of the earth. We believe witnessing like that, showing God’s love and mercy to our enemies, imitates our Lord.

Our Savior crosses all the barriers that separate people–social, cultural, racial, political, geographical, economic–he smashes through all that to save violent outcasts, those possessed by demons, warring Zealots, traitorous tax collectors, Roman centurions, and thieves on crosses. He broke through all those barriers to save you. And me.

And our God unmistakably calls us to reach out to others the same way.

Peace,
Allan

The Space for Love to Grow

August 31, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I spent parts of three days with Val and Dave and the twins this past weekend and it was beyond a blast. Sammy is still content to crawl around on the floor while Elliott walks laps all over the house. But Sam’s got a new dance move, an impressive shoulder-shimmy he does on command, that is stealing Elliott’s thunder right now. They’re both big enough now to ride on my shoulders while we walk around downtown Tulsa, which is really cool. And they both love to wrestle with me on the couch, they love getting slammed into throw pillows and smashed into couch cushions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday at GCR we preached the second sermon in our “Marriage Matters” series: “The Essence of Marriage.” Here’s the video that introduced the sermon, featuring our very own Brat Pack of GCR’s celebrity brides and grooms. The music bed at the very beginning is super loud, but after those first ten seconds, you’ll need to really crank up the volume.

The essence of marriage is the wedding vow, the eternal promise, the legal oath—the thing that makes our marriages covenant relationships and not consumer relationships. And that’s the thing that creates the space for love to truly grow.

When you’re dating or “living together,” you have to constantly be “on.” You have to prove every day that you’re worth it. You have to always impress and entice. You have to prove that the chemistry’s there. Again. You have to prove that the relationship is fun and fulfilling. Again. Or it might be over. When you’re dating or “living together” you’re still in a consumer relationship. You’re having to constantly promote and market yourself.

The legal bond of marriage, however, creates a safe space of security and unconditional love and acceptance so we can relax and open up and finally reveal our true selves.

When the vows are made, we can be vulnerable, we don’t have to pretend anymore. We don’t have to keep selling ourselves. We can lay our defenses down and be completely naked, physically and in every other way.

If love between a husband and wife is going to be everything God wants it to be, you have to have that vow. It’s the only way true love can really grow.

I’m not going anywhere. Relax. It’s you and me. Forever. I promise.

That’s the way Jesus loves you. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I’m not going anywhere. Relax. It’s you and me. Forever. I promise.

The wedding vow guarantees that we’re safe together. We can be ourselves with each other and neither one of us has to worry about whether we’re loved and accepted. We are! We got married! We signed government documents! We made vows to each other and to God in front of his holy witnesses!

We can be our true selves with each other and grow together honestly and authentically. The vows give us that space.

Peace,
Allan

The Video

August 24, 2026 / / 0 Comments

What a great start yesterday to our “Marriage Matters” series at GCR! We had great attendance, an uplifting song service, an inspiring time together around our Lord’s table, a beautiful moment of prayer for our marriages by one of our shepherds, and a brilliantly crafted and executed sermon.

But all anybody wants to talk about is the video!

Yes, the video. From Eddie’s speeding ticket to the Kincaides’ cabin and Bill’s toilet seat, the video featuring our own married couples was quite the hit. Our thanks to Bill & Deannie, Rob & Linda, Eddie & Carol, Herman & Patti, Chuck & Bonnie, and Alan & Dianne for their (mostly) willing participation. And our plea for their forgiveness for the five other videos that are in the works.

In case you missed it yesterday or in case you want to be mesmerized all over again by Chuck’s facial expressions, here it is:

The series continues this coming Sunday with “The Essence of Marriage.” And, yes, another video.

Peace,
Allan

Under the Influence

August 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I’m posting an inspiring quote today from Mother Teresa. But first:

I just made good on my annual Silver Boot Series wager with Myles, a bet that I lose every single year, For the sixth straight season and the ninth time in ten years, his Astros took the Lone Star series over my Rangers by winning nine of the 13 games, including that demoralizing sweep a couple of weeks ago. The Whataburger burgers and shakes were on me. Again.

Texas begins a three game set against Washington tonight, three games under .500 and two back of Houston in the putrid AL West. If the winner of this division winds up with a .500 record and it’s NOT the Rangers, they should certainly blow up the whole team. At that point, we would need no further evidence that this version of our baseball team is not working.

And this:

Valerie sent us this picture over the weekend of Elliott and Sammy making their own breakfast. Or something. Somehow one of them pulled the bread off the counter and had it pretty much all over the kitchen floor before they were caught. Sam looks like he’s frozen, not knowing yet whether what they’ve done is good or bad, but certainly feeling the tension. Elliott looks like he’s extremely proud of himself and the whole scene.

Here’s the quote:

“Put yourself completely under the influence of Jesus, so that he may think his thoughts in your mind, do his work through your hands, for you will be all-powerful with him to strengthen you.” ~ from A Gift for God, by Mother Teresa

Peace,
Allan

Always Working

August 17, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I began yesterday’s sermon by talking about the beautiful sunrises and sunsets in Midland. With the land as flat as it is out here in West Texas, and not very many tall buildings, and no trees, the sky is just so big and the sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. Every day. The sunrise is inspiring. The morning clouds. The colors. The sunset is breathtaking. So huge. The power and the beauty. Every day.

I’m not sure I had seen sunrises and sunsets until we moved to Amarillo 15 years ago. It’s not because they don’t have them in Dallas–they do. Every day. But I don’t think I ever really saw one. There are too many tall buildings and trees in the way. The landscape, the hills, the houses and high-rises–all the clutter kept me from seeing what was always there every single day.

But in Amarillo and, now, even more so, in Midland, with most of the clutter removed, I can clearly see what’s always been there. And I can pay better attention to it. And marvel at it. And be thankful.

The point I eventually made is that our God is always at work. Always. Every day. He never stops forgiving and comforting and redeeming and restoring and encouraging and saving. He never stops. Always. Every day. We believe that when God’s Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the grave, he was given power and authority over all things. And this divine power and authority has already defeated sin and death and Satan and all the destructive forces of evil in the universe. So, that means there is nothing–nothing!–nothing wrong, nothing dark, nothing broken, nothing bad, nothing evil in your life that hasn’t already been defeated by our Lord. The almighty Creator and Savior of the world is at work in your life right now. He is. You know he is doing something holy and good and redemptive in your life.

But maybe you don’t see it.

Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Maybe there are too many buildings and trees in the way. Maybe the ups and downs of the terrain are blocking your view. Can you identify the clutter in your life that’s keeping you from realizing the power and the beauty of God’s work in your life?

As soon as the sermon was over, before the benediction, Triston emailed me the gorgeous picture at the top of this post of a sunset from his front porch. And then Herman and Patti sent this one from their driveway. Wow. I wish I’d had those when I put the PowerPoint together on Friday. Thank you for these amazing pictures.

Every morning, the beautiful West Texas sunrise reminds me that the earth is still turning and the God who created it is still in charge. In the evening, the gorgeous West Texas sunset reminds me that God is still working, always working. He is working for what’s best for you and for me right now and for all eternity. He is working in my life and in the lives of all the people I love. He is at work in and through all the people in our church, all the people and circumstances in our city, and all the people and situations around the world. Our God is constantly redeeming and restoring and healing and saving.

Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Peace,
Allan

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