My ORANGE Experience #5-a

There was so much to take away from this experience that it is impossible to pick just one. However, I was really struck by the opening by Reggie Joiner titled The Prodigal Generation. How do we make the church different but still accomplished what it is supposed to?….teach truth and the message of Jesus, provide community and support the family of believers while displaying strong leadership and creativity. I’m not sure which version of the bible they were using, but it was stated that Luke 15:1-2 says Jesus came to build a bridge to sinners. (I looked it up in the NIV and it says that He welcomes sinners and eats with them-so, same thing). We looked at the story of the Prodigal Son and its approach to sinners. The Pharisees symbolized the older brother and Jesus the loving father. The goal is to be like Jesus and I think we do a great job of that at FRC and in FRC Kids. Just some reminders on how to keep evolving as a Loving Father church:

• We need to stay pre-occupied with whoever is missing (how do we reach the ones we are not reaching)
• We need to operate from the context of forgiveness
• We need to throw a party when a lost son or daughter comes home
• We need to confront the “older brother thinking” and keep the lights on for as long as it takes

I’d like to challenge all of the volunteers to take another look at this parable and see how it fits into our vision of partnering with parents to help kids reach there God potential.

Stay tuned! I've got more! :-)

Kaarina Altman, Lagoon Coodinator, Volunteer Admin. Assitant

My ORANGE Experience #4

The first thing I would like to say about the Orange Conference is what an honor I felt being asked to attend being that I’m “just” a volunteer. But being “just” a volunteer means I’m “just” one of the biggest influences in the lives of many children each and every week. I “just” may be the only one who tells these kids about the love of Christ and how very special they are to Him. I’m “just” the person that they can talk to when they don’t talk to their parents. One of the speakers at the conference pointed out that being “just” a volunteer can change the lives of many, many children and we have one of the most important jobs in society.

This really challenged the way that I think about how I serve and interact with the kids AND their parents. Part of what we do is try and get the parents involved more in the spiritual development of their children because they have much, much more time than the approximately 40 hours a year that we have at the church. When you’re as busy as most of us stay running around getting things set up, broke down, fixing , finding, etc., it’s easy to lose sight of this. Because as Francis Chan, the pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, stated the church is all about community. His message burnt like a branding iron on my heart because I’ve often noticed when reading the New Testament how much more devoted to each other were the members of the early church. They gave sometimes all they had in order to support each other. They broke bread together, which was a really big deal in that time. Pastor Chan told of how he and many members of his congregation had taken vows to support each other and their families to the extent that some were canceling their life insurance, others were living day to day from where they could (even out of their cars) and giving the money to the church. They are taking the idea of community to the Apostle’s level.

I think I can speak for all who attended, from FRC anyway, that it was a life changing experience. Some of us arrived as strangers and went home as a community of FRC believers with heads full of ideas and hearts full of desire to make the children’s ministries at all of our campuses better, growing and alive in Christ.

Mac Cumpton, Storyteller, Sawgrass Campus

My ORANGE Experience #3

Let me first start by saying thanks to FRC for the opportunity to attend this awesome conference!

The #1 thing that I personally took with me from the Orange conference was passion. Hearing all of these wonderful speakers reminding us why we do what we do and why it is so important renewed the passion I have for all that we do here @ FRC Kids. There were so many memorable moments-some where I laughed so hard, it was hard to stop (thanks Lanny Donoho!), and many where I was moved to tears. More importantly, I got the opportunity to deepen my friendships with some and create new ones with others (each of these amazing people are pictured below) while we shared this experience together.

I have been feeling so very inspired and I know that the real challenge lies ahead...to find the ways (and time & energy!) to carry through on the many new ideas that came out of this experience.

I am sure in the coming weeks and months you will hear more about what we have learned. The future of the church and the world really are in the hands of our children. Think about that statement...what we do is THAT important! Sue Miller said something that touched us all, and I want you all to think about this one: How many times have you heard someone say they are "just a volunteer" or "just a small group leader"? How many times have you said it? How many times have you thought it? To the children, we are much more than that, to the parents and families of these children we are much more than that...to God we are much more than that! Now, I am going to repeat that same thought: The future of the church and the world really are in the hands of our children. What we do is THAT important!

On a more personal note, I want to challenge all of you to do something...maybe you have been thinking of taking a missions trip, maybe you have been thinking about diving further into the ministry, maybe it's joining a small group...to renew yourself and your passion in our ministry. It is so important! You see, I didn't realize how badly I needed to do something along those lines to re-ignite that passion and to renew my spirit & re-energize me.

Orange is a color of change...are you ready?

-Gina Asada, Coach, Cooper City Campus

My ORANGE Experience #2

Wow, this has been a week of firsts for me. My first time blogging. My first time flying (in a really, really long time). But must importantly, my first time going to the Orange conference in Atlanta. What can I say about the conference, other than it was AWESOME! I went with a really terrific group of people--several zany but loveable children’s ministry leaders from Cooper and Sawgrass (and of course, I was representing Doral). We were bombarded with so much information it was at times overwhelming. But, I can’t wait to put some of the great ideas into action. I have worked with children for many years in various churches, and I’ll admit that I was getting a little stale. No more! God has awakened in me a renewed fervor to reach the next generation (while they are still reachable). To, as they say in Orange, awaken their wonder to the marvels of our God; guide them to discover their own relationship with their Heavenly Father; and ignite in them a passion to share Jesus with others. Thank you, FRC, for including me in this great experience.

Sara Reyes, Children’s Ministry Volunteer, Doral Campus

Pictures from the Orange Conference

Here are some pictures from the Orange Conference. I hope you enjoy them.

Annette Mesa

My ORANGE Experience #1

The 1st thing I took away from this conference is that I am valuable in this ministry. Everything I do in the children ministry matters and that I am making a Kingdom difference. There was one guy in particular who cracked me up so much. His name is Lanny Donoho. He is so funny and he loves to dress up. He was Mr. Rogers, Batman, Andy Taylor, and a guy in a really out of fashion orange tux. Francis Chan speaks with so much passion and he really challenged me in different ways. He was talking about expecting the supernatural work of God – seeing work completed that was totally and completely only possible by God’s spirit, not by human engineering. It made me think about my faith and my relationship with God. I also loved Sue Miller's energy on stage. She is so sweet and when she speaks to volunteers, it is so evident the incredible passion she has for them. I got so many ideas from Jeffrey Reed, Donald Miller, and Sunny Williams. Orange Conference was so amazing and I thank God, FRC, Charlotte, and Nefertiti for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this amazing event. For me it was a life changing experience.

by Annette Mesa, Cooper City Saturday Night Host/DC Coach

ORANGE CONFERENCE A BIG HIT!

WOW! What an incredible three days we had at ORANGE '08 in Atlanta, GA! From learning how to lead more effectively, to getting great ideas for enlisting, equipping and empowering volunteers, to personal priority challenges [learning to put first things first], to learning how to reach today's families while being "culturally transcendent", ORANGE '08 allowed us the opportunity to be stretched and challenged in such a good way! It was so good to spend time getting to better know the volunteers and staff to where able to go. We have been inspired in ways that are hard to put into words and are so grateful for the opportunity we had to hear from God through some incredible communicators of these last few days. THANKS FRC for making this incredible experience possible through resourcing our trip. Be sure to ask those pictured here about their trip! And stay tuned in here to read some of the blogs about their experience! See you all this weekend!