Orange Conference

Wow! I attended the coolest conference ever last week in Atlanta. It's called the Orange Conference, and their website will tell you more about it than I could ever begin to explain. I will post the link at the bottom of this post. It was just the breath of fresh air that I needed. Sometimes in your walk with God, you have to take time away from your daily routine, and surround yourself with Christians from all over the world. At this conference, I got to do just that. It was a non-denominational conference, and to me, that was just awesome because it didn't matter who believed what, or these people don't act the way we do in worship, none of that mattered. We were all unified. Unified in Christ. Isn't that what it is about? We are ALL the body of Christ, so I really get tired of all the "denominational" stuff. I've been to several Christian Conferences, and this by far lifted me more spiritually than any of them. To be with 5000 people worshipping on a daily basis. To be with 5000 people who TRULY wanted to be there. To be with 5000 people who were not looking at their watches wondering, "When is this over?" It was amazing, and makes me wonder why we don't have more people like this in our churches. Why does it seem we have more people in church who look bored? What can we do to get people excited for Christ? Sometimes I think our worldly friends get mixed signals from Christians. Ok, so you're a Christian, but you live this way except on Sunday. It gives false hope to people who are searching for "the way." I totally get why the world doesn't want any part of us when they see us living two different lives. I, myself, have been one of these Christians. I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit it...I played the game. I went to church and put on a GREAT game face...no one EVER knew what I'd done on the Saturday night before. Am I perfect now? Of course not, but I can tell you, I'm honest with myself and everyone now. No more hiding, no more games. I've confessed to a few of you my struggles, and you know what? It's ok, you still love me and accept me right where I am. And the more I've confessed, the less prominent my struggles are. I don't dwell on them anymore, honestly? I rarely think about them...that's because the Spirit is working in me. Praise God for that!! We are all messed up, bottom line. You can tell me all day long that you have no issues or struggles. Whatever. You are lying to me AND yourself. I can preach to you all day long in a blog of how you need to change, but I'm not going to do that because change begins with you. I can't do it for you, just as you cannot do it for me. So, for me, to keep myself in check, I HAVE to keep myself surrounded by Christians who don't just "play the game". I have to be surrounded by people who are not "fans" of Jesus. I have to surround myself with people who want to attend Christian Conferences, who want to talk about God every time we get together, to pray every time we get together. Only until I surrendered, truly surrendered, my life to the Lord am I able to feel peace. To feel closer to the Lord than I ever have, to be the same person online that I am in person. I've had to separate myself from certain people in life, and as hard as that is, I know for me, it is the best thing to do. I find myself no longer wanting to live that old life, and longing to find more Bible Studies to attend, or praise team events, or church events to be involved in. The more I keep my mind in these kinds of things, the less appealing the world is to me. I was in tears most of the conference when we were in worship because there is nothing more moving than looking across an arena at 5000 people lifting their hands in worship to the Father. People who TRULY want to be completely committed followers...people who do not CARE about the things of this world. There is nothing left for me here...NOTHING. I know some of you reading this have used the Orange Curriculum at your churches, but if not, I highly recommend checking into this, and checking out this conference. We had lots of fun, met new people, collected pieces of flare to get our name in a drawing for an iPad (and sadly, I didn't win, but just goes to show, Christians can have fun, too. :-) ), but most importantly...we worshipped our Creator, and that's what it's all about!! So if you want to learn more about Orange and the Orange Conference, here's the link: What Is Orange? Hope you all have had a blessed day!!