Kurt Johnston is the Middle School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. He’s been an inspiration to thousands of youth pastors across the country for years, especially middle school pastors. As a thank you for all Kurt has done for youth pastors, I thought I would do a little PI (Private Investigator) work to find his long lost twin brother…
Luke and his family are from the Portland, Oregon area and have been attending our church for the last few months. When he walked in the door I had to do a double take because he looks just like Kurt, the pictures I provided are close resemblences, but if they were together in person, it would be even closer.
Luke and Kurt are not really long lost twins, just in case you thought I was serious, but they do look a like.
After my airline ticket was purchased for the Gathering my uncle moved from L.A. back to Atlanta, so I got stuck in California for a couple of extra days alone. My friend Tom suggested that I go check out the Reagan Library, so I did. Reagan was my President. He was in office from the time I was born until I was 8 years old, and what a great President he was. I was blown away by this place, it is not ultra exciting as it is a museum of sorts, but the videos, the pictures, the letters, and the audio of Reagan playing throughout the building are awesome! The historical items they have on display are very cool. I got to see the very x-ray taken when Reagan was shot. I walked away thinking to myself three thoughts: #1 Reagan was a great leader, #2 Reagan loved his wife, and #3 Reagan loved this country…even if it was at the expense of losing popularity in the world. If you ever get an opportunity…go see it! Semi Valley is beautiful and when you look out at the land surrounding the library, it helps put into perspective how BIG God is and how small we are.
One final personal note. Neither one of our Presidential candidates could stand toe to toe with Reagan. I know McCain likes to say he is a foot soldier in Reagan’s army, but Reagan would probably disagree. On the other hand, if you are an Obama supporter, Reagan would eat your candidate for lunch and still need dessert. The words of Reagan echoing through this Library are powerful, and I could not help but to think how much trouble we will be in if Obama is elected. I will do a post in the coming days about a great story I heard from one of the videos that I watched at the Library, its powerful. Until then, check out the photos below. They are not the greatest as they are from my cell phone camera (Nicki would not let me take her camera). If you click the photo for a second time it will expand into a larger photo.
The Memorial 2
The View 2
A letter written by A. Lincoln on my birthday in 1863
1984 Campaign Sign
The View
Airforce One – I got to walk through this – Very cool!
The 2008 Gathering is over. I hate having to type those words. I think Doug tweeted it best, I wish we were all neighbors. Every year I make new friends and deepen my relationship with those who I am already connected with. My favorite part of these few days together is pictured above, sharing life with some of the sharpest leaders in student ministry. We do not discuss numbers, we don’t flaunt successes, we sharpen each other, we stretch each other, we pray for one another and we have tons of fun! I cannot describe the power of the authenticity that takes place around our tables during our various sessions, but I can say, its good.
Check back…I’ll be posting more about the Gathering and my week in California…right now I’m getting ready to fly home to my family who I greatly miss. California is great, but it stinks without them! California with my family would = Heaven 🙂
These are our first professional family pictures…ever! I think its the perfect timing now that we are complete with the 5 of us! The truth is, I refused to have my picture taken because I was self concious when I was 40 pounds over weight. If you saw most of our personal pictures, you would know why, but I also look angry in them because Nicki would catch me off guard and I would not be smiling. Click on the thumbnails below to see the full size picture, then click on that picture to see the whole thing (its complicated 🙂 ). We took several poses, but these are the one’s we puchased.
