The Orange Conference 2008- Part 2
Well, the Orange Conference has officially begun. Last night, Reggie Joiner opened up the conference with a teaching from Luke 15.
If you’ve never heard of Reggie, you might be interested in knowing that Reggie is the founder and CEO of the reThink Group, Inc, as well as the co-author of one of my all time favorite books, The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry.
I would love to let you in on everything that Reggie shared, but I’m just going to give you his outline and let you chew on that the rest of the day.
Loving Fathers are preoccupied with whoever is missing.
Older brothers are preoccupied with themselves.
Loving Fathers operate from a context of forgiveness.
Older brothers operate from a context of shame.
Loving Fathers throw parties
Older brothers throw fits.
Loving Fathers confront “older brother” thinking.
Older brothers criticize “loving father” thinking.
Loving Fathers keep the lights on for as long as it takes.
Older brothers close the door and turn off the lights.
He concluded by asking this simple question, “What would happen if we decided to treat every prodigal like a loving father would treat his own son?”
Anyway, it was a great start to the conference.
More to come.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Wow, that’s some good stuff. And I don’t think that would apply to just a childrens / family ministry, but to all ministries. Unfortunately, you see the Older Brother mentality alot, even in our own church. People have to realize that it’s not about themselves, it’s about God. And the only way we’re going to reach the goals that God has set for us is to put ourselves behind the ministry that we’re working in and focus on how we can show others the love of God, not whether or not someone shows up to a small group on time or is acting like a “Christian”. I know God has never closed the door on us, so why should we close the door on others?
April 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I couldn’t agree more, Chris! If you have enough loving fathers in your church, hopefully the older brothers will get frustrated and just leave…just a thought!