Thoughts from the Orange Conference - Personal

I just attended the Orange Conference in Atlanta.  

It was the Orange Conference that first inspired me to blog, and honestly I had recently given up on blogging, but I am inspired to try again.

Over the next four days I will post bullet points on my thoughts from the Orange Conference.  They are just bullet points, not complete thoughts.  So if you want deeper understanding of a point or two you'll have to comment and ask.

Today we start with the things that impacted me personally. These bullet points capture the changes that I hope to see in my approach to people and ministry:

• Community is Messy. That’s okay God uses messy.  When I try to avoid mess, I avoid the things that can cause me and others to grow.
• See people for who they can become in Christ, instead of for their biggest mistake.
• Invest in the Kingdom of God, not in building a kingdom. God’s kingdom is bigger than my church.
• Be more available. – Thousands experienced Jesus’ abilities (ie speaking, healing, and miracles) but only about 120 people were huddled together praying after his resurrection.  These were the people who had experienced his availability.  It was through these people that He changed the world.
• People will not believe they are significant until they are given something significant to do.
• Cast vision big enough to scare high capacity leaders. Big vision attracts high capacity leaders.
• How people respond to my message has more to do with my approach than my argument.
• Fight for people, rather than with them.
• Remember that people outside the church won’t believe something “because the bible says so” The authority of the early church came from their love. Their love was demonstrated by putting their belief into action, not just by talking about it, is what caused people to listen to their message, and gave authority to their words.
• Think about how appealing the smell of fresh baked bread is.  Anyone passing by a bakery longs for what is inside.  I should be like that as a Christian.

Now hopefully something you just read provoked a thought.  If so post a comment, and let's talk.