This issue of Kid’s Korner is from Jeffrey Broadnax, National Coordinator for GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin).
My family and I recently spent a few days in Orlando’s magical world of Disney. Along with thousands of people at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center theme parks, we enjoyed the sights, sounds, rides and food. Our hotel was located near Disney Springs, a hybrid of Disney and a shopping mall.
As my wife and I walked through Disney Springs, I noticed several quotes from Walt Disney posted along the walkways. I’m not sure how many people actually stop and read them, but I did, and the Lord used them to fan into flame in my mind and heart some ideas for children’s and youth ministry.
Here are a few of Disney’s quotes. See what ideas these generate in your mind and heart related to ministry to children and teens.
Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.
Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.
Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.
Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.
Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.
A man should never neglect his family for business.
Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.
We allow no geniuses around our Studio.
I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.
Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards—the things we live by and teach our children—are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.
When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.
I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.
Laughter is America’s most important export.
I believe in being an innovator.
Wow, I had no idea and I too went and walked through Disney Springs. Thanks for bringing our attention to the words from Mr. Disney. His words give perspective and purpose to the places where millions of children and families go experience memories for a lifetime.