So…a week or so ago we launched THIS competition.
A couple of quick comments before we announce the winners.
I wish I could give 10 sets of tickets away…you guys (ladies included) are awesome.
I picked this winner because of a couple of things…
1. I love this pastor’s clear desire to “get” Orange on a deeper and authentic level.
2. I love how this youth pastor’s energy is unstoppable and starting to catch on.
3. I love this pastor’s desire to lead his church.
4. I love this pastor’s desire to lead and love the staff entrusted to him.
That being said…here is the winning letter.
My name is Steve Ratliff, I’m the senior pastor at Faith Evangelical Free
Church in Manhattan, Kansas. Our children’s pastor, Chris Barker, wears an
orange shirt to church EVERY Sunday morning and talks about “thinking
orange” every chance he gets. Chris has great passion and vision for
implementing the Orange Strategy in our church, but we realize that we need
genuine buy-in and substantive collaboration across our entire leadership.
I’ve come to see that my role in this entire effort is especially strategic
since I am the main “voice” that people hear week-in and week-out. I’d love
to get to the point of actually “thinking orange” so that I have an
intuitive understanding of this strategy and so that I can communicate this
strategy with conviction. The Orange Conference (both the seminars and the
consultation) would really get me down the road in that regard. Plus I
think it would be an awesome opportunity to enter Chris’ world as a mentor,
a brother, and a friend.
We’re blown away, and looking forward to the opportunity! Thanks so much. This is going to be a huge step forward in our new collaborative model.
You’re welcome….excited to get together. Love the blog relaunch too!