Thoughts from the Orange Conference - Church Leaders

This is the 4th and final installment of my "thoughts from the Orange Conference".  Today I am focused on the lessons that I took away as someone who has been in church leadership, and someone who knows how vital having the support of church leadership is to the future of ministry.  Remember these are bullet points.  If you want details you'll have to post a comment.

• People won’t believe they are significant until they are given something significant to do.
• It is better to be excellent at two things than it is to have something for everyone.
• Each hour you spend developing a team of leaders (or parents) is an hour in which you have actually multiplied your influence.  Your one hour turns in to 5, as each individual takes what you taught and practices it.
• Refining or adding programs only makes us more yellow.  It actually moves the church away from being Orange.  Going Orange will require you to let Red (families) have influence in your ministry, and may require doing less, so that Red will have time and energy to do more.
• Have a volunteer tell a ‘messy’ ministry story on video and follow it up with “I am __________, and I volunteer with ___________, because______________”.
• When someone complains about a ministry, a leader’s first response should be “you obviously aren't volunteering there,” then be ready to share at least one “win” from each ministry.
• If you can’t identify a win for a ministry, it is time to cut it or at least prune it.
• Guard the gates.  Not everyone who wants to be a leader (teacher, committee member, small group leader, or any kind of volunteer) should be.  Filtering and evaluating leaders requires creating criteria for leadership.  Look at your best leaders/volunteers to identify those criteria.
• Guard the Gates.  Not every program or ministry idea will actually help you accomplish your mission.  Have criteria by which you evaluate each ministry (new or existing)
• Inspire trust by communicating, being available, and only doing what you can do with excellence.
• It is easier to run ministry around parents than it is to run ministry through relationships with them.  Partnering with parents will require deep commitment and constant attention, as it runs counter to our deeply established church culture
• Design a take away (application) for insiders and one for outsiders into everything you do.
• Determine to reach outsiders through insiders (ie through people, not through programs)
• Be purposeful about connecting outsiders to insiders
• Rely most on the feedback of outsiders, it is easy to fall into the trap of just listening to those who like what you are doing, but that will lead you into ruts or stagnation, you will need to constantly get input from new voices if you are going to keep your approach fresh.
• Don’t box the next generation of leaders into certain methods.

This concludes the thoughts from the Orange Conference.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thoughts from the Orange Conference - Students

Part 3 of my thoughts from the Orange Conference.  These are some bullet points of ideas that I'd like to plug into my ministry to teens.  Keep in mind that these are just bullet points, and don't hesitate to ask questions if anything is unclear.

• The 4G gospel – we were created “Good” and of great worth to God.  “Guilt” from our sin separates us from that goodness and from God.  “Grace” inspired God to send Jesus to make a way for our relationship with God to be reconciled, and it is “Gratitude” for what God has done that motivates us to turn from evil do good.
• Set specific goals for each year (ie for the freshmen, for the sophomores, etc…) and communicate those goals to each student, mentor and parent.
• Connect them to service, not to a person or a program.  People and programs can be taken away, but if they learn to love God through serving others, they can build new relationships and programs.
• Match-make inter-generational partnerships 1 at a time.
• Provide them with specific actions they can take to be missionaries at school
• Invite them to invite others
• Don’t just assimilate them into the youth ministry; assimilate them out of it as well.
• When it comes to your program Only do what you can do with excellence
• When it comes to relationships remember that God is more interested in your availability than in your ability.
• Teach them how to study the bible; don’t just tell them to do it.  For starters try this: “Pray, Read, Think, Write, Pray.”  Pray – that you will understand what you are about to read, Read – keep it small enough to digest, Think of something you can do with what you've read, Write it down (no longer than a tweet or Facebook status), Pray – that God will help you practice what you've read.
• Give them goals then can attain.  (one example- Going from 0 bible study to 7 days a week would be great, but they may feel like failures if they don’t meet that, shoot for 4 days for starters, and work up from there)
• Remember that the lesson isn't over until it has been applied
• Teach their parents about grace – teen years are when they should be transitioning from doing what is right out of guilt (or fear of punishment) to doing it out of gratitude for the Grace God showed them when he sent Jesus.  Grace will need to be modeled in the home.
• Change the gauge of success – from results to steps.  (one example: rather than how many friends have gotten saved, to how many times you shared your testimony.)
• Students won’t believe they are significant until they are given something significant to do.

Thoughts from the Orange Conference - Parents

Part two of my thoughts from the Orange Conference.  These bullet points represent the ideas and inspiration from the conference that relate to how I interact with the parents of the teens I work with, but also how I try to help the parents in our church take a more active role in partnering with the church to fulfill the great commission.

• Ask parents why they personally need the church.
• Ask parents “what would make the church such an indispensable part of your life that you would beg your friends to give it a try?”
• Take a video of each parent saying “I am ___________, I am a parent and I partner with the church because _____________.”
• Think: Going orange isn't about refining or adding programs.  Adding programs is how you go more yellow.  Going Orange requires the church to elevate the red.
• Think: What if going orange doesn't mean obligating families to another program or night out, but showing red that we believe that they are essential to the strategy of the church.
• Think: in terms of empowering red, rather than instructing it.
• Build relationships of trust with parents by communicating, by excellence, by connecting them to a small group leader, by creating opportunities for parents and kids to make memories together, by pointing them to resources, by planning some of your teaching based on their input, and by being available to give guidance.
• Ask parents what faith skills they need help teaching their kids, plan your ministries around these felt needs, and parents will be much more likely to partner with you.
• Partner with parents to create a list of annual spiritual mile stones (steps) for their kids from cradle to college, plan your ministry around these, and review them frequently.
• Provide a visual that will help us all remember that the days we have with kids are numbered.
• Match-make partnerships and inter-generational relationships for kids, and for parents.
• Remember that vision fades with age.  Ask the next generation what they need in order to be ministers to their peers.

Now hopefully something you just read inspired or intrigued you.  If so, please post a comment so we can talk.

Thoughts from the Orange Conference - Personal

I just attended the Orange Conference in Atlanta.  

It was the Orange Conference that first inspired me to blog, and honestly I had recently given up on blogging, but I am inspired to try again.

Over the next four days I will post bullet points on my thoughts from the Orange Conference.  They are just bullet points, not complete thoughts.  So if you want deeper understanding of a point or two you'll have to comment and ask.

Today we start with the things that impacted me personally. These bullet points capture the changes that I hope to see in my approach to people and ministry:

• Community is Messy. That’s okay God uses messy.  When I try to avoid mess, I avoid the things that can cause me and others to grow.
• See people for who they can become in Christ, instead of for their biggest mistake.
• Invest in the Kingdom of God, not in building a kingdom. God’s kingdom is bigger than my church.
• Be more available. – Thousands experienced Jesus’ abilities (ie speaking, healing, and miracles) but only about 120 people were huddled together praying after his resurrection.  These were the people who had experienced his availability.  It was through these people that He changed the world.
• People will not believe they are significant until they are given something significant to do.
• Cast vision big enough to scare high capacity leaders. Big vision attracts high capacity leaders.
• How people respond to my message has more to do with my approach than my argument.
• Fight for people, rather than with them.
• Remember that people outside the church won’t believe something “because the bible says so” The authority of the early church came from their love. Their love was demonstrated by putting their belief into action, not just by talking about it, is what caused people to listen to their message, and gave authority to their words.
• Think about how appealing the smell of fresh baked bread is.  Anyone passing by a bakery longs for what is inside.  I should be like that as a Christian.

Now hopefully something you just read provoked a thought.  If so post a comment, and let's talk.