Dave Gibbons on Third Culture

Here’s the video I was talking about in my previous post.

Thanks to Chris Fann for the video.

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Help!!!

Hey Everyone, this will only take a second, and could make a huge difference in the lives of some good friends of mine.

Josh Weaver Band is the group that led worship at Stuck in March and is going to be leading on our “Story” tour this coming year. They’re an awesome group with a ton of talent and an even bigger passion to reach students with the message of Christ. They’re in this national radio “battle of the bands” type competition and are currently battling it out for first place. With only 2 more days of voting left, you have a chance to help them win the competition, get national recognition for their band and send them on a trip to GMA of the Rockies to meet with record labels and industry professionals with the chance of a record deal!

It only takes a second to help…Just click here at http://totalaxxess.com and then on the Rock What You Got link to the right of the page and vote for the Josh Weaver Band song Never Ever Ending. It is important that you try and vote 3 times each night and then again during the next day – with the voting so close, it could really make the difference.

If you have a blog and would be willing, ask your readers to show some love for them. The competition has been really tight the past two days. So, throw it out there on your facebook, myspace and email and show some love!

Thanks!

-Sean

David Cook, the KC Chiefs Cheerleaders and Aiden

Yesterday we drove up to Blue Springs Missouri so that Jill could go to a mother’s day banquet with her mom and sisters. She took Maddy and Bella with her, so Aiden and I hung out together for the afternoon and evening. We heard that David Cook from American Idol was in town for a parade and mini-concert (Blue Springs is his home town), so we shot over to the high school to see what was going on. There were tons of people there (over 10,000), but somehow we ended up in the backstage area where all the “important” people were coming in and out. We sat on the corner of a sidewalk and watched David sing “Always Be My Baby”, “There Goes My Hero” and “Living on a Prayer”.

After the mini-concert, Aiden and I got to “meet” David and he walked by with his entourage. He was cool, but was in a big hurry to get to his Ford Expedition limo.

As we were walking past his limo to leave, we heard a commotion on the other side and walked over to see what was going on. David had his head (and most of his upper body) sticking out of the limo window, and he was being mobbed by the Kansas City Chief’s cheerleaders. The cheerleaders were giddy to meet David, and he was laughing and saying to the few of us standing around “Yeah, it’s tough to be an American Idol…this is hard work!” The cheerleaders were posing for pictures with David and one of them motioned for Aiden to come get in the picture with them, but he was frozen. I tried to encourage him to go up, but he didn’t want anything to do with it. All he really wanted to do was invite David to go see Iron Man with us. So, I went ahead and took the picture, then I added Aiden in with Photoshop. So here’s what it might have looked like…

But here’s the closest Aiden would actually get…

Anyway, we had a great “boy’s night out” together. We went and saw Iron Man together (loved it just as much the 2nd time!), then we went to Burger King for dinner. A fun night out for the Meade boys!

Oh, and here’s a picture of Aiden getting his hair cut by Adam Sandler as “Zohan”…Aiden asked me to take it and put it on my blog!

I Am Iron Man

Jill and I went with my brother Brian and my sister in-law Melissa to see a sneak preview of Iron Man last week. They scored us some balcony tickets, which is always a cool treat too! I went into the movie with a basic understanding of who Iron Man is, though I was never really into the comics. What really got me stoked about this movie was that Jon Favreau was directing it (the guy is awesome…he wrote and starred in Swingers and he directed Elf), Robert Downey Jr. was starring in it, and Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow were in the supporting cast. That’s a pretty serious line-up for a comic book movie…and having Downey Jr. adds some real gravitas to the flick.

So, what did I think? In the words of comic book guy from The Simpson’s…”Best comic book movie ever!”

From the beginning this is a movie that was done right. I already mentioned the amazing director and cast, but you also have to realize that this movie represents an industry first. This is the first time that a comic’s publisher is making their own comic book movie. Before, the publisher had major say in what was happening, but ultimately it was a studio picture. This movie is different. Sure, the studio (Paramount) is selling the movie, but this is 100% Marvel Comic’s baby. Marvel ponied up major amounts of money to mke this movie and the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie, so they have a lot riding on them being a success.

Because they did it on their own, they were able to dance around several of the shortcomings of recent comic book movies. No overly cheesy dialogue, no stupid jokes that come out of character and out of synch with the rest of the story. The development and the pacing of the story feels right on (although some thought it was a bit slow in the “becoming Iron Man” part, I thought it was perfect). Another cool thing about this movie (as opposed to Spiderman, X-Men, etc.) is that it takes place in the Marvel Comics universe. There are references to The Mandarin and the 10 rings organization, there’s a hilarious one-liner reference to War Machine that generated a huge response from the theatre I was in, SHIELD is there, and so is a certain “person” who pops up and sets the stage for some amazing things to come in the future. Here’s a hint: Stay until the end of the credits. I’ve also heard that Downey Jr. will make a cameo appearance as Tony Stark in the upcoming Hulk movie, blazing the trail for an Avengers movie (scheduled for 2010).

Combine all of this with the fact that Iron Man’s tech is about as cool as it gets, and you’ve got one awesome movie. The summer is officially here…and I’m realizing more than ever what a big geek I am. Oh well, at least for Jill’s sake I wasn’t the guy dressed as Iron (tin foil) Man or Cardboard Monger…it could always be worse right?

Jr. High Ministry Summit

Finally made it to Chicago and have had an amazing time at the Jr. High Ministry Summit this year. The summit is a gathering of 20-some jr. high only youth workers from all over the country (including one canadian!). We get together once a year to discuss and dream about various aspects of ministry to young teens. This is my third year of meeting with the group, and they have become like family to me. We have a great sense of community (and belonging!), and it’s always a time for us to really live, laugh and love together.

This year author and sociologist Christian Smith met with us and challenged our thinking in a few different areas. A lot of it is swirling around in my head, and I need some time to process through it. Over the next week or so I will post my thoughts on much of what we discussed, and I will link to our notes once they have gone live.

Rock Chalk Championship

This post is a little delayed, but it’s been a very busy week.

The championship game was everything that a good championship game should be. Probably the best I’ve watched in years, of course winning helps too!

Things I loved about the game:

- Roy Williams wearing a KU sticker (classy Roy)
- Mario’s last second shot to tie the game (seriously, how amazing was that??)
- Great coaching by Bill Self (not waiting till the last minute to start fouling…thank you!)
- Having my whole family in our KU shirts!
- Having Danny Manning back on the team 20 years after he lead the Hawks to their last national championship
- Watching the joy on Sasha Kaun’s face after the game (you’ve come a long way big guy!)
- Celebrating the win with my dad. After watching KU games together for the last 15 or so years, it was amazing to see them win it all!
- Explaining to Aiden why this game was such a big deal, and hearing him say “Dad, I want to go to KU and play basketball.”

What a great night!!!

Stuck Stories #2

From Jacob, an 8th grader:

For the past couple of years I have had a struggle with being Christian or Atheist because of peer pressure. I didn’t want people to think differently of me because of my religion. I have gone to Stuck in the Middle for all of the first 3 years and this year I feel like I want to accept Christ into my heart and worship Him.

From Lacey, an 8th grader:

I LOVE Stuck in the Middle! It inspires me to try and become a better Christian every time I come!