August 21, 2009 by jcollins.

Sam wanted to return to Focus on the Family to ride the big slide. When we got there, they we were closed for their all staff chapel service. Our guide on Wednesday told us that the public was invited to attend, so we changed clothes and walked over to join the staff. The band Rush of Fools was leading in praise and worship. They are a pop music band that performed several well know worship songs, a traditional hymn and a few of their own songs. We were impressed.

After Rush of Fools, the host introduced the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Secret Service surrounded him as he entered from the back and shook hands coming up the aisle. This was too good to be true; literally, it wasn’t really President Bush, but instead President Bush impersonator John Morgan. He spoke for about 15 minutes as President Bush, played a couple of blues songs on his guitar, and then gave the balance of his presentation as John Morgan. It was a very funny speech with a solid message about living double lives.

When “President Bush” finished the host came up and introduced the president of Focus on the Family, Jim Daly. President Daly spoke about the challenges facing the organization during the recession. He also told of visiting some Christians in China. As we was departing they told him they were praying for him. When he inquired what they are praying for they responded, “We are praying that the church in America will be persecuted, because from where we stand you appear very weak.” I guess God is listening to their prayers.

After chapel we visited the bookstore to have our photo taken with “President Bush”. The local news was covering it and if you click this link and watch the clip at the bottom of the story carefully, you will see Sam’s smiling face.

We then went downstairs to the children’s section, called Whit’s End. The entire area is designed like the incredibly popular kids radio drama Adventures in Odyssey. There are many of the props used throughout the years and they even have a Whit’s End soda fountain store.

The best part was their Kids Radio, where Sam and I were able to record an episode of Odyssey where we were two of the characters. We left with a very special CD of the session.

Just before we left, Sam was able to go down the big slide called “A Bend De Go”, it’s 70 feet of curves and fun, leaving inside the building, going outside and finally ending up back inside. He said it was a blast. They warned me that no one over 5’9” was allowed on the slide, because you WOULD get stuck and it’s not a lot of fun for them to have to go and down and push you through.

I think this was our best day in Colorado Springs.

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August 19, 2009 by jcollins.

We decided to visit Focus on the Family today, Dr. James Dobson’s amazing organization.

In 1977, while on staff at UCLA he saw that so many of the problems in the world were related to family issues, so he resigned his position at UCLA to start the ministry. Today, the ministry’s radio programs are heard around the world. In fact, 24 hours a day, somewhere in the world their radio programs are being broadcast.

The facilities are very nice and more importantly debt free. After our tour of the administration building, we were able to watch and episode of “Last Chance Detectives”, a mystery series written for 10-14 year olds, in their theater. The series is very well written and judging from this episode the videos are of the highest quality for children’s videos.

The entire downstairs is a children’s area, featuring many of the props and accessories from their radio dramas, including the wardrobe from Narnia

And a B-17 from Last Chance Detectives.

Our last stop was the bookstore. It was very neat, as an interview with our friends Alex and Brett Harris were being broadcast on the radio program that day. We were able to pick up a copy of the CD with their entire interview. We picked up a few other books and cd’s as well.

They had a huge slide for the children, but Sam wasn’t feeling up to the slide ride today. Maybe we will get a chance to come back before we leave town.

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