Orange Conference

This past week I attended the Orange conference that focused on Children and Family ministry. They call it Orange, because they want you to "collide" with the world. The light of Jesus (Yellow) and the hearts of people (Red) make the collision ORANGE! It was AMAZING! God really did some work in my soul these past few days! I wasn't prepared for that! I was totally thinking I'd gain something for the Children's Ministry....and that's about it. I was so wrong! I think the biggest thing I learned is that I need to let go of my ego. As a perfectionist, that is hard to do, but unless I do that, and humble myself, I will not be fully committed as I should to Jesus. I am SO afraid to make mistakes, I am so afraid to fail....but if I don't fail, how will I learn and grow? If I don't step out of my comfort zone, and realize that this is God's will in my life...then I will never test the boundaries of what I am truly capable of. I have never really thought as Ministry as a full time thing. I felt like I wasn't educated enough, smart enough, or spiritual enough...and quite honestly...it scared me!

God revealed to me that if I am going to serve Him, first I need to truly accept who I am. I need to stop worrying about who I am not, and cherish the person that I am, the person that God has created me to be. Ironically, in 8th grade I was in a Bible Study, and one of the very first memory verses I memorized was Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." I do not have the gift of memorizing scripture and being able to quote it, and that is one of the few verses that I can quote, and have always remembered. I am God's work of art, and I need to own that that and rejoice in that. I need to stand firm in that God is not done with me, and He will keep working on my soul. God will give me wisdom that I need. I will never be able to pray as eloquently as Catherine, or be as funny as Julie, or sing like Beth....because God created me to be ME!

When I first arrived at Orange, I felt so out of my league. There were people there that have been in Ministry for years, who have these huge teams, and put on these "Nickelodeon type" of productions each week in their program. They are serving 100's of kids. At first I was envious, and felt like I was nothing. That I did nothing compared to them. I even texted Nathan at one point that night and said "In the midst of 4000 people, I have never felt so alone." I sat in the arena, and just prayed about it. One of first speakers I listened to was Perry Noble. He is the Senior pastor of a fairly large church (New Spring) in South Carolina. Awesome speaker and very down to earth guy!! His message was primarily to Senior Pastors, and when he was talking he said "If you don't have someone who LOVES and is passionate about kids as your Children's Minister, then you really need to do some praying and refocus you attention on that....because if the kids are not feeling loved, and not having fun....then they aren't going to come back." As simple as that seems, that really spoke to me. I really thought about that, and thought.... Well, yes, I am only serving (on a good Sunday) about 30 children a week, but you know what? I know all of their names, I have time to talk and hug each child. I can talk to each one of them about something that they shared with me the week before. I know their parents, their siblings, and even some of their grandparents. In God's eyes, He is not looking at numbers in attendance...He doesn't care if I have a tons of kids there....as long as one child knows Him better by the end of that Sunday morning, then all is ok. He isn't looking at the fancy facilities, or the professional actors. He goes for the HEART and is NOT impressed with the “show” or the “know!

Another highlight was meeting Rev Run. He was so nice and I was so star struck the entire time. I got his book "Taking back your Family" and it is REALLY good!

Another thing that struck me is mission work and all the opportunities and I am excited that I signed up for a mission project for our Children's ministry to be a part of. I am also feeling a calling to go on a trip...and possibly an over seas adoption. Nathan and I are firm that we want to adopt a child (or two) but not sure when or from where. I heard stories from missionaries that were serving in Haiti about babies dying from the rain (they have no where dry to go). I heard stories about AIDS orphans as young as 7 that are raising their 3 and 4 year old siblings.

I could probably type all night about all of this! :) Orange was a live changing amazing event! I am so thankful to have been able to attend, and SO thankful to be in my position that I am in at my church. I am LOVING my "job!"