This last year I was blessed with an Annual Pass to my happy place. My place of escape. My place of inspiration. My place of vacation. The place that holds a large portion of my all time favorite memories and moments with some of my absolute favorite people. Of course, this place is none other than Disneyland.


Disneyland is magical. Absolutely, positively astounding. Every time I'm there, I'm moved and inspired. There's just something about it. It's a place where passions are ignited. Ideas and vision go beyond mere thoughts, and are put to action. Over this last year, I've been continuously moved and inspired because I've been given the opportunity to spend a pretty amazing amount of time there. The following is just a portion of what I've learned from Disney.


Lesson 1: Disney NEVER does ANYTHING halfway. (And neither should we)

Never once will you see Disney come up with something less than spectacular. They leave no detail untouched. From the cast members uniforms to the expression on the faces of all the characters in every ride- they are all intricately put together and incredibly thought out. There is a ton of heart, passion, planning, and intense brainstorming that takes place with every Disney decision.

I find this to be one of the greatest factors in Disneys' success. Being in Youth Ministry, I obviously think of things in terms of how the youth group is ran. I'm guilty of so often coming up with half-cooked ideas. Ideas that aren't fully thought out or that I've failed to put action to. This Disney point has inspired me, to do NOTHING halfway. No Youth Service. No Bible Study. No Discipleship program. No event.... And beyond ministry, it has inspired me to personally strive to stick to EVERYTHING I set out to do. Every diet, every budget, every plan or goal I'm working towards. So lesson 1: Never do anything halfway.


Lesson 2: Disney sets their ideas to action. (and we should too... Well, the good ideas at least haha)

When I went to Disneyland in 2009, I was in awe of these signs talking about the work under way at Disneys California Adventure. These signs foretold of this wonderful new show called World of Color. As I stood there overlooking the point where water used to cover the area in the above pictures, I began to anticipate the great new things to come. The signs surrounding the work area talked about how the idea had come to be, and all the steps that would be (and were) taking place to take the World of Color show from a mere idea to a magnificent part of the Disney parks experience. So lesson two comes in the form of not only casting huge vision, but in bringing that vision to life.

So many times we have great ideas, or a great heart... but we lack the initiative needed to launch those ideas into action. One of my favorite Disney quotes is, "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them". We like to focus on the two big nouns in that quote (dreams and courage). We all love to have dreams, and we all love to talk a big game about how we're going to be courageous and face and overcome the fears and factors that stand in the way of us and our goals.... but so often the emphasis in that quote doesn't land where it should; on "pursuit". As the action word in the quote, it doesn't get all of the credit it deserves. Disney has a way of having a vision for something and pursuing it like a teenage boy pursues a girl: Nonstop. They're relentless. They are driven by action. Motivated by their vision. Compelled by their mission.

Are we not called to be people of action? Ideas and dreams are absolutely wonderful and imperative to success, BUT those ideas will die with you if you don't start putting them to ACTION. I once read in a book that the richest place on Earth is a graveyard. Why? Because God has given each of us the gifts, talents, visions, dreams, and ideas to change the world... but all too often all of those things go to the grave with us, and all because we failed to pursue them or gave up trying. Lesson 2: Disney has taught me to DO.


Lesson 3: Disney didn't despise humble beginnings (Okay, this one's from the Bible, but I find Disney to be a great example of this).

Seeing all that the Disney empire has become (with all the movies, amusement parks, cruise lines, etc.) it's hard for some to imagine the trials Walt would have walked through to get to the point his company is at now. If asked now, millions of adoring fans would LOVE to spend a day in Disneyland, work there, or even live there! Or even the fans that would simply LOVE to watch a classic Disney movie... but it wasn't always so. Can you imagine that growing up, Walt was told he wasn't creative enough? Would you imagine that people continually told him that he was destined to fail. People betted against him. Heck, even opening day at Disneyland was an absoluted disaster.... And yet, here we are today, admiring all that has come from his legacy. The giant success we see today of all things Disney started out as a likely failure from a likely nobody.

Going back to the ministry side of things, this has challenged me immensely. In my own first youth ministry, I started from nearly the ground up. I was forced to set a foundation and build off of that. It was challenging to say the least. Coming from a youth ministry of hundreds, it was an ego killer to start out in a group of say 4 kids. I've learned that humble beginnings are just that: humbling. When I first started, it was admittedly hard to preach a message (that I had spent days and countless hours pouring my heart and soul into) to such a low number of students. Of course, I had one of those lovely God moments where He kind of smacks you upside the head and reminds you to look at things differently. It was in those moments where the Disney/biblical message was applied to my life: Don't despise humble beginnings. Preach your guts out whether you're preaching to 1 or 1,000. Do EVERYTHING with ALL you've got. No matter what. No matter how many followers you have. No matter how many people think you're going to fail. Just focus on being who God has called you to be, and doing what He has called you to do... and THEN, all bets are off, because with Him, you're going to to go further than you could have ever dreamed or desired. So lesson 3: Don't hate small beginnings.


Lesson 4: Disney NEVER stops growing and changing. (And we can't either!)


One of the wisest quotes from Disney himself is that "Disneyland will never be completed, it will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world". Everytime I go to Disneyland, I feel like something new is being built or dreampt up. One of my favorite places to visit is the Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar, where they map out all the new ideas so that Disney fans can accompany them on the journey of growth and change. I LOVE that Disney is never done. As many things may remain the same, multiple other things are being renovated, updated, or built. I LOVE that they refuse to ride off the coattails of past success. Once a great new attraction comes out, you don't see Disney kicking back and thinking their job is done. No, rather you see them moving on to dream up and pursue something else. They realize that there is always room for improvement. They see that if you're not growing, you're dying. They understand that continual positive change is a big part of their success.

Like Disney, we NEED to understand the same. We are NEVER done. There is ALWAYS room for improvement, change, and growth. We have to continually strive to work on ourselves. In order to do all that God has called me to do, I must strive to be the best possible version of me. I'm not perfect, I fail more often than not and struggle probably more than I should. I have hangups and faults... but I refuse to allow them to be excuses to remain the same. I choose to work on me. I choose to work on being who God's called me to be. It won't be overnight change, but through constant dedication and relentless pursuit I will see positive change.... and when I do see growth and change, I must keep going. I must keep pursuing. I must keep getting challenged to grow... because if you're not growing, you're dying. So lesson 4: Never trick yourself into believing you've "arrived" at good, or great, or perfection. There is ALWAYS room for growth. (Sidenote: That DOESN'T mean you're never excited about the growth and success you DO see.... it just means you just keep on moving).


I'm sure there are many many other lessons that could be learned from all things Disney, but I've already written a book here, so maybe I'll write part 2 later. To sum it up, Disney is a place of vision, passion, pursuit, inspiration, dedication, hard work, relentlessness, impeccable attention to detail, some nearly psychotic level of planning, humility, initiative, joy, and the faith to carry on with the vision when the world bets against you.

As a follower of Christ, I find every single one of those characteristics to be of utter importance in my walk with Him and in the ministry I do in His name. I'm challenged to have that same vision, passion, dedication, humility, relentlessness, etc. To wrap up this year of lessons learned from the land of Disney, I can sum it up with this: I am INSPIRED.... more so rather, I am inspired to BE.



I've been called to action, how about you? <3