Josh Shipp – @JoshShipp

We can do more together when we create a safe place for kids over time. 

The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans: http://a.co/8VNNDBh 

What kids will not talk out, they will act out. 

I never thought there would be at least one adult I could turn to.

Being a safe place is both about protecting a kid from circumstances out of control and simultaneously giving the gift of helping them feel the things that are under their control. 

90% of adult drug addicts begin experimenting with drugs before the age of 18. 

Every kid is one choice away from becoming a statistic.

Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.

Kids spell trust T-I-M-E

When kids are going through something difficult, they don’t turn to an organization…they turn to someone.

Kristen Ivy – @Kristen_Ivy

We can do more together when we create a safe place for kids who are different.

The point of our small groups isn’t just to make kids belong, but to give all of us and our wild, eccentric differences a place to belong.

When you get close to someone who is different than you, you see yourself differently.

If you want to discover yourself, you have to get close to people who are different than you.

In the church, we get truth perspective. 

Truth is real, but perspective is different.

So often in the church, we forget that there is a difference between truth and perspective.

We, as a finite people, cannot tell the story of an infinite God alone.

When you get close to someone who is different than you, you show the world what love is. 

Our differences are an opportunity…a platform to show what unconditional love looks like.

“Our differences are what make the world such a vibrant place.”

What you do for kids and teenagers matters. But what you do only matters because of what someone else in this room that’s wired

Tom Shefchunas – @Coachshef 

We can do more together when we create a safe place for kids who are hurting. 

Where there is no strategy if there is no sacrifice.

Sometimes we have to sacrifice our felt need to say everything so that what is most important can clearly be heard.

Read the gospels over the next 90 days and ask yourself 3 questions: 

What did Jesus choose to say and not to say? 

How did He choose to say it?

When did he choose to say it? 

Jesus and the woman at the well.

When: After had built a relational bridge strong enough to support truth. 

How safe do we want to be? 

Wanting to be a safe place and being a safe place are two different things. 

If we treat mental health issues like a sin issue, not a medical issue, then kids are NOT going to talk about it. 

What makes an adult safe? Her eyes when she listened to me. 

Ryan Leak – @ryanleak 

We can do more together when we create a safe place for each other. 

UnOffendable: https://www.ryanleak.com/new-products/unoffendable-no-offense-none-taken 

Have you recently sat with someone who made the journey from lost to found? 

Taking someone from an outsider to an insider. 

Friends are like elevators, they can take you up, or they can take you down.

Lost and found people…have marriage problems. Unchurched people and church people…both have money problems. The outsider and the insider…often struggle with depression. 

The found person has an anchor for their soul. Following Jesus doesn’t mean you won’t have any storms, following Jesus means you have an anchor for your soul.

Lost people can actually admit they have problems. 

The message was “Come just as you are.” But then the message became, “Get your act together.” 

What if we created weekend experiences for people that were in pain. Wouldn’t we find ourselves reaching outsiders and insiders who were just hurt.

Can you admit when you are blowing it?

Is your church a safe place for church people to talk about their junk?

Pretending will never do anything for your soul and it won’t do anything else for anyone else either.

To be a safe person:
Vulnerability: Humble yourself long enough to just sit with people. 

Can you imagine if we humbled ourselves long enough to sit with people?

Compassion is knowing your darkness well enough to sit in the darkness with others. -Brene Brown
Authenticity: 

When we really get authentic, we become allergic to short responses. I’m going to become a person that doesn’t allow people to sweep things under the rug.

We need to remember that WE need Jesus just as much as the people we are trying to reach and serve.

Confidence

Can you be trusted with others confidence? 

Grace

Don’t judge them, help them.

I don’t care about the brand (of our church), I care about the person. 

There’s a whole lot you can do to be a safe place for someone.

If she has the courage to tell us, we must have the courage to help her.

Dr. Deborah Tillman – @DeborahLTillman

We can do more together when we give every preschooler a better foundation. 

What caught your heart and imagination to work with preschoolers? 

We have to think of young children as little human being. We really need to instill everything. We have to look at the child as a whole being. The more we sow into a child as a full being, the more they will reach that full potential.

We’ve got to care about early childhood because what we do today matters.

Why does community matter? Because preschool teachers feel alone. 

Everybody in this room as the power to leave a legacy. What will matter is that you spent time with a child. 

“The true character of society is revealed in how it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela 

We all can treat children better. 

Jon Acuff – @JonAcuff

We can do more together when we help parents be more intentional at home. 

Parenting is hard because sometimes it’s hard to be honest with people. 

Empathy: Understanding what a someone needs and acting on it. 

If you understand what a parent needs and do not do anything about it, you lose them forever. 

When a kid tells you a secret, the first things we need to say is “thank you for telling me”

Jen Hatmaker – @JenHatmaker

We can do more together when we help parents be more internal at home. 

The Family Road Trip Continuum:
Patient optimism
Irritated intervention
Terrifying cereal killer
Quite acceptance

Barna tells us that by the time kids in our ministries are 29 years old 80% of them will be gone from the church. 

Kids are struggling to connect with a mostly modern church. 

Students need to be able to wrestle with truth without being shamed or we will lose them. 

If we want to reach and minister to parents on the margins of faith, we need to reach their kids. This is the front door to redeeming the culture for Christ. 

The top 4 things students long for: Community, social justice, depth, and mentorship. 

Your students crave healthy mentorship. 

A nanny can offer temporary care…but a parent is charged with raising their kids in Christ.

You are spiritual fathers and mothers to kids. 

For today’s kid, the very best way to lead it is to live it.

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1

If kids are just coming to church to be entertained, they will almost certainly leave at 18. If we don’t give them a foundation of JESUS then we are not giving them anything. 

For today’s kid, the best way to lead is to live it. Well done trumps well said! 

Nothing is more important than reaching the next generation, nothing.  

The church is only as strong as the buy-in from the next generation.

May our legacy be that we raised up a generation of kids that loved God passionately.

Kara Powell – @KPowellFYI

Growing Young: http://a.co/eDYwdqF 

We can do more together when we help parents Bre more intentional at home. 

Does your church help parents win? Or does your church help parents help your church win?

We want to change the way we view and relate to parents. We want the church to be the first place parents go when they need help. If you want to change how parents see the church, maybe we need to change how we see parents.

You don’t have to like every parent for every parent to have more influence than you.

Parents we can’t out-teach what you teach at home. We’re not that good. 

When parents win, kids win. When we help parents thrive, kids are going to thrive. 

Parents will have more influence than you because…
They will have more time than you will ever have.
They will be in your kids future when you are not. 

Text Family to 66866 for free resources that help parents win. 

Reggie Joiner – @reggiejoiner

We can do more together when we communicate a clear plan to parents.

If I were to ask the average family in your church to explain your strategy, what would they say? 

If you can’t explain your strategy, parents aren’t applying your strategy. 

One change they made to the brochure. A map and a schedule for the brochure. This one change moved the response from 3% to 30%. What is the map and schedule for you and parents? 

We want to help every parent become more intentional at home and more connected to a community of faith. 

What does it look like in your organization to become “more?”

What does that look like? How do you help them win? 

Your church is more strategically positioned to help a parent win than any other organization. 

What is your elevator presentation, “this is what we help you do?” Or what is your lunch presentation to partner with parents? What is your Sunday presentation? And what is your building presentation? When they walk into your building what triggers them to win as a parent. 

MAP IT

Meet people

Add experiences

Prioritize time

Identify needs

Talk together