So Integrated Strategy? The ol’ two heads are better than one thing huh? But is that how it really is? Yeah unless someone gets in the way.

I’ll start with probably my favorite Emerson quote:

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”

Are you willing to go through this? Because this is what Orange is about. It always seems so easy from the outside to see what family ministry looks like. The family experience, the seamless communication between children’s and students, and how everything seems to just work so gosh darn well. But in reality there is a struggle.

Reaching families for the gospel of Christ and giving them the resources to bring about change in their own family is not an easy task. It takes a concerted effort to get there. It takes more than one group and more than one event and more than one idea to bring this goal to fruition. Things that your group might see as completely beneficial may have more holes than you think. Your “golden calf” of an idea that works for your area might have to be lost in order to gain partnership with parents. Your comfort zone will be breached and you will gain some much needed perspective. But are you willing to go through it. Cuz as I’m sure most of the bloggers during Orange week will attest. It ain’t easy, but it’s good.

So here are the 3 struggles that I see switching from children/student to family ministry integrated strategy will include:

Communication-being more honest with others and yourself. you need to bring all of your thoughts to the table. You might see something that no one else does and it needs to be communicated. You’ll have to be open to hearing and receiving other’s ideas and being open to change things that “we’ve always done”.

Time-the turnaround on things has to be lengthened because their are more parties involved. The transition itself takes time. And the meetings….argh.

Conflict-anything that’s worth doing involves conflict, but because it’s so new it will be tougher than most of what you’ve experienced.

But those things that are a part of the process. And the payoff is tremendous. You discover more about yourself and your team and those golden calves are destroyed and get turned into glorious sacrifices. The communication gets better, the time is worth it and the conflicts produce growth. And in the end you have a strategy that both parties can agree on to reach the goal of partnering with parents in the spiritual development of their children.

So are you willing to lose some things in order to gain something much greater?

Orange in a glass, originally uploaded by Andrew _ B.

I’m behind. But I’ll catch up to the crowd today. First of all visit Kenny Conley’s site to find the recap of a ton of bloggers: Dan Scott, Matt Mckee, Kendra Golden, Jonathan Cliff, Sam Luce, Gina McClain, and last but certainly not least, my left coast man Anthony Prince, all  giving their insights into the Orange Philosophy. All week long.

I will be bringing a bit of a different spin as Brookwood Church is in the middle of a transition to a Family Ministry. So as I’m posting about each element, I want to give you the benefits of the change and the struggles you might certainly face.

I will try to be as forthright about our struggles as I possibly can thus far, and hope to give you some encouragement if your environment is planning to make the switch as well.

So I believe everyone has heard about the earthquake in Haiti. Some estimates are saying between 50k-100k people have passed and up to 1,000,000 could be homeless. So here’s a chance to get involved. This link will take you to a site where you can get this shirt to help you raise awareness and donate $5.

The shirt is normally $15 but Doubletake Clothing has setup easy entry process to donate an extra $5 to the people in Haiti.

• That’s a meal
• 5 candy bars
• 12 pack of Diet Pepsi’s
• 2 cups of coffee at Sbux

Please take the time to donate to the cause and wear the shirt to raise awareness!

You don’t need to outdo the competition. It’s expensive and defensive. Underdo your competition. We need more simplicity and clarity.

-Jason Fried

Welcome to NBA JAM!, originally uploaded by mYke ciRcle.

I just gotta say, this is really awesome. I can’t wait. EA or Electronic Arts, a video game company, announced that later this year NBA Jam is making a comeback on the Wii this year. I will be in line when it comes out to add to my Wii library.

You can view the rest of the story here.

Are you looking forward to NBA Jam? What’s your favorite saying from the game?