However, as a dad who “knows his stuff pretty well,” I’ve come to realize how much help I really do need. Four years into unpacking the Orange strategy, this stuff has hit home in a new way was my four an a half year old boy has come to an age where what I say and do has significant consequences. I’ve “accidentally” fallen into some really cool “God moment” conversations and it made me realize that I really need to be far more intentional at this age. Because of my experience and role in ministry, I have a bevy or resources at my fingertips, but I find myself in situations often where I honestly don’t know what to do next. It doesn’t take too long to figure out what resources or what conversations to focus on, but I’ve become keenly aware of the fact that as a parent, I need help. I have been able to lean on the experience and resources from others as well as my own ability to do a little research, but it makes me realize that if I feel a great need for personal help, how much more must other parents need a little help.

In addition to being another spiritual influence int he lives of kids, the church really does need to develop a resource list and path for families. Even if we can can convince parents that they can and should be the primary voice in their kid’s lives, they’ll become quickly frustrated if we don’t help them take the lead. In the next six months, I’m developing a resource/experience guide for parents, especially in the kidmin years. I’d be curious to see what others have already assembled or who might be interested in collaborating on such a project.

I think my last big take-away from the Orange Tour was this little concept.

Make it easy for parents to win!

In Think Orange, Reggie describes the four levels of parenting.

1. Aware – These are parents who may be outside your church. Studies have shown that most parents are aware that the moral and even spiritual development of a child is their responsibility.
2. Involved – These are parents who are in our churches. They’re around, maybe following Christ, but they’re not really doing anything intentional with their kids.
3. Engaged – These are parents who are beginning to be intentional. They’re trying things that they’ve not done before.
4. Invested – These parents get “it.” Whether you provide a plan or not, they’re going after it, developing spiritual champions.

Here is what I appreciated tremendously. Reggie shared that you’ll probably never get more than 20-30% of your parents to the invested level. As much as we’d like for it to happen, it’s just not going to happen. Set your expectations.

However, it’s possible to get a lot of parents to engage. It doesn’t take too much effort to take a parent who is doing nothing to start doing something… and this small change can produce huge results. We’ve got to celebrate the small changes. This is huge!

This is why this information was really refreshing for me. We’re in the process of developing a milestone family strategy and we’ll be putting a lot of effort into getting parents to engage with the plan. I would expect that the parents to truly engage in this strategy and follow it through are more likely to be invested parents. However, at the same time we’re panning to launch easy stuff, resources and opportunities to help parents do small things.

I guess it was just good for me to hear this stuff so that I know how to balance, that I don’t get frustrated by less people getting to the invested level where huge numbers are engaged.

I’ll leave you with one last quote that ties this all up and certainly rang a bell for me.

So, consider how everything ties to the next thing and in all of this, make it easy for parents to win!

From day one of engaging with Orange (more than 4 years ago), the word strategy was a word I heard often. It’s not a new concept, but it was something that was brought to my attention again last Friday and I’m glad it was. Reggie painted a clear picture of the importance of strategy. He described how many great churches have incredible mission and vision statements that never really seem to do anything. Many of those church’s doors are closed now.

Strategy – A plan of action with an end in mind.

I love it. I’m leading a breakout at Illuminate in Nashville in a few weeks titled, “What Matters Most.” In this breakout I’m going to speak about how sometimes we lose track of that particular “end” in mind or maybe the “end” we’re focused on really isn’t as important as it should be.

I wonder what would happen if we as ministry leaders scripted out all that we did in a given week or month and then asked the very important question, “What is specific end we’re trying to get to as a result of this event/program/resource/meeting?” I think it would reveal what things we’re doing that are strategic and those things that are just wasting time. Man, do I hate wasting time. What’s worse is when I’m wasting time and don’t even know it.

Families, kids and students need us to be as strategic as possible. We must be strategic with our time, our tallent and our resources. How are you being strategic today?

This Orange Tour was different for me. I was a little nervous. This was the first time I’ve ever taken student ministry volunteers. In the past I’ve brought my student pastor, but the team as a whole had never really been represented. They were very excited to have been invited and showed up in force. The Orange strategy is certainly something I believe in and I was more nervous that the student ministry volunteers would not connect with it or that it would somehow be a miss for them. Every year the Orange Tour has been one of the best conferences/seminars I attend and for no real reason, I was just nervous that it wouldn’t be as good as it had in the past.

Well, the day didn’t disappoint. If one year’s tour could be better than the previous one, this one was… but I must say that each of them stand out equally on their own. I learned so much, I was reminded of so much and I was inspired with so many new ideas. It was amazing and initial reaction from most of the student leaders was incredibly positive. I think there is still a lot to process with them, but overall, it was a great experience.

This week I’m not as much going to regurgitate my notes for you, but more or less share about what impacted me the most and what I plan to do with such thoughts. So, stay tuned for my Orange Tour Gleanings!

I’m pumped! Tomorrow I leave for Dallas for the Dallas Orange Tour. This year I’m taking about 24 volunteers and staff. This year I’m actually bringing more student ministry volunteers than those in kidmin. For the last 6 months I’ve been far more involved in student ministry than I have in the past and I wanted to make a big investment in these leaders… plus I want them to start thinking Orange. These student ministry leaders were so excited to be invited, which is why I have about 18 going.

I can’t over-communicate how important these kinds of events are for ministry teams. I’ve been to the Orange Conference for the past 4 years and I’ll probably continue to attend for some time. The conference has impacted me and influenced me tremendously and I want the same for my staff and volunteers, but I can’t always bring all of them due to money issues, but something like the Orange Tour is a complete no brainer. I’m taking 24 and by the time I pay hotel, food and registration, it cost me less than sending 2 to Atlanta for Orange. To help out, I’m even having the volunteers car pool and cover their travel expenses.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Orange Conference, but there is something really special about the Orange Tour. Because the entire thing is hosted directly by Reggie and Sue, it feels far more pure and concentrated. You’ll leve the Tour with a strong grasp of what the Orange strategy is all about… maybe even better than the conference. I’d encourage everyone to attend a tour stop… even if that means catching a flight into one of their locations. I’ll be blogging about my tour experience next week (since I don’t blog a lot over the weekend), so stay tuned!

So, I’m four months into a search for a Student Pastor. I’m well connected within Kidmin circles, but not so much among the student pastors out there. I’ve had some resumes from some great candidates, some that I’m still talking with. However, I do feel that we’re looking for a pretty unique individual and it is possible that the search could continue for a few months. So, below is my blurb on Church Staffing. If you know someone who might be the right fit or perhaps you’re the right fit, please send your resume to hr@gatewaychurch.com. However before the blurb, let me share the minimum requirements we’re looking at.

• Minimum of 5 years experience leading students; record of leading student ministries with 250+ weekly attendance.
• Ability to develop and lead adult staff and leaders who in turn organize and lead the ministry.
• Candidate must have an authentic, active walk with Christ and exhibit Christ-like character. Candidate must personally model the Way of Christ and ensure that all leaders are taking next steps to walk the Way of Christ.
• Highly organized with ability to trouble-shoot, create processes and systems with a strong eye for detail.
• Strong gifts in the area of leading/shepherding with teambuilding and interpersonal skills.

I’ll post more this week about what we’re looking for specifically and some of the things I’ve been learning about student ministry over the past four months. It’s been quite the education.

Attention Student Pastors:

Ever feel like the typical and traditional model of student ministry was broken? Have you ever wished you could start over and build a new methodology of reaching students and their families from the ground up?

Gateway Church in sunny (and weird) Austin, Texas is on the search for a very unusual student pastor. This person will work in one of the most exciting and creative churches in the country. Gateway is a highly missional community that is neck-deep in a culture of people who are very far from God. Working in this culture requires one to be comfortable engaging post-modern, post-Christian people who love the arts, tex-mex and their college football (it helps to like burnt orange). Gateway, with its motto of “No Perfect People Allowed” works tirelessly to create an atmosphere where people feel safe seeking faith.

Gateway is seeking out a non-traditional student pastor with three key qualifications:
• Team Player – This candidate must love Gateway, the staff and direction of our church. The student ministry will work very closely (like white on rice) with the children’s ministry (part of the NextGen team) and other ministries to propel students, leaders and families in the direction of the mission/vision of our church
• Team Builder – This candidate must recognize that 90% of the job is leading out through other adult teams. This student ministry will be run by a healthy team of volunteers, where staff don’t get in the way or do all the work.
• Family Focused – This candidate understands that every student represents an entire family made up of parents, brothers and sisters who all have a place at Gateway.
In addition, we recognized that when we partner with parents, regardless of how far they may be from God, our impact on students are exponentially greater.

If Gateway appeals to you and these qualifications sync with your experience and passion, we’d like to hear from you. We’re looking to fill this role as soon as the right person comes along.

Please submit your resume and application to hr@gatewaychurch.com
The application can be found on our website at www.gatewaychurch.com

I ended up having a great conversation with Brain about local networking. He actually led a breakout this year on the very subject and I plan to purchase that session later to have a listen and encourage you to do so as well. He told me the story of how he and his team created a network of family ministry leaders in their local community. He revealed that it was actually the start of how they were exposed to the Orange strategy which eventually led Ada to being one of the leading “Orange” churches in the world. Pretty amazing! We spent quite a while talking about the advantages of networking as well as the barriers that we’ll face while developing a strong and thriving network.

I was especially encouraged to have this conversation since just 3 or 4 months ago I helped start a kidmin network here in Austin that is almost 50 people strong. It’s still young and new, but I’m very encourage by what’s happening! I think I’ll write about how we started a network in Austin in a few weeks… maybe I can get Brian to speak into that as well. So, follow Brain on twitter or introduce yourself to him the next time you see him at Orange!

Best of all, Brain paid for my cheese fries! Thanks Brian!

Rob and I met 3 years ago at Orange 2008. The only reason I knew him was because his face was plastered on the cover of K magazine. Other than that, I had no idea who he was. I bumped into him a few times at the conference and he almost always made me laugh. He was so filled with joy.

Over the years I’ve read his blog and have seen and heard of things he’s done and things he’s been doing at Planetshakers church in Melbourne, Australia. From time to time he’d write a kind comment on a post. He contacted me a week before Orange and said, “let’s grab some lunch.”

I was honored to be the first person to ever take him to Chipotle. He was so excited… and I think he loved it. Actually, I think he was studying everything about his food so that he could go home, replicate it and even make improvements. Somewhere behind his passion for kids, he has a real passion for cooking.

Rob gave me the opportunity to speak about what we’re doing at my church and how we’re using the web and social media to change the world. I think it really blessed him and armed him with some new ideas for his church. Then it was Rob’s turn. He began to tell me about what God has been doing in his life recently and how God is giving him a platform to significantly impact kids around the world on every level: spiritually, physically, emotionally and relationally. So much of what he said impacted me such a profound level, I’m still trying to sort out and process what he shared. Rob and I have some unfinished business, but I’m just not sure what it is yet. My life is tremendously richer as a result of the 2-3 hours I spent with him and I look forward to seeing what will unfold in the coming years.

I’m not even sure how to describe all the Rob does. He’s been the Children’s Pastor at Planetshakers church in Melbourne for many years. He also leads the Kid Shaper conference, a powerful conference based out of Melbourne that has now expanded to Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Great Britain. He’s also doing some powerful and significant things in other areas of the world that would blow your mind. Check out his sites and if you get the chance to meet him or share a meal, don’t pass it up. Oh, you can check out his blog here as well as some great kidmin resources here.

• Too often we get kids committed to programs and people, but when they move on to college, the programs and people are gone… just like their faith. We need to be intentional in helping them develop an independent faith that isn’t program or personality dependent.
• Just because kids are showing up doesn’t mean they’re being discipled. Help kids learn to grow on their own.
• Reproducible discipleship is relational-based. One person cannot disciple everyone.
• Jesus discipled 12. He focused the most on 3. One of his disciples failed. There is a model here.
• When you give your volunteers your title, you win and your kids win. Don’t hang on to what you think it is that you’re supposed to do. Give it away. Empower others.
• Raise the value of your volunteers. When you’re encountered with issues and problems, you involve the leaders.
• (This is my favorite. The same is true in Kidmin, but so few see this) The bait and switch… you get involved in student ministry because you love kids and want to impact their lives, but to really be effective, you spend more time with leaders and parents. (So True)
• Failure, doubt and pain paves the way to spiritual growth. Let these opportunities kick open the doors for spiritual growth. Crave these opportunities. Look for these opportunities in the kids you lead. Our job is not to make kid’s lives easier, but to capitalize on the opportunities when they can grow in faith.
• Students can reproduce themselves. How do I use juniors and seniors to lead… when they normally begin to fade.
• Kids don’t remember your messages, they remember you. We have to be transparent with our personal journey. The kids we lead need to know that we’re still growing and that we don’t have it all together yet. Teenagers need to hear and know about where we’ve struggled and failed. When we do this, we give them hope.
• Tender in our response
• Motivate and maintain a climate of spiritual growth. Create a culture where parents and kids know that spiritual growth is important.  Be repetitive.
• Go Small. Pastors love big… families love small. Kids don’t grow in crowd meetings, they grow in small groups.
• Create and distribute spiritual growth resources. Don’t just give a man a fish, show him how to fish. Don’t just teach them how to fish. Give them the resources. One minute Bible.. best thing ever!
• If kids aren’t asking you questions about the Bible, they aren’t reading their Bible. Have them read it while on the toilet. (That sounds weird as I write this here… but it wasn’t so weird when Doug said it)
• If you want kids to journal. Give them a journal. If you want kids to memorize scripture, give them memory cards.
• Help teenagers discover their unique gifting/SHAPE

I had the privilege of introducing a few breakout speakers. One of these speakers was Stewart Hall. Stewart Hall is on staff with XP3 and has co-authored books with Andy Stanley and Louie Gigleo. He’s a legend in my book.

Although I did not get to stay and hang out for the entire session, he asked one question that I’ve not been able to shake. It’s a question that I’ll probably not be able to shake. Here’s what he asked:

What does your ministry environment SCREAM that you value?

Wow. I’ve sat down with my team and we’ve listed our ministry values. Many of them speak very loudly. Are they screaming? That’s a good question. I think it’s probably a question we should ask ourselves on a regular basis. It’s probably a question we should ask people who are new to our ministry. This is the rich feedback that we desperately need.

I wasn’t around for the full breakout, but I almost can imagine the follow-up question.

What does your ministry scream that you DON’T value.

Those are the things we need to take immediate action on.