Orange Conference Finale
I apologize for not updating this week… internet cost $10.00 a day and we just were not around enough to make it worth it. So here we go let me fill you in on this past week in Atlanta;
Tuesday:
- The morning session we had the privilege of hearing from Francis Chan (lead pastor of Simi Valley Church in California) He had a real interesting way of bringing across his message. It wasn’t your 5 point sermon…it was more like him simply sharing what was on his heart. The biggest thing that came across for me was his challenge for us as leaders to ask God to show up in big ways. His church decided last year to give away half of the money they bring in….that translated to over 1 million dollars! I can’t even begin to imagine any church stepping out like that. Two weeks ago his church wrote their last cheque for $250,000!
- Morning Breakout Session – this was so cool! I had the opportunity to sit and listen to Nancy Ortberg for over an hour. Talk about a brilliant woman…she had some many incredible thoughts and truths about leadership that I am hoping to incorporate into my leadership philosophy and practices.
- Afternoon session – Donald Miller the author of Blue Like Jazz…shared from his heart regarding the keys leaders in his own life. He did a great job through stories describing the relationships he has with these people and why he feels they are leaders in his life.
Wednesday:
- Morning session – Andy Stanley – lead pastor of North Point Community Church in Atlanta (one of the fastest growing churches in North America) shared about his thoughts on leadership and some of the concerns he has with the state of the church in North America. He gave us all a lot to think about in a very short time
- Morning breakout – In this session Carey Neiwhoff a good Canadian boy from Barrie, Ontario shared some great insights on how to partner with parents. Although the majority of his insights are common sense he brought them across in such a way that the light bulb really came on. Think about this….we have students in our ministry for approximately 40 hours a year. Parents on the other hand have their children for over 3000 hours. If that is the case the question we must answer is – why do we put so much energy and resources toward those 40 hours when the majority of our students time is being spent in the home?
- Afternoon Session – the conference ended off with a very heart felt and inspirational message from Louie Giglio. The one thing that really stood out and resonated with me is the idea that the church is treading on shaky ground. What exactly is the shaky ground? The shaky ground is the desire and passion to be culturally relevant as the church. It’s not that being relevant is a bad thing – it’s that it becomes an issue when that is our ultimate purpose for “doing” church. Louie believes it’s the golden calf of our generation…which I firmly believe to be true.
Overall, it’s been a great week – I can’t say that I learned alot but I am walking away with a ton of things to consider and chew on. Sometimes I think with these conferences we are just looking for formulas and easy step by step fixes. I am so looking forward to getting back to the church and starting the long process of unpacking the ideas and truths we have discovered this week.
Brody and I will be getting up at 6am to head off to the airport. We fly out at 9:30 and land in Calgary at 5:30pm. I can’t wait to see Keri and the boys! Off to bed I go!
