Precious Moments and Jonah

Sam Butcher is well-known as the creator and artist of the beloved Precious Moments characters with their raindrop-shaped eyes. My family and I are fans of his work and creations and we have visited the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri a few times, although we only own a few of his pieces. I do own two of his Bring the Little Ones to Jesus, made especially for Child Evangelism Fellowship. This piece features a mom with Bible in one hand and sharing the Wordless Book in her other hand to her two children.

What is not as well known is that Sam Butcher, before he achieved fame with the Precious Moments creation, was for many years an artist and a local director with Child Evangelism Fellowship. He drew many of CEF lesson visuals and came up with his Jonathan and David designs (precursor to Precious Moments.
Sam Butcher also drew visuals for a lesson on Jonah. I will be posting on this lesson on the Jonah 101 blog.

Moving forward into the future

This is my first weekend AV (after Village). It's been good to spend some time with the girls this afternoon, as they help me sort through my "stuff" (books, media, files, resources, etc.).

Planning to take in a Jonny Diaz concert tonight with the girls. Haven't had the opportunity to attend concerts on Saturday night for awhile, so this is a treat. We got free tickets from KFIS The Fish yesterday.

Jonny Diaz is known for his song More Beautiful You, a song that communicates to a generation of young girls the truth that their true beauty is designed by the greatest Designer of all and that they are truly wonderfully and fearfully made. The song helps them discern the truth behind the false standards of beauty that our culture promotes. Count my daughters, ages 12 and 15 respectively, as fans of this song and its message. It's pretty encouraging for them to hear this truth from someone else (aside from their parents) as well.

Here's the first verse and chorus. You can look up the full lyrics at Jonny's blog. If you do look up the lyrics, take the time to read the blog comments. They're well worth my time.

Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way
But her hair isn’t straight her body isn’t fake
And she’s always felt overweight

Well little girl fourteen I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart
And you were made with such care your skin your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

Letter to Village family

I wrote the following letter to Village families this weekend, but ran out of copies. So I'll reproduce it here as well. This will answer some of the basic questions people are asking. I am planning to resume blogging on a regular basis, so this would be a good place to check up on our situation.


Feel free to post any comments or questions.

------------------------------------------------

June 26-27, 2010

Well, this is it. My last weekend of ministry at Village as Pastor to Children & Their Families.

Thank you so much for the privilege of teaching your kids during our time of ministry at Village Baptist these past three years. We have enjoyed getting to know most of the children and the parents and volunteers at Village.

We do leave with heavy hearts. June has been an emotionally intense month for me. We will miss the smiles of the kids, worshiping with them, and engaging them in conversation each week.

Some of you have asked what our plans are. I am looking for either a next venue of ministry or considering a regular vocation outside of ministry. God willing, we plan to stay in the Beaverton area and allow our children the stability of finishing the schools where they are at.

We are not planning to attend Village on a regular basis beginning in July. Instead, we plan to visit and check out the different churches in the area. We moved to Oregon because of Village, so I have been here almost every week, with few exceptions. We’ll finally have the chance to see what the body of Christ outside of Village is like. That’s exciting.

Please lift us up in your prayers, and feel free to contact us if you have the desire to do so. Should you be willing, we look forward to continuing the friendships and relationships we have started here and beyond the walls of this church.

We also plan to be at Village’s Family Camp in August. So we’ll get the chance to see many of you there.

In Christ,

Frank & Betty Tan

Texas road trip

Family's on a road trip from Oregon to Texas.

Here's a video of a gathering at Sweet Tomatoes in Stafford, TX, on July 16, 2009, where we met nearly 50 of friends from our years at Fort Bend Community Church for dinner.

Parents' Golden Anniversary video

We visited family in Taiwan and the Philippines in summer of 2008—it was my first time back to Asia in 13 years. The timing for the trip was my parents' golden anniversary. While there, I put together a 12-minute slideshow of photos using animoto.com. The slideshow had photos of my parents from their youth through adulthood, and each of the nine ABC kids and extended families. There were nearly 200 photos set to a medley of songs from The Sound of Music. My dad is a fan.

The above video is a 3-minute shorter version of how animoto.com takes your photos and music and sets up the photos through animated transitions according tot the pacing of the music. It's pretty neat how it does that.

You can check out animoto and create free 30-second videos. But if you're interested in signing up for a year's subscription, let me know and I'll send you the referral code to save $5.00 off the yearly fee.

Added a new blog recently

I've just started a new blog on sport stacking in Oregon. Click here to check it out.

Nathan's Notes

My friend Steve had started a new church plant and invited me to preach on “The Family and Christian Education.” My wife, our three kids and I joined the small church of over 30 adults, youth and kids as they met in a local Chinese restaurant that had graciously allowed them the use of the facilities on Sunday mornings.

I had selected Deuteronomy 6 as the passage to preach from. It contained the mandate God has for parents, as well as the reasoning, method, and goal of parenting children in the faith.

I knew many of the children there and was very comfortable with them being in the service, even though I was preaching primarily to the parents. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking, How do I make this message relevant to the children and the youth? What about those who are single or the couples whose kids have grown up?

Hear, O Israel: 

The Lord our God is one, 

the Lord is One…

Nathan, my 7-year-old son, had asked for several sheets of paper and a pen before I started preaching. Okay, great! My own son is planning to draw pictures to pass away the time.

You shall love the Lord your God

 with all your heart, with all your soul, 

and with all your strength.

Later as I shared how significant I thought it was that Moses spoke to parents first when he began his sermon in Deuteronomy, I noticed Nathan scribbling hard, hardly even stopping to take any break. I wonder what he’s working on.

And these words which I command you 

today shall be in your heart.

“God does not intend Christian education to be accomplished through a church or Christian school. His plan is for parents to make it a part of their lifestyle.” I tried hard to concentrate on my notes, but seeing Nathan working so hard, being oblivious, was extremely distracting.

You shall teach them diligently

 to your children …

“Moses knew that the people of Israel needed to see beyond their own generation. God’s purpose included their pursuing God wholeheartedly and reproducing this faith in their own homes.” I noticed a couple who was staring at Nathan.

… and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, 

when you walk by the way, when you lie down, 

and when you rise up.

“The key to making sure that faith is being passed on to your kids is to be intentional and yet informal.” My wife Betty who was seated next to Nathan had peeked a glance at Nathan’s papers and was smiling. What’s going on?

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, 

and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house 

and on your gates.

“The church’s role is to facilitate the equipping of parents to teach their children, and not to take over the task on behalf of the parents.” Nathan had stopped and was looking at me with a satisfied grin. So, he’s pleased with himself? I need to have a talk with him.

When I finally finished the sermon, I have to confess that in my mind I was already working on a new one that had in mind a specific person as audience.

Betty brought Nathan over to me and asked if I was curious to know what Nathan was working on. Of course, I was curious! What’s going on? Then Nathan showed me several pages of notes that he had written down. Nathan had been taking notes from the sermon!

God surprised me that day. He allowed me a glimpse into the kind of man my son would one day be—someone who took God’s Word and his father’s words to heart. My prayer is that we will all become that kind of parent to our kids, in spite of ourselves.