The 2008 Orange Conference Rocked!
I posted highlights from each of the main sessions on my blog: (Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) it was the first time I blogged anything live, it was challenging keeping up with the likes of Louie Giglio and Francis Chan, because while you type they can throw out like 3 huge thoughts that are essential to their talk.
Modeling Leadership: The over all message that I heard throughout the conference was that our children and students need adult leaders to model being the kind of church they are to be when they take on the roles of the adult leaders in the future. – The big issue I see here is the need for adult education, because if you are awake and a leader in the church, you may have heard by now that the church is in decline, that’s because our adults are modeling a church they were shown, and its disconnecting with this generation.
Being Versus Doing: I think Louie Giglio ended the conference with a great message. He opened by asking the crowd, “What if we decided to just BE the church?” He did a great talk about how the church cannot make relevancy its “golden calf,” but his fear is, that the contemporary church has already done so, and that the modern church will make social justice their “golden calf.”
I think the best point was that we should choose to be a transcendent church, being the church of Jesus Christ as our goal, versus trying to always be relevant. The problem with relevance is that you will always be a step behind, because the person who is setting the pace for “relevancy” is always going to be a step ahead, but with the church, we have Jesus and He was before us, He is with us, and He will be after us. It doesn’t matter what happens with culture ahead of us, because Jesus will be there.
Breakouts: Were good minus 1. I did not care too much for the UNEDITED: reThinking Student Ministry. Then again I have been to some of the top notch student ministry conferences in the country and I get to hang out with the absolute best youth pastors in the country and Doug Fields once a year, so I may be a little spoiled? In this breakout it felt like the session never gained traction!
Breakouts “Engaging Parents of Teens” with Chap Clark, “Mobilizing the Next Generation” with Stuart Hall, and “College Prep: Protecting our Investment in Kids” with Chuck Bomar was absolutely awesome. I am going to have to email these speakers to get their notes as I could not keep up. Every single session was top notch.
Biggest Surprises: My first biggest surprise: In one of the Breakouts I sat in the back of the room so my laptop could recharge for the live blogging of the main sessions while I took notes. This is what I noticed. 1/3rd of the room was doing “something else” and was not paying attention. Text messaging, games on their laptops, sleeping, staring off into space, etc. 1/3 of the room ended up filtering out of the room before it was over with (it was a large room, so it was not so obvious to the front and the speakers), and 1/3 was paying attention. Of course this is not scientific factual data, but it made me think, “this is why our student ministries are in trouble!” And then I wanted to have my own session on that thought.
How can youth pastors catch a vision for their ministries if they don’t listen to people who are much smarter than they are? Or who have been in the trenches for longer than they have been? Even if the speaker makes no sense, they may have something little that speaks volumes. I am not judging these people, but I am sure their churches invested around $300 for them to be there just in the conference ticket and they were not making use of the investment. It just saddened me because I have a heart for students and youth pastors.
My other surprise: Was in one of the Breakouts where the room was asked, “Who is not familiar with Duffy Robbins?” Half the room’s hands went up. I was shocked. I thought everyone knew of Duffy. Maybe they were all fairly new leaders? Or they don’t pay attention at conferences? Either way I was surprised.
Messages: I thought all of the speakers did a great job with their messages. I especially enjoyed Reggie Joyner’s message on the Prodigal son, and how every church will be an “Older Brother Church” or a “Loving Father Church.” – Louie and Francis always blow me away, and Donald Miller’s talk on leadership was very good.
I thought the conference was awesome and hope I have the opportunity to return next year!
I am going to look forward to reading all your blogs on this conference. I am working my way through it on reflection and debriefing.
Your thought on the surprise is very true. It amazes me at times. I am sure that those yp’s that were texting or walked out would be “livid” if students did that to them.
“adults are modeling a church they were shown, and its disconnecting with this generation”
Isn’t that the truth!! Golly, I could talk for hours on all the things I think churches are doing that turn my generation off. That really gets me worked up.
Nick, thanks for the notes throughout the conference!
Jeff great thought on the Youth Pastor’s reaction if the situation was reversed…I agree!
I was at Orange too, and I totally noticed how people walked out way before the breakout session was over. I was in the “Community Driven Church” breakout about small groups, and I was so enticed by the speaking and the Q&A… but halfway through the Q&A, I looked back to the rest of the room, and it was almost empty! I was so shocked. How can people fork over so much money to come to an amazing conference like this, and then not care if they learn anything or not? Like you said, it completely saddens me because I am so passionate about helping the church become the model that Jesus set forth, and yet there are apparently people at amazing conferences like that who don’t necessarily act as if they feel the same way.
Christiekiley…thanks for visiting the blog and for sharing your thoughts! I hope this does not sound bad, but I am kind of glad I am not the only one who noticed the walking out of the breakouts, for a little while I felt like I was complaining or just being judgmental, but apparently it was an issue, as it is at other conferences.