Review: Becoming Better Grownups
Right around the halfway point of our world-wide extended Spring…
Don’t fuel the dumpster fires
Brad Montague, a Christian writer and illustrator, urges Christian school parents to resist the urge to dismiss the ills of society — and to choose instead to ‘tend the garden of good.’
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Dumpster fires are easy to locate and label these days.
“It’s a tough world, right?” Brad Montague said. “There’s a lot of hurt. There’s a lot to be worried about. … There’s a lot that’s just not good. And so a lot of people will dismiss everything as just a dumpster fire. We’ve said entire years were that. 2020, that’s a dumpster fire.
@christianchronicle OKLAHOMA CITY — Brad Montague, the Christian author, illustrator and speaker who brought the world “Kid President,” has worked with a variety of celebrities — including Tom Hanks. While speaking at a fundraiser for Oklahoma Christian Academy in Edmond, Okla., Montague recited from memory the “Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop” rhyme from Hanks’ movie, “Big.” #big #tomhanks #shimmyshimmy #shimmyshimmycocopop #bradmontague #kidpresident #oklahomachristianacademy #bigmovie ♬ original sound – The Christian Chronicle
“Health care? That’s a dumpster fire. Insurance? Dumpster fire. And some people have said, ‘Even education is a dumpster fire.’ But not you.”
“Health care? That’s a dumpster fire. Insurance? Dumpster fire. And some people have said, ‘Even education is a dumpster fire.’ But not you.”
Montague, a writer and illustrator who has worked with celebrities from President Barack Obama to Tom Hanks to “Weird Al” Yankovic, spoke to a room full of parents, grandparents and friends of children who attend Oklahoma Christian Academy.
The school, which is associated with Churches of Christ, recently reached a record enrollment of 565 students in grades pre-K3 to 12. During the school’s annual fundraising dinner, president Will Blanchard updated supporters on plans to expand OCA’s facilities.
The four-phase plan — the first phase of which is underway — will expand the school’s Edmond, Okla., campus to accommodate 820 students. That’s where OCA intends to cap enrollment, Blanchard said, allowing for robust programs in academics, sports and the arts while maintaining a small-school atmosphere.
Blanchard praised the students’ dedication to faith and learning, citing a recent Wednesday night devotional planned by its high schoolers and attended by more than 100 people from Churches of Christ and other faith groups across the community.
Brad Montague takes a selfie with an auditorium of his red-nosed friends at Oklahoma Christian Academy.
Montague, a graduate of Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee, partnered with his young brother-in-law, Robby Novak, to create the internet celebrity Kid President. Montague spent two days with OCA students, sharing his original stories, leading classes on creativity and distributing red noses.
At the fundraiser, which brought in about $300,000 for the school, Montague shared an illustrated story about a girl who came across a literal dumpster on fire. At first, she was fascinated and threw garbage into the fire to watch it burn. But she began to wonder, “Is this all that was meant for me?”
She then came across a woman and her garden. Ultimately, the girl learned that “good things grow when you leave the pointless fire and tend to the loving garden.”
In politics, health care and education, “there’s a dumpster fire; there’s things we can complain about,” Montague said. “But tonight, we’ve chosen to tend the garden of good … that good solid work — loving, every single day — for the next generation.”
