Tag Archives: Orange 2008
Orange Meet-ups
Posted on 29. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
I went to my first Children’s Ministry conference 5 years ago. It was the Children’s Pastors Conference in Atlanta, GA. I went with two of my staff. Other than them, I didn’t know anyone. Actually, I did know Ryan Frank (I spoke at his church’s camp the summer before).
Orange is my 4th conference since that first one and just the first day has been characterized by meeting new and old friends. At the very start, I met up with the youth pastor from the first church I worked with in Texas (he’s actually my room mate for this week). Then this morning, I met up with the Children’s Pastors I served with at Cross Timbers for the last two years.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Session One
Posted on 28. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
The opening session for Orange 2008 was nothing short of amazing. The music was incredible… amazingly incredible. The band Fee (I think it was them) opened with the song “We Shine.” I’ve heard this song before and they did this song at KidStuf on Sunday. I love it. It’s a great song.
Sue Miller spoke for a little bit about how God’s been working in her life through her journey with cancer. She had some powerfully encouraging words to those who volunteer in ministry. Go Sue!
Reggie delivered an incredibly relevant message about what it is going to take to make a difference in this generation… and the generation that we’re leading. He eloquently told the story of the prodigal son.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Necessary Conflict
Posted on 28. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
Okay, there is way, way, WAY too much information to put here on the blog. This was an amazing breakout!!! Nancy Ortberg led this breakout. She, along with her husband John (author of many amazing books) led and served at Willow Creek for many years. Nancy now works as a consultant with teamworx2, a consulting group. Here’s the best I can do with putting all this great information on this post.
She began by encouraging everyone to read anything and everything that Patrick Lencioni wrote.
She defined conflict as “passionate and unfiltered debate.”
Leaders need to be the most self-aware person in the room (not in an arrogant way). Leaders need to be comfortable in your own skin.
Here is what happens when you don’t have conflict:
- The best decisions will not be made
- Team becomes a petri dish of mediocrity
- Politics are created
- You take risks without buy-in
- Decisions will be sabotaged (malicious compliance)
- People sin
The further up you go in an organization, the less truth you’ll hear.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Creatively Wired Meetings
Posted on 28. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
This pre-conference breakout was led by Jennifer Tamborello who served on the original kid stuf team at North Point and at one time directed Kid Stuff. Here are some of the notes I took from this excellent breakout.
If we are not creative, we are not effective. It is imperative that we infuse our meetings with creativity.
Leaders need to be creative:
- to design relevant environments.
- to find effective solutions.
- to communicate a bottom line (what do we want people to know when they walk away).
Six stages of the creative process:
- Define: Establish a written brief (clearly define what you want to create).
- Acquire: Random brainstorm ideas (no rules and no bad ideas).
- Framework: Creativity happens in a sequential order… form helps clarify.
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