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2 things when considering strategy.

April 28, 2016 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

Yesterday I attended a Jon Acuff breakout here at the Orange Conference in Atlanta, he talked about strategy. It was short and sweet, and to the point…with the occasional jokes of course. Jon has a great way of weaving authentic truth into his entertaining messages. I walked away with two nuggets of truth I’d like to share with you.

Strategy forces you to acknowledge the limits. 

Many times we believe that the sky is the limit. And guess what? As leaders we are guilty for aiming at the sky. When we don’t hit the sky we’ve been chasing after, we feel as if we have failed. It’s time we consider our strategy and understand it has limits. A strategy encompasses a unique DNA that “should” help us better focus on what we are saying NO to. The word NO can be interpreted as a bad word, an uncomfortable word or even discouraging about what you can’t do. However, when we learn to say NO to good things we will begin to understand what it looks like to acknowledge our limits. This will help us remain faithful to our strategy and execute the desired outcome.

Bigger isn’t better, better is better.

I’ve had the privilege of touring many churches over the past few years. Some with bigger buildings, bigger youth groups, others with bigger budgets and bigger staff. What have I learned? Bigger isn’t better, better is better. The high school ministry I lead is actually historically smaller than back in the hay-day when it was huge. Nonetheless, I’m told often by past leaders, previous students and current staff that our ministry is healthier than it ever was before. Our team has worked hard to put a Christ following adult if not two in the life of every teenager. When you do that, things get better. We also shifted the mentality of not just getting students plugged into a program, we wanted them to be part of something greater. 50% of our students volunteer in the church on Sunday mornings, this helps make our church a better place and gives the student a place to belong in the church beyond high school program. If you are considering simply program attendance you will miss it. Bigger isn’t better, better is better.

Filed Under: Church Planting, Leadership, Student Ministry Tagged With: OC16, orange leaders, strategy, thinkorange

Watch Orange Conference LIVE here!

April 27, 2016 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

This week is going to be awesome! What am I looking forward to the most? Glad you asked. The people. There are over 8,000 ministry leaders here who give much of their life to the next generation. The amount of influence in this place is awesome. I look forward to exchanging learnings, failures and successes with other ministry leaders. Want to learn with us this week but couldn’t make it? No worries, check out the LIVE feed here or come back for updates.

If you’re at #OC16 and want to stay connect this week hit me up on Twitter.

OC16_Insta2

Filed Under: Leadership, Student Ministry Tagged With: OC16, Orange, orange leaders

Get off the stage, you talk too much!

September 7, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

shh2If the statement upsets you it could be a deeper conviction or perhaps I’m right. However, I’m not here to guilt trip you, but rather offer up one of the best kept secrets I have run into this past year. The method has benefited my student ministry tremendously.

You and I both know that even the most gifted and rehearsed speaker won’t connect with every student. I receive compliments and encouragement from some students while getting blank stares from others. Your audience needs different voices offering up the same truth in different tones. Just as there are a kazillion love songs on the radio, some prefer country music while others like the fat beat of a heavy rap song with a similar story…in both songs someone is stealing the girl or running off with their high school sweetheart  (I understand country music lyrics a little bit more clearly than rap…but maybe that’s just me?).

I found that asking guest speakers to take on a speaking series is beneficial to everyone involved in the equation. A couple of quick thoughts:

  • Give your audience another voice to connect with.
  • Rather than spend time on message prep that week, solve other problems in your ministry.
  • Allow a speaker/teacher to grow in their gifting.
  • Taking off a Sunday in the future will be much more possible when you share the stage with others.
  • Pastoral staff and those with the gift of teaching are selected guest speakers. BE SELECTIVE.
  • One day when you leave your position students will be more receptive to hearing from other voices…even the next youth pastor.

How often should you share the stage? The old-school youth pastor and even some modern day yp’s will speak every single Sunday. If you want to burn out and hate your job…then continue this method. Even if you LOVE speaking…your ministry needs your attention in other places other than the stage. I have done some math and it appears over the past year that I speak 40-50% of the time. That means that I am one of if not the most consistent faces on stage but not appearing every Sunday.

Getting off the stage has allowed me to recruit, train and cast vision for my leaders like never before. This year we have a full volunteer staff of almost 60 showing up every Sunday to lead small groups, greet students and serve up a meal for our high school program. This would not have been possible if it weren’t for the team of speakers I have around me that pour in their time to teach our students while I work on other “behind the scenes stuff” during the week.

In case the question came to mind. We use Orange’s Xp3 curriculum as our foundation for a teaching manuscript and small group questions. I allow the guest speaker to add their own stories and even some main points, but they have to stick to the bottom line and use the scripture given.

So, I leave you with this question: Who are you sharing the stage with?

Filed Under: Church Planting, Leadership, Student Ministry Tagged With: church, message, Orange, orange leaders, speaking, stumin, Sunday, thinkorange, XP3, youth group, youth pastor, youthmin

6 “must visit” youth ministry websites

March 19, 2015 by Chris Parker 2 Comments

thumbs-up

We youth pastors can be guilty of spending too much time on the internet all with good intent… browsing, spiraling, ending up watching too many videos of cats. Your intentions are good and you are just trying to find a game for this coming weekend or hit a writer’s block so you hopped on facebook. When it comes to youth ministry related topics wether it be games, curriculum, or ideas, these are a few of my favorites [Read more…]

Filed Under: Student Ministry Tagged With: dym, most visited, must visit, orange leaders, student ministry, stuff you can use, stumin, top, uthmin, websites, YM answers, Youth Ministry, youth pastor, youth specialties

Hey there, my name is Chris. I wake up every morning thinking youth ministry. If you are in the same boat, then I know you will identify with me, because you also live the life of a youth pastor .

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