I registered my team for Orange last week. I chose my breakouts today. Here’s what I’m doing:

Preconference: CONCENTRATE: Bridging the Generational Gap: The Vitality of Being a College-Friendly Church
Breakout A: Capturing the Heart of New Parents
Breakout B: Fine Tuning Your Systems
Breakout C: MESSAGE: Rules of Engagement…The Art of Communication
Breakout D: STRATEGY: Leading an Integrated Family Ministry Team

Okay, I really wanted to do Partnering with Parents to Build Faith Skills during Breakout A, but it appears to be full already. If someone wants to switch with me, I’ll give you a dollar. Actually I really would like to go to it, I’ll buy you lunch!

Below are the descriptions of the breakouts. Come on people, how can you resist a conference with this level of quality in every breakout. Click here to check out all the breakouts.

CONCENTRATE: Bridging Generational Gap: The Vitality of Being a College-Friendly Church
Chuck Bomar
There is an ever-growing generational gap in most churches, and it starts when college-age people disengage. As leaders and parents, we recognize the problem and talk about it, but what do we do? One key is to look at churches that aren’t experiencing a generational gap in their congregation and determine what makes them different. Why are so many college-age people viewing those churches as friendly? Is it because they have a service designed specifically for them, or is it something much deeper? This seminar suggests that there is much, much more to the issue! This seminar addresses specific questions such as: What deeper teaching and ministry philosophies are churches adapting that are immediately engaging college-age people and putting a halt on generational gaps? What sort of things have they adapted in their children’s and student ministries that have helped bring lasting resolution? In what ways might you subtly be contributing to the detachment of college-age people—without even knowing it? This seminar will take an honest look at these questions and help you walk away with practical ideas for making your church college friendly.

Capturing the Heart of New Parents
Kendra Fleming
Isn’t it amazing how you can love someone so much who keeps you up all night, spits up on your favorite shirt, and screams in your ear? That’s the miracle of what happens in your heart when a baby is born. This beginning stage in a parent’s life will change them like few others will. Suddenly they are overwhelmed, intimidated, inspired for the future, and incredibly responsible. This breakout is about how we can seize this unique opportunity to partner with parents from the very beginning.

Fine-Tuning Your Systems
Diane Runge
Do you have tasks in your ministry that are repeated over and over? If so, then you have systems, and finding ways to accomplish them with efficiency and excellence is important. Strong leaders give constant attention to fine-tuning their systems. In this breakout, we will talk practically about strategies for making budgeting decisions; downloading, preparing, and distributing curriculum resources; and getting volunteers started.

Rules of Engagement
The Art of Communication
Reed Dickens

Mark Twain once said, “Noise produces nothing. Often a hen who merely has laid an egg cackles as though she has laid an asteroid.” Every communicator wants to be better at his or her craft. Unfortunately, in our attempt to become better, we tend to speak louder or longer, ignoring the chasm between speaking and communicating. Reed Dickens, former White House Assistant Press Secretary, regular contributor on Larry King Live, Fox News and MSNBC, and CEO of Outside Eyes, a multi million dollar consulting firm that specializes in media strategy and crisis management, leads this eye opening discussion on the art of persuasive communication, the goal of communication, keys to effective persuasion, non-verbal language, message training, and crisis communication.

Leading an Integrated Family Ministry Team
Scott Austin
You’ve got your children’s ministry and youth ministry teams at the same table. Now what are you going to do with them? As traditional models of ministry fade away and your church goes Orange, you quickly realize that you need a new level of leadership and new strategies of management. How do you create one team out of silo organizations? How do you create a culture of collaboration? What needs to change in order to thrive as a family ministry team? This session moves past grand schemes and philosophies into the nuts and bolts of leading an integrated ministry team. Whether you are the leader of your church’s family ministry, a part of the family ministry team, or you want to lead your church to make a change, this session is for you.