Book Review: Think Orange

I just finished reading Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide by Reggie Joiner of the ReThink Group.  I have the privilege of receiving several free books to review, but this book is one that I paid for myself.  God has really been speaking to my heart a lot lately about the partnership between the home and the local church.  As a Christian school administrator, I see a lot of families that are missing out on the opportunity to plug into their local church because they feel like their kids are getting all the resources they need at school.  One of our goals these next few months will be to help students recognize their role in the local church.  We will have some special chapels dedicated to this and I am excited to see what God has in store for us!  For our family, our involvement at Freedom Church helps us to see more of what God desires for our family.

I’ve had this book on my Amazon wishlist for a while and am just now getting around to reading it.  I am glad I read it over the Christmas break so that my brain is free from some of my normal day to day responsibilities.  Reggie Joiner’s main point throughout Think Orange is the idea that the home and the church no longer have to operate as mutually exclusive entities.  In order for kids/students to know Christ and make Him known, it is critical for the church and the home to view each other as partners in this excellent adventure called life.

I look forward to implementing a lot of what I read in this book in the coming weeks and months.  This book is a must read for anyone that leads students or parents…especially for those of us who have the opportunity to influence both on a regular basis.

Here are some of my takeaways from the book…

  • “When you think Orange, you see how two combined influences make a greater impact than just two influences.”
  • “The premise fo this book is simple: As long as church do only what churches are doing, they will get only the results they are presently getting.  And as long as families do only what families are doing, they will produce only the outcomes they are presently producing.  To experience a different outcome, we have to embrace a different strategy.”
  • “Working on the same thing at the same time is not as effective as working on the same thing at the same time with the same strategy.”
  • “It may mean that you have to abandon your existing methods.  It may require you to redesign your present programming.  It may radically change everything you do if you become convinced that partnering with parents could give kids a better chance.”
  • “As one of the two primary entities that God has positioned to have influence in the world, the church is uniquely and strategically placed on this planted to display God’s glory to the world.  The role of the church is simply to turn on a light.”
  • “The church is not called to illuminate everything — its light should be concentrated on showing others who God is.”
  • “As a Christian, you certainly have a right to an opinion, and you ought to have convictions.  But as far as the church is concerned, please don’t move the lampstand away from its rightful position.  Don’t use the church’s valuable resources to wage a battle that God is just not fighting.”
  • “Most parents can’t give their children a lavish inheritance, but every parent will leave a personal legacy.”
  • “Too many parents wake up one day and realize they have economized on the very relationships they vowed would always be a priority.”
  • “Most parents need leaders with a strong sense of belief in their potential, leaders who are willing to become actively involved in helping them understand God’s plan for their family.”
  • “Kids already have a front-row seat to their parents’ lives; the question is, what are they watching?’
  • “Kids need to see their parents struggle with answers, face their weaknesses, deal with real problems, admit when they are wrong, fight for their marriage, resolve personal conflict.”
  • “It’s not enough to spend time together as a family if a family’s time together is never meaningful or strategic.”
  • Every son and daughter needs other adult voices in their lives who will say things a Christian parent would say.  One of the smartest things a church leader can do for a family is provide a system where kids and teenagers can be connected to that kind of adult influence.  One of the smartest things moms and dads can do is to participate in a ministry where they can find the right kind of adult influences for their kids.”
  • “God has designed the church to shine a light to show every generation the glory of God’s Son.  God has designed the family to nurture the hearts of a generation to love God.”
  • “Leaders who have a passion for Orange will sort through the present randomness so they can guide people to a clearer path.  If you’re a leader, it’s your job to make sense out of this for your world.
  • “You need to make sure that everyone who leads with you is leading in the same direction.”
  • “It’s the effectiveness of your strategy, not the scope of your mission, that ultimately determines your success.”
  • “You cannot have an integrated strategy until you have everyone on the same page as an integrated team.  You will never get everyone on the same page until you consistently get everyone in the same room.  It requires collective intentionality to break out of a silo style of ministry.  That’s because a turf mindset is the default setting of most strong leaders who are creative and passionate.”
  • “It’s okay to communicate in a way that’s fun.  It’s smart to use language kids can understand.  It’s responsible to believe that how you teach the truth may determine whether or not it’s actually heard.”
  • “Churches have a bad habit of sacrificing the potential that exists in timeless, life-changing truths because they fail to communicate those truths in a relevant or helpful way.  We are notorious for answering questions they just are not asking.”
  • “Your message will be amplified when it is repeated through physical environments and caring relationships.”
  • “The church is in a unique position to give the family hope and direction because most parents would love to know that people other than themselves think about their families.”
  • “The reality is that a time comes in all children’s lives when they seem to care more about what another adult says than they care what their own parents say.  That’s why it’s important to start early in a child’s life establishing the right coaches.”
  • “Jesus did not teach the disciples to do ministry.  He did ministry with the disciples while He taught them.”
  • “Jesus reached the world by leveraging the influence of common people and empowering them to do uncommon things.”
I am looking forward to implementing many of these Orange strategies this year.  Will you join me in thinking Orange this year so that we don’t miss out on some great opportunities to influence students and their families His glory?
One comment to “Book Review: Think Orange”
  1. Sounds like good thoughts and a good book (at first I thought you were going to start rooting for Tennessee – orange, get it?)
    As I read through your quotes I kept saying, “Amen”. I’ve raised 3 teenagers and been a youth minister. I think many youth ministers don’t know how to work with parents (many are young). And most parents are new at the whole teen thing, scared to death and more than willing to hand their kids over to the youth minister. Pulling the parents in requires talking to the parents – not just throwing info their way or only going through the youth. And talking to parents is many times a foreign concept to the youth minister who identifies with the youth more readily. Which is a good thing. Integrating church and family requires commitment and flexibility on both sides – however the priorities must be set in stone for both sides. That’s the only way you make it through the maze society has set up today.
    Thanks for pointing out this book -topic is near and dear to my heart!

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