Overall, it was a great day. I’m exhausted and going to bed as soon as I post this!

PreCon Session # 1 – Jim Wideman – SERVING ANOTHER LEADER’S MINISTRY
Feed the flock that is under your care
God – “Why should I give you any more kids if you can’t manage the ones I already have given you?”
Make a list of the reasons someone can’t do something (serve), then fix them one by one.
Overseer’s CAN’T do everything!
the devil can mix us up by getting us to do things we don’t have to do.
We must be willing and eager to serve.
The best way to a mom and dad’s heart is to serve their children!
To grow a ministry in your community…
find a need & fill it
find a hurt & heal it
People have a need to be needed
Priorities
God
Family
Sr. Pastor’s vision
Leaders under me
We need to know who leads us (Sr. Pastor)
his vision
his heart
his desires & dreams
think the way he thinks and leads
carry yourself the way he does
treat me the way I treat my leader
helpers get a double anointing

PreCon Session # 2 – John Saddington – reTHINKING SOCIAL MEDIA
Blogs over facebook, twitter, myspace, etc…
you have control over your own blog, you are not limited to whatever changes someone else makes or the fads
you can change your blog as thinks change
How can we use a blog?
Limit info – get people to come back
get them to engage on the blog
Principle of anominity can help some open communication lines as they aren’t scared
tie info in what you communicate in your ministry. Can you communicate some info on the blog that isn’t communicated elsewhere?
BE WILLING TO EXPERIMENT!!

PreCon Session # 3 – Diane Runge – FINE-TUNIG YOUR SYSTEMS
Are we willing to do whatever it takes to impact the hearts of the next generation?
How do you measure things? Stats? Stories?
Make our OS a MAC, not a PC
What are we (the church) called to accomplish?
What do we want parents, students, and kids to become?
Are we willing to put everything on the table and be willing to change?
our programs
special events
camps
vbs
all our stuff?

Main Session # 1 – Reggie Joiner – Stock Family
there is no “standard / typical” family
People want to go back to bible times and have things be the way they were before all this divorce, etc…
Looking at the bible, try to find a “healthy / normal / ideal” family
pretty tough to do this
God is the God of restorations
if you want your kids to have an every-day kind of faith, you need to have one and lead them in this.

Today will be a busy day as I will be ….

7:30 – Helping with registration
9:45 – First Pre-con session
11 – lunch meeting
1 – Pre-con session # 2
2:45 – Pre-con session # 3
4-7 Helping with Registration
7:30 – First General Session (Which will be broadcast live online)

Orange Conference

I APOLOGIZE!!! Something happened to my scribble feed!

here’s what’s happening thru-out my day:

Today’s drive was a good one. It was long, but didn’t seem overly long. We did a lot of talking and discussed many things. As a matter of fact, I think everyone can rest easier now – I think we solved all of the world’s problems!!

We made good time. We probably didn’t leave Mechanicsburg till 6:30am. We were eating at a Steak House by 6pm – and we already checked into our hotel!! We had a good dinner, then headed over to early registration.

Early Registration
This process just rocked! I mean, we just breezed thru. It must be because they use MACS!! It took almost no time to register & get our goodie bag. I then got to meet up with Kristie who is overseeing the registration. The reason I got to meet her is because I get to help with the registration tomorrow morning and afternoon. (7:30am!!)

Right now I’m in my room and wondering what equipment I’ll be taking with me tomorrow. I’m actually thinking about not taking my laptop. I love it, but since it’s a 17” MacBookPro, it’s a BEAST to carry around. Plus, I don’t think I’ll even have much time to sit an blog/write much. I’ll be helping with registration, going to sessions, lunch meeting, more sessions, then helping with registration again in the late afternoon and then attending the kick-off main session. Not much time to sit and type! I think I’ll save that till Thursday and Friday!

It’s time to review my stuff for tomorrow and think about getting some zzzzzzz’s.

Our game plan for today is to leave Mechanicsburg early in the morning, drive all day, and get to the Atlanta area around dinner time. In the ideal world, we’d get to early registration this evening, but I don’t think that’ll be happening. Our drive is about 10 1/2 hours (not counting stops).

I’m really looking forward to spending this time with my co-workers. We get a chance to toss around ideas and thoughts on our ministries, our community and our church. It’s a great chance to float some dreams, toss them around a little, get some feedback, and generally solve all of the world’s problems

My pre-conference plan is to return to my hotel room to write up a daily summary of my thoughts on the day’s events and make a post each evening. I hope to have the energy to do this each evening!!!

Here’s my ongoing daily tally of what is happening with me at www.TheOrangeConference.com

I am using the software called SCRIBBLELIVE to document my thoughts and feelings during the conference. One things about SCRIBBLELIVE – if you are reading this while I’m making notes at the event, the most recent events are at the top. If i am done writing on this day, the earliest notes are up top.

Testing the window from Scribble with Mars Edit. i think I like this one better as I can control the window size easier.

• 7:47 PM balloonpastor - Test
• 7:50 PM balloonpastor - watching Global Night of Worship online – blog.buckheadchurch.org
• 7:53 PM balloonpastor - Yeah, Beth is home!!!
• 7:56 PM balloonpastor - wondering how easy this will be to use while I’m at the conference? I wonder?
• 7:57 PM balloonpastor - I am looking forward to going to the conference! It’s always an inspirational time for me. www.theorangeconference.com
• 8:00 PM balloonpastor -
  
• 8:00 PM balloonpastor -
  
• 8:02 PM balloonpastor - I wonder, should I set up a Scribble Event for each day at the orange conference? Just set it up in the am, then enter stuff throughout the day?
• 8:03 PM balloonpastor - Should I set up a separate twitter account to accomplish this, that way I won’t be bombarding all my people with a zillion posts thru the day?
• 8:05 PM balloonpastor - I think that will be the way to go. To set up a separate account.
• 8:06 PM balloonpastor - testing this
• 8:06 PM balloonpastor - trying an email
  testing it from my email
  
• 8:07 PM balloonpastor - Hi there Ken!
• 8:07 PM balloonpastor - I’m just trying to figure this thing out
• 8:13 PM balloonpastor - the time thing is a little off
• 8:17 PM balloonpastor - Testing out Scribble live on my blog – not sure if I want to use this or not. I might set up an event for each day. twurl.nl
• 8:18 PM balloonpastor - Not sure if I’ll use this or not… what are your thoughts?
• 8:19 PM balloonpastor - worship – live – blog.buckheadchurch.org
• 8:21 PM balloonpastor - Scribble allows you to update on the fly…..
• 8:21 PM balloonpastor - And it updates live on my blog
• 8:22 PM balloonpastor - Pretty cool stuff, but am I savy enough to use them??
• 8:25 PM balloonpastor - I’m not sure if I am or not.
• 8:26 PM balloonpastor - My most recent posts are on top. Not sure why the time stamps are off
• 9:27 PM balloonpastor - wonder how long between posts I can leave this “open”?? Anyone know?
• 9:30 PM balloonpastor - email test # 2
  Testing email # 2
• 10:37 PM balloonpastor - OK, so I think I like setting up Scribble thru a “generic window” on my blog rather than using their built-in tool to do this. Not sure what that says about me. I’m just not a big fan of how big the time and the way it appears in their tool.
• 10:39 PM balloonpastor - I think it is easier to read with a little spacing and the little line between posts
• 10:43 PM balloonpastor - And for some reason, the time is more accurate on the generic window – huh
• 11:37 PM balloonpastor - Gear List for Orange:
  MacBook Pro – it’s a 17”, which is nice, but it’s a BEAST to use at conferences! (plus extra battery) I expect to use this between sessions/breakouts, if I use it at all.
  iPhone (with RichardSolo extended battery) – my primary blogging/twittering tool for the conference
  Digital Camera with Eye-fi – it’s a decent one that takes great video too! Plus, it automatically uploads pictures to my Smugmug account and computer.
  Steno Pad & Pen – my primary means of note-taking. A little “old-school”, but it’s often a little tough to use a 17” laptop as an actual “laptop” and take notes.
  Nalgene Water Bottle with Kool-Aid – never go far with out it
  Flip Ulta HD (optional) – it’s small, but do I need it?
• 11:43 PM balloonpastor - Time for me to sign off this and get to bed! ‘gnight all

Tonight was another Red Robin Night. These are really fun nights. Busy, but fun. I enjoy being challenged to make new creations. There are times when I just have to say that I either don’t know how to make that or that I don’t have time to make a certain object or creation. Most times, I like a challenge or I try to make something a little different than the last time.

Tonight, one of my most unusual requests was a bunny rabbit. As I said, it was a fun night!

Here is Josiah’s first hit in the 2009 baseball season. Sure, today was only a scrimmage (opening day is Saturday), but mom is away and I thought she’d want to see his hit.

Yep, that’s right… today I will be thinking of viking helmets as I write / re-write a script we will be using tomorrow night filming a few short clips. We have 3 or 4 vikings that will be running around our church tomorrow night – sounds fun doesn’t it!!

If you and your kids want to be some of the “extras” in the video clips, drop me a line. We are still looking for a few people to help out.

When can you see this video? That’s pretty simple. If you help us out in either the children’s ministry or youth ministry here at McBIC, we’ll be debuting the videos at our volunteer appreciation event on Friday, March 27.

OVATIONS

I hope to see you next Friday!!