Reggie Joiner - Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide...

Reggie Joiners ideas in Think Orange will empower and motivate Christian leaders around the world to rethink how the church and families can and should function together.

Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv and author of It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

As one of the founders of North Point Community Church and a proven innovator in family ministry, Reggie Joiner is in a terrific position to offer insight into how the church can align its strategy with families for the benefit of preschoolers, children, and teenagers.

Dr. John C. Maxwell, best-selling author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

For those of us who are passionate about the potential of the church and the importance of the family, this book offers a critical and refreshing perspective. That is a rare combination. Reggie helps us consider how the integration of these two organisms can be leveraged in powerful ways to reach the next generation.

Nancy Ortberg, author of Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands: Lessons in Non-Linear Leadership

If there is an institution that can bring American families back together, its the church. The infrastructure is there, the heart and the will. What we need, then, is a plan. If churches and families practiced the ideas in this book, our entire culture could be regenerated.

Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and To Own a Dragon

This is a must-read for every church leader wrestling with the number of students walking away from their faith at age eighteen. Its time to close the back door! Reggies fresh and unique approach is just what we all need to strategically partner with parents.

Sue Miller, former director of Promiseland at Willow Creek Community Church

Reading this book is like having coffee with Reggie. Its warm, friendly, thought-provoking, and fun! You wont want to miss this conversation!

Christine Yount Jones, executive editor of Childrens Ministry Magazine

THINK ORANGE

Published by David C Cook
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The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Italics in Scripture are added by the author for emphasis.

LCCN 2009924463
ISBN 978-1-4347-6483-6
eISBN 978-1-4347-0384-2

2009 Reggie Joiner
Published in association with the literary agency of
D. C. Jacobson & Associates LLC, an author management company
www.dcjacobson.com

The David C Cook Team: Don Pape, Thomas Womack, Amy Kiechlin, and Jaci Schneider The reThink Editing Team: Sarah Anderson, Kristen Ivy, Mike Jeffries, Cara Martens, Beth Nelson, Greg Payne, Karen Wilson Design: FiveStone, Jared Erickson and Ryan Boon

First Edition 2009

My wife, Debbie
The only one in my family, or on the planet,
who has chosen to live with me the rest of my life.

My children: Reggie Paul, Hannah, Sarah, and Rebekah
They have all worked hard and patiently to raise a father.

My parents, Rufus and Dee
They have believed in God and me for as long as I can remember.

My brother, Jimmy
He still believes in God, even though I have been in ministry most of his life.

My mother-in-law, Betty Dean
She raised my wife to love God and her family.

who are advocates of these principles every day.

of North Point Community Church
who lived these principles for over a decade.

who champion this cause by investing in the lives of kids, teenagers, and families every
week on the front lines of ministry.

Joel Manby and the reThink Board of Directors
for believing in this vision.

David C. Cook
for believing in this book.

Don Jacobson
for making me believe this book should be written.

Lanny Donoho
for believing in this enough to stand by me, literally, for more than a decade.

Karen Odom, Colette Taylor, Betsy Wright, Greg Payne, and Sue Miller
for years of telling me I should write this book.

The reThink design team,
Ryan Boon, Jared Erickson, and Jason Locy, and the FiveStone team,
for making this book more fun to read.

The reThink editing team,
Beth Nelson, Mike Jeffries, Kristen Ivy, Cara Martens, Sarah Anderson,
Greg Payne, and Karen Wilson,
for wrestling with the words and concepts in this book
(and for all the times they stayed awake with me).

When we started North Point Community Church in 1995, many of our staff and core volunteer leaders were parents with young children. The idea of partnering with the family seemed natural. We were church leaders and we were parents. In a way, what we were attempting to build was for our own families and the futures of our own kids. Reggie Joiner took on the responsibility of creating those environments for families.