Craig Groeschel at Orange Conference

This morning, Craig Groeschel had a great message at Orange.  He started by asking this question, "What is success for the next generation?"  He said culture would say, "well-rounded, well-educated and happy kids."  He then shared Psalm 71:18 which talks about the next generation knowing the power of God. 

Here is his answer to the question above:

We are called to unleash single-minded, Christ-centered, biblically-anchored, world changers.

What does this phrase mean?

• Single-minded means our kids understand their gifts and calling and are not average at a little bit of everything going against being well-rounded.
• Christ-centered is focused on Jesus not being moral or religion centered.
• Biblically-anchored means they hide God's Word in their hearts and know the Bible
• World changers focus on making a difference and focus on others.

He then read from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and shared his thoughts on who to impart this passage to the next generation.  He explained this as the Old Testament heart that we live out in New Testament days.  He shared three points.  They were:

• Enlist supporting voices--parents will always be the most important voice, but they should not be the only voice.  Our kids need inter-generational voices.
• Raise the Expectations-He explained that our calling is radical.  We are told to Love God with ALL our hearts and minds not just part of them.  In his opinion, we have lowered our standards in the church.  He also feels we are raising entitled kids.  In his home, they strive to raise owners vs. employees.
• Keep it Real--We cannot just talk about God at church.  We need to do it when "we sit at home, walk along the road, lie down, get up."  We need to use spiritual language in all we do.  God is not part of our lives, He is our lives.  Going to church is not something we do, it is who we are.

 I enjoyed this talk by Groeschel and think several of the points above are right on and need to be discussed in the church.