Orange ’13: Thursday Morning General Session Notes

Today’s theme is “Words”

Ken Koleman was interviewed by Reggie Joiner

We are teaching kids to answer questions. We should be teaching them to ask questions.
the most successful people are still asking questions
sometimes we can focus so much of what is next that we miss what’s in the now
Andy Stanley keeps asking, “Why am I doing what I’m doing”
Always be asking questions

After worship, Andy Stanley then shared the main message at the morning session.

Rethink how you talk about scripture to children and youth. This is a challenge of approach.

Rethink he way you talk about scripture because we are not the majority and we do not have authority over everyone.

1. Your approach determines people’s response to what we have to say

2. We must adapt out approach depending on who our audience is

1 Corinthians 9:19-23…change your approach to reach other types of people. Paul adapted and changed his approach depending on who he was talking to in hopes to win some for the sake of the gospel
Paul was out to win some…the approach changes but the goal stays the same

3. You inherited an approach that assumed a consensus about scripture

7 guidelines for sharing to our children and youth

1. Choose a passage of scripture and stay there

instead of calling it a bible story, what if we say it is “history”
make it interesting, bring your energy to the scripture (not just the illustration) & practical

2. Give people permission not to believe or obey scripture

people don’t believe…when you do this they will be more interested to explore
1 Corinthians 512-13 – none of our business to judge others outside the church
when you give them an out, they respond by diving in (“just try it”)
the attraction of the church is everyone doing one another to one another to one another…who doesn’t want to be apart of that? Look how they live one another

3. Teach in a manner that emphasize the identity of Jesus over the authority of scripture

they believed he was the son of God because he rose from the dead
you are not Christian because of the Bible
the foundation of our faith is not the Bible, it’s “history” of Christ’s resurrection!
we have to talk in a way that ties everything back to who was Jesus
the foundation of our faith is based on the resurrection, not the infallibility of scripture

4. Don’t refer to the Bible as a book

it’s way better than the book
we don’t need to say God wrote the Bible…over 40 different people wrote it inspired by God

5. Cite authors not the Bible

“today we are going to look at what James wrote…” “Paul writes…”
it’s just a change in approach…not changing what we know
tie the author back to history and who that person was
We should not expect rational to believe Jesus rose from the dead because the Bible says so
Jesus rose from the dead because people actually experienced it and wrote about it. They actually saw a dead man walking. Real people saw it and we’re willing to die for it
don’t say “biblical marriage”…say “christian marriage”…how many great marriages are in the Bible…I submit to _____ is because of what Christ did for me and what Christ called me to. Don’t change what you believe only your approach

6. Acknowledge the odd as odd

7. Don’t create the impression that you must choose between faith and science

science is the search for natural explanations. We need science in life!
when you take your child to the Dr., you pray and also hope a Dr. has a natural understanding of how things work so your child can be healed

Acts 15:19 – “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

Lets not make it difficult for our children to stay firm in their faith, not because of the Bible but because of an event that changed history!