What do you think when I offer you the chance to see the making of an Orange?  What if I change one of those words and offer you a chance to see the Making of The Orange Conference?  Trust me.  You do NOT want to watch this video on how to make an orange germinate and grow much faster.  Really.

You do however want to visit www.makingoforange.com

It’s MakingOfOrange.com and it’s a way for people to follow along and participate in the process of planning The Orange Conference.  They will be giving daily updates of what the teams are working on and asking for input along the way.  They will be putting up videos of meetings and posting pictures as well.

Then when the conference is happening, there will be interviews with the speakers streaming live from backstage on this site.  Lots of good stuff going on with this site!  Go check it out now!

At sometime in the first year of your first child’s life you will forget.  Trust me, it happened to me.  This kid, and the two that followed in the next few years have irrevocably changed my life.  There is no doubt that I am forever altered by them being here with me, but I still forget.

What will you forget?  You will forget how much you prayed for them to be here.  I know I did.  My wife and I had prayed for years that we would have children, and then that they would be healthy.  Then when we finally get what we’ve prayed for…we forgot.

I watched the following video on my iPhone while hanging out in the living room.  At the key moment when the entire video gets serious, my 6 year old and 4 year old come running into the living room squealing and throwing toys in laughter.  I could barely make out the audio, but I didn’t need to.  It helped me remember.

Check out www.ninetynineballoons.com for more information about Eliot.

I promise to take a break from all the overtly Orange blog posting over the next few months.  I will however have some giveaways coming up, and some ReThink product reviews before The Orange Conference in April.  Which you should have already registered for, right?

Last Thursday I was at the Dallas Orange One Day Event.  Texans know how to pull these things off, and we had over 700 people in attendance.  It was a great time to really focus in on change.  Change is scary, and most of instituting a more Orange environment for our families will result in massive amounts of change.  The following video gives you a much better summary than my text could.  Enjoy!

We have an Orange Week WINNER:

Robert, just DM me your mailing address and I’ll get the prize headed your way!

If you haven’t already checked it out, then take the time this week to do a google search for “Orange Week“

For this entire week I have written about how I have worked  the 5 Elements of Orange into my ministry strategy.  Catchup on my earlier posts:

#1 Integrated Strategy

#2 Refine the Message

#3 Reactivate the Family

#4 Elevate the Community

#5 Leverage Influence

I hope that you’ve taken the time to read and see what everyone else has said this week in regards to these same things.  I’ve tried to share personal experiences, and how I’m trying to effect change from the bottom up.  Just know we’re all in this together!

Dan “The Orangest of them All” Scott

Sam “Yankees are like the Church” Luce

Jonathan Cliff

Matt “White Pants” McKee

Kendra “Curriculum Guru” Golden

Anthony “Let me complain about 65 degree weather” Prince

JC “the lesser” Thompson

In the spirit of giving, I want to offer a free giveaway this morning!  On Thursday, January 21st I will be selecting one person to receive:

How do you win this?  Easy…ok maybe not that easy.

First: Leave me a comment here on this post tell me why your better than everybody else and deserve this free $40 value gift.

Second: Twitter this blog post! For example you could say, “@jonathancliff is the coolest person I know.  Go to http://www.jonathancliff.com/2010/01/orange-giveaway/ and see what I’m going to win in his Orange Week Giveaway!”

Third (in case of not having twitter): Go to your Myspace account and say something nice about Kenny Conley.

I’ll select one person that is the most creative in leaving a twitter comment directing others to this blog to win the Giveaway!  Stay tuned!

UPDATE: We have a winner! http://www.jonathancliff.com/2010/01/winner-winner-chicken-dinner/

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If you’re not making plans to attend the Orange Conference in Atlanta this Spring, then start making them now.  I’ll be there, and many more important people as well.  Come see if an Orange way of thinking can help you integrate strategy with your entire Next Generation ministries at your church!