Tag: Jesus

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The 2008 Orange Conference Final Thoughts

The 2008 Orange Conference Rocked!

I posted highlights from each of the main sessions on my blog: (Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) it was the first time I blogged anything live, it was challenging keeping up with the likes of Louie Giglio and Francis Chan, because while you type they can throw out like 3 huge thoughts that are essential to their talk.

Modeling Leadership: The over all message that I heard throughout the conference was that our children and students need adult leaders to model being the kind of church they are to be when they take on the roles of the adult leaders in the future. – The big issue I see here is the need for adult education, because if you are awake and a leader in the church, you may have heard by now that the church is in decline, that’s because our adults are modeling a church they were shown, and its disconnecting with this generation.

Being Versus Doing: I think Louie Giglio ended the conference with a great message. He opened by asking the crowd, “What if we decided to just BE the church?” He did a great talk about how the church cannot make relevancy its “golden calf,” but his fear is, that the contemporary church has already done so, and that the modern church will make social justice their “golden calf.”

I think the best point was that we should choose to be a transcendent church, being the church of Jesus Christ as our goal, versus trying to always be relevant. The problem with relevance is that you will always be a step behind, because the person who is setting the pace for “relevancy” is always going to be a step ahead, but with the church, we have Jesus and He was before us, He is with us, and He will be after us. It doesn’t matter what happens with culture ahead of us, because Jesus will be there.

Breakouts: Were good minus 1. I did not care too much for the UNEDITED: reThinking Student Ministry. Then again I have been to some of the top notch student ministry conferences in the country and I get to hang out with the absolute best youth pastors in the country and Doug Fields once a year, so I may be a little spoiled? In this breakout it felt like the session never gained traction!

Breakouts “Engaging Parents of Teens” with Chap Clark, “Mobilizing the Next Generation” with Stuart Hall, and “College Prep: Protecting our Investment in Kids” with Chuck Bomar was absolutely awesome. I am going to have to email these speakers to get their notes as I could not keep up. Every single session was top notch. Continue reading “The 2008 Orange Conference Final Thoughts”

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2008 Orange Conference Session 5

2008 Orange Conference

Session 5

Louie Giglio

New Question: Can the church influence culture or lead culture?

  • The church is not poised corporately to take the lead in culture.
  • A whole new idea – What if we decided together to be the church of Jesus Christ? What if that was our Goal?
  • The church that Jesus said He would build…the one that Jesus said that even Hell would not prevail.
  • What if  we chose to be instead of just do?
  • John 1:1-3, 14-?
  • It’s an incarnate church – The Message “Jesus put flesh on and moved into the neighborhood” – We are the presence of God in the neighborhood.
  • The church is transcendent – We, “the church,” can transcend culture.
  • Jesus was before us, He is with us, and He will be after us.
  • Relevance is to be in step with, so to strive to be relevant means that we will always be behind someone. Trying to be relevant is tiring because you can never catch up.
  • One extreme is to completely avoid being culturally relevant…the other is to be oversaturated with cultural relevance. Relevance may have become the golden calf of the contemporary church. The golden calf of the future/emerging church may be social justice.
  • Because of Christ, we transcend culture…I cannot even type the notes for what Louie just said…Wow!
  • It doesn’t matter what is going to happen…because Jesus “Will Be…” – We can relate to people even if we do not have a lot in common, because Jesus “Is” Continue reading “2008 Orange Conference Session 5”
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Do

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOG_GHNVq0]

I’ve been thinking about this commercial for a while now. I have had the privilege of attending some of the greatest conferences in this Country for church leaders, yet it seems that year after year we discuss some of the same issues with ministries in the church and in the Christian culture as if nothing is changing. Research data shows that nothing much has improved. This is in no way to take away from what a lot of churches are doing, trust me, there are a lot of churches who are rocking it for God! However, we as an “unified” body are doing nothing, and it bothers me.

This post or video is not to take away from what I am learning at the Orange Conference. Some of the key words reminded me of this commercial today. “ReThink” “Programs” “Processes” “Innovate” “New Ideas” – All great terms, but meaningless unless there is substance to back them up. There was one breakout that confused me today, but that is not to take away from the conference as a whole, everything will not be 100%, but it seemed that people were sharing a lot of their Ideation, but no solid “hows” to move the Church and Christian culture in a direction to answer these issues that we are focusing on. I think there has to be a time and place to quit discussing and thinking and start doing.

I think it is time that we as the “Church” stop Ideating and start DOING! I am passionate about this, but feel I do not know what I can do to influence people to ‘do,’ except post this on my blog. Will you start doing with me? Maybe if a few of us join together we will see some changes. I heard Rick Warren say this past week that he wants to be a part of starting the 2nd Reformation of the church. The first Reformation was about Creeds (we know what we believe now) so the 2nd Reformation will be about “deeds.” – If your ministry, or if you are doing something personally to “Do” versus “Ideate” please share with me what you are doing…If you are Ideating and not doing, please share with me what you are praying God will use you to do – Then we can do it together…

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2008 Orange Conference Session 3

The 2008 Orange Conference
Session 3

Donald Miller:

On Leadership…

  • How Donald sees Leadership: A person who gets to know you in such a way that makes you want to take ownership or part in their vision.
  • Jesus influenced many, but led 12.
  • A leader gets to know people.
  • A leader invites people to own their vision and to take part in the vision…gets people involved in fulfilling the vision.
  • Leaders need to be following someone, if they are not being led, we need to be cautious about following them.
  • A leader’s ambition should be huge and absurd.
  • Attempting BIG things will emulate a process of thinking big in those that we follow (I.E. Our Children)
  • Leadership does not allow people to watch “the vision” happen, but to be a part of “the vision.” (Donald told of a story with an annual San Diego Parade and how it began…great story!)
  • Leaders speak something into nothingness.
  • God has asked us to lead; he has invited us into the vision.
  • Eventually when you have an idea, you give it away to the place where people don’t even know that the original vision and idea came from you, it grows and expands because of ownership.
  • My Challenge: To lead like Jesus led.
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2008 Orange Conference Session 2

2008 Orange Conference by ReThink Group

Session 2

Francis Chan:

  • Is the success in churches from God and the Holy Spirit moving, or is it good marketing?
  • With the right team, Francis can build a Mormon church, a Jehovah’s church, maybe even a Baptist Church
  • Francis doesn’t want to preach another message, he wants to experience something supernatural…something God! – Acts was of God.
  • Does it bother us that we walk into our neighborhoods and the lost have more evidences of the fruits of the spirit than those in the church? Shouldn’t there be a difference between someone without the Spirit and the one who is the Temple of the Holy Spirit?
  • We can create church attenders and some disciplined people, but we cannot create Christ lovers, people filled with God’s spirit.
  • Is it God that we are experiencing in our ministries? Are we sure? Are we experiencing God because we know its God, or are we just excited because “we” pulled something off.
  • There is a huge difference in what the Bible says and what we see in the church – yet we are crippled to say anything because everyone seems so happy. So we do not even try to hold our churches to the Biblical standard. (Yep!)
  • **Francis: If Jesus planted a church in Semi Valley California, Francis’ church would be bigger, because people do not want to follow the standard that Jesus calls us to. (Lose our life for his sake, deny father and mother, sacrifice, death) Continue reading “2008 Orange Conference Session 2”