Past

Letters/Testimonials

OK here I am at Orange and it has been great so far. This morning we were inspired by Francis Chan and what God has called him and his church to do. Our focus for the two breakouts were on bringing childrens ministry and student ministry together to work on the end result of young adults sold out to live the life God intended for them to live.

They are also focusing on five issues that they feel are critical to today's church: Strategy, Community, Family, Message and Influence.

Sue Miller closed us today with a compelling look at the life of Daniel and how he was able, in his day, to stand up for God and how difficult it must have been for him as it is for our students today. There was much hope and passion for seeing our kids embrace our Great BIG God!

Tammie

The Orange Conference ended yesterday. I have to say that I am very impressed and moved in what was presented over the course of two and a half days. It was all very encouraging and refreshing:

Yesterday, Donald Miller and Reggie Joiner spoke to close out the conference:
Donald Miller, well, I won't really even try to explain all that he spoke about...don't get me wrong it was good, but I am still trying to process it all, however here is a sample:

Stories:
1. The Bible is made up of a lot of stories, however after each story, the Bible does not give us an application to that story...
2. We all have stories, yet we never feel as if we need to give an application as to why we are telling the story...
3. Why do pastors, think they have to give a 5 point application, that happens to be an acronym to every story?
4. Cutting to the end, pretty much...Rather than allowing culture to determine the positives and negatives to our life story and to the life story of those we minister to, we should simply tell a better story, or provide a better story...I am sure you are lost, but I can't help you right now, it was great!

Reggie Joiner challenged us on the way out, with a few desires from Orange:
1. We will never think that we are an expert or smarter than we are - We should continue to learn.
2. We won't confuse the "Model of Ministry" with the "Mission of Christ"
3. We will continue (or start) fighting for the family...especially our family
4. We will not lose our faith (Our ministry can cause us to lose our faith)
5. We need people (at least one) in our lives that will remind us that what we are doing is important!

Orange was all about combining 2 influences to reach our children and our teens:
1. The influence of the church
2. The influence of the family

The Orange Conference was a great conference...check it out for 2008!

Nick

We were really challenged by Sue Miller in our main session today…

What are the kids in our ministries really going to walk away with when we hand them their grad gift and a handshake?

What do they do when their faith is tested…do they have the faith skills they need to thrive in their walk with Jesus?

So…

Last night we had our first official planned strategy-meeting as a family ministry….wahoo!!!

We sat outside with notebooks and laptops in hand and begin to slowly map out what it might look like to partner with parents as they raise their kids and foster a life that introduces them to Jesus…

It was really amazing…last night we chose TEAM for our ministries…last night we began to see that, together, we could offer mom and dad some pretty significant help on their journey…as a TEAM…that team doesn’t just include us…that team really means us, small group leaders, helpers….basically anyone who is a part of pre-school, kids, and student ministry at our church.

Our late night talk was great! Moving…advancing…kingdom….so in the words of Chap Clark…”we are not doing a job, we are following the king!”

Doug

The Orange Conference was UNBELIEVABLE!! I can’t describe something like this: amazing worship by Steve Fee and Kristian Stanfill; Reggie Joiner, head of the Rethink Group, does an excellent job bringing the strategy and process of family ministry in a relevant way. His communication is second to none.

Other speakers were Francis Chan, Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, Sue Miller, and many other breakout leaders.

And to top it all off, a surprise appearance by Jeff Foxworthy during the last session was awesome!! He talked about rednecks in the Bible. Then he spoke about his comments at the Country Music Awards. It was very powerful.

The Orange Conference, overall, was a great experience. Our group of 6 that went came back refreshed and have tons of ideas that we are looking into - how we can be more effective in what we already do, evaluate those things, and see where we can become better at family ministry.

Mark