Next On Deck Groomsman - The Little Drummer Parker

Ben Parker, the one and only. For a little change of pace, Ben I met at, you guessed it, the Crossing. Ben formerly worked as Video Director and then Programming Pastor at the Crossing. And as I mentioned in Rob's post he was the integral tie of our band at the Crossing, our drummer. I must give credit where due, Ben has one of the best natural feels on the drums that I have ever played with, and is extremely fun to jam with. Interestingly enough Kristina also worked for Ben (and our officiant, Chris Coli) at the Crossing as the Creative Arts Administrative Assistant, though I don't think either would consider their professional relationship anything other than collaborative.
Ben is one of the main reasons I am so deeply enthralled in movies and movie making. He is by far the most knowledgeable person I've ever known when it comes to video systems, and he was essentially my mentor in teaching me all of the intricacies and how incredibly fascinating video creation is. Ben is the reason I ran my first live video camera IMAG, a CG machine, automated lighting system, directed video, and directed a church service. If you don't know what all that means, congratulations you are in good company because I think only about three people who would read this blog really do, and Ben and I are two of them.
I can remember countless Thursday nights where we would stay in the bat cave (our nickname for the video control room at the Crossing) after band practice editing videos, writing scripts, and just plain hanging out drinking an unhealthy amount of Mountain Dew (ah sweet nectar of the gods, how I miss thee). Ben is one of my soul mates when it comes to music and movies, and I can remember going to an MxPx concert, having the best seats in the House of Blues, where Reel Big Fish stole the show.
Ben is also one of the great theological debaters of our time, and would constantly engage in riveting conversations with Rob and I at small group. I think most people underestimate Ben's theological intelligence. It probably has something to do with being a punk rocker who looks a little too much like Jesus when he doesn't shave and can sing the best rendition of "Dirty Little Secret" the Crossing has ever heard.
Ben and his wife Christina also have a pair of munchkins, Josie and Cash (that's right like Johnny Cash). Josie has given me one of my proudest accomplishments of all time, winning a game of "uh huh, nuh uh" with a four year old, beat that! The Parker clan recently returned to the great state of Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweeping down the plains), oh how embarrassing, I should really learn to stop that. It was a sad trip for me helping one of my closest friend move halfway across the country to the booming metropolis of Locust Grove (that's right, he's now one of those twelve people). For those of you who don't know, Locust Grove is about to be a one horse town, as soon as they get a horse. On that mournful trip I was able to finally see the lush green expanses that I had heard about so many times, and hopefully one day we will be able to go fish the crick (they aren't called creeks that far south) behind his old stomping ground.
I can very clearly remember the first time Ben and I met. It was at the Crossing Christmas party, when he first moved to Vegas. We spent most of that night telling war stories of church camps past, constantly one-up-ing each other with the crazy things we have done and trouble we caused. We had an instant rapport.
Nowadays Ben and I share an Internet based relationship where we build websites and write scripts under the guise of Capitol City Studios (www.capitolcitystudios.com) with our good friend and my former roommate Zach.