Tag Archives: Orange Conference

Orange 2011: Breakouts I’m attending

Posted on 17. Mar, 2011 by .

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Yesterday I officially registered for Orange. Have you registered yet? You know that today is the last day for discount pricing. Click here to register! Woo hoo! Every year I like to post what breakouts I’m attending, so here where I’ll be this year:

Preconference 1: How to Plan a Ministry Calendar
Preconference 2: How to Design Great Signage
Preconference 3: How to Communication to Volunteers Via Text Messages
Preconference 4: How to Connect with Parents Using Social Media
Preconference 5: How to “Free a Volunteer”
Breakout A: Creativity: Living Sideways
Breakout B: Multi-Site Chidlren’s Ministry
Breakout C: From Nothing to Something
Breakout D: Helping Parents Catch the Vision

Preconference 1: How to Plan a Ministry Calendar
Kenny Conley
Isn’t it funny how certain seasons tend to sneak up on us? Ever been guilty of blowing the budget on having particular print materials rushed or important supplies shipped overnight? We don’t have to let ministry happen to us. Planning a ministry calendar is one of the most strategic steps a ministry can take to set the stage for a rewarding year. Develop some healthy habits and pick up some tips and tricks to ensure you accomplish everything you set out to do.

Preconference 2: How to Design Great Signage
Kenny Conley
You’ve got something important to say. Unfortunately, far too often you fail to communicate clearly or effectively because the presentation of your message falls flat. Whether it’s a sign, a poster or a simple postcard; you have precious little real estate to communicate, and poor design wastes both money and opportunities. Even if you’re not an artist, let us teach you some basic rules of design that will make your message stand out!

Preconference 3: How to Communication to Volunteers Via Text Messages
Matt McKee & Kenny Conley
Having trouble getting your volunteers to respond to email or any type of communication? Did you know that in 2010 people in general spent more time texting than talking on the phone? Let’s look at how to utilize this technology to communicate to your volunteers.

Preconference 4: How to Connect with Parents Using Social Media
Matt McKee & Kenny Conley
What would be the ultimate take home for parents when they leave your ministry? Parents need more than a take home sheet of paper. Use Social Media instead to spread ideas, communication, and create strategies that will enable you to better connect and partner with parents. Leverage social technology to broaden your impact.

Preconference 5: How to “Free a Volunteer”
Tom Shefchunas

Breakout A: Creativity: Living Sideways
Jared Herd
Creativity is not the invention of something new, rather it is the connection of two things that already exist but no one has connected. Our general tendency is to live “vertically,” which means we dig deeper into our field of ministry, career or study without paying attention to much else. Creative people live “horizontally,” which means they try to have a wide breadth of knowledge, people and experiences that they connect back to their calling. We are always going to drift toward being “vertical,” and we have to force ourselves to live “horizontally.” Example: If as a preacher, your way of making creative messages is to talk to other Christians and read Christian books, you will fail to be fascinating. You will have to force yourself to have “horizontal” relationships and experiences that you can connect to your life, messages, etc. The more “horizontal” we become, the more creative we become.

Breakout B: Multi-Site Chidlren’s Ministry
Nina Schmidgall
Are you part of a multi-site church or one that plans to launch additional locations sometime in the future? The executive team is plotting and scheming, but you are the one who has to figure out how to make family ministry, children’s programs, and youth programs happen in a multi-site context! Come and consider some multi-site models for how to staff multiple locations, manage schedules, ensure quality programming, facilitate curriculum, protect policies and procedures, oversee budget, and ensure kids are being loved and challenged at all locations! Learn how a multi-site model could be a wonderful opportunity for families at your church!

Breakout C: From Nothing to Something
Jeff Shinabarger
There is a rise in people creating projects that help people in great need. Many people want to contribute, but the hardest part is knowing where to begin. Join a practical conversation of learning how to begin a project, motivate others to contribute, and determine if you should continue after the experimental phase.

Breakout D: Helping Parents Catch the Vision
Sue Miller
It’s great to have a staff team that is passionate about partnering with parents, but how do you get parents involved with the vision? Where do you even start? Learn what things you can do that will help you pass your vision on to the parents you serve.

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Orange 2011: Andy “Freaking” Stanley

Posted on 16. Mar, 2011 by .

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With only two days left to sign up for the Orange Conference at the discounted rate, Orange dropped the A-Bomb. That’s right, they just added Andy Stanley to the lineup.

Over the years, Andy has had a presence at the Orange Conference (although I’m not sure if he was there last year) and every time he’s as good as gold. He speaks with conviction and authority and I always walk away from a talk by Andy both encouraged and challenged. So, if you’ve not signed up to attend Orange yet, maybe a little Andy Action will change your mind. Click here to register!

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Orange is almost here!

Posted on 15. Mar, 2011 by .

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Believe it or not, Orange will be here in a little over a month. Can you believe that? I know that some of you out there haven’t decided yet whether you’re going to attend or not. Well, I’d really like to encourage you to consider joining me in Atlanta this year. Right now is still a good time to register. Airfare is still inexpensive, hotels aren’t all booked up, and you can still get a discount on registration. So, go over and register today people.

Need more convincing. Head over to the Orange Tour Online and watch some content from the most recent Orange Tour. If you’re totally unfamiliar with the Orange Strategy, watch the first video. Incredible. If you want to see an incredibly different approach to college ministry that actually matters to kid’s pastors, watch the third video. It blew my mind.

Again, click here to register for the Orange Conference!

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Orange Conference: Incredible Speakers

Posted on 08. Feb, 2011 by .

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About four or five years ago I got intensely frustrated with the Children’s Ministry conference experience. I took a few people on my staff to a national conference and it was such a disappointment. We’d individually visit 2-3 breakouts each session before finding one that was of any quality. The main sessions we’re hit and miss. By the last day, my team and I stopped attending anything and just dreamed, planned and had some fun. We redeemed it in spite of a less than spectacular experience. It was after that experience that I looked into attending the Orange Conference. What was the initial attraction? It wasn’t the Orange strategy… I didn’t know what it was then. I was actually perplexed by the name “Orange.” What’s up with that? It wasn’t their curriculum either, I’d never used it.

Simply put, it was the line up of speakers. All my heros in Children’s Ministry and ministry at large were speaking at Orange. That’s why I chose to attend Orange.

That first year, I paid for Orange myself. I hadn’t started working at Gateway yet, so it was a personal investment. I had a lot riding on the experience being amazing. I was not disappointed!

There are so many great reasons to attend Orange, but the speaker lineup is always top notch. I’ve had powerful experiences in both breakouts as well as in the main sessions. That is the mark of a great conference.

So, my favorite speaker? That’s a really hard choice. I’m going to pick two, but I must say that this is hard because I have amazing memories (and notes) of speakers who inspired and challenged me.

Breakout: Nancy Ortberg on Conflict.

I attended this breakout 3 years ago and it remains the most influential breakout I’ve ever attended. To be honest, this breakout was better than most keynotes. It was incredibly challenging and every time I encounter conflict with staff or someone I’m leading, my thoughts always go back to this experience. I’m not going to repost all my notes, but you can read them here!

Keynote: Doug Fields

This one was hard, but I think the keynote Doug gave last year has stood out in my mind because it was remarkably different from any other keynote I’ve heard at Orange. The bottom line? Focus on your own darn family! None of us have trouble pouring our life and time and energy into our ministries, but almost all of us find ourselves struggling to prioritize our own families. This was a refreshing talk that has stuck with me since I heard it. Here are my notes from that session.

So, have you registered yet? In case you forgot how, just click here and register for you and your team!

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Can you smell the Oranges?

Posted on 07. Feb, 2011 by .

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It’s been a few months and it’s time again for this site to take on an Orange hue. This “Orange Week” in particular revolves around the Orange Conference. It’s coming up in just a few months and once again, I’m totally excited about joining with thousands of other church leaders to learn, grow and connect. We’ll get to more of that later. If you’ve been wrestling with whether or not to come to the Orange Conference, I really suggest you consider going. It is the only conference where you can bring your entire team (kids, students, senior pastor) where each person focuses on different aspects of ministry, but they all connect to creating a strategy that works together. I’ve not seen anything else like it. Click here to register your team.

Even better, we’ll make it easy for you. Next week, Tuesday, February 15th. Write this down. Put it on your calendar. The Orange Tour is going online. At 1:00 PM EST, you can attend a web version of the Orange Tour. Have your volunteers all log in from work or home or gather them all in a room at your church. I’m very excited about this experience. I have some people and leaders that I really want to experience the Orange Tour who weren’t able to come with us to Dallas a few weeks ago. What a perfect opportunity for them to experience Orange.

So, for more information about the Orange Tour, click here. If you’ve been on the fence about attending the Orange Conference this Spring, I’m pretty confident that your mind will be made up after experiencing the tour. Just so you know, February 17th is the deadline for the special price break for Orange right now. Save $30 by registering before the 17th and get a $50 credit toward curriculum. It’s a good deal.

Already planning to go to Orange and you want to spread the love? Add an Orange Conference badge to your blog or website. Get codes here.

Last of all, I’ll be blogging more this week about both the Orange Conference as well as my experience a few weeks ago at the Orange Tour in Dallas. Should be fun!

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My Orange Memory

Posted on 04. Oct, 2010 by .

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I was unemployed when I went to my first Orange Conference in 2008. While working for my parents while interviewing for my current ministyr position, I saved money by buying Nintendo Wii systems and selling them on Ebay. Eventually, I had enough to pay my way to attend Orange, the week before I began my new role at Gateway. I wasn’t very networked and only met two or three people I’d connected with online. I’d heard of Jonathan Cliff, but didn’t know him well enough to try to connect with him (that was regrettable).

In 2009, I was so excited I was beside myself. I was finally going to get to meet and hang out with people who were quickly becoming close and dear friends. Matt, Gina, Jonathan, Sam and I spent a lot of time hanging out in hotel lobbies, waffle houses and riding all around Atlanta. Dont’ get me wrong, the conference was great, but Orange provided the venue for very important connections that were taking place in my life and ministry that have made me much better as a man and as a pastor. Orange can be that for you as well.

2010 was also a great year. It was a weird year. The five of use (mentioned above) all had stuff going on. Either we had teams with us, we were on new teams or we were starting new mobile app companies. It was still great to be with everyone. In 2010, I really enjoyed the level of networking that increased from years before. The tweet-up was packed out and it was like there wasn’t enough time to hang out with everyone.

Bottom line, my favorite memories of 2010:

  • Uncle Julios and Cheesecake Factory with Sam and Jonathan as we waited for Matt to show up
  • Winning at shuffleboard (can’t remember who I beat, but I’m pretty sure it was Sam Luce because I beat him a lot)
  • Hanging out with Cathy and Corey from my team and Sam and Andy all day Saturday going to see some baseball and having a phenomenal steak dinner (Dont’ forget Sam, NP doesn’t have Saturday night services)
  • Having some really cool conversations with people I’d never met in the bloggers lounge or the tweet-up

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Support Orange: Get your conference badge!

Posted on 04. Oct, 2010 by .

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Since registration for the Orange Conference opens tomorrow, why don’t you spread the love and proudly display an “Orange Conference” badge. You’ll see I have a handful on my site. Orange has developed several for you to use based on the space you have on your site to display. Click here for the full listing of badges available. Just cut and paste the code provided and promote the Orange Conference wherever you have property on the interwebs!

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Orange Week 2.0

Posted on 27. Sep, 2010 by .

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So last January I was preparing to head up to Dallas for the Orange Tour and in my excitement I flippantly declared the following week “Orange Week.” The folks at ReThink thought it was a good idea, so the following week a rag-tag group of incredibly Kidmin Pastors blogged about the Orange Strategy. It was an incredible experience, an almost overwhelming source of information and ideas. Well, it’s getting ready to happen again. Why so soon?

Well, next week the 2011 Orange Conference opens for registration and that’s worth getting excited about. So, with some help from the ReThink team, we’ve organized another Orange Week (let’s call it Orange Week 2.0) and it’s going to be even better than before. Check out the blogging team this time around.

  • Pete Wilson
  • Michael Hyatt
  • Carlos Whittaker
  • Ron Edmondson
  • Craig Groeschel
  • Tony Morgan
  • Jeremy Zach
  • Michael Bayne
  • Chad Swanzy
  • Tom Shefchunas
  • Kenny Conley
  • Sam Luce
  • Jonathan Cliff
  • Gina McClain
  • Tony Kummer
  • Wayne Stocks
  • Nick Blevins
  • Anthony Prince
  • Dan Scott
  • JC Thompson
  • Matt McKee

Pretty incredible, huh? So, it all starts tomorrow and runs for 7 days straight. This year will be less about strategy (you will hear some though) and more about ideas and practical implementation of the Orange Strategy. One week from now, you’ll no only know more about what it means to be Orange, but you’ll have steps that you can take now to become Orange in the way you operate you ministry.

So, this is simply the warning. Later today I’ll have links to all the blogs participating and more information about the daily posting schedule and topics. If you’re not included on this list, but want to share your thoughts and ideas, contact me and I’ll make sure your ideas are heard!

New to all of this, let me catch you up. Here are the daily recaps of the first Orange Week:

Those links alone will keep you busy reading for hours.

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#Orange10 Day 2: John Ortberg

Posted on 03. May, 2010 by .

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I love John Ortberg. Although this was the very first time I’ve heard him speak, he’s the author of one of my favorite books. I’ve read it more times than I know. If you haven’t read it, but it now. You won’t regret it.

John started by sharing with the crowd what the fastest growing religion in this generation is. What do you think it is? The first though that came to my mind was the religion of “who gives a rip.” I wasn’t too far off. The fasted growing faith of this generation is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism states that there is a God. He wants us to be nice. he wants us to feel good about ourselves and other than when we REALLY need him, he’s not involved in our lives. I think I might agree.

What’s caused the growth of this new religion? Consumerism? Careerism? Entitlement? Selfishness? Take your pick. This new religion is the product of our culture.

I’m not exactly sure how John transitioned, but he talked about false views of our “selves” and the “selves” we’re often tempted to become. Here are the four false “selves.”

  • The me I think I should be

This false self is born out of comparison. We see oursleves in the light of how we see others. Comparison kills spiritual growth. God plan is that as we grow, we’ll become more like the person he created us to be. God never creates “throw-aways.” He only rescues. Spiritual growth is simply becoming more like “you.”

  • The me other people want me to be

This false self is born out of a need for approval. We have to be willing to disappoint someone. Who cares about someone’s approval. For everyone else, truly the best give you could ever give anyone is to not expect them to be anything other than the very best they can be.

  • The me I’m afraid God wants me to be

In our Christian culture, we’ve inaccurately defined spiritual growth or maturity. We truly have to find a way to gauge spiritual growth where the pharisees don’t always win. Spiritual growth isn’t about what I’m doing. Rather, it’s about what I’m becoming. What’s a sign that you’re growing? You’ll experience less worry and become less irritated.

  • The me that fails to be me

We have largely reduced grace to the salvation from sins. That’s only part of the picture. Saints are meant to grow in grace, run on grace and live by grace. There is a you that you are becoming and it’s God’s grace that you’ll become the you that God created.

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#Orange10 Tweet up

Posted on 02. May, 2010 by .

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On Wednesday night after the opening session of the Orange Conference, ministry leaders were in full force at the official Orange Tweet up at Coffee Perks in Duluth, GA. There were easily 50 people crowded into the quaint little coffee shop/cafe. Everyone got free coffee (or smoothie for non coffee drinkers like me)! Yum!

There was no structure or order to things, just two hours of mingling and getting to know each other. I got to meet a lot of people I’d been looking forward to connecting with. Some who’ve left comments on my blog for years yet we’ve never met as well as people with blogs I read on a regular basis. I found myself jumping from table to table, diving into conversations about ministry, a little bit of technology and whatever was going on in life.

Eventually we were kicked out of the coffee shop and a few remaining stragglers hung out another 20-30 minutes at the tables on the sidewalk. This is some of my favorite parts of Orange. It was so encouraging to see so many people come out, especially at this hour. I’d love to see it grow even more next year, or multiply. If you missed out this year, make sure you take the time to participate next year. You’ll be glad you did.

Thanks so much to Bree and the reThink team that put this together! Great Job!

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