David Hughes | How Life, Church, and Disney are all Kinda Alike

right now we're using as a parable metaphor some of the giant's global brands from the biggest companies in the world we talked about Apple and we talked about Nike you probably figured out the one for today but some of these massive brands had very small shockingly small beginnings and but I also thought about I should probably highlight some of the local businesses in our area and they're not worth trillions or billions like these bigger brands but they've been very successful and some like Padrinos do a great job integrating yeah they got some Padrinos fan their food's amazing integrating their faith in business everyone's while I meet a business person who'll say you know pastor blah blah blah but this is business like here's my faith and here's business the two never intersect how can God bless your business if you leave God out of your business and so again you don't have to be a ministry but a Christian business so I'm gonna highlight several of these so here's what you do I'm gonna put them on social media social media and we have a YouTube channel for the church by the way great way to share with friends if you hear a good sermon or message like hopefully you hear a good one I pray today share that with people but I'll share some of these other businesses we have a boat builder builds the greatest fishing yacht anywhere in the world he goes to first Baptist and again Christian businesses you can have it all you can have it all anyways that's coming up but today it is back to our series it's called day one day one the big idea if you missed the first couple weeks where were you they've been so much fun day one is this don't put it off procrastination is not a sin per se but it's problematic look God gave you today God bless you today did not promise you tomorrow so step into your destiny today you have a big dream you have a God size goal take a step today even if the step seems to be small let's get started today one day never comes this is the day the Lord has made where we're extrapolating the truth about small beginnings it says in Zachariah chapter 4 verse 10 do not despise the day of small beginnings so today our brand is all things Disney and before I get into the talk I've I've had some kind of my heart for some time but I feel like I need to share with the church I've been

your pastor for 27 years now and I got I got a secret I feel bad about and confession is a good thing so I'm just gonna share it with you I am a closet Disney adult I'm a closet Disney adults please don't judge don't judge do I have any other Disney adults in the room any other okay I got look that's hard to acknowledge in front of a crowd like this because you regular adults judge us Disney adults you you mock us you ridicule us Jim Gaffigan the comedian has a whole bit about us we're the punchline of his joke and everything he says well he's not wrong and it's kind of true but sue me I do love all things Disney Lisa as well as a Disney adult we've been going to Disney together back we're dating we get two rooms because we're a Christian couple we get two rooms in Kissimmee we can for those terrible hotel rooms and we love going to the parks I love the classic movies my big kids when they were little kids brothers I can't figure how to get my kids to watch NFL and ESPN with me so I just gave up I started watching Disney Channel with them I watched me some Hannah Montana back in the day I've seen some Phineas and Ferb sweet life is acting code yeah yeah so I'm a Disney adult again it is a massive brand it is valued at 190 billion dollars maybe the best way to calibrate how big this brand is we're studying brands and some brands are about connectivity some are about commerce Disney of course is entertainment this entertainment brand is so big if you just think about the other entertainment brands it owns Disney now owns Pixar Marvel Lucas films it's all things Star Wars 20th century search like pictures ABC television ESPN FM freeform and A&E hulu Nat Geo TV and Muppa studios they're massive but it didn't start that way so I'm doing this if you do a parable as a parable as a way to teach you biblical and spiritual truth so if you have your Bible go to Proverbs chapter 24 Proverbs chapter 24 but I thought about I was studying for this message how to how to use Disney because a lot of people connect with Disney I was thinking of Disney yeah it's big and it's worldwide but Disney evokes emotion like most brands don't like people are impassioned about People lose their mind.

Some of you should love Jesus as much as you love Disney, Disney adults. And so here's what I wanted to do. I was thinking about how life, how life, church and Disney are all kind of alike. They're all kind of alike. The thing about how to title my servant at the title would be how life, church and Disney are all kind of alike. I think actually it's a great parable for so many things in life and in the spiritual life like this. I wrote down Disney of course, like all these other companies had very, very humble beginnings. For you humble beginnings, it started small. The whole idea of this theme is maybe as you have this big dream, this sanctified ambition, God has laid something on your heart. You don't start because you feel like any step you would take is just such a baby step. You feel like it's just, and you're just under-resourced. Your network is not sufficient. You lack experience or education. Like what little thing can I do? Take the small step now. Small beginnings are powerful things. So Disney starts small. Where do we start with Disney? Well Disney starts around a person of course. So Walter Elias Disney was born December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. He didn't grow up in a big city though.

He grew up in a small town in Missouri. His parents were immigrants, worked very, very hard. Disney loved art as a young man. His first job, young people wasn't a job. He volunteered. He drew cartoons for his high school paper. By the way, I love people that start like that. On our staff here, our staff, most of the staff people who are now on the team working full time or part time, all began as volunteers. All began as volunteers, and they just were so good at volunteering, we started bringing them on the staff, kind of a piece at a time. So Disney started by volunteering, by doing something. Now again, it's massive. Disney is just huge. They've had 63 animated features. They've had over 200 movies in general. They've won 150 Academy Awards. They have eight cruise liners. The parks, my favorite thing is the parks. You enjoy the parks, enjoy the parks. Anybody enjoy the parks, so on. 12 theme parks, six resorts on three continents. By the way, here's the hack for the dads. Against kind of a family focus this weekend. We're dedicating like 35 babies tonight. Or excuse me, at the one o'clock service. Here's the hack for the dads. When my big kids were little kids,

I would babysit by taking them to Disney. I would tell Lisa, 'cause Charlie and Victoria just a little more than a year apart, right? Boom, boom. And so there was a lot on my wife, 'cause they're both in diapers. And so I'd take one by myself to Disney. She thought I was a hero. Easiest place to babysit on the planet. I mean, just eye-candy entertainment all around them. And occasionally, I'd be brave and take both of them. They were small, and that was a lot, right? Have the double stroller, and have the diaper bag, and two babies. But guys, I got more sympathy. I get on that Disney bus, and people feel so bad for me. Like, oh, this poor father. Look at him, these two kids. Did the mother die? Yes, yes, she did. Yes, yes. The mother passed away. So, man. It's the easiest hack in the world, man. Take the kids by yourself to Disney. Get mom a weekend off. And all the ladies loudly said, amen, amen, or take me with you. Disney started small, man. So Walt, as a young man, with $40 in his pocket,

relocates to Hollywood, California. There, his brother waits for him. They decide to start a studio together. Animation studio. Walt has some experience. He has a little bit of drawing gear with him. They borrow another $500 in the bank, and it all starts in 1923 in Hollywood, California. In a garage. In a garage, same way. Nike started in a garage. An Apple computer worth $4.5 trillion began in a garage. And Amazon began in a garage. And Google began. They started in very small, limited environments. And so, they started making animated shorts. They sold a few. They started making some money, started hiring some staff. And the rest is what you can surmise, became this incredible global brand. Now, Walt, as a young man, was known for several things. He was known, of course, for his imagination, for his persistence, his attention to detail, detail, and his work ethic. Walt was a worker. In fact, he said, his father was strict. You know, immigrant parents work really hard. He said, he learned, though, how to work with his dad. Walt and Roy woke up at every morning at 3.30, 3.30 in the morning to help their father deliver newspapers

before his dad went to his regular job. In almost every story of success, you'll see the factor of hard work. And I know it's not sexy, and lazy Christians hate ideas like this, but it's so wonderfully biblical. But think about the Bible outside of Jesus. It's not even close. It's not John or Peter or James, it's the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was a force of nature. The Apostle Paul who did not walk with Jesus during his lifetime, he met Jesus in the order of Damascus after the resurrection, right? So he didn't walk with Jesus like the other guys. He didn't have that three year advantage of being mentored by Jesus, but Paul, Paul, he almost single-handedly built a team and took the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to modern day Turkey, Macedonia, to Greece, finally to Italy, and we think maybe even to Spain. Europe learned about Jesus by way of the Apostle Paul. Now the Apostle Paul was a genius, he was tenacious, he was incredibly gifted, but he worked. And I guess he's being asked by the Corinthians, why are you so impactful? He's talking about the other 12, and he's not casting shape. He says, here's the reason God's using him, more than God used Peter or James or John. And he said, by the grace of God, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 10,

for the grace of God, I am what I am, so it's grace. And by his grace, God's grace to me, it was not without effect, ready? No, I worked, you gotta read that better, I. Paul said, yeah, I'm called, yeah, I praise God, I'm gifted, yes, it's his grace, but I worked harder. I actually worked harder than all of them. That's why, he was unstoppable. He talks about the fact, I've been beaten, I've been arrested, I've been stoned, not the fun way. (congregation laughing) I've been in prison, I've gone without sleep, I've been oppressed, I just don't stop. The value of hard work. If you're here right now, you don't care about Mickey Mouse and Disney, maybe don't care about the apostle Paul, sports, maybe sports, sports is your thing, sports is your thing. You think about the goat conversation in your favorite sport, whether it's NFL or major league baseball or the goat conversation in basketball, when you think about those supreme athletes, the best of the best, the candidates for the goat, they all have incredible, God-given talent and discipline. They're all famous to a person for being incredibly disciplined. They outwork the competition, think of just NBA, who is the goat, is it MJ, is it LeBron, is it Kobe? I'll tell you, one thing they have in common, they all work harder than anybody else. Mamba mentality, you got to work if you wanna succeed.

I found a great quote about the value of hard work to make your dreams come true by an imminent theologian. The theologian said, "You can't just wheel your dreams "to come true, you have to work hard, "you have to give them wings, arms, legs, "whatever it takes to make your dreams come true." That great theologian was the late great Dolly Parton said that. (audience cheers and applauds) And you know, Dolly, incredibly talented and sweet and charming, she grew up dirt poor, man, she came from nothing. She said, "You gotta work, you can't quit." It's been said, "God doesn't make tables and chairs, "he just makes trees." Turn to your neighbor, look him in the eye, stare him down right now, he said, "You got to work, "you gotta do the work, you gotta bring this efficient, "sanctified sweat to secure your success." Okay, I wrote this down, second idea. All these corporations, all these corporations, they have their ups and their downs, their ups and their downs. I go to the church, a church by the glades, by God's grace, we're a large church, we're a church that takes a lot of turf, we lead a lot of people to Jesus, but it's not always been up and to the right. In fact, I don't know any success story that's always up and to the right, ever. There's always those ups and downs to the setbacks, the struggles, but I think about our church,

the biggest setback, easy, COVID. You know, 2020, our alternate block 2020 for our minds, 'cause like it didn't happen, but it happened. And so we shut down services, these live services, public services in March. I will open it back up, I think in July. Now back in March, our church between all of our campuses has run about 9,000 people in average attendance. That's a big church by God's grace. We came back at 2,300. We lost 7,000 people. Yeah, man, it's been calling our way back. A lot of them never came back. You're new people, you gotta work. The downtown church, first Baptist, our partner church, but you guys, by the way, you guys have been so generous and helpful and supportive. Give it up for yourselves for helping this vision to take what we're doing here in the West and visit the most historic church, oldest church in Broward County, 118 years old. Back in the 90s, they ran thousands and thousands, a robust ministry. We stepped in three years ago, they were down to 120 people, and then in April of 2023, they had that downtown flood. Remember in the news, that flood? And so the whole worship center flooded out. We stepped in then, last week, as we opened the series, there were 2,000 people,

So Disney, quickly, he suffered a number of seven, you don't think of Disney again, 190 trillion, all this incredible stuff, the theme parks, the cruise lines, all the Academy Awards. I just went through his life story, his first commercial art company he started in his 20s failed. His first animation studio, also in his 20s went bankrupt. His first popular animated character he ever conceived, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a hit, was a success. Finally, but inadvertently, a young Disney inked a deal with a distribution company and he gave away the rights, they poached his first character. He failed time and time, some of the biggest Disney classics when first released did not make money, they lost money in the box office. I'm talking about Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, they all lost money originally. Disney, even right now, the stock has been flat for about a decade. I don't know why I own stock, it makes me upset, it's been flat for about a decade and maybe it is just my opinion. I'm a Disney fan, but I think maybe Disney kind of lost their way a little bit, I think they've drifted from Walt's original family values, just my opinion. But again, Disney's not a Christian company to be fair, it's a business, it's a business. One of the biggest fails, we think now is a success. In 1955, Walt had this vision for a theme park called Disneyland, that was the first one. Nothing ever like it in existence.

And Walt was stressed out, he leveraged everything he could, they borrowed all the money they could. If it went poorly, he'd lose everything. In fact, I love that image, that's Walt the day before he opened. Can you see the stress on his face? Leader, have you ever been there? Man, I have, I hope this is gonna work out, right? I trust this is gonna work out. Man, all the chips are in. Opening day was a Sunday and it was a train wreck. Opening day, some of the rides did not work. The temperatures in Southern California were over 100 degrees, very unusually hot. Somebody put it up thousands of fake tickets, counterfeit tickets to the crowd was twice what they could handle. None of the water fountains were ready to work yet. Because it was so hot, the asphalt had not cured. And so the ladies with high heels got stuck in the asphalt. Who wears high heels to Disney? Imminently women back in the '50s did. Had a gas leak in fantasy land, and the Mark Twain, the big riverboat crews, almost capsized full of people. What did Walt and the team do? They weathered the storm. They did analysis, diagnostic, they made corrections, they learned, they got better, they persevered, they kept working. Life has its ups and its downs, amen?

Don't quit just because right now you're down. (audience applauds) In fact, in fact, rides, rides. What's your favorite Disney ride? What's your favorite Disney ride? When I say three, shout out your favorites, you put it in the chat. Your favorite Disney ride, ready? One, two, three. Unless you said small world, you're correct. Those are all great rides, those are amazing rides. I always think about the mountains. I love the mountains. Space mountains, splash mountain, big thunder mountain. Expedition Everest, who loves the mountain rides? The mountain roller coasters, okay? Now of course, a roller coaster has an up and a down, that's kind of a cliche. But I was thinking about Everest. Years ago, some of you guys here for a while, you're like OG CBGers. Were you here when I did that series on Mount Everest? We turned the whole stage into Himalaya mountains. I talked about soaring to your summit. And I did a deep dive on these courageous, kind of crazy people who tried to climb to the top of 29,000, 32 foot Mount Everest. And I thought I did my homework. I learned something, stay with me.

It's just so interesting. I was in a meeting about a month ago and a woman who's climbed Everest twice. Alison Levine told the story. What actually happens when you climb Everest? I didn't know. I know you don't do it one day. I know it takes a lot of time, a lot of preparation, you're going to be highly athletic. But she said the way it works is this. So you're going to start at base camp. Base camp at 17.5, that is a higher elevation than any mountain in America outside of Alaska. No Rockies, nothing in the Appalachia that is. So you start there and typically you don't helicopter in, you hike 10 days just to get the base camp and then you stay there for a week so your body acclimates to the altitude. It's called acclimatization. So it takes you time for your, 'cause we just dropped you off on the top. Like, right, somehow we could drop you off there and just beam you up there. You would die in a matter of minutes. Human beings are not designed to live at that kind of, think about when an airliner, the captain says we're now flying at 30,000 feet. That's Everest. And so what happens is you stay at base camp, base camp for a week or two, you acclimate, you know,

it's sparse. And then when you start your actual climb, day one, you go up and the first thing you navigate is it's called the kumbu ice fault. This is what you're seeing on the screen right here. This is a series of sheets, I guess I say it's carefully, of shifting snow. But there's these huge ravines and crevices that you cross using aluminum ladders. Like you buy at Home Depot, last together. So every time you go from base camp to camp one, you got to navigate there, and people die all the time. But then you finally get to camp one, you made it to camp one. What do you do? You spend the night, and then in the morning, you pack all your stuff and you go back down to camp, base camp. You cross the ice fall again, you go back down and you let your body heal up for several days because your body's not designed to be at that altitude. So after you heal up a couple days later, you pack up all your stuff, you cross the ice fall again, you go to camp one, then you climb to camp two, you spend the night, then you pack up all your stuff, go all the way back down, not camp one, all the way back down to base camp, stay there several days, and then when you feel better, you start again, camp one, camp two, you make it to camp three, twenty-two thousand, six hundred twenty-one feet, you spend the night there, and can you guess what happens next? All the way back down, packing, can you imagine? Imagine the toll and you psychologically up and down, up and down, and now you're finally ready, camp four. Here we go, camp four. So you cross the ice fall, all this jazz again, you go to camp one, camp two, camp three, you camp four. It's near the death zone.

You spend the night, and then you pack all your stuff, come all the way back down to camp one, and then when you're finally recovered every few days, you go over the whole thing, you go all the way to camp four, you spend the night at camp four, and then at ten thirty in the evening dark, you start your attempt to the summit, you got to take the first part in nighttime, so you finish with daylight and make it back safely, and Alice Levine said it's so difficult that elevation, because the first time they didn't make it to the top, they were about a football field short, you know, right, you just run and touch the top real fast. So because it's so physically taxing, every single step requires these trained athletes to take five to ten deep breaths, ten times to go. She said she can think about the top, she's like can I just make it to that rock, but she said this, sometimes to make progress, you go backwards first. You quit just because you went backwards for a moment, who gave up, here's the verse I've been wanting to get to, I love what it says in Proverbs 24 verse 16, 16, this one looks memorized, this is so good, it says for though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again, you take a picture of that right now, take a picture, you got to get back up, get back up, hey Rocky Balboa, you got knocked down, that's okay, a clumber lane, get back up, you're bleeding your bruises, get back up, get back up, don't you tap out, don't you quit, don't you stand down, the God says it's your time. So Walt finally has a popular cartoon character, Oswald the rabbit, and is poached by universal pictures, on the train ride back he takes out his sketch pad and he starts drawing a new character, a mouse, he draws a cute little mouse, he names it, Mortimer, names it Mortimer, but his wife Lillian said Mortimer's a terrible name, call him Mickey, call him Mickey, and thus Mickey began because Walt did not stay down, did not stay down, amen, who knew life in church and Disney were so alike quickly, quickly, if I didn't say this every dad who's paid for a Disney trip in the room would leave the church I would understand, number three, Disney is expensive, it is expensive, oh my gosh I love Disney but Disney calls a fortune, amen brothers, amen, seriously come on guys, give me some love, oh my gosh I did some research, the average family of four on a five day Disney vacation staying at a mid-tier resort was spent on average $7,800, if you're watching online this is going to include your airfare,

that's just your meals and your lodging, I found out 45% of families that go to a Disney vacation, go in debt to do so, shouldn't be surprised, half of all American families, what do we do, we spend more than we make, in fact I found 53% of Americans, if you had a thousand dollar emergency you don't have money in the bank to fund it, that's what we offer, financial peace university, if you're financially in debt or stressed out you're just a good American, we don't train our kids very well how to manage money, how to build a budget, if you have debt we will show you the secret how to deal with your debt, God wants you free, listen I pushed this It is not a class on giving to the church. In fact, that's barely mentioned. I just want you healthy. 'Cause you're financially stressed out, man, that puts pressure on your marriage and you're stressed out with your kids and you think the secret's more money, know it's learn how to manage what you have right now and how to build wealth, so I wanna give you those secrets. So go ahead and take out your phone and register for that, it's gonna help so much. Expensive, expensive, Disney's expensive. It wouldn't help you manage your money. And by the way, I want to acknowledge this. The moment I mention money, some of y'all fuck her up. If I talk about money, oh, here's the preach, you're gonna talk about money. In fact, there's people that are right now, you say this, oh, I hate when the church talks about money. That's that, I hate when the church talks about money. Well, you're probably new. We don't talk about money very much at all.

We didn't pass an offering plate today. We almost never do stuff like that. I don't teach on money very often. Typically, one Sunday a year, there's a sermon on giving. It's not this Sunday, by the way. But that is your complaint. I hate when the church talks about money. You know, listen, I should talk about it more 'cause Jesus talked about money a whole lot. You know, one of the very seven things Jesus said, recorded in the New Testament is about money or wealth. And he said some good stuff. Like I love what he said in Luke chapter 6, verse 38, he said, "Don't the screen right now?" He says, "Give him, he'll be given to you a good measure, press down, shaken." Wait, if I give, God's gonna give back to me like that. A good measure, press down, shaken together, running over. God wants to give and bless my life in abundance. You need to hear that Jesus promised things like that. And Jesus wasn't a fundraiser. He died without a penny, but he understands we deal on the financial every day. He wants to bless you. So Jesus talked about your money. I don't talk about money much, but he talks about your money. I know you're weird though. I hate when the church talks about my money. No, loves to talk about your money. Disney.

Disney doesn't blush for a moment. Disney talks about your money without a hint of apology. They talk about your money even before you're really on property, you wanna park your car. They charge you $35. You get through security. You go to that ticket window. How much are those tickets? Oh my gosh, if I want a multi-day pass, I want a park hopper, that is so much money. And then once you get in, the lines are so lumped. We have something like a lightning lane. Go to your app and spend some more money, right? And then you pay for what? All the food, and all the drink, and all the snacks. And mysteriously, every single ride ends in a gift shop. Disney talks about money all day long. You don't care why, 'cause you love Disney. I love Disney. I love Disney, really? So you just give all the money 'cause you love Disney? Jesus, that works that way. He says, "You're a heart and you're money." Jesus said, "They travel together." So you fork up thousands of dollars without blinking 'cause you love Disney, but you say you love God. (audience applauding) I don't like when a preacher talks about money. You need to be supporting what God does in his kingdom. Amen, you need to be certain.

He'll change your heart, he'll change your heart. When you fill up, if you're watching online like six people clapping, the rest is just looking pissed off at me right now, I don't care. (audience laughing) For then finally, if you go to Disney, you might get wet. You might get wet, some of those rides. Oh, they're animal kingdom, the river rapid ride. Callie, or you get wet with that one. Splash Mountain, you might get wet, you might get wet. No, I love, hey, brothers, man, man, I love seeing a dude. I love seeing some full grown Jack yoke dude, man. Don't, dude, at Disney, shokin' wet. I love seeing a brother and he's wearin' Mickey ears and he's wearin' a goofy shirt. He's wearin' Disney Fanny pack. He lookin' foolish, he lookin' like like, this guy's cool, right, he's cool, he's the man. But at Disney, he looks like that. Why, why would any man do that to himself? One reason, his kids. He dresses like an idiot. Gets so good wet to see his kid smile. It's part of the Christian life, you get so good wet, it's called baptism. Jesus commanded baptism, Matthew 18, 19. (audience applauding) Go therefore make disciples all nations. That's his idea, he said, "I want you to be immersed."

Baptism, baptito means to dunk under and we dunk under. So, if there's a dad in this room, you've not followed Jesus by believers baptism, we'll baptize you today. Oh, but my hair and my stuff, I'm the man. Look a little foolish for Jesus. Beach baptism comin' up on the 13th. What a great way to get baptized. Look, even we're older, man. See, we in your hair are sometimes, waves get you, take the plunge, do it for Jesus, do it. Don't be afraid to get wet. If you need to be baptized as a believer, after trusting Christ as your Lord and Savior, make that your move today, make that your move today. Look, there's a God who loves you. I love going to Orlando, but my king has a kingdom, and his kingdom is eternal. It is powerful. I think his kingdom will be magical. I'm living for that king. And if you have not yet come into a relationship with my king, King Jesus, the prayer partners will be here in one minute and 47 seconds. They'll be right here on the edge of the stage. And they can lead you into a personal relationship with Christ. And if you say yes to Jesus as your savior, he'll forgive your sins, bless you with your grace, qualify for heaven, and give his vision, his vision for your life. That blows my mind. This great God has given his cosmic genius to mapping out a supernatural game plan with your name on it.

How exciting is that? A vision is a powerful thing. A vision is transformative and catalytic. So Walt's biggest vision was, he never saw him. Walt died of lung cancer in 1966. In 1971, his vision he called it the Florida Project came to reality when they opened Magic Kingdom Orlando. He's the one that saw all that, designed all that, secretly bought 47 square miles of property in Central Florida, but he never saw it. So his wife Lilliam was there on opening day with a friend. Here's all the fanfare. They've opened Disney World. And a friend said, "In this sad that Walt's not here to see his dream come true." Lilliam said, "Oh, Walt saw this. Walt saw every piece. We're here in the dream because he saw this first. He had a vision. Man, God has a vision for your life. It is big. It's God's size. Why would you trade in God's vision for your little small selfish ambitions? Why?" So start. Baptism, prayer, partner. Integrating God into your entire life. Start today. Maybe your start is small. Maybe it starts in a garage, but today is your day one. Father, God, thank you for who you are, for the power of a parable.

We make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.