01 May #OC16 – Allow Me to Introduce You to “Conference Lisa!”
I LOVE conferences… particularly the Orange Conference. Our team comes to Atlanta each year and most years we’ll have someone joining us that has never been to Orange before. It’s usually after our first few minutes on-site that someone from my team jokes and “warns” our first-time friend about “Conference Lisa.”
Up, Then Down, Then Up Again
You see – when I attend conferences I find myself so inspired and so excited and I want to try everything I learn about immediately. My mind is usually firing on all cylinders about new ideas and things we just HAVE to do when we get back. But, in true form to my very extreme personality (I tend to be an “on or off” | “all or nothing” | “black and white” kinda girl), I inevitably find myself overwhelmed with my own thoughts and decide I’ll never be able to do any of the stuff I’m dreaming about – so why even try? I normally vacillate between these two extremes over the course of the conference and my loving teammates just go with it. I appreciate their patience and in all honesty, it is fun to joke with them when “Conference Lisa” shows up.
Thankfully over the years, (probably because of my nickname) I’ve learned to be aware of these tendencies in my personality and I’ve taken some measures toward not making myself (and my teammates) too crazy. I approach the conference as three days where I can learn, dream, and enjoy time to think outside the box. I write down ideas in a notebook on one specific page and then when I get home – I prioritize them and think realistically about what I can and can’t accomplish. I’d like to say I live this way consistently – but I don’t! I sat in Jon Acuff’s breakout about goal setting for this reason. It was awesome and I’ll be posting about that soon.
All this to say, never more have I experienced the extremes of “Conference Lisa” than I did between the Opening Session of OC16 and Session 2 the very next morning! As I came away from the Opening Session, I was convicted about where I was putting my energy in my ministry work. Read about that take-away here. I left challenged (which was a good thing), but my extreme personality had me thinking I put way too much effort into Sunday morning. I went on to convince myself that I don’t even know all of the kids in my environment and I am certainly not invested in their lives. I had no idea what to do with this and began to feel a little down.
Ahhhhh – PEACE!
I prayed that night and asked God to show me what He wanted me to learn in this and how I needed to apply what I’d learned. Then came Thursday morning, Session 2 of the conference and Andy Stanley’s message about the church as the hope of the world. As Andy spoke about what the church has the opportunity to do for the world around us, I was inspired and reminded AGAIN… that this business we are in is not either/or!
It’s not: be in kids’ lives all week long and don’t worry about programming and environments on Sundays. And it’s not: spend your time all week making sure everything points to Sunday morning and it is over-the-top awesome! Instead, it is both/and!
Oh, what to do with this lesson of both/and that continues to rise up in front of me? I am grateful for it, but also frustrated that I need to be reminded of it as often as I do. Even still, I was so thankful for both Reggie Joiner and Andy Stanley’s messages. And the fact that they were back to back was perfect timing for me personally!
My Take-Away
Here’s my takeaway from Sessions 1 and 2 of OC 16 (and my bout with Conference Lisa): Our Sunday morning programs and environments matter. We want to give families our best. Not only is it good stewardship of what God has entrusted to us, but it helps people take us seriously and shows them we are credible. As Andy Stanley said, “Following Jesus makes our lives better and makes us better at life.” And as the church, we get to teach that on Sunday mornings – so we better do that in a way that offers God and families our best. BUT – that message can’t stop on Sunday when services are over. Jesus tells us that we need to love God and love our neighbor and that doesn’t just happen in the walls of a church on Sunday morning. It happens Monday through Sunday in the lives of the people we serve.
BOTH/AND. Great programs, environments and teachings on Sunday morning – plus serious investment in the lives of the people in our world Monday thru Sunday! Maybe this is all elementary to you. Maybe you are reading this thinking – well of course! If so, I apologize. It’s taken this girl a while to figure it all out. But every year “Conference Lisa” gets it a little sooner than the year before, and is encouraged to grow in the challenge of living life in a both/and world.
How about you? Do you live in extremes? Where do you struggle to find balance in your life?
