I hope to meet you, hangout and talk student ministry this year at the Orange Conference. Go get your ticket for OC2015 now! I’d love to know if you’re going, either shoot me an email or leave a comment. See you this spring! Go get that ticket now for the best price!
Lead Small App: IT’S FREE!
Give some love to those hardworking small group leaders, get this app in their hands ASAP! We (student pastors) have been waiting for something like this for years and now those over at Orange have gone and done it, they have created the “Lead Small” app free for small group leaders to use. My leaders are using it every week!
- Small Group Questions? Check.
- Database for all my students info and prayer requests? Check.
- One click to send a text to everyone in my small group? Check.
- Additional training to make me a better leader? Check.
I use the app during every SGL meeting to review the topic for the day and the small group questions. This thing is synced with our curriculum months in advance, it’s a time saver and super clear on what the SGL needs to do.
Churches have the option to subscribe for a small fee to customize and make content and newsfeed their own. Even if your small group leaders simply use this as database to keep in touch with their few and their parents, this thing is a game changer! Go download it and geek out with me on what we’ve all been waiting for!
All is NOT lost.
With me growing up around sailboats and loving survival skills, I think Robert Redford did an excellent job with All is Lost. Composed of just a few sentences and hardly any soundtrack, this very real, jaw dropping thriller will make you feel isolated and hopeless through it all.
There are too many times in student ministry we (youth pastors) feel this way about our ministry — isolated — hopeless. If it weren’t already hard enough to sail a boat across the Indian Ocean, the guy just happens to hit a shipping container in the middle of nowhere! With what seems the already impossible task of running a stellar weekend program, having every leader/volunteer slot filled and ensuring every visiting student returns, the ominous adversary that is determined to sink your ministry comes unfairly unexpected.
Isolation and hopelessness come in all shapes and sizes, whether it be an ignorant staff member stirring up rumors about you, an irate parent disagreeing with your philosophy of ministry or perhaps budget cuts so bad you can’t spend a penny. You need to hold fast and weather the storm to develop perseverance in yourself and for the sake of your ministry. There’s no denying it, you will hit one storm after another, especially in student ministry. With each storm weathered comes a victory and even victories can be disguised as hard lessons learned, all is not lost. Through it all you will become a stronger leader and a better youth pastor for your ministry and your church.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James
If you want to watch the movie “All is Lost”. Get it here.
Insane deal for you! Go get it.
I think I own almost every book that Orange has put out, and they just keep getting better. These are some of the best reads for student and children’s ministry. You won’t be disappointed to add some of their hot-off-the-press books to your library. Buy some for you, buy some for a friend, read and discuss with your church staff.
Orange Books is sponsoring a week of special deals. This week only until August 22, you can get five different special offers on select Orange Books.
When you purchase one of the five different “Deals,” you will receive $50–$100 of bonus content!
Plus, if you post the Deals (using the hasthtag #OrangeBooks), you will be entered to win five different Prizes (no purchase necessary). You can get all the details at Orange Books.
Go get that deal! #OrangeBooks
Stop doing it all!
A student ministry is not a student ministry until students start doing the ministry.
It was this philosophy of ministry that my youth pastor had. When he gave away leadership to me, I inherited numerous tasks and responsibilities. Through developmental leadership over the years I now find myself in the place of needing to give my leadership away to others.
What is holding back your ministry from growing deeper spiritually, growing bigger in numbers and overall richer in leadership? It’s probably your lack of empowering others, giving away responsibilities and allowing students to do the ministry that they are capable of doing. When a student has that “Aha!” moment and realizes that they are just as capable to minister to others like the youth pastor, they begin to look at their student ministry through a different lens. The student begins to own the ministry and operate not merely as an attender but as a contributor.
How do you empower your students?
Look over your weekly responsibilities, find tasks you can give to your students so that they have the opportunity to step up and do the ministry they are capable of doing.
6 cities, 12 days, 1 mission.
This week we have students and kids serving both stateside and international. This is so cool to see 3rd graders all the way up through graduated seniors taking the love of Jesus to many around the world, it’s one of my favorite seasons of the year. I’ll be going to Haiti, leaving here in a few hours. A really neat last minute surprise, my dad will be going on the trip with me! Stay updated on all our trips by following our picture blog HERE!
“Did I win?”
Believe it or not, your small group leaders ask this very question every single week. Often a small group will end with your leader feeling frustrated or defeated because they couldn’t get through all their questions or even end with a prayer because someone was laughing, the juicy gossip was flowing, or simply no one wanted to talk. The small group leader walks away feeling like they lost. The feeling of defeat is the last thing we want our leaders to experience.
It’s playoff season in the NBA and everyone wants to win. My favorite basketball games are the ones that are point for point back and forth across the court with only seconds to spare. Almost every team has the same end game in mind when mere seconds are left…do whatever it takes to get the ball in the hands of the best player to take the shot before the buzzer. There is not a doubt in that player’s mind – this shot will win or lose the game.
As a leader of leaders, it’s my job to set my small group leaders up for the game winning shot. As time dwindles on the clock in small group, our leaders need to know how to take the game winning shot. The win for a small group leader needs to be clearly defined each week.
If we want our small group leaders to walk away feeling as if they won, we need to set them up for the win. Tomorrow I will share some wins with you that I have implemented for my ministry. #winning!
#OC14 so far…
Here are a few quick things I have learned and been processing thus far at #OC14:
- God has a specific calling on my life and my ministry. Living out this calling should look different than everyone else. I should stop gauging success based my personal and ministry accomplishments compared to others. Success should be based on whether or not I have answered and stayed true to what God has asked me to do.
- There are far more (in numbers and tenure) dedicated kids ministry volunteers and staff opposed to student ministry staff. C’mon student leaders! Step up your game, stay loyal to your church, raise up an army of great volunteers for students.
- You need to know how to define a win for everything you do in your ministry. What does a win look like for the guest that attends camp? What does a win look like for my small group leader after a small group? What does a win look like after a staff meeting? Defining your wins will help you strive for excellence and celebrate what is most important.
- Don’t let your budget determine your vision. Let your vision determine your budget.
- Prayer. Not praying for your ministry/church on a regular basis is like trying to launch and navigate a rocket to the moon without NASA. Let’s stay closely in touch with our all-knowing Father.
JOIN FOR LIVE STREAMING THIS MORNING!
Your sign to get a new sign.
If it’s not simple.
If it’s not short.
If it’s not synchronized.
SIMPLE – If you are running a program or ministry project that requires signs, directions, or logos, you want people to read it and read it correctly, right? So keep it simple, make sure it’s legible and not too crazy with unnecessary fluff. Remember, simple is clean, clean is attractive.
SHORT – I just finished visiting a church and walked through a 12,000 sq. ft. space of a church lobby. There was only ONE word on the giant wall as people left the auditorium. “CONNECTIONS” Simply one word says it all. There is not a question in anyone’s mind about where to go to get further connected to what is going on in that church. The more words, artwork, phrases, pictures, random, useless, meaningless…well you get the idea, people stop reading or lose interest. Keep it short. Whatever you desire to have the most attention in your space dial it down to one or two words.
SYNCHRONIZED – You might have the coolest sign ever, but if it doesn’t match anything else in the church you are sticking out like a sore thumb in a bad way. Figure out your churches style and fit into it, if you don’t like the style or the style is too outdated, sketch up some proposals and get some feedback before purchasing that big sign or multiple signs for your space.
Here is what I did with our student space at our church to communicate to the general public where students hang out on Sundays and the program times we offer.
If you are coming from the visitor parking lot and don’t see the doors, at least the 8ft. tall word STUDENTS will give it away.
Good signage following these three rules does not cost your church an arm and a leg, it just takes some brainstorming, creativity, and agreeing on next steps. The paint on the building and vinyl work on the doors gets complimented every other week. People share how helpful the signage was in directing them. It only cost a few hundred bucks, 3 sit down meetings and roughly 4 email threads. Small investments of budget and time can make a huge difference and leave a big impression to those visiting for the first time.
Can I watch Orange Conference 2014 online?
Next week thousands, literally thousands, will assemble in Atlanta, Georgia for Orange Conference 2014. Perhaps you didn’t buy a ticket, you were skeptical or waited too late or took a year off, or maybe prefer a different conference?! Regardless of the reason, you are in for a treat, the folks at Orange are very considerate and are making the main sessions available for LIVE online viewing next week!
- Can I really watch for free? YES.
- Can I still buy a last minute ticket for the main sessions and attend in Atlanta? YES.
- Will you be blogging your thoughts and ideas on things learned next week? YES.
- If my team and I can’t make it to #OC14 should we watch main sessions together? YES.
Orange Conference will provide some great discussion and ideas for you, your staff, and leaders. Grab some popcorn, pen and paper, take some notes and chat it up!
Watch the main sessions LIVE stream for free or check out the Orange conference website.
Set reminders on your calendar/phone, main session times are as follows:
Wednesday, April 30
Session#1 7:30PM-10:30PM
Thursday, May 1
Session #2 9:00AM-10:45AM
Session #3 7:30PM-8:30PM
Friday, May 2
Session #4 9:00AM-10:30AM
Session #5 11:15AM-12:30PM
Session #6 2:00PM-3:15PM
Session #7 4:00PM-6:00PM
Yippeee!!! Can’t wait, see you all in Atlanta next week!
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