The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Golf Course Road Church (Page 23 of 26)

Potential to be Poised

November 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I was so blessed to spend a quick 21-hours with all our GCR shepherds and ministers at a leadership retreat this past weekend at the beautiful The Way Retreat Center just outside Midland. From 5:00 Friday afternoon until 2:00 on Saturday, we committed to worshiping together, praying for the GCR church family and for one another, bonding through shared mealtimes and a few silly games, and discussing seriously together the call of our Lord for his people at Golf Course Road.

 

 

 

 

The main topic of the weekend was fostering a culture at GCR so that we more regularly experience the transforming power of our God. How do we facilitate an atmosphere in which we are more aware of God’s Spirit and the work he is doing to change us into the image of Christ? Can we create more opportunities, can we lean into more circumstances in which our people are drawn closer to God and think and behave more like Christ? We talked and prayed together about the realities of our situation at GCR – the strengths of our congregation, things that might possibly trip us up, questions we have about the present and the future. We shared personal stories about God’s transforming work in our own lives. We dreamed and brainstormed together about what’s next. And we talked realistically about our potential.

The question started out as “What is GCR poised to do better than any other church in Midland?” We were trying to identify our strengths and passions – what we’re good at, what we really enjoy doing, what we’re equipped for – and how it might be used to advance the Kingdom here locally and around the world. Several things were mentioned with enthusiastic and unanimous response. But then something was said that resulted in puzzled expressions on most of our faces. Are we really poised right now to do that? Is it ready right now? Is it really something we can do immediately? To which someone graciously allowed: “Well, we’ve got the potential to be poised.”

And that turned into the catch-phrase of the weekend. The potential to be poised. We’re not ready yet, but the potential is there. We have the potential to be poised to restructure this or re-imagine that. At 10:00 Saturday morning we had the potential to be poised for lunch. I think Mauri’s already designed a T-shirt.

 

 

 

 

I feel very privileged by our God, and supremely blessed, to be the preacher at GCR with so many good shepherds and ministers. It was such an encouragement to hear the hearts of these people who love the congregation so much, who’ve given their lives to serving our Lord Jesus and his precious people, who care so deeply for the great history of GCR and are eager to work hard for the glorious future. These same people who take so seriously their calling and their ordination, who pray so fervently and minister so tirelessly, and who will play a game of musical chairs in which the loser has to eat a big spoonful of a random jar of baby food and the winner gets to choose a book by William Willimon or Eugene Peterson. A great weekend in a beautiful setting with some outstanding Christian leaders.

May our God bless us richly with his wisdom and grace as we lead his people at GCR. And may his holy will be done in and through his church here just as it is in heaven.

Peace,

Allan

A Moving Weekend

November 15, 2021 / / 0 Comments

We’re finally moved in to our new digs! Stanglin Manor is now firmly established on the very fancy sounding Castleford Road here in Midland. And while we are still very much living out of boxes, and might be for a while, our hearts are full of thanksgiving and love for the kindness and the sweet generosity of our church family at GCR and our new neighbors who are making this transition very easy and a lot of fun. We spent Friday just getting all the boxes into the garage and then all day Saturday getting those boxes to the rightful areas of the house – and attic!

Speaking of Saturday, we were all three thrilled to participate in KWO’s 12th annual Kick for Kenya 10K, 5K, and 1K run that starts and finishes in our parking lot at GCR. More than 400 good people of all ages and athletic stamina ran to raise over $50,000 for KWO’s work in feeding, equipping, and educating 2,700 widows and orphans in Nairobi. KWO just opened their 16th children’s home in Nairobi this past year and GCR is honored by God to be a partner in this great work. I was privileged to help welcome the runners to this important event and to pray over them before the race. And then we just watched and cheered them on. Most of our new friends at GCR rightly assumed I would not be running. But when I was asked a couple of times Saturday morning if I would be walking, I answered, “Yes. I’m walking from my truck to the breakfast burrito table and then back to my truck.”

Sunday morning at GCR we celebrated all God is doing in us and through us in Kenya with pictures and videos and an inspirational story from Tim, who just returned from a two week visit to Nairobi. Callie and Will blessed us with a dynamic reading from Ezekiel 34 in which our God promises to bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. And Iliana brought tears to our eyes and praise from our hearts with her powerful testimony and moving rendition of “Oceans.” A glorious day with our God and his people.

 

 

 

 

 

Then, after lunch, we came back together in the GCR parking lot to pass out food boxes to more than a hundred needy families in Midland through our great partnership with Mission Agape. It was really cool to distribute the Thanksgiving meals and the gift cards and the cookies to each of these deserving families. But the real joy came in praying over these good people and lifting up their specific and personal needs to our Father. What a sacred time that was. What a blessing that our God would deem us capable of acting as priests on behalf of these neighbors in Midland and the surrounding communities.

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend wrapped up last night the way most Sunday nights end at Stanglin Manor. Whitney and I dueled to the death over a hot backgammon board (she beat me 3-2) and I made popcorn. Yes, the first thing cooked in our new kitchen was my popcorn. And, yes, it felt like home.

 

 

 

 

 

Peace,

Allan

On Duty

October 31, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Good looking crew at last night’s annual Harvest Party at GCR. We trunk or treated with almost 3,000 Midlanders on our church campus – candy, games, bouncers, costumes, music. We met a ton of people and had a blast doing it. I couldn’t be more thrilled or feel more blessed to be working with this great group of ministers.

Raise a Hallelujah!

October 26, 2021 / / 0 Comments

The Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ has come and it is coming and this is what it looks like and feels like. That no matter the chaos and confusion out there, no matter the uncertainty that surrounds us, sin and death do not have the final word. Our risen and reigning Lord Jesus is the author of eternal life right now, today, tomorrow, and forever! He always writes the last line. The final chapter always belongs to him. He says, “I AM the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will never die!”

So we thank God. And our lives are a continuous hallelujah to his eternal glory and praise.

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Midland Loves

October 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people. As the Lord surrounds his people, so his people surround Midland Memorial Hospital. God’s people at GCR and from at least another half dozen Christian churches in Midland spent an hour walking around MMH yesterday, reading Scripture over the hospital, and lifting everyone inside to our Lord in prayer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father, give our doctors and nurses and health care workers your comfort and peace during what has become an incredibly stressful time. Give them your strength. Give them your rest. Assure these good people with your loving presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

God, grant our doctors and nurses safety and good health and financial relief. Give them your knowledge and wisdom. Please give them increased compassion and patience. Give them more faith and trust in you. And, dear Lord, give them peace.

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Father, bless our doctors and nurses and all our health care providers with encouragement and hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Be merciful to us, O Lord, for we are in distress;
our eyes grow weak with sorrow, our souls and our bodies with grief.
Our strength fails because of our affliction, and our bones grow weak.
But we trust in you, O Lord;
We say, ‘You are our God.'”
~ Psalm 31

How ‘Bout Them Conleys!

September 28, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Our great friends Stan and Kelly Conley treated Whitney and me to their amazing seats at last night’s Monday Night Football game in Arlington. It was the home opener for the Cowboys against the hated Eagles and the first Cowboys game we’ve attended in ten years. Needless to say, Whitney was beside herself. She wore out her rally towel and both arms before kickoff. She exulted with every Cowboys score, gloried in every Philly penalty, and nearly fainted with delight when Dallas went over the 40-point mark in the fourth quarter.

I hate it when the Cowboys look good. It would be very easy for me this morning to write about how Jalen Hurts is a disaster and this Eagles squad might be the worst team in the league. But, Dallas did play a great ballgame last night. You play the schedule as it comes in the NFL and the Cowboys, for once, committed to the run against Philly’s two-deep safety zone all night. Dallas dominated time of possession, kept the penalties to a bare minimum, and basically allowed the Eagles to beat themselves. Which they did. And while I did not love the whipping it turned out to be, I did thoroughly enjoy the experience sitting next to our oldest daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

Whitney’s about as hard core as it gets among Cowboys fans and she had an absolute blast last night. Stan and Kelly’s seats are on the 40-yard line, a perfect ten rows up behind the Cowboys bench. And Whitney was just overjoyed to be able to watch Dak and Zeke and Cooper and her favorite players, up close, in person, on the sidelines. She kept waving that towel madly throughout the game, whacking me in the side of the head after every good play and during every third down. She stood for nearly the entire game, exchanged wild high-fives with everybody sitting within a ten foot radius, and went through two massive nine-dollar Diet Dr Peppers. She loves the Cowboys and she absolutely despises the Eagles, so it was a perfect night for the Whitster.

My favorite moments came at the half. The Pro Football Hall of Fame presented Cliff Harris, Drew Pearson, and Jimmy Johnson with their HOF rings during halftime in a ceremony that featured every living Cowboys Hall of Famer in person together on the field. Staubach and Lilly, Rayfield Wright and Tony Dorsett, Mel Renfro and Randy White, Aikman, Emmitt, and Michael Irvin – they were all there on the field to welcome Captain Crash, Drew, and the Jimster. It was chilling. Goosebumps. The three newest inductees each gave short speeches, brief synopses of what they’ve been saying for a year now. Harris recalled his humble origins as an undrafted free agent out of Ouachita Baptist and thanked Gil Brandt for hunting him down, Drew (sadly, I think) raged into the microphone again about how his Hall of Fame induction validates his career and himself as a human being, and Jimmy thanked Jerry (boo), his players (yay), and all the Cowboys fans (crescendo of applause), for the great honor of coaching the Cowboys. And then, of course, he punctuated the end of his time with one more “How ’bout them Cowboys!” to which the stadium nearly collapsed with thunderous ecstasy.

 

 

 

 

I didn’t realize then that the game was already over. But it was. After Trevon Diggs’ pick-six to begin the third quarter, it was only a matter of how much. As the second half wore on, the guys on the row in front of us got drunker, the over-the-top couple from Corpus Christi next to me got rowdier, the Eagles wilted, the crowd overall became more aggressive, the Cowboys dominated, and Whitney’s grin grew bigger and wider.

Thank you to Stan and Kelly for their great generosity and a wonderful night together in Arlington. Thank you to Dale and Rita Brown for the gracious gift of their transportation and their pleasant company to and from the game. And thanks to the powers that be for opening the roof of the Death Star.

Experiencing the game with Whitney, enjoying her joy, I allowed myself a little smile here and there at this perfectly-scripted night for the Cowboys. It’s nights like this, when the fans leaving the stadium are all talking Super Bowl, that make the inevitable loss to the Panthers this Sunday so delicious.

Peace,

Allan

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