Let's Talk Orange!

It's time to register for The Orange Conference!

 This week I will be joining the Orange Bloggers in sharing our hearts about the conference, curriculum,  and the strategy of Orange. You can find a list of all the bloggers at Orange Leaders.

Let's get things started with a peek at OC14!

The Orange Conference 2014: Highlights from Orange on Vimeo.

Now after watching all that awesomeness I bet you're ready to register for OC15, huh? Who wouldn't want to get in on all that?

Click here to register:

There are so many reasons that I love Orange. 

I love the opportunity to connect with others in Family Ministry. It's a great way to talk ministry with others who love to do what we do each and every week to love on our kids and share Jesus with them. It's also a fantastic way to make friends and grow life long relationships. 

Here are just a few pics of my friends at Orange:

Ready to register now?

Click here to register:

Another reason I love Orange is all the amazing breakouts.

Here are links to notes from some of my favorite breakouts:

Coaching the Small Group Leader

Gina McClain

10 Things I Do to Learn, Lead, & Network with Others

Jim Wideman

Innovation Infusion

Sherry Surratt

The Private Life of a Public Leader

Doug Fields

Ready to register now?

Click here to register:

I am super excited to be going Orange this year. The added bonus is that I will be hanging out with my Orange Blogger friends again at the conference.

Hope to see you there!

Blessings,

Breaking Out at Orange

The Orange Conference is just a few months away. This week I will be joining the Orange Bloggers in sharing our hearts about the conference, curriculum,  and the strategy of Orange. You can find a list of all the bloggers at Orange Leaders.

I am super excited to be going Orange this year. The added bonus is that I will be teaming up with my Orange Blogger friends again at the conference.

There are so many fantastic breakouts this year that it was very hard to choose just one for each session.

Here are the workshops/breakouts that I will

 be attending and a bit about each one.

Pre-Conference

YOU LEAD KIDS

If you lead kids-or influence them, teach them, listen to them, talk to them and love them-this session is the best place for you to begin. We want to create a space specifically for those who lead kids. Come network and learn from others who do what you do every week. Discover the five critical areas you need to grow and develop as a leader. Practically assess where you are now, in each of these areas, and begin to create your own long-term development plan.

BUILDING A HEALTHY VOLUNTEER CULTURE [CHILDREN]

When you're constantly scrambling for volunteers, it's easy to focus on simply recruiting warm bodies to fill your quota. Okay, that's reality. But what if you could recruit leaders who love serving, who want to show up weekly, and who invite their friends to help? Idealistic? Maybe. But in this breakout we will discuss ways to recruit children's volunteers in such a way that you create something they will love . . . almost as much as you do.

STARTING A CHURCH FOR UNCHURCHED FAMILIES

You've probably figured out by now that the beliefs and values systems of an "unchurched person" are different than they were ten years ago. You also might have noticed that families in your community "aren't what they used to be." So, with all the change, how do you create a ministry to effectively reach the families in your community? In this breakout, we'll look at 12 characteristics of today's unchurched families and discuss what these characteristics mean for your ministry.

HELPING FAMILIES GO DEEPER (ELEMENTARY)

The elementary years present a unique window of opportunity for parents to engage with their children. The conversations and experiences that can happen during this life-stage will shape much of a child's identity and character. Your ability to partner with parents at this stage can build a deeper spiritual foundation for kids in your ministry.

Conference Breakouts

LIFE STAGES

Children and student pastors are age-group specialists by default. But sometimes intuition isn't enough. That's why it's helpful to understand the patterns and unique issues that affect every age group. Understanding these life stages will help you leverage your ministry to target specific age groups more effectively. It will also help your age-group staff work together better to impact kids as they transition from one ministry to another.

6 THINGS EVERY KID NEEDS

There are approximately 936 weeks from the day a child is born until they graduate from high school. If you're a parent or leader, you are running out of time and your days of influence are limited. Join us as we talk about the six things every kid needs that will transform the focus and intentionality of your ministry, and how best to weave these six essential principles through everything you do as a leader and as a parent.

WHAT I WISH I COULD TELL EVERY VOLUNTEER

We know how important volunteers are to your ministries, but sometimes we struggle to tell them just how vital they really are. Join Sue Miller to discuss how best to share with your volunteer team how instrumental they are to your ministry and the great impact that they have on the lives of the kids that they are investing in week in and week out.

GET BETTER AT WHAT YOU SAY

If you are a leader, you have an audience. You have to cast vision, explain an idea, communicate a truth to someone. Maybe your platform is a group of kids, volunteers, or just people on your team. What if there is a clear process that will ensure that your next presentation is your best one? This breakout will give you that process, so you can discover how to get better at what you say.

Have you chosen your breakouts yet?
Which ones will you be attending?

 Hope to see you there!

Blessings,

Playing for Keeps - Orange Tour 2013

One day.

One day that you and your team come together to hear breakthrough ideas.

One day having conversations about making an impact on the lives of children and teens.

One day could change everything for your family ministry team.

The Orange Tour 2013 kicks off this Fall and this year's theme is 

Playing for Keeps.

"Whether you’re aware of it or not, time is moving.

You can’t stop it. You can’t slow it down. You can’t change it. 

The number of weeks you have to influence a child or teenager is limited.

That’s why what you do THIS WEEK matters.

You have a short window of opportunity to make a permanent imprint on the soul of a child. You have a limited number of days to help start someone on a journey of authentic and life-long faith.

You are playing for keeps."

The Orange Tour 2013 will be heading to 12 cities around the country to lead the conversation about how we can make every week count. There will be main sessions and workshops with fantastic speakers like Mark Batterson, Jeff Henderson, Carey Nieuwhof, Sue Miller, and Reggie Joiner.

There's more (as if that's not enough)!

Something new this year is a bonus volunteer training event the night before that everyone with an Orange Tour ticket can attend. This training session focuses on the LEAD SMALL principles and give practical ideas on being an effective small group leader.

Registration opens TODAY!

So head on over and register you and your team now.

$49 includes lunch and the night-before volunteer training event. 

This price is good for one day only. The price will increase as the events get closer. 

For more information, visit www.OrangeTour.org.

Seriously...go register now.

We're playing for keeps.

My Three Things From Orange

It's been three weeks since the Orange Conference and there was so much to process after coming home. Since I was the only one from our children's ministry team that was able to attend, it was my job to bring all of what I learned home to share with everyone. Knowing that attending Orange is like drinking from a fire hose for days, I had to process before passing on anything. Sam Luce gave me some great advice the first year I attended the conference when I explained that I was a bit overwhelmed. He said to pick three things that I learned and work on those. I went to work on writing up everything on what I wanted to share and presented them to our director.

So here are my three things.

All three things are from from Gina McClain's workshop.

Gina had spoken about how essential it is to highlight the win by sharing stories. These stories will communicate what is important, that there are valuable things happening, and could potentially be an invitation to get involved. 

Prior to Orange our team had briefly spoken about doing some videos to share with the church during service, but they were mostly going to be informational. What I suggested is that we create videos that would tell the stories of why we serve and all that God is doing in the lives of our kids. Informational videos while necessary and definitely useful, often only engage those who actually have children in our ministry. So in addition to the series promotional videos, we are also sharing the stories that we hope will reach everyone.

Gina expressed the responsibility we have to empower our small group leaders with clear goals and values. That everyone should know what to do and how to do it, what is a priority, and what is expected of them. 

The most common ways of communicating these goals and values are a handbook and verbally giving these directions. We had been doing well verbally, but needed to update our handbook for our adult volunteers and create one for our junior volunteers. We took this a step further and wanted to create one not only for small group leaders, but for all leaders in our ministry. We have just finished our junior volunteer handbook and are currently working on one for the adults.

Gina discussed helping small group leaders to think small and that how they are equipped matters. She spoke of empowering small group leaders by giving them a roster of the kids in their group and explaining that these are the ones to know, love on, and pray for each week.

We want our small group leaders to take ownership of their groups and this is a fantastic way to do that. We have completed the roster and are working on additional information to provide leaders including addresses and birthdays of each child. Not only will this provide a list of children to pray for each week, but will also allow them to connect and build relationships outside of Sundays.

These are just a few things I brought home to share with our team that we are currently working on applying to our ministry.

What were your takeaways from Orange?

How are you implementing them?

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Soul Tattoo: Living Out What God Put in You - Craig Jutila

These are my notes from Craig Jutila's breakout

Soul Tattoo.

The Sacred Heart is a medieval symbol of Christ's sacrifice.

The sacred heart signifies the redeeming love of God. 

Those who devote themselves to the Sacred Heart do so to create 

within themselves the love and compassion as taught by Christ.

Guard your heart above all else, 

for it determines the course of your life. 

Proverbs 4:23

Guard means to keep. Keep something of high value. 

If you have something of high value you do whatever you can to guard or protect it.

The Heart Symbolizes Kindness 

In Judaism, the word 'heart' represented the core of the person. The heart was considered the center of spirituality. The heart was the emotional center, and from there flowed love and kindness. 

Let the LORD remove every memory of him from the earth, because he did not remember to be kind. He drove oppressed, needy, and brokenhearted people to their graves. 

Psalm 109:15-16

The Crown Symbolizes Suffering 

A.W. Tozer said, It is doubtful that God will use you greatly until he has hurt you deeply.

My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise. 

Psalm 51:17

Broken Things

Jacobs Hip 

It was not until Jacob’s natural strength was broken that he came to the point where God could clothe him with spiritual power. 

The Soldiers Jars 

It wasn’t until Gideon’s three hundred soldiers “broke the jars in their hands” that God’s power brought terror to their enemies. 

Esther and The Law 

It was not until Esther risked her life and broke through the strict laws of the King’s court that she received favor to rescue her people from death. 

Jesus and the Bread 

It wasn’t until Jesus broke “the five loaves” that the bread was multiplied to feed the five thousand. 

The Perfume Bottle 

It wasn’t until Mary broke the “jar of perfume” that the fragrance filled the house. 

It is through the process of brokenness and suffering that miracles occur.

The Dagger Symbolizes Courage 

It symbolizes the willingness to take action, to be bold and fearless. A Dagger Tattoo that appears to enter the flesh with the tip often reappearing symbolizes that an individual has been wounded in life. 

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. 

Psalm 27:14

Take Courage...Don’t Wait For It!

The Rose Symbolizes Hope 

A tattoo of a rose with thorns reminds us that beauty does not come without sacrifice. The road of hope often has a few thorns along the way but at the end of the thorny branch is something beautiful. 

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun] 

Isaiah 40:31a

The Flame Symbolize Passion 

Passion is a strong emotion that has an overpowering or compelling effect. Apathy is the opposite of passion. Lack of interest, listless, unconcerned or indifferent.

Why People Loose Their Passion 

1. Familiarity 

2. Keeping The Wrong Company 

3. Nothing to Fight For 

4. A Hard Heart 

How To Get It Back 

1. Get Around Passionate People 

2. Pray For It 

3. Keep Daily Reminders 

Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow 

and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord. Romans 12:11

Keep my commands and live...

Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. 

Proverbs 7:1-3

Craig Jutila is an author, leadership coach and communicator speaking to audiences and teams throughout the country on the topics of marriage, family, leadership and living lives of health and balance. In their most recent book, “From Hectic to Healthy: The Journey to a Balance Life”,” Craig, along with his wife Mary, share their story of a life lived out of balance and how they had to fight to find the right seasonal pace for their life and family. Craig also serves as president of Empowered Living a company that provides leadership and resources for parents, families, children and leaders.

Blog: www.whowillyouempower.com

Twitter: @craigjutila

Orange Main Session - Perry Noble

Here are my notes from Perry Noble's session. 

I loved hearing his heart.

If we really want to reach the next generation, we need to understand that they aren’t interested in our ability. They’re interested in our availability. They don’t care how much theology we know or how well a program is executed. They care that there is a worker in that room that is going to love them.

Perry then took us to 1 Samuel 3 and the story of Eli and Samuel.

Eli was jacked up. He had not done what God has called him to do. 
I am so glad today that God uses jacked up people.

I have heard people say…

I don’t feel qualified to do what I do.

- God only uses jacked up people.

I am just a volunteer.

- You are not just a volunteer. You are a person with a calling and the anointing of God on your life to change the life of a child.

Some say that children’s ministry and student ministry is dead in the church today. They couldn’t be more wrong. If someone believes that, they’re obviously not serving there.

Investing in our children means no more fundraising; 
no more car washes so kids can go on a mission trip.

For where your treasure is, 

there will your heart be also. 

Luke 12:34

“Then the Lord called Samuel…”

God really does speak to children. He wants to speak to them in a clean, safe, fun environment where they can learn about Jesus on their level.

If we tell them when they are little that Jesus loves them, 
they will believe it when they are older.

You can entertain kids or you can bore them.

We are going to teach them that Jesus is boring and Disney is going to teach them that Mickey is fun. Then we wonder why kids leave the church.

“Samuel went to Eli”

The voice of God must have sounded a lot like Eli.

Isn’t it funny that God spoke to a child through a voice he was already familiar with?

What if this weekend God wants to talk to a kid in your church through a voice that they already know.

Kids just need someone to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them. 
That has nothing to do with our ability and everything to do with our availability.

Samuel always went to Eli because he was available.

Eli didn't try to be the voice of God for Samuel, but he helped Samuel 
get to a place where he could hear the voice of God.

Let’s be available for these kids.

We get to do what we do today because our Savior was available.

If you’re available, God will use you to make a bigger difference than you can imagine.

Orange Opening Session - Reggie Joiner

Reggie Joiner kicked off Orange sharing about the main theme - FOCUS.

Reggie talked about giving parents a jar of marbles. Each marble signified a week in a child's life. Between time child is born and graduates high school you have about 936 marbles. They were asked to take out a marble every week. What happened is they began to value their time together. Actually seeing the time they would spend made a difference. When you see the time you have left, you get serious about your time now.

Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

He encouraged us to make a list of the kids and teenagers inside our circle of influence that we’re thinking of and praying over. We should be processing everything we are talking through this week through the filter of real relationships that we’re involved in and the kids that we are ministering to.

At the end of the day you want your kids to love God.  You can't make a kid love God, but you can live with him in such a way that they know what it means to love God. You can life in such a way that they can understand that there is a redemption story.

We need adults who will hang with kids and make history with them. God chose to use time throughout history that we can see the love of God. He chose over time to reveal himself to us. If God used time to reveal himself, we can use time to reveal God to kids and make history.

Love over time gives worth. – We need to love them over time and, in doing so, we give them a sense of worth. We are living in a generation where the kids don’t think they are worth anything. Kids in this generation need adults who will show up and show them what God is like. We start at the beginning when we were made in the image of God and then God said it was very good. The story of the cross says you’re worth something. God pursued us to have a relationship with Him. We need a generation to rise up and remind our kids that they are worth something.

Words over time gives us direction. - When you and I are in a relationship, words have history that come with them. They mean something. Words are so powerful.

Stories over time gives us perspective. - We are shaping a generation to see how God is when we tell and retell Bible stories. That’s why Jesus told stories.

Fun over time gives you connection. - The greatest thing you can put in your home and church to attract kids is joy. Both should have an atmosphere of joy and fun.

A tribe over time gives a sense of belonging. – Tribes are a group of people that have something in common and give a place to belong. Shouldn’t we as the church want to provide our kids with a tribe? Everybody needs somebody who will show up when they know what they did. We need people who have history with us and still show up. You will never feel forgiven by people who don’t know you. They need to be known in such a way that they are welcomed by someone who knows them. Just like the prodigal son, we want them to know that they can come back. That no matter where they go and how far they go that they will always belong.

We are a tribe because of Jesus. Our mission is that each kid and teenager know that they have a place at the table. There will always be a chair at the table.

The way to leave a legacy is not to be famous with many people. The only people who are going to remember you are the ones that know you now.  Your legacy is going to be with the people you spend time with now. Invest in the people closest to you.

Reggie closed our time together with an invitation to the table as we shared communion together.

You can read more about the legacy marbles in Reggie's new books

Losing Your Marbles / Playing for Keeps

You can also get the Legacy Countdown app for iPhone here and Android here.

Through the Looking Glass

Sometimes attending a conference can overwhelm you with all the information shared there. You might not know which great idea to implement first or what change needs to happen right away. You attend main sessions and workshops where speakers pour into you. You have conversations with others in ministry who do what you do and close friends that speak into your life.

The Orange Conference was different for me this year. Instead of feeling like I was drinking from a fire hose, it felt more like taking a looking glass to my life. Much of it made me ask some really important questions about myself that will take some time to truly ponder.

One thing became very clear to me at a conference that's theme was focus. It clarified my passion - creating community, deepening relationships, and transparent conversations.

Because it happened at a children's ministry conference, does it only apply to my role as a volunteer in our children's ministry? I don't believe so. I think that it runs across the board in every area of my life - from being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and a volunteer.

Now ask me to explain what this looks like and I will tell you that I honestly don't know right now. I just know that this is what God spoke to my heart during the time I spent with Him at the conference. There is change coming - something new. I feel a bit restless and unsettled by it, yet hopeful and excited about all He has in store for me.

No one’s ever seen or heard or imagined anything like this. 

What God has arranged for those who love him. 

You’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit 
has brought it all out into the open before you. 

The Spirit dives into the depths of God 
and brings out what God planned all along. 

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Blessings,

Orange Main Session - Andy Stanley

Here are my notes from Andy Stanley's main session.

I want to encourage you to rethink your approach on how you teach and talk about the scriptures to kids and students. We have for generations perceived ourselves to be the majority. It effects the words we use. We aren’t the majority anymore, but we are so accustomed to speaking as the majority. I wish we could all take a big step back and not act as if we were the majority. In the first century they knew they weren’t the majority. They were lion food. Outcasts. Once upon a time there were a handful of people who believed that Jesus rose from the dead.

 

Our approach determines people’s response to what we have to say.

-  We have to approach each child differently.

We must adapt our approach depending on who our audience is.

-  In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul adapted to speak to each person’s differences.

-  His goal wasn’t to be right, and make a point. His goal was to reach some.

- The approach may change, but the goal always remains the same.

You inherited an approach that assumes biblical authority.

- You do not believe what you believe because the Bible says so.

7 Guideline to Communicate Scripture

- Choose a passage of scripture and stay there. Bible story – is it a story? Its better than a story. It’s history.  Make it interesting and clear. Bring your energy to the text. Stop using all your energy for the illustration. You read things to discover if they are true.

- Give people permission not to believe or obey the scriptures. We do not want our children to think that the reason we do this is because it is in the bible. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 – What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church. All the local church is supposed to do is one another one another. When people see that, they want that. Let’s be so good at what we do they can’t help but lean in. The attraction of the church is look at all those one anothers one anothers not this is what is in the bible. The authority of the local church was look how they love one another not this is what the bible says.

- Teach in a manner that emphasizes the identity of Jesus over the authority of scripture.  They believed in Jesus because He rose from the dead not because the bible says so. The foundation of our faith is a moment in history – Jesus rose from the dead.  People must come to terms with the identity of Jesus and his authority before they can believe. The foundation of your faith is a group of people that expected to find a body and didn’t.

- Don’t refer to the bible as a book. Never say god wrote the bible. It’s way better than a book.

- Cite authors not the Bible. James was the brother of Jesus. What would you have to do to convince your brother that you were the Son of God? We should not expect people to believe that Jesus rose from the dead because the bible says so. We believe because the witnesses said so and they saw it.

 - Acknowledge the odd as odd. There are some odd things in the Bible. Just say they're odd. We believe the Old Testament is true because Jesus believed that it was true. Anyone who predicts his own death and resurrection, I just go with what he says. Jesus said the Old Testament was scripture.

- Don’t create the impression that one must choose between faith and science. You want people who understand why things work like they do. 

And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult 

for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

Acts 15:19 

Let's not make it difficult for our kids.

Worship at Orange

There is something so incredibly powerful about joining over 5,000 people in worship.

Here are some of the artists that have been leading us in worship this year at 
The Orange Conference.

If you weren't able to make it to Orange this year, you can tune in via live stream. You will be able to see what's happening on and off stage, watch sessions and interviews with speakers, learn more about resources and enter giveaways.

I will be blogging and tweeting throughout the conference along with many others.

You can follow all the Orange Bloggers listed here.

You can also follow along via Twitter using the hashtag #OC13.

Blessings,

The Last Day of Orange

Today is the last day here at The Orange Conference. Today will be all main sessions with keynote speakers. We will be hearing from Bob Goff, Doug Fields, Kara Powell, Perry Noble, Sherry Surratt, Sue Miller, and many more.

I am looking forward to many more conversations with both old friends and new ones today. I have been so blessed to have been able to hug on and chat with so many incredible friends these past few days.

Yesterday I was able to have lunch with my best friends, Jared and Barbara. Loved being with them and hearing how God is blessing them.

If you weren't able to make it to Orange this year, you can tune in via live stream. You will be able to see what's happening on and off stage, watch sessions and interviews with speakers, learn more about resources and enter giveaways.

I will be blogging and tweeting throughout the conference along with many others.

You can follow all the Orange Bloggers listed here.

You can also follow along via Twitter using the hashtag #OC13.

Blessings,