Although the first breakout of the day was exceptional, the second breakout session I attended was beyond brilliant.

Reggie Joiner led the second breakout session and he shared with us eight observations from Andy Stanley’s leadership style.

I wish I had the space to blog about everything he mentioned with each principle, but for today, the eight principles themselves will have to do. 

1. Meet to learn

2. Ask the right questions

3. Believe the best

4. Establish margin

5. Move the spotlight

6. Keep things simple

7. Personalize the strategy

8. Lead exponentially

Again, I wish I could break all this down for you, but it would take up way too much space.  Trust me though…amazing stuff!

I attended two breakouts today and both were outstanding. 

The first breakout session was led by Carey Nieuwhof, and centered around simplifying your church. 

Here are some of the notes from that session on “How to Become and Stay Simple”:

1. Redesign with the end of mind.

2. Think steps, not programs.

Do less for more.

Make the things you do easy, obvious, and strategic steps that actually move people along their spiritual journeys toward an actual destination.

3. Get great at saying, “No!”

Most of us are unconsciously willing to let our organizations suffer to avoid personal pain 

4. Cultivate Organizational and Personal Alignment

Aligned “B” players are more effective than super-star “A” players who won’t work together.

Select team members who have a greater heart for the vision than they do for their place in the vision.

This is cool stage where all the main sessions for the Orange Conference have been taking place.  Pretty sweet setup, right?

Francis Chan is the pastor of Cornerstone Community Church and the president of Eternity Bible College in Simi Valley, California. 

He is an incredible speaker that I’ve had the privilege of hearing on several occasions and he is always great.

Today was no different.

Because Francis’ style of communicating is not the easiest to take notes on, you’ll have to settle for this random collection of comments and observations I wrote down:

“Have you ever done something and someone praised the Heavenly Father because of it?” 

“If I had never read any other books or taken any classes in seminary, and I just had the Bible to go by, I would probably just say to God, ‘Please give me the Holy Spirit!’”

“On Pentecost, no one walked away and said, ‘Man, that Peter is awesome!’  No, no, no…they said, ‘Man, God is awesome!’”

“I’m embarrassed by a lot of people in the church…I’m embarrassed because they don’t have the Holy Spirit living within them.”

“Are you experiencing God in your ministry?  Are you sure it’s Him?” 

“A ‘miracle’ today would be if the church loved their neighbors as themselves!”

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.

I’m heading off to “The Orange Conference” tomorrow and I’m taking with me some of Southside’s best and brightest volunteers.  Over the next few days, we’re going to spend most of our waking hours listening and learning from some of the most influential family ministry leaders in the country.

It’s going to be great and I can’t wait. 

Also, as I usually do on my conference excursions, I’m going to try my best to give you the highlights from the conference so you can learn right along with me.