Thursday Morning General Session Highlights

Kicked off the session with a promo for Big Stuf Camps.  It looks really cool and you should check it out.

Then there was a promo for Land of a Thousand Hills coffee.  It is doing a great work so check out their website here.

Reggie came on stage and then led us in prayer for all the victims of tornados that ravaged a bunch of communities and states the past few days.  In fact, some groups from Orange had to leave last night to go minister to their communities.  It was a great time to pray with others at the conference.

Then Reggie started talking about a new research that Orange did with Barna and the affects that technology is having on families.  The findings were not as “bad” as they thought.  Technology is not having a negative impact on families as much as we assume it is (i.e., Facebook is not destroying marriages – marriages were falling apart before Facebook – the issues are what is destroying marriages). Social media just brings the issues to light a bit more than in the past.  So to blame technology for the destruction of marriages or families is the wrong place to put blame. It is neutral.  The issues affecting families and marriages go beyond technology.  You can get a copy of this research is at the Orange Store.

Reggie said that the church has 40 hours each year to impact a child.  The home has about 3,000 hours on a given year.  The orange effect is when the church and the home are partnering together.  We need to say less more often.  We have to decide what really matters.  Whatever curriculum you use, think about how we can get involved in their life with a message that is repeated and reinforced in their lives.  What are the important truths to speak into their lives.

Reggie challenged us to do 4 things:

1. Come up with a comprehensive plan
2. Put a consistent small group in the life of a student
3. Rearrange your church schedule to include an FX (Family Experience – getting parents in a room together with other parents and children to give them a vision.
4. Calendar your family time with your family at least once a week (Staffers of church – we need to spend time with our families)

If you want to MOVE families in a better direction, make your own family a priority.

Notes from Jeff Manion’s talk:

• Out of the 28 years in marriage and ministry, 24 of those years have been with children of his own.  Most of us are trying to figure out how to figure them both out simultaneously.
• What in the world does God intend to do in tough seasons?  It is the land between.  You will find yourself in the land between.
• Israel, when they left Egypt, going to the land of milk and honey was in the desert – the land between.  It was a tough season in their history.
• Exodus 3:7 – 8a.  God has seen, He has heard their prayers and He is concerned!  That is huge!  He then wanted to bring them out of that land into a better land!  He has come to rescue!  Nothing was said about the land between.  Nothing was said about the desert.
• God loved them, God cherished them, God cared for them…into the desert they went.
• God will not always rescue you from the desert.  He will rescue you out of the desert, but he cannot prevent you from going into the land between.
• the land between is fertile ground for transformational growth.  It is also where faith goes to die.  Remember that.
• 1st Crisis – Water crisis (Exodus 15).  When they got there, the water was bitter.  But after they complained, Moses made it sweet.
• 2nd Crisis – Food crisis (Exodus 16).  They grumbled because they had no food. They wanted to go back to Egypt.
• 3rd Crisis – Water crisis again (Exodus 17).  They again grumbled.
• Those of us traveling in the land between are sick of being in the desert.  It is hard.  Be careful, it can be fertile ground for spiritual transformational growth, but it can be where your faith goes to die.  It’s your move!!!
• The creator is asking the Israelites over and over again “will you trust me?”.
• When you get into the land of between will you trust God or trust baal?  God is asking you “will you trust me?”
• No matter what your land of between is, what does God want to do in you?  It does not matter what is happening to those around you, what does God want to do in you?  How can God meet you?  God is asking you “will you trust me enough” to do a work in you.
• Time doesn’t heal all wounds.  There are chooses of the heart that are made in the land between in which you are deciding how you will move forward.
• When you pass through the land of between, your heart is in conflict.  How you respond in this land will determine who you become down the road.