In our first main session this evening Reggie Joiner talked about the ONE thing that separates one church from another and makes churches distinctly different. He left us on the edges of our seats as he retold the story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15 and depicted the differences between the father and the older brother. Here's how he depicted both:
Loving Father:
- Preoccupied by his son who was missing
- Operated from a context of forgiveness
- Threw a party for his son to help build community
- Confronted the older brother's thinking
- Kept the lights on as long as it took
Older Brother:
- Preoccupied with himself
- Operated from a context of shame
- Threw fits
- Criticized the loving father
- Closed the door and turned the lights off
Reggie challenged us to approach our church environments from the standpoint of the loving father. Ultimately we should be about rescuing a prodigal generation.
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