thank you Ambassador {and The Cross Movement}

If you’ve never heard the music of William Branch, aka – The Ambassador – you’re missing out! Him, and his group, The Cross Movement, have ministered to me for almost ten years! (Wow, ten years is a long time!)

William went to the same graduate school that I attend, and is now a pastor in Philly. (Check out this video my school put together.) His music is simply incredible. The lyrics. The content. The “deepness.” The way it honors our Triune God. I can’t tell you how many times I have worshipped (and even been brought to tears) as I have reflected on the content of some of his songs. (here are a few of my favorite song lyrics – When It’s On In The Whirlwind – It Was Love – Oh Wretched Men – The Fall – Off The Hook – What Do You See? – This is only a start – I could list many more!)

Here is a video off one of his newest cd’s. Enjoy.
{p.s. – do yourself a favor and pick up some of their tracks off of itunes today!}

Truth.

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the begotten of God the Father, the Only-begotten, that is of the essence of the Father.
God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten and not made; of the very same nature of the Father, by Whom all things came into being, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
Who for us humanity and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
By whom He took body, soul, and mind, and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance.
He suffered, was crucified, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven with the same body, [and] sat at the right hand of the Father.
He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father, to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom there is no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles, and lived in the saints.
We believe also in only One, Universal, Apostolic, and [Holy] Church; in one baptism in repentance, for the remission, and forgiveness of sins; and in the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgement of souls and bodies, and the Kingdom of Heaven and in the everlasting life.

Orange Conference {day 3}.

After a nice few days hanging out in Atlanta, I’m back home in good, ‘ol Dallas, Tx. I had a GREAT time meeting so many awesome people – I only wish I had time to mention them all! {by the way – I broke a “cool rule” this week – I actually asked a few folks I meet if I could snap a few pictures – that’s a no-no when your sitting backstage at an event like this – talk about looking lame! – oh well!}

I must say, Reggie, and his team, know how to do things right! The entire conference was done with such excellence! (you wouldn’t believe how well they treated all the people who were apart of it – I had LOTS of great food!) I was very excited (and honored) they asked me to be a part of The Orange Conference. I am POSITIVE that I learned WAY more then I was able to “teach” anyone. I have much to say about all I learned the last few days – but not now! This week is going to be spent finishing up the last week of my many seminary projects, exams, readings, etc – not a very fun week I might add!

I have added some pictures from the third day at Orange ’09 – hope you enjoy!

{P.S. – I am going to be giving away a SINGED copy of Reggie Joiner’s new book – Think Orange : Imagine The Impact When Church and Family Collide – so be sure to check by soon for details on how this could be yours! – FOR FREE!}

{oh, and “one more thing” – I just wanted to add that I”m really digging the design of Reggie’s new book! Ok, maybe I’m a little biased since the designer of my website, and my good friend, Jared – did the artwork for the book! – check out the credits in the front of the book! – Jared is the man!}

Orange Conference {day 2}.

Wow – what a great day! Things are in full swing here at The Orange Conference! I Had a great day connecting with so many awesome people talking about creative ways to use social media to connect with the students we minster to – among many other things!

Since I am about to fall asleep on my laptop, and I’m not sure drool is covered under my warranty; I’m going to keep this post rather short. However, I did want to share one thing I heard today that really today that really impacted me.

It was from Francis Chan’s (who is a CRAZY cool guy, by the way – and author of the book “Crazy Love” ) talk this morning. In his talk he said the book of Acts was his least favorite book of the Bible because he “never reads it, and says ‘Wow – that looks allot like my church!” He went on to talk about how we act like the things in the Book of Acts were just “for back then.” How we act like God doesn’t move like that today; or that we shouldn’t expect God, or The Holy Spirit, to work like He did in Acts. I’m going to talk about this in more detail later in a video post because it really got me thinking – so stay tuned!

Question : Do we REALLY trust God to move like they did in Acts? Do we REALLY believe He can move in such powerful ways TODAY? Do we REALLY believe in the power, and work, of The Holy Spirit?

And one last question – Do we REALLY preach as BODLY as we see the people in Acts preaching? (If your answer is no – why don’t we?)

That’s it for now – but I have much more to say. Soon, very soon. But in the mean time take a look at a few images from today!

Orange Conference {day 1}.

I wanted to share some pictures from the first night of Orange ’09.

I also wanted to share a little bit of what Reggie Joiner from ReThink talked about as well.  He spoke on how as student ministers we must equip parents to “do” ministry with their kids.

His entire talk was great – but one fact that really stood out to me was this. We get to spend an average of 40 hours a year ministering to one student. That’s it. Each student will be around the ministry around 40 hours. However they will be with their parents around 3000 hours a year! What we have to do is find ways to equip parents to use that 3000 hours well!

Also  - there are no picture perfect families. (The Cosby show was scripted by the way – it was NOT a real family.) We need to let families know that there are no PERFECT family.  It’s OK to be NOT perfect.  God is not interested in PERFECT families – He is interested in life change. He is interested in His story. His story in the life of that family. This is huge!

Anyway, there is more to come – and that is just 1/100 of what Reggie shared, but think on that. How can we equip parents to “do” ministry “with” their student? Ideas? Thoughts? How are you doing this?

{and enjoy the pictures!}

Orange Conference – It’s time..

Well here it is – Orange Conference 09. I made it. I’m here. Are you? I am upstairs in we are calling the “bloggers lounge.”
Do I know you? Do you know me? Do you want to be friends? Come visit me (and other neat people) upstairs….and as the saying goes…”I’ll be here all week…”

Here is a little video I shot when I got here. (Due to the schedule being so tight, all the videos will be raw footage – but you can call it “indie” if it sounds cooler! {enjoy}. – {Rick}.

orange leader forum {dallas, tx}

I will be heading over to this forum in a few weeks. I really do hope to see you all there. The folks from the Rethink Group are awesome, and this sounds like a very unique opportunity to connect with some great Christian leaders!
By the way be sure to check out The Orange Conference and Cup Cakes For a a Cause!
Below you will find a copy of the info emailed to me by a friend at the ReThink Group! Hope to see you there!
———————————————————–
The Orange Leaders Forum

Date & Time:
Monday, March 2nd, 10am-2pm

Location
Bent Tree Bible Fellowship
FX Live Theater
4141 International Parkway
Carrollton, TX 75007

Topic:
Reggie will lead a discussion on Family Ministry and how church staff can best connect with each other, volunteers, parents, the community, and other like-minded churches. Lunch and networking time to follow.

About Reggie Joiner:

Reggie Joiner is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of The reThink Group, Inc., a non-profit organization providing resources and training for churches to maximize their influence on the spiritual growth of the next generation.

Reggie is one of the founders of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. In his role as Executive Director of Family Ministry, Reggie developed a new concept of relevant ministry for preschool, children, students and married adults over the course of his ten years with the church. Additionally, during his time with North Point Ministries, Reggie created KidStuf, an environment where kids bring their parents to learn about God, as well as Grow Up, an international conference to encourage and equip churches to create relevant, effective environments for children, families and teenagers.

We’d really love to have you and any of your ministry team join us for this event! If you have any questions, or would like to RSVP, please let Kristi know no later than February 20th and email her at eerickson@rethinkgroup.org

*No registration fee, just a $10 suggested donation for lunch.

#TrainFriday part 1 was a success

Words can’t describe how awesome #TrainFriday was. In just over 3 days we had an incredible response, and collected over 100 gift cards for Children s Medical Center! It was awesome to not only see the twitter community come together for the good of someone else, but also to meet so many people whom I have only known by their avatar! I put together a little photo slide show of the event. You can also view all the pictures here. I will be posting a video of the event as soon as I have time to edit, and post it! For now enjoy this sideshow, and HUGE THANKS to everyone who was a part of making #TrainFriday such a huge success! Also on behalf of Children s Medical Center, thank you! {They were extremely happy that we made this happen, and cant’ wait for the next one! We are already planning the next #TrainFriday event, and will keep you posted!
{p.s. – the slide show looks nice if you hit the “full screen” button on the player.}

Logos Bible study software tips, tricks, and two cents

Do you use an electronic Bible study software like Logos? If so, please answer the following questions in the comment section.

1. What electronic bible study software do you use? {why do you use the one you use over others}
2. If you do use Logos Bible study software – what “package” do you own, and resources do you find most helpfull.
3. What add ones would you suggest?
4. Do you have any tips, or suggestions to help people that are new to the software?

Train Friday goes viral

It was less then a week ago that the idea for Train Friday was born, and the response has been amazing. People have been blogging about it, tweeting about it, and making videos like this one.
We have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but we are excited to see! What started out as just a fun idea as morphed into something much more. The rapid speed that this idea has caught on is proof of the power of social networking. {more on that subject in later posts.}
We hope to see you there!
-Rick