To say I am a critic would be false.  I enjoy going to movies to unplug and unwind from the world of pastoring.  Therefore, I look for the good, enjoy the flick, and filter out the negatives.  I enjoy thrillers, action movies, drama, and comedies…you won’t catch me in a chick flick.  My reviews will be rather simple – something that I enjoyed or struck me that I felt might be worth mentioning.  Don’t look at my reviews for advice on whether or not you should take your children, etc.  There are great sites out there that provide detailed content reviews such as http://www.family.org/entertainment/Reviews/.

A few movies I’ve recently seen: 

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian:  This was a great movie that I took my middle son to see on Memorial Day.  We both enjoyed the story and battle scenes.  Aslan, who is representative of Christ, is both gentle and fearsome.  I was drawn to the mystery of his character.  To me, the movie was about childlike faith in Christ over prideful ambition.  I saw myself in the character of Peter and how he was transformed over the course of the film.  The battle scenes were awesome.  It was a great opportunity to talk about faith, courage, and honor with my son John.  BTW, we have a 6 yr. old chocolate lab whose name is Honor.

21:  I really enjoy movies that are based on true stories.  This is about MIT students who count cards in Vegas and are caught between their dreams and greed.  This movie has a great storyline with surprises along the way.  The moral here is that greed always takes your further than you want to go and ultimately costs more than you ever wanted to pay.  The main character Ben (James Sturgess), eventually gets his life back.  Very entertaining.

Expelled:  This movie is a documentary and is probably already out of theaters.  It basically describes the science community as being somewhat like Nazis in their attempt to squelch the teaching of Intelligent Design.  I enjoyed the documentary because I am interested in the subject.  Two things particularly stuck out:  First, a Baylor (Baptist Christian University) professor was allegedly dismissed due to some web site or publication that constituted his support of Intelligent Design.  Second, Richard Dawkins  (author of The God Delusion), ends up looking rather silly in the end when basically he leads us to believe that there was some coding for life, etc. deposited here by advanced aliens.  He apparently thinks that is more plausible than believing in God as the master designer.

The Bucket List:  Awesome movie that leads the viewer to think about the end of life, and challenges them to make their life count.  I enjoy both Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and together they starred in a thought-provoking, humorous movie.  I have already heard of sermon series developed from this movie and I am sure their will be more to come.   

I am Doug Walker, the senior pastor of Fellowship of the Parks in Keller, TX.  I am the husband of Kim Walker, the father of Seth (graduating 5th grade today), John (graduating 3rd grade), and Mark our 3 year old (who would want me to tell you he is almost 4).  I thought I would begin this blog by telling you more about myself and family.

First, my wife Kim has been married to me for 19 years.  She is a beautiful woman, a great mother, and an awesome wife.  She is passionate about being the best mother she can be to our three sons and being the glue for our family.  She lives in an all male household and is surviving the testosterone filled environment.  Prior to being a full-time Mom, she worked in social services with most of her career in adoption services.  In addition to being a volunteer with children at our church, Fellowship of the Parks (FOTP), she also volunteers at CASA.

My oldest son Seth could be considered the daredevil of the bunch.  He enjoys dirt-bikes, go-karts, and all the rides at Six Flags.  He plays baseball in the spring, football in the fall, and basketball in the winter.  He loved his Ipod until it went through the washer.  He has been begging for a phone (which is going to be his graduation present today).  This next school year he will be heading off for his first year of middle as he enters the 6^th grade.  Seth also enjoys learning and playing guitar.

John, our middle son, is the talker of the family.  He has a quick wit and loves to make people laugh.  He is somewhat the class clown at school, but also really excels at sports.  He plays the same sports as his older brother.  He is really enjoying baseball right now.  However, his favorite sport is football and looks forward to the season beginning.  John also plays the drums and he and Seth make our house reminiscent of the World Wrestling Federation.

Mark is our youngest son and is adopted.  Since I was adopted and my wife worked in adoption, it was something we always planned.  Mark is small for his age, but extremely bright.  He knows his alphabet and numbers, can read some words, and is amazing with a computer mouse.  His passion is computer games on NickJr.com.  He enjoys swimming and telling people “no”.  He is as cute as a button – but don’t tell him that.  He takes personal offense if you insinuate that he is anything other than Mark Walker.  He truly is a “Walker” in every way and makes our family complete.

My passion beyond being a Christ-follower is my family.  I devote myself to my boys interests and sports.  Often, I will assistant coach or help with one of their teams so it gives me a legitimate opportunity to yell from the sidelines.  When I get time to myself - I love to go see movies, watch sports, be with people, and read.  I also really enjoy golf, though I don’t often have many opportunities to play.  As our children get older, I hope to renew my passion for turning wood on a lathe (a facet of woodworking).  I also use to love riding dirt-bikes.  However, I put this on hold due to finding myself on the ground more than actually riding.  Finally, I love our church – Fellowship of the Parks.  I sincerely believe it is one of the greatest places on earth.  I have the privilege of being the founding pastor of over 14 years.

Welcome to My Blog!

Doug