Think Orange – Chapter 5 Review

This entry is part of a multi-blog effort at elementalcm.com amongst many different church leaders and thinkers.  For the complete series, visit elementalcm.com.

I have the unenviable task of writing a review on a poem. Lucky me! Before I get there though I have a few comments on the chapters that precede it. As I began to read Think Orange, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. As a Student Ministries guy my time tends to be focused on material centered around youth ministry. As I have begun to do some of these book reviews I have been slowly seeing a bigger picture and how integral family is to the success of what we do.

Reggie Joiner does a great job of disarming all the different camps in his opening comments and sets the stage for finding common ground between ministry leaders and families. I can say that he approaches the subject gracefully and with a sense of humor that is quite refreshing.

Reggie doesn’t come across as a know-it-all and Think Orange (so far) doesn’t have a ‘quick-fix’ feel to it. He outlines the problem quite well, that separate, the church and families will continue to struggle but that together they will begin to see breakthrough where it hasn’t been easy.

In Chapter 5 of Think Orange the creativity of people jumps out and the story of Skeeples and Lomes is born. It is a story of two groups, each with unique roles but who for too long have been separate and unwilling to work together. Their main job is to help youngsters grow up and stay away from the Cravat. A cave of goo.

Eventually one little one starts on a course toward the Cravat, gets caught in the goo and neither group, the Skeeples nor the Lomes are able to get them out on their own. Only by working together are they able to rescue the little ones from the goo.

As I reflect on my reading so far and the situations in my ministry life where I have been able to work with families in raising up young people that is when I have had the most success. When I can hang out with students and their dad at a movie or when parents are organizing opportunities for me to chill with students and spend time with them, that is when ministry is the most effective.

I will say that where I wrestle is putting what happens occasionally and with great success into some form of system that can be replicated. I believe that Think Orange will get there as the chapters go on but for now I am motivated and excited to continue working with families to see young people transformed by the life, passion and adventure of following Jesus.