5 Powerful Verses to Help You Lead up in Nextgen

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How do you lead up in NextGen ministry? 

Any idea on how you can get buy-in from leadership? 

One of the biggest challenges you face as a NextGen leader is gaining the buy-in from leadership without necessarily having the position of influence in your church. For those of you who have a plan and vision that exceeds your authority, here are four courageous challenges and Scripture to help you lead up in NextGen ministries. 

Be Faithful in the Little Things

“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more. Let’s celebrate together!’” (Matthew 25:23, NLT) In Jesus’ parable of the three servants, He shows us what it means to faithfully steward whatever has been entrusted to us. Whether you are given leadership over a single budget line item or an entire department’s spending, the best way to influence the future decisions of the budget is to faithfully steward what you’ve been given. When you control your spending, keep track of every receipt, and can show how you used the church’s money to do amazing ministry, you show how you can set the direction for future spending. 

Be Loyal to the Team 

“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” (Philippians 2:4, NLT) Are you leading for the benefit of others or yourself? In “How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge” Clay Scroggins asks, “Are you the type of leader that makes others better?” Being a leader worth following means you lead out of your influence with others not your position with others. When your actions inspire everyone around you to imagine more and to become more, you naturally begin to lead up. In contrast, when you look out for yourself and your position, you push people away and extinguish joy in your workplace. 

Choose Love

“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” (Colossians 3:12-15, NLT) Your leader is not perfect, your team is not perfect, and you are not perfect. Choose today to accept those around you, flaws and all. Nothing stands out more in this broken world, like someone who chooses love. 

Be Dedicated to the Mission

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:9, NLT) Scroggins defines ambition as “that strong desire we have to make something or to achieve something, even when it takes great effort, focus, and determination.” To lead up, you must not give up. Focus on what you can control and make it great. Don’t allow unimportant things to wear you down and get in the way of what God has called you to accomplish. Consider even visually posting the mission where you and your team will daily see what you are aiming towards. 

Above All, Guard Your Heart

“This is a trustworthy saying: ‘If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.’ So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?” (1 Timothy 3:1-5, NLT). Nothing will make you lose influence or discredit your leadership faster than sin. You might not be in charge of the whole organization, but you are in charge of yourself. What thoughts do you need to take captive to obey Christ? Where have you allowed yourself to drift and need to get yourself back on track? Repent and choose right now to walk in obedience.

21 NEW Games For Your KidMin

You’re here because you’re probably looking for some fresh games for your kid’s ministry! I am right there with you! Finding games that work in a zoom call and live is hard. I was looking for fresh games and decided to just start making some of my own to share with the kidmin community. Here are descriptions and links to make things easier for you!

Zoom Games:

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This on-screen game asks if you would rather this, or that? Choose your answers and see what your friends say. Lots of laughs to be had while playing this game!
Would You Rather Quarantine Edition

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Each person competes in these 15 family challenges to earn points towards the gold medal! You could do this game on your next Zoom call, church service, or even send it to your families as an at home challenge! Games include things like the Straw Fridge Challenge, Back Slide Race, and Social Distance Challenge!
Family Quarantine Olympics

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In this Zoom game, kids compete to be the last kid on the Zoom call! You will share several challenges. If they complete the challenge, they stay on. If they fail to do the task in time, they are out! Challenges include things like: Do your best Fortnite dance! Balance on one leg for the rest of the call! …and 13 more.
Last One Standing

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You start with both hands raised and then you have to put a hand down if the statement read, for example: “You ran out of toilet paper” is true for you. The last person with a hand raised wins the game!
Hand Down If Quarantine Edition

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This fun On-Screen Scavenger Hunt game is perfect to do when the kids are stuck inside the house!
At Home Scavenger Hunt


This is the second version of the original Would You Rather? Quarantine Edition On Screen Game! This game asks if you would rather this, or that? Choose your answers and see what your friends say.
Would You Rather Quarantine 2nd Edition

In this game, the kids test their skills by seeing if they can guess what an object is while it is zoomed in! It will slowly zoom out until the entire picture is revealed. This game will work great on Zoom. This game will also double as a way to give bored kids ideas of ways to have fun at home!
Zoomed In Quarantine Edition


This trivia game has 12 questions all about toilet paper. Test your toilet paper history knowledge in this fun game!
Toilet Paper Trivia

Best Selling:


This game is perfect for Zoom or large group settings. Kids will have fun trying to figure out what animal is making the sound played in the video. Lots of laughs and amazement will ensue!

Name That Sound – Animal Edition


Your kids are going to love this video-based extreme game! Everyone can vote if they think the person on the clip will make it or break it. Make it or Break It will work on Zoom or in a room full of kids! The kids can vote “Make It” by giving two thumbs up or “Break It” by making an X with their arms.

Make It or Break It Volume 1


In Version 2 of the original Make it or Break It, everyone can vote if they think the person on the clip will make it or break it. Make it or Break It will work on Zoom or in a room full of kids! The kids can vote “Make It” by giving two thumbs up or “Break It” by making an X with their arms.

Make It or Break It Volume 2

Which of your kids has the best memory? This on-screen game challenges players to remember a sequence of colors with sounds to see who can make it the longest. If anyone successfully remembers all 20, they are officially a genius.

The Memory Game


In this game, the kids test their skills by seeing if they can guess what an object is while it is zoomed in! It will slowly zoom out until the entire picture is revealed. This game will work great on Zoom or with a large group of kids!

Zoomed In

Great Games For Church:


In this fun on-screen game, kids guess with their thumbs if they think the bible trivia answer is more or less!
More or Less Bible Edition Volume 1


Even more of this fun on-screen game, kids guess with their thumbs if they think the bible trivia answer is more or less!
More or Less Bible Edition Volume 2


This game is all about hands! You start with both hands up, and put a hand down if the statement that is said is true for you. The last person with a hand raised wins!
Hand Down If


This game is perfect for Zoom or large group settings. Preschoolers will have fun trying to figure out what animal is making the sound played in the video. Lots of laughs and amazement will ensue!
Name That Sound – Preschool Animal Edition

Seasonal Games:


In this fun game, kids vote if they think the joke is funny or a fail!
Dad Jokes – Funny or Fail


In this fun quiz, kids answer 10 trivia questions about famous dads in the Bible! Do you know which dad was rendered mute until his son was born?
Famous Dad’s of the Bible


In this fun on screen game, kids guess with their thumbs if they think the answer is more or less!
More or Less Mother’s Day Edition 


In this fun game, kids guess which famous dad said it! “I went to kindergarten, I know how the alphabet works.” – Bob Parr or Mr. Incredible?

Which Dad Said It?


Hey KidMin friends, if you would like for a specific game to be created, let me know. I might just be able to make that happen for you!

Every Generation Needs a New Revolution #OC20 Notes

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Some people will never admit they changed their minds. Every generation needs a new revolution. – Reggie Joiner

Have you ever changed your mind?

If you could go back and visit the 20-year-old version of yourself what would the interview look like? What would you tell them about how you changed your mind? What advice would you give them? 

How have you changed your mind? How have you changed your mind back? 

Politics? Coffee? Enneagram? 

“People who change their mind, in many ways, are my heroes.” 

What would it look like if we could just created a climate and a culture where we were all honest about changing our mind in a way that’s healthy. 

When someone changes their mind it convinces me they are adaptable, honest, vulnerable, and human. 

If you don’t know what to do, ask yourself the question, “Why did you start doing what you did?” 

When you remember WHY, you will realize it’s OK to change your mind. 

If you’re going to be a leader that’s going to lead through change, you have to be willing to change in order to spotlight and highlight what never changes. 

When you change and when you change your mind, it doesn’t mean your soft or indecisive, it means you can learn, dream, grow, forgive, have empathy, be a leader and be trusted to lead change. 

Paul was someone who changed in a radical way. Anti-Christian but changed. The radical conversion of Paul points to the reality of Jesus. 

Paul would say, “Sometimes it takes a crisis before you can see.”

Paul changed his mind about the Old Testament because of Jesus. Paul changed his mind about BBQ. Paul changed his mind about Peter. Peter was still difficult because Peter had a hard time changing his mind. 

Paul changed his mind about the temple, circumcision, Barnabas, races, nations, and women. Paul was someone who changed his mind. 

A powerful dichotomy with his story and his life. It’s okay to change your mind. It’s important to change your mind. 

Paul changed his mind about people who don’t believe the way he believes. Paul changed his mind about love. 

1 Corinthians 13 is such an interesting idea because of Paul. He wrote a letter so that he can say to a church that sometimes you get confused. Sometimes you forget that what you do needs to be connected to a why and I want to give you a crystal clear why. 

When you remember WHY, you’ll have a FILTER to evaluate everything you do. Paul’s list was different than their list. So what if you preach the truth, without love it doesn’t matter. 

One of the most earth-shattering moments was when Paul said, “If you have FAITH that can move a mountain but you don’t have love, it adds up to nothing.” Paul prioritizes love over faith. A new measurement. That Love Does and Love Wins. His list isn’t about doctrine, worship style, or the church but about love. 

Do you want to evaluate your church? Here’s the list. Love It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

The mic drop was “these three things remain; faith, hope, and love. And to put an exclamation mark he clarifies it again by saying the greatest of these is love. 

It’s almost as if Paul knew the difference of faith without love and faith with love. How people can use faith without love to justify their actions but when you put love in the mix it keeps everything in check. 

When you give kids a faith, it needs to be anchored to love. And hope needs to be tied to love because faith or hope without love doesn’t go anywhere. 

Even the great commission with the absence of love doesn’t make as much sense. 

“You can’t make the right kind of disciples if you don’t really love your neighbor.” 

The why of your mission, the great commission, is the why driven by love. 

Most people aren’t looking or a community of faith, they are looking for a community. Then they will listen to what you say about faith but first community. 

When you remember WHY, you lead others to reimagine HOW. 

Overtime the how begins to shape our identity. Over time it’s easy to allow the how to become more important than the why. How is easy to see and do. How is more measurable. How shapes our identity and then when the how shifts we have an identity crisis. 

The truth is, if you wrap your identity around how you do what you do, you set yourself up. Maybe the identity crisis isn’t the church in general. Somewhere in the context of the wrestle there is a theme that affects our identity. The elephant in the room isn’t communion, confession, or baptism, but the how we do things Sunday. 

We grew up believing and we still do, that there is something magical about Sunday. One day a week built in to set aside. Sunday has been a very important part of our week. Sunday is one of the best opportunities to experience community. People are designed for each other. They are designed to be in a space together. Today we are re-discovering those spaces and finding some digitally. 

Churches should create the best possible experience for families who show up at church on Sunday. 

What you do on Sunday is a big deal and all of a sudden when Sunday stopped, it’s no wonder we began to struggle with what that means. 

Reggie changed his mind about Sunday. He decided that we needed to engage families at church on Sunday. There was something more important than just engaging the kids and we needed to engage the parents. Then Reggie changed his mind about not only engaging the families who showed up at church but we need to leverage Sunday to engage families who are at home. 

To go back to the why we would say we our goal is to help churches to partner with parents to influence the faith and future of a child. What would it look like to think in terms of helping parents win? On Sunday in the church and outside. 

“What happens at HOME is MORE IMPORTANT than what happens at CHURCH.”

What happens at home has more influence. Parents have more time and more influence. The average family has about 3000 hours to influence kids. The average church has about 40 hours with kids who show up constantly. Over time it’s easy to drift and forget the power of what happens at home. We begin to think about what happens at home is “as important” then later you think what happens at church is more important than home. You drift. 

Can we turn the volume up on how we focus on what happens on Sunday in homes? 

Can we think about the families who do show up and be intentional about the families who do not show up. Church will always be a priority for some families, but not for most. 

So, what if every family became a priority for your church, especially those who don’t attend. 

2 mindsets in our country. 

A Sunday at home mindset, they stay home. A Sunday at church mindset, they go to church. 

And some people have both. The tension in our culture is this tension. Most people are Sunday at home families. And most churches are programmed to be Sunday at church churches. 

After Covid-19, families will go back to church. Not all will go back right away. 72% of Americans say they will not go back to a football game until there is a vaccination. Even in the light of the uncertainty of all this, what happened in this crisis is an amazing wake-up call. This gave us the opportunity to think about everyone who’s not coming to church. It forced us to expand our mindset and innovate back to another idea about the family and the home. 

Don’t stop thinking about that when the doors open back up. Let’s keep thinking about the people that don’t come. 

“What if there’s a way to expand our Sunday-at-Church mindset to include a Sunday-at-Home mindset? The truth is a lot of people don’t go to church. What does it look like if we decide the why is love and we need to be intuitional about loving those at home. The number is growing in the Sunday at Home mindset. 

Stats show a 10% drop in church attendance over the last 50 years, now in the last 10 years another 10% drop. Most of our energy goes to Sunday at church. What would it look like if we gave energy to Sunday at home? 

Boomers 76% identify as Christians and 35% have a Sunday at home mindset.

Gen X 69% identify as Christians and 32% have a Sunday at home mindset.

Millennials 49% identify as Christians and 22% have a Sunday at home mindset.

Our tendency is to then try to do church better. But what if we reimagined the how? Look at the big picture. 

In every statistic there’s about a 46-44% difference in those who identify as Christians and those who go to church. So what if we re-imagined the church. What if we tried to raise the 49% stat because more people will in turn show up at church. What if we care about people who have a Sunday at home mindset. What does it look like to bridge into the world of those with a Sunday at home mindset. 

Millennials: 80% believe in God, 69% believe in Heaven, 67 believe religion is important, 64% pray. We assume sometimes that if they have a Sunday at home mindset then they don’t believe in God or are not faith-friendly, but they are interested in spiritual issues. A huge part of our population care about spiritual issues they just don’t go to church. What if we cared for that group? 

Jesus told a parable one day about a shepherd with 100 sheep. If one strays why not leave the 99 for the 1. A powerful message about the value of people. We have about 22% of Millennials with a Sunday at church mindset. We continue to build the church as strong as we can, but what would it look like, in light of what happened in our country, what would it look like for us to leave the 22% to go after the 70%? 

We have a generation who have already redefined church in their mind and they are not showing up on Sunday. 

What would it look like if in your church you started thinking in terms of the families who don’t come, in creative ways? Not simply to get them to change their mind about Sunday but to help them win at home. What if you measured success by Sunday morning attendance and engaging families who don’t show up on Sunday? 

When it comes to budget and vision, if you connect the why to your vision you can get people to invest. There’s a why here that we haven’t even thought about. There are grandparents who would give to that. They have grandkids who have disengaged with the church and would give to something that would help the church re-engage families on their turf in a way that will reengage their faith. They haven’t walked away from God, they haven’t walked away from religion, but they have walked away from attending church. 

If this became a vision we presented in a way that made sense people would follow it. People would say, they have a friend who aren’t going to come to church but if you give me a way to do small group with them to engage with around issues of faith, they will follow. 

There are families who won’t go to your church but if you invite them into something because you are giving them permission to engage faith at home, they would love the idea of being connected to your faith community in a different way then just showing up on Sunday morning. 

The reason we should do this is not the numerical potential but because Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians. Paul said that love does. 

“Do we love the families who don’t come to our churches as much as we love the families who do?”

What would it look like to put action to that? Yes, Sunday needs to be the best opportunity of the week, but this crisis has taught us to not only get ready for those who come on Sunday but to get ready for those who can’t come or won’t come. 

The church isn’t going anywhere. This isn’t the first storm the church has faced. This isn’t our last wake up call for why we do what we do. 

Somewhere in the context of this all we are trying to do is lean in and ask what would it look like for you to leverage your resources and think in term so this unprecedented time of sending a message to people who don’t know how they connect with you in the church. 

This crisis is like Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul pivoted. Paul changed his mind. It clarified his identity. Paul at that moment in time is the leader that God called to change the gentile world. 

Have you ever wondered WHY you are leading in this moment?

Have you wondered where you fit in this? Have you wondered why you are leading at this moment? In the middle of something that shakes our identity to our core, you are a leader now. This is an indicator that God wants to do do something unique with you, that you have a voice, and God wants to do something. 

Paul pivoted. We can reach a population that has disengaged. We can leverage this as an opportunity to let them know we care about what happens in their home and we want them to win. We can redefine ourselves in a culture that has already redefined us.  

Want to watch the opening session? Click here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=295568868115843&ref=watch_permalink

Navigating Change Requires Courageous Leaders

Jimmy Mellado and Reggie Joiner

We are all poor and rich, just in different ways. 

When visiting churches around the world you see that they may not have money but the churches and families with Jesus in the center have all they need. 

The crisis we are all experiencing can be a tool. Something used to help us develop empathy. You have people hurting who have never felt this pain but you also have people around them with constant pain. We need to build empathy to learn and see each other differently. 

This pandemic doesn’t discriminate on status or levels of power. It’s hitting the rich and the poor. The pandemic was a leveler. It doesn’t discriminate on finances or power. The community is coming together because everyone is hurting. 

Leadership is influence plus courage. 

How do you respond in a crisis when you lose productivity and control? Left to ourselves and focusing on ourselves it leads to depression. One of the best antidotes is becoming others-centered. Serving other people. One of the best things you can do for your spatial, emotional, and physical health is serving another person. Leverage your influence and your courage to serve others. Your soul will be built in the process. 

New doesn’t happen without leadership and leadership doesn’t happen without courage and influence. Take people to a new place, a better place. 

Culture doesn’t define what a church should do. Innovate to the original. What is the original intent God placed on the church? Jesus was the most attractive and magnetic person on the planet. When the church doesn’t resemble Jesus, somethings wrong. Change in the church is about deconstructing the human part to look more like Jesus. 

In NFL stadiums lights are turned off. Would we help them fill a symbolic stadium because of Covid-19 and join compassion to sponsor 70,000 kids?

Change Reminds Me Things Can Change

Jonathan Williams 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

I am just here.

Churches need to get back to their human-ness. Opening up, sharing the pain we’re most scared to share, are the things that can bring people to Christ who are feeling hopeless.

I think the church has an amazing opportunity right now to share its humanness.

Mike Foster, Kara Powell, Kristen Ivy, and Reggie Joiner

How can we as leaders respond to stories like this? 

Jon held a story of suffering inside for about 26 years. Because he held this story, he suffered alone. I want to lead in a way people don’t have to suffer silently with their stories regardless of how they look like. We can create safe places for people to be able to open up. 

You set the tone and the pace for how safe people feel. Sharing our own not so perfect story opens the door. Go first with your own story. 

What do we do when people open up and share their story. 3 responses. 

Validate their pain and feelings. Don’t dismiss or control. Don’t just give them a bible verse. 

Appreciate and honor that act of bravery. 

Refer. We don’t have to have a solution to everybody’s problems. This lie leads you into horrible heart work. You will be over your head so get in the habit of referring and not being the hero with all the answers. Come along the community of healers and helpers. Support in a collective. 

How do we show up in this space and help? 

We are in a unique time and experience. Old coping mechanisms have been stripped away. You can’t fill your time with more activities and people because the world has changed. Step into suffering. 

Kara has been asked a question in the last couple of weeks. Before the quarantine, it was hard to understand young people’s anxiety. Now that we aren’t in the same room it’s even harder to identify anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. How do we get a gage today? 

Be a great listening. Give the gift of full presence. This is what Jesus did and this is the mark of true love. 

I’m here, you’re not alone, but it is your work to get done. 

Opening the door is such a big deal when partnering with parents. Parents can have conversations with their kids. Look kids in the eye and ask how they are doing and let them know there is nothing they can’t tell us. 

Tips for building relationships? Sometimes we live in denial about our own kids. We know other families are struggling but not our kids. Ask the hard question and lean in. What is sleep looking like? What is eating look like? What is the tone of conversations? You can’t delegate this role to a pastor. 

On a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being very anxious and 1 not being anxious at all. 6 and above you need to bring in support. If they can’t pick their own number say I feel like you are a # and see how they respond. Do something to create specificity and put it into words. Draw what you’re feeling inside. 

A daily check-in with your mind, your heart, and your body. How are your thoughts? What are the emotions you are feeling right now? Can you name them and identify them and are you carrying them? In your body are you holding any tension in your body? Your body communicates your mental health but you rarely ask how you are feeling in your body. 

There are times we miss it and the signs are hard to read. If your kids are suffering and you had no idea, that is very common. As proactive as you can be there’s not one thing you could do to make everything safe for your kid. 

We carry a lot of guilt and shame around these topics and it brings more bad health. 

Give them a way to qualify their feelings. How is the weather? 

Mental health is not a one-person solution. Community Care. Bring in additional help and resources. 

OrangeLeaders.com/resources 

If you’re wrestling right now, invite someone in. 

We as leaders need to gather help, use the resources available. 

Give hope to a generation. Hope is one of the things that remain and hope is tied to love. 

The Gospel is Still Good News

Kristen Ivy

 Is the hope that I have to offer really enough. 

Ask yourself why 5 times. 

Why is the Gospel good news? Why? Why? Why?

We need to be prepared to give an answer but we need to pause to ask the question of why they are asking the question. 

The good news to me might not sound like good news to someone else. Pause long enough to know how to respond to people. 

Become all things to all people. Paul was suggesting we need to understand people first. It’s hard to give people hope before knowing why they need hope. Understand their perspective. 

If you want the good news, to sound like good news, you need to understand WHY it’s good news for everyone.

The Gospel is good news for everyone 

(from 5 essential perspectives)

World 1 Separation &  Union

Problem: Abandonment

Jesus is the revealer and gives us hope of heaven. 

World 2 Conflict & Vindication 

Problem: Oppression

Jesus is Messiah/ Liberator

World 3 Emptiness & Fulfillment  *Majority

Problem: Insignificance

Jesus is Example/ Model

World 4 Condemnation & Forgiveness

Problem: Sin/Ego

Jesus is Savior/ Redeemer

World 5 Suffering & Endurance

Problem: Meaninglessness

Jesus is Suffering Servant

It matters if you want to give hope…if you want to give an answer to the question someone is asking. 

What do you do when someone says, “I don’t feel as guilty as they want me to feel.” How do you share the Gospel with someone who doesn’t see the need for this good news? 

Whenever you deliver one kind of worship song, preach one worldview, you are lacking a theology that someone in the room needs. 

If you want the good news to sound like good news, we all need variety. What worship songs speak to all 5 perspectives? What messages would preach to all 5 perspectives? There is a richness to the Gospel if we just lean into it completely. Remember why the Good News is the good news for everyone. 

The Grace You Give Yourself Changes Everything. 

Nona Jones

Outrun the pain of past failure. 

Peter, the Rock. 

Who do you say I am?
The Messiah the Son of the living God. 

Shame – What I did.

Guilt – Who I am.

The Rock is saying who I am.
The Rooster is saying who I will never be.

No matter how deeply you have been broken, you are never beyond the reach of God’s grace.

Your brokenness is not your burden, your brokenness is your ministry. 

My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. 

The grace you give yourself changes everything. 

Step into the second act of your calling. Peter accepted the grace God gave him and his situation. 

How to Build Digital Community? 

No matter what you think you know, you never know what the future knows. This uncertainty is an opportunity. 

Church, you have to pivot. 

You have to let go of normal. God is kicking us out of the box of what church is. Jesus put his name on people not on buildings. You innovate to the original. Going back to the starting point of what really matters. 

How you can learn and teach yourself? Who can you talk to and listen to? 

Don’t be intimidated by tech. It’s built to be user friendly. Investigate and explore. 

Dive in. You’re not going to learn with a manual or article. You will learn by doing it. 

Don’t relegate technology to the social media team. You will become so reliant on them you won’t be able to function. 

The future is bright. God knew this was going to happen. He called you to leadership during this season. You are placed here for such a time as this. Lean into the opportunity it provides. Don’t allow the enemy to make you feel overwhelmed. 

Everything Changes But You Can Still Play

Simon Sinek

Organizations face change all the time. The internet changed everything, it put some companies out of business and propelled others. What’s different about this is it’s more sudden than what we are used to. 

How are we going to adapt our model to these new times? We have to have these meetings, quickly. 

Why did we get into this business in the first place? When we set out on this journey of risk and uncertainty we stepped out knowing it was worth it. What was worth it then is still worth it now. 

The learning curve is steep. The standards for quality are much lower now. Think at home wearing a t-shirt and things put together with duct tape. We can fix things as we go. There’s an opportunity if we are willing to change. 

Change actually highlights what doesn’t change. 

The crisis is a great revealer of people, inner strength, relationships, and the stupidity of how we have been living our lives. We actually think our political views are important but when a tornado goes through a town we don’t care about color, politics, and our religious beliefs we realize we are all in this together. 

Crisis gets us out of the weeds. We have become a very selfish society. 

If you are leaning into leaders who are on the front lines and saying to them you are in this time for a reason. You have a platform and an opportunity. What should they say and do because the world is watching them. 

This is a time of asking for help and vulnerability. Embrace it. You can’t do it all. People aren’t disposable. There’s too much going on and too many balls in the air to juggle. If you want to save jobs and lives literally and figuratively then say to the people you are working with, I can not do this alone and need your help. As a team, we are strong enough to do this together. Embrace the strength of others. 

Infinity Game – Play to play not play to win. Why keep moving? Finite games have winners and losers with fixed rules. Infinite games you stay in as long as you can to move the game forward. There’s no such thing as winning in education or your marriage. It’s not about being #1 or beating your competitors. You can not win in a game that has no finish line. When you play to win in a game that doesn’t end you destroy trust and innovation. Play the game with the right mindset. This season is just part of the journey. 

This is our first global pandemic but it’s not the first. We will get through this. 

Creating a “Love Works” Model

Joel Manby 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Love works as a leadership principle. 

Without culture, we don’t keep the great people. Culture is critical to stay and be engaged. 

The level of enthusiasm of your church experience will never rise above that of your employees and volunteers. You have a culture whether you define it or not. Teach the words of love to teach a great culture. 

Love is Jesus #1 commandment and the problem to being effective. 

Engagement scores go up when you put love in place. 

You have a culture whether you define it or not. Most companies have their plaques on the wall for their values but only 10% put practices behind it. Define the words and what they mean. 

Do goals. Be goals. Get the top raise. 

Do goals are numerical and be goals are the type of leaders you want to be. Measured and reinforced. 

If it works, why do we not do it more? 

It might come across as soft or hard to measure. 

Love Works

Create this culture by defining it, put the surveys out, then talk about it continually. Be brutally honest if someone is failing. Allow everyone to speak it back to you. 

Everything Changes But Nothing Changes with Paula Dannielle, Crystal Chiang, Tom Shefchunas

We need to change. How we measure things has to changes. When life changes it helps us look at things differently. What’s under the rug. 

Nothing changes quite like a kid changing through the phases. 

It’s not okay to take the 5 ways the Gospel is good news for everyone for granted in preschool. Talk about the essentials. 

Attendance isn’t a good measure of success. How to measure if a small group is working. 

How do you talk about middle school? What’s the reputation? When you want to gain leaders, you have to talk about the ministry differently. 

Breakout 1 Re-Evaluating Your Next-Gen Ministry with Lisette Fraser

To be ready for when a crisis hits, plan for the life stage transitions.

Church as we know it is closed, we have time to take steps back and evaluate. 

When we reopen how do we make sure we don’t miss the most important things. 

Elevate Community

Give every kid a caring leader & a predictable and safe community where they can grow spiritually.

Because it’s hard we lean into the idea that information creates transformation but we know this is a faulty formula. Information plus conversation multiplied by relationship creates transformation. 

Anything that was a crack now becomes a chasm. If you were lacking leadership in this area then now the crack is huge. 

Reprioritize the importance of community! 

Engage Every Parent

Engage parents to have a positive influence in the spiritual development of their own kids.

Sometimes we think we are better at spiritual developing kids than parents are. Don’t slip into this. 

Another tension is how to engage with a parent that isn’t physically there. The further the parent is the less we consider them. We need to fight for this priority. 

How do you view your role? Are the driver of the faith journey or a passenger in the families car? 

Take an honest look at how many parents you are engaging. Really consider how many you are talking to and when. Are you chasing parents? If they are really the most important how are you engaging them and equipping them for success. 

Align Leaders 

Align leaders to lead with the same end in mind with a common language and a common strategy.

Someone believes they are the red-headed stepchild. They might also think they are the favorite. 

Get everyone on the same page moving the same direction. Every leader matters. 

As a nextgen leader, we help everyone see the whole picture together and to clear the lane for them to run in the right direction clearly. 

It’s easier to allow everyone to run their own direction but it’s not better. 

In a world in constant change, what if the world was the place of peace and stable. 

Have you identified a strategy and common language? 

Do we hold people accountable to it?

Refine the Message

Craft core truths into engaging, relevant and memorable experiences that correlate with the faith formations of each phase.

Every age and phase needs something different. Each message needs to be refined differently. 

Think of a child’s life holistically. Before and after usage and stage-wise, we are all carrying the ball the same way.

Influence Service

Create consistent opportunities for kids and teenagers to serve.

Tension of our scope to serve faithfully. Everyone can serve at every age and stage. How do we reflect that we believe young people can serve now. Equip the adult leaders who will serve with them. 

Can little kids greet? Can they park cars? How do we equip kids and leaders to receive them to be serving? 

Social media now is how to come alongside families. How can we equip parents this week to disciple their kids? What tools can we put in their hands? 

We all think differently and approach ministry differently. We need to hear how other people are doing because it’s not that one is better than the other. 

Find projects you can build together that benefits everyone. Help everyone see that we all have the same kids and are walking them all down the same path. 

We have been hired to champion the phases. Share stories. Nothing changes minds or helps people understand more than a story. Generate and tell great stories. 

First, define reality and know what is there to work with. Next, evaluate how you are doing. See where your gauges are and define direction. 

Leverage tools because people are more important than the grind of ministry. Trust volunteers to lead in significant roles. 

To mobilize kids and students you need to know who you are partnering them with. Help the whole church care about the legacy of the church. We know serving is a significant role. Everyone is searching for identity, belonging, and purpose and serving makes this possible. Help the church and the adults see how them training kids and coming alongside kids to be serving. Remind them of what this was like for them when they first started. Can they do the same for the young person? Maybe they didn’t have a chance as a young person and now they can give a young person a chance. 

Thoughts on digital and physical moving forward? 

There are places where we can be more effective online compared to in person. People might not show up in person but online. Is there a hybrid available where you can do something online and in person. Decentralizing some things. Help people lead in their communities and in their homes. Small groups only for a season, how do we really empower leaders to be doing ministry as opposed to gathering. 

Breakout 2 Relaunching Your Church By Making Families Stronger with Geoff Surratt

What can be more effective in family ministry? 

If you had a lot of kids and a lot of events and no one was arrested then you felt successful. If you sent kids to camp and people were saved every year then you felt successful. In kids ministry if you kept the kids entertained while their parents when to church then you felt successful. Everything changes when you realize the goal is to partner with parents. 

Partner with Parents

Parents are more present at home.

Families are more connected to the church.

The big question was HOW?

The picture of a child with their parent praying with a small group leader over zoom. This is the picture of family minstry. 

Four Revolutionary Opportunities for Families

1 Environments for families to Worship Together

Create experiences where families and kids can come together. Families going to church together in a tent is a memorable experience. How do we carry this idea and experience forward? 

2 Creative ways for families to Play Together

Game nights or kids and their parents.

3 Resources for Families to Grow Together

Parent resource website – one easy to find spot. 

Online small groups for every age, even preschool. 15 minutes of crazy. 

4 Opportunities for families to Serve Together

A family parade to the assisted living communities. Create moments for families to serve together. Birthday drive-by parades. 

We have to make it

Easy

Fun

Meaningful

Groups of 50 or 100:

What can ministry look like with these groups? What does online continue to look like? 

Not just a bandage but new thinking and opportunity. What if it continues like this for the rest of the year or for years? 

Let’s not panic and post something everywhere, let’s take a breathe and realize it’s a marathon. Help them engage again. 

What if we celebrate when families are not at church but pastoring their teams or being out doing ministry? 

Breakout 3 How to Make Small Groups Win for Kids with Keedren & Keturah Boston 

People need two things.
A person and a place.

A gym can still make kids feel like it’s their own place. 

Lead Small – You can have a big impact in kids when you invest in kids. 

Small groups give kids someone. 

Someone who cares. 

A small group leader.

Small groups give kids somewhere. A safe environment and atmosphere to belong.

How are you allocating your resources?  

Act like you believe it.

Improve your structure to make relationships matter.

Structure is important because kids need order. Be organized to be organic. Small groups need to actually be small groups. 

Empower leaders who make relationships matter.

Create experiences where make relationships matter.

How does your calendar year impact small groups? When do you promote? At the end of the kindergarten year do you say goodbye or do you say hello? What are you communicating to kids and families? How do you help your few go to the next level? 

Professionals are not always those with the titles and degrees but the team you are leading. Give them the opportunity and show them the expectations. Do you have consistent leaders who are committed and showing up weekly? 

There’s nothing worse then a leader who doesn’t feel needed or know what is expected of them. 

Your best leaders recruit the best leaders. This is a process not an event. 

Spoil your leaders. Love them. 

Create experiences where relationships matter. Circle Time. Give a talking piece. 

Have compassion and show compassion. 

Zoom and google hangout are a great resource for your families and kids.

Communicate these to families and let the know what’s available. 

Allow leaders to speak into the vision and know they have a safe place to voice insights into the ministry. 

Consider doing training now. 

Record session if people miss things. 

Every Sunday is someones first Sunday. 

Let everyone in the small group speak. Make sure everyone is comfortable sharing. 

Go directly into circles with the talking piece so they are ready to start sharing and talking. Give them something physically to hold and talk. After circle time they break into even smaller groups. 

Breakout 4 – Responding To Kids With Anxiety And Depression with Dave Thomas & Sissy Goff

Anxiety and Depression Statistics

‣ Anxiety is now considered a childhood epidemic in America, affecting 1 in 4 kids. Girls twice as likely.

‣ 10-15% of children and teenagers are depressed at any given time.

‣ Teenagers are 5-8x more likely to fit the criteria for anxiety or major depression than half a century ago.

‣ In a survey of students in grades 9-12, 16% of students reported seriously considering suicide, 13% reported creating a plan, and 8% reported trying to take their own life in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Look for:

A loss of interest in things they used to love. If they withdraw from friends. A lot of tears. An emotional withdrawal. In childhood, it’s recognized pretty easy but in students, it just sounds like adolescences. With teens watch for this to manifest with their peers. Normally kids might feel that way at home and they lift with their friends. 

With anxiety, it’s like the one loop roller coaster at the fair. When they keep coming back over and over again and they can’t kick it. 

Endless questions. When they keep asking the same issues. 

Watch for exploding and imploding. Anger is a secondary emotion. When kids meltdown with a schedule change. With no predictability or lead time they explode. Implodes become perfectionistic. Stomach aches before school. 

Anxiety is also a parenting epidemic. 8 years old is often the onset. Parents might also bring anxiety to their kids. 

Parents escape and avoid it. They might pull them out of situations instead of helping them work through the scary things.  

Anxiety is an overestimation of the problem and an underestimation of themselves. 

Help – For the body, brain, and heart. 

When we are calm we have blood flow in our brains and in the front of our brains to think rationally and manage our emotions. When we are emotionally charged the blood flow moves to the back of the brain and fight or flight kicks in. Help blood flow move back to the front. Start with slow relaxation breathing. Square breathing or combat breathing. 

Grounding Techniques. Move the brain back to the present and not the past. Often teach kids to work with their scenes. 54321. 5 things see hear smell taste. Count backward from 7. Something to reset the brain. 

Then help them with their hearts. Make sure they have an emotional vocabulary. Get a feelings chart. Faces with expressions and words under. Develop an emotional vocabulary because kids are switching words around. They don’t say “sad” anymore they say depressed. Before they said they would run away but today they say they will kill themselves.  

Kids use words but don’t really know what they mean. Help them accurately express their feelings. 

Help kids do the scary thing. Gradually like steps on a ladder. 

Help kids practice. Practice makes progress. 

God has not given you a Spirit of fear. This resets their brain and hides God’s word in their hearts. 

Hope

Kids feel the bravest when someone who loves them reminds them of the truth of who they are. 

 “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

There has never been this space and time when they talk about emotions so much but their faith is not impacting their emotions. We need a net of faith to catch us when we fall. There is trouble but take heart because Jesus has overcome the world. Call out bravery you see in kids. 

Remind kids of the reality of who God called them to be. They are not alone, God is with them and redeeming them. Remind them of this truth. 

Kids often go 2 years before they get help. 

Come to parents in a collaborative way. I wonder if we are seeing the same things. The “of course” principle. Of course, you know we are in it to help you. Of course, you know it would be damaging to talk negatively about your ex in front of your kids. 

Parents who are type-a had anxiety when they were growing up but didn’t talk about it growing up. We want to help find ways to support you and your child at this time. 

Watch your own anxiety in front of your kids because they absorb it. Managing your own anxiety will help your kids with theirs. 

Everything Changes but Change Doesn’t Affect Everybody the Same. 

Monec Johnson, Meaghan Wall, Diane Kim

Build a bridge to families throughout our communities. 

Every family should have a family app. You can customize the parent cue app for your families. 

There’s a gap of about 70,000 kids who need sponsored through compassion. Visit compassion.com/teamup-orange to donate. 

When everything changes, things change in a different way for different people. 

Our perception changes constantly. The church is so tightly sealed in a box that sometimes special needs kids don’t fit in. Make sure every single person can experience the love of God. 

There may be some homes where parents are activity seeking a partnership. Where they need help with their child with special needs. 

Get the resource on OrangeLeaders.com/resources called Every Family 

You can experience a love that liberates from fear. Danielle Strickland

No one can stop an idea whose time has come –Winnie Mandela 

Components of revolutions: 

1) An incredible idea at the right time.

2) A catalytic leader with a community of support.

3) Some sort of mechanism to communicate the original message.

The revolution Jesus introduced was inside out. An eternal revolution.

Love is a revolution. 

Jesus’ revolution started with an idea, the most radical and revolutionary idea ever. The idea that God is love and we are loved by God.

God is love. And you are loved by God. These are the two ideas at the core of the revolution of God.

The fullness of time. Or at just the right time. The idea that God is love came to earth. 

Love is an inside out revolution that awakens us to see what could be.

Love invites us to know the truth, to get at the truth. Not just about God, but about us.

Love woke me up.

Love awakens us to what could be and what should be.

Love empowers us to be the revolution that the world desperately needs.

Love the ultimate revolution. We hold up not a national flag, but a Kingdom flag.

Reggie Joiner, Bernice King, Jennifer Barnes, Sam Collier

Prayer, “God will you give me friends of color.” 

It starts with a desire. If you have a desire you will seek it out. That seeking will lead you to people who are different than you. If you are closed minded, it just doesn’t happen. 

Be a seeker of people who are different than you. 

Be on an open minded journey. 

Treat people with dignity and respect. 

Be a bridge, not just racially but generationally. 

Jesus always talked about us being one. One above all else. It can be difficult to press pause long enough on your pain to connect. If we’re going to see the kingdom rise like never before, we’re going to have to do that Jesus work to pause and connect.

The issue of privilege is a serious issue in our world.

We don’t want to punt the problem to the next generation. We need to dig in and be courageous going forward. 

What is it about the word “privilege” that puts people on the defensive.

Give yourself permission to be vulnerable in relationships. 

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

We need to change our approach for a generation that’s changed their minds.

Paul said I have become all things to all people. 

We need to change our approach for a generation that’s changed their mind.

The Next Generation Still Needs a Dynamic Faith – Andy Stanley

Learn everything we can so we will be better the next time around. Create an icon, something as a physical reminder to take the lesson forward. 

How to invite the next generation into a dynamic faith. “Invite” being the dynamic word. 

What does it mean to have a great church? Be lead by people who love Jesus, love like Jesus, and have a plan to help the next generation love Jesus. 

Churches that have a plan for the next generation, generally do better as a church. Churches invested in the next generation have more resources. 

If you’re going to be a church that is about the next generation, organize your church towards the next generation as far as staffing and budget. No matter what’s on the wall. Organizations are dumb things, they do what they are organized and structured to do. Organize to this idea of the next generation. 

All information and misinformation is at their fingertips 24/7. This sets this generation apart form all other generations. In terms of how we talk about the Bible, we have not embraced this reality. 

Not only do they know what’s in the Bible, because you are teaching them, but they can find out what else is in the Bible. All the parts we have skipped or don’t want them to ask us about. 

This generation is on a meaning and security quest, not a truth quest. We can leverage this for a dynamic faith. This is important in our approach to the invitation. 

Inclusion, diversity, and sustainability are moral issues for this generation. Not political issues but right and wrong moral issues. 

With one silly statement or wrong humor you can undermine your credibility with this generation. This is true in their minds but not consistent in their worldview. 

Love is their ethic but it is loosely and conveniently defined. It’s very situational and conversational. They come to the defense of those who are mistreated but will break up with their girlfriend over text. 

In light of that…

1. Frame the invitation around following Jesus. Rather than an invitation to pray or become a noun of a Christian. A dynamic faith. The word Christian isn’t dynamic anymore but simply a label. Ask, “Are you following Jesus?” Jesus follower reflects the first century calling of a Christian. Someone who is acting or being like Christ. Is it just what you believe or what you do and behave? Lordship. Have you acknowledged God as the Lord you will follow? Be a doer and not just a believer. Doing is what makes all the difference. Do you hear Jesus and put His words into practice? Are your students building their house on sand? 

2. Establish the Gospels as the text that informs their faith. Not the entire Bible. Inviting into a dynamic faith. Draw their attention to the text of the Gospels. The Old Testament got Jesus here but the New Testament shows us who He is. 

Hebrews 10:1, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.” 

The OT looked ahead but now that the reality is here, that should be our focus. We are inviting students to follow Jesus. 

All authority in heaven and earth has ben given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19. 

The starting point of inviting the next generation to a dynamic faith is to invite them to follow Jesus. The Christian faith did not begin with Genesis. The Christian faith began with Jesus. All authority rests with Jesus. The Bible doesn’t create Christianity, Jesus did. 

In the pre-internet world, this concept didn’t matter as much but today the next generation has access to everything in the Bible without ever touching a Bible. So, inviting this generation to a faith based on the authority of the entirety of the Bible is a non-starter because they can discover within 20-30 minutes all the parts that do not support the Christian faith. They are going to ask good questions. Better questions then you ask. They are far less incline to develop a presuppositional faith. 

Our faith can withstand the onslaught of the critics, if we build our faith on the right foundation, the Gospels, Jesus. 

3. Anchor their orthopraxy to Jesus’s new covenant command. Orthopraxy is right practice or behavior. What they do with their bodies and their money. 

Jesus taught in John 13:34-35, “ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Jesus creates the guardrails for this love. Specifically defined. Where we should start in what it looks like to follow Jesus. We don’t get to make this up, we are told exactly what love looks like. To love like Jesus. 

In the Gospels we see this brand of love illustrated through Jesus. In the letters of Paul we see this love applied. Forgive as you have forgiven. Submit to one another. All pointing to Jesus example. 

If the invitation is to be dynamic faith, begin with the invitation to follow Jesus, anchor them with the Gospels, and the beginning of application to follow Jesus is the command to love one another. 

By this the world will see you are my follower, if you love. Following Jesus is about a life you live. At the center is love. This love is laying down your life for a friend. Putting others first. Forgiving because you have been forgiven. Accepting because you have been accepted by God. 

The dynamic of faith is not what we believe but what we do. Following Jesus is dynamic. This makes faith real and practical. 

What does love require of me? 

You can do this. You must do this. 

What’s more important than the faith of the next generation? Nothing.

Build a bridge to families inside and outside of your church. 

Phase Project with Kristen Ivey

What are the basic and core things you need to know at every phase. Every parent knows their child better than any other person on the planet. The guide is designed to help the parent fill the information in with what they know. 

What You Do This Week Still Matters with Doug Fields

Philippians 1:1 “This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders[a] and deacons. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”

What still matters is being…In Contact. 

Phone calls worked then and they work now. Recording and sending short videos. Do your kids and leaders know you want to be with them. 

Philippians 1:3-4, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy”

What still matters is being…In Prayer

Are you praying for the flock God has entrusted to your care. Do they actually know about it? 

Type in prayer request and follow up. 

Philippians 1:6, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

What still matters is being…Spiritually Encouraging. 

This means painting a picture of hope. Church is a safe place for them to return when they do fail. Jesus painted this picture with Simon. What picture are you painting for those entrusted to your care? 

Not as sexy as zoom calls and digital baptism but what the church did and what is on display. Some things just don’t need to change. 

How the church response will change the next generation with Kara Powell 

Pastor Fails

90% of questions how we can do church online. 10% about howe we could be church all week. Is this how we should function? Whether we can meet in person or digital.

How did Jesus spend His time? Certainly not 90% inside the church and in church worship. 

When it comes to our time and engird the revolution focuses less on our worship services and more on our service of others. 

Your churches resources and other’s needs. The beauty happens when these two interact and overlap. What resources do you have that can be leveraged to meet needs. 

Now, consider the resources of young peoples time. Can you help meet the needs of schools in the neighborhoods? Traditions have been crushed. Over the summer, serve locally and offer replacement events. How are you using the resources of young people’s times. Mailing origami. Thinking of you and would love to connect. Help meet needs of your neighborhood. Creating flyers and distributed door to door. Are you struggling, call our church. 

Use young people’s time to serve the marginalized. Senior adults. Senior to senior service. Left with two pots of flowers, one left for the student and one for the senior to give to another senior citizen. 

Visit FullerYouthInstitute.org/orange to maximize your ministry during this pandemic. 

Young people don’t want to go to a meeting they want to be part of a movement. 

Young people leave the church to find the church.

Don’t snap back to normal, harness this time for a new deeper revolution. 

A kid will get over what I teach then, but they will never get over what God does through them.” -Reggie Joiner 

How to Start a Kindness Revolution with Brad Montague

We all still need to be good neighbors. 

Six words from Fred. “You were a child once, too.”

Be who you needed when you were younger. 

Don’t edit someone’s work. Elevate it.

Breakout 5 Developing Other Leaders with Doug Fields 

What makes you a good leader who helps people? That’s just what you do when you care for people. Why are we not very good at it? Many church leaders are busy, scared, and insecure. 

Self-preservation leader: busy, scared, and insecure. 

Few church leaders are intentional with developing other leaders. 

Leaders have to decide if they want to leave a legacy of one or a legacy of many. 

Give up your pride.

Not easy because in ministry we rarely get credit for the work we do. Become a spotlight leader. Insecure leaders don’t bring out the best in others. 

Give up your perfectionism. 

We know the cliche if we want the job done do it yourself. This is not a beatitude from the sermon on the mount. They might not do it as good as you…right away, but you are developing them. 

Give them your genuine belief

I don’t think you can encourage people too much. People are dying for encouragement. People need more encouragement than training. Make a list of your leaders. Pray over them. Ask, what do you see in these leaders that maybe they don’t see. 

You don’t delegate tasks, you dump them

Give them meaningful relationships. 

Give them real responsibilities

A responsibility is significant when both the rewards and the risks are real. 

Give them meaningful relationships 

Invite them into your life.

Not to use them but to know them. If you are burning through leaders and have poor retention then you are using people. 

Give them accountability.

 If you expect something, you need to inspect it. If you hire someone, don’t turn your back on them. Develop them and bring out the best in them. Make them into great leaders. 

3 times a year, Doug goes through leaders and gives every volunteer an a, b, or c. 

A’s need encouragement. Maybe get the pastor or a leader to write them a letter. 

B’s need intentional coaching and hand holding. 

C’s are how you get them into another ministry in the church. 

Give them freedom. 

The best idea wins. You don’t always have to win. Let them lead in a way that is different than you. 

Give. 

Breakout 6 Increasing Your Influence and Effectiveness in Kids Ministry with Kellen Moore

Talk about it.

‣ Talk openly about what is going well and poorly in your world.

‣ Cheer for each other when you’re talking about each other.

‣ Share stories of students that grew up in your kids ministry.

Develop a curiosity about the youth ministry. 

Collaborate

‣ on transitions.

‣ on the budget. 

‣ on space.

‣ on volunteers.

 Create a common language for families

‣ Small groups vs. disciple groups vs. life groups

‣Teaching calendar vs. scope and cycle

‣ Drop-off vs. check-in

‣ Baptism vs. big splash

Breakout 7 Create Something for Kids that Parents Love with Angela Santomero

 Vision: All media must have a vision to make the world a better place for kids

Mission: My Mission for all the media work I do is to empower, challenge and build the self- esteem of kids, while making them laugh!

Healthy Green Media Smoothie

‣ Equal parts: ‣ Educate ‣ Interact

‣ Engage

‣ Helps to create and identify high quality media

 Universal Truths of Kids

Needed to create and identify high quality media: 

‣ Play

‣ Pause 

‣ Repeat 

‣ Model 

‣ Help

 Kindness is at the Foundation of everything we do.

Breakout 8 Things Every Ministry Leaders Should Know About Foster Care with Josh Shipp

Foster kids will test you. 

Like the lab bar on a roller coaster. 

Kids will test you to see if you’ll hold

Foster kids will act out. 

What kids don’t talk out…they act out

The very first adult.

It’s not about you.

It’s about someone prior to you. 

When they act out…you lean in. Double down.

“You are awesome…but this was not. Here’s what’s going to happen.” Give foster kids certainty. I will have to do this. 

Foster kids often feel ashamed. 

690,000 kid in the foster care system.

“I used to be one of the but I felt alone.”

Lies: Alone, Broken, Unlovable.

Goal: Identify a peer “lighthouse” a navigational aid and warn of danger. 

Widen the circle. 

The Power of One Caring Adult TED Talk -for teens. 

Lead them with Vulnerability 

Lead with vulnerability

Start where they are

Voice their skepticism

Lead to where they should be. 

Your imperfections make you human

Your humanity makes you influential. 

Foster Kids Need a Coach

Don’t lecture then – coach them. 

Pre-Game: Rehearse

What potential challenges do they need to be prepared to face? 

Post-Game: Review

What did we learn?

During-Game: Release

Can they succeed without me?

Foster Parents Need Support

Practical Support

3 hours or 3 meals

Encouragement and Consequences

Auto-Schedule encouragement 

Pre-define rules and consequences. 

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

Promote Counseling

Both parents and kids

Destigmitize

Healthy Expectation

Easy Out

If Possible: Remove $$$ hurdle

Counseling is for the breathing. 

To get resources, text the word JOSH to 66866

Book: No Matter What – A foster care tale by Josh Shipp

Final Words with Reggie Joiner

Creativity thrives in crisis. 

People Need:
To stay connected
To be encouraged now
To win this week
To imagine what’s next

What does it take for us to stack hands on a bigger vision to reach the world in the middle of a crisis to remind them that these three things remain: faith, hope and love?

We all need each other. 

Tomorrow start thinking in terms of how do we start talking about this. 

Capture the imagination that is watching. 

Keep changing your mind for the sake of what never changes. 

I hope to see you at the Orange Conference in 2021! Get the best price now at http://theorangeconference.com

Tools to Help You Rise Up Notes

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Mega-Con Online is a virtual experience put on my Kidmin Nation! Many of you have asked for notes so I wanted to make these available. If you really want to dive into applying what you learn you should get the Rise Up Workbook. The Tools to Help You Rise Up chapter in the workbook is 16 pages, here’s a preview if you want to take a look.

Tools to Help You Rise Up Workbook Sample

Tools For Your Time

Apps: Rescue Time, Forest, Hours, 

Beat the Clock Book – Successful Strategies for Effective Time Management.

Wearing a watch

Turn off notifications

Reminders – location-based. 

Create a weekly plan – Benjamin Franklin — ‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!’

Ryan Frank – Productivity PlayBook

Jim’s Evaluation Toolbox – CM Weekly Staff Report

Michael Hyatt -Full Focus Planner® 

Corey’s Weekly Sheet

Use a Calendar

Appointment Keeper, Reminder, To Do (To Stop Doing List)

Set Appointments with God

Set Appointments with your spouse 

Set Appointments with your kids

Set Appointments where you rest. 

Tools for your Soul:

YouVersion App Reading Plan

Blue Letter Bible (App and Website)

Scripture Memory – Fighter Verses App

Scripture Memory Tool – “TIMC BSAC DNBAOD FTLYGIWYWYG.” “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” If you want to Rise Up with a solid foundation, fill your toolbox with Scripture. 

First 5 App

The Chosen App 

PrayerMate

Ask Questions

Tools for your Team:

Build A Team – Ephesians 4:12 “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Don’t try to build up the church on your own. Equip God’s people to do the work of ministry! 

Postagram

LeadSmall – everything small group leaders need to make a big impact

Delegation responsibility and authority 

Duplication yourself in others 

Tools for your Kids

Nameshark 

Kahoot! 

Circle or Bark for parental controls. 

InterLand – beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com a game to teach kids how to be smart on the internet. 

Gabbwireless.com the perfect first phone for your kids 

YouTube – connect where your kids are. Post videos. Consider making a channel for you kids ministry. Connect with your kids Monday through Saturday with YouTube.

Church Database – Run and print a report of birthdays. Or run weekly reports of the kids who are missing. Follow up with your folk and steward what you’ve been given. 

Become the best teacher you can – record the room and see the kids posture and reactions as you teach. Build a team – solicit feedback and grow as a speaker. 

I love kidmin Facebook group – Ask questions, look at pictures of environments, find resources. Stop trying to re-invent the wheel and just use the search function in the group to find the help you need. 

Tools for your Physical and Mental Health:

Do you know how many steps you take? Argus, Health Kit

Are you honoring the sabbath?

MyfitnessPal for calories 

Map my ride, run keeper. 

Discipleship Group – https://replicate.org 

Soul Care or Counselor – Ministry is hard, you need someone to talk to. Don’t burn out. Don’t give up. Get help. 

Maybe right now you need to pause and text someone you trust saying, “I’m not okay, let’s talk.”

John 10:10 “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

And The Random Tools:

For those of you who want some specialty tools in your toolbox 

Buffer/Hoostuite

Amazon wish list for your ministry

Grammarly

Slack, GroupMe

Boomerang to schedule emails and follow up reminders if someone doesn’t respond. 

Audible or library

Kidmin Nation library and 365 conference 

Canva

Fiverr

Mint for finances

Good Coffee

So, Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. 

Connecting with Volunteers During COVID-19

Game and Announcements Slides-2

Everything changed…but in a way nothing changed. 

Your main role is still to – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” And to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Redefine your thoughts about your role:
You are not just an event planner, events are getting canceled.
You are not just a communicator on stage, there is no one in the seats.
You are not just someone who finds volunteers for Sunday morning because Sunday has been redefined.

Your role is to Love God and Love Others.
You are to be equipping God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. So how do you re-imagine your role? I want you to start asking the question, “What can it look like?“

Your ministry is not on hold, so ask the questions:
What can it look like to equip God’s people to be the church?
What can it look like to serve the church digitally?
What can volunteering look like in these unprecedented times?
When it comes to your volunteers you need to:

1. Connect

Do you know how your flock is doing? Are you being a good steward of your team?

Text your team

Call your team, especially your older volunteers.

Facetime your team, especially those who struggle with anxious or depressed 

Zoom.Us – 40-minute meetup for free 100 people.
  Google Hangout
  Group FaceTime 

Ask, how homeschooling is going? Ask about their work.
Ask, what can we do to help?
Ask, how can we pray for you?

2. Encourage 

If you’re allowed, drop off something at their door – food, toilet paper. Postcards. Pizza Delivery.

Do something fun – Social game/contest on FB groups!

Help them connect and encourage one another. 

If you have coaches, encourage them to reach out to their teams. 

Send prayer requests and needs to groups

3. Equip or mobilize them. 

Equip your team to serve!

Videos for daily

Postcard

Email to parents

Serve in the community

Drive through church

YouVersion Bible App Study

YouVersion Prayer

MarcoPolo scheduling volunteers to be online. Such a great idea! 

4. Pray for them and pray with them.

Open up your volunteer roaster and pray down the list. 

And say, “Hey, before I let you go, can we pray together?”

Let’s rally together. A lot of church are seeing online church x6 regular attendance! Families are having a mealtime around the dinner table! Parents are huddling up together in their living rooms to open up God’s word. God is doing something today, let’s roll up our sleeves and be the church!

Even When I Don’t See, #IStillBelieve

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Have you ever allowed a God-given opportunity to pass by? Have you seen an opportunity to share the story of God’s redemption but failed to take your step? 

Hitting theaters on March 13th is the powerful and personal story of Jeremy Camp walking through tragedy yet growing in his faith. I Still Believe is a beautiful story showing how God knows our name and truly loves us even when we walk through the valley. This movie is an encouraging gift that shows how life is rich, not in spite of the disappointments but because of them. 

You will walk away being blessed by this incredible true story of love. You will see someone wrestle with anger towards God. And you will see what happens when you pray for healing but yet someone you care for still passes away. 

Use the opportunity of I Still Believe to share the story of God’s love and redemption. Invite your neighbor, small group, or co-workers and see how this love story can introduce your friends to the love of God. 

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

#IStillBelieve 

Over 70 Breakout Options for Your Ministry

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Options, especially customized options, just make life better. 

Imagine walking into your favorite ice cream shop and there only being vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Or imagine going to a car lot with only one option to buy. Customized options can give you exactly what you need in the context you need it. 

At this year’s Orange Conference you have over 70 options for your breakouts. Ministry leaders from around the country with different backgrounds and specialties will create customizable options for you to select from help you improve your leadership and ministry. You can choose from the following breakout tracks: Children, City Strategy, Family Experience, General, High School, Lead Small, Middle School, NextGen Leader, Orange 101, Parent Strategy, Phase, Preschool, Preteen, Rural Strategy, Salvation Army, Special-Needs, Start Up, and Volunteer. 

This “choose your own adventure” style of breakout options can help you pick what is most relevant to your own experience. Whether you want to focus on a specific age group or work on a particular leadership skill, there will be options. 

 Although my needs my change between now and OT20 and therefore I might need to make changes to my own selections, here are the breakout options I have selected for this year’s conference:

  • Respond To The LGBTQ Reality 
  • Responding To Kids With Anxiety And Depression
  • Keys To Developing Other Leaders
  • Successfully Launching Your First Or Next Campus

Sort through your options today and customize a learning experience so you get the most out of this year’s conference. And if you’re up for it, drop a comment and let me know what you have selected for yourself this year!

Picking Curriculum Breakout Notes for #CPC20

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Did you know there are over 50 kids ministry curriculum options each with their own unique way of doing things!?! Let’s explore the options and determine what questions you should be asking before you get started!

  1. Why Curriculum? What purpose does it serve?
    1. Tool Belt Teaching
      1. The Lesson –  The scope and sequence, the strategy, the goals, repetition vs. redundant, age-appropriateness
      2. Games – Do they help kids connect? Do they serve a purpose? Do they further the teaching? Are they fresh?
      3. Small-Group Materials – Supply lists, well-crafted questions, fun? 
      4. Videos and Graphics
      5. Worship Songs
      6. Crafts
      7. Environments
      8. Scripture Memory
      9. Parent Resources
      10. Social Media Plan
      11. And so much more…
    2. Tool Belt Varieties
      1. Some are too big
      2. Some are old
      3. Some tools don’t fit
      4. Some you just don’t like
      5. Some you don’t understand
    3. A good fit has the right belt with the right tools. But still, it takes work. 
  1. Question 1 – Will this curriculum help your kids learn the Bible?
    1. Is scripture read and taught?
    2. Will the lesson connect with your kids?
    3. Do the supplemental materials reinforce the Bible?
    4. Does the teaching lead to life-changing application?
    5. Will the kids be engaged and interested in the lesson?
    6. Does this curriculum make learning the Bible fun?
  1. Question 2 – When your kids completely the curriculum will they produce the fruit you are desiring to see in their lives?
    1. Wise and foolish builder illustration
    2. Bible knowledge and application
    3. The vision of your church
    4. Begin with the end in mind
  1. Question 3 – Will this curriculum be a good fit for your program?
    1. Does the lesson length fit your needs?
    2. Will the materials change lives or just fill time?
    3. Does the curriculum provide the service components you are looking for?
    4. Is it flexible? 
    5. Is it manageable?
  1. Question 4 – Will this curriculum be a good fit for your kids?
    1. What age level is it designed for?
    2. Will it make sense culturally and socioeconomically? 
    3. Are their materials for children with special needs?
    4. Are there supplemental materials your kids will enjoy?
    5. Does it encourage community and build relationships?
    6. Will your kids be engaged and have fun?
  1. Question 5 – Will this curriculum fit in your budget?
    1. What is the starting price of the yearly curriculum?
    2. What is the full and real cost of the yearly curriculum? 
    3. What is the cost of the supplemental materials and props?
    4. Are scholarships or flexibility in pricing available?
  1. Question 6 – Do other churches, like yours, recommend this curriculum?
    1. What are churches in your denomination using or avoiding?
    2. What curriculum has your church used over the years and why did they change?
    3. Do churches a little larger than you recommend it? 
    4. What are the arguments against using the curriculum? 
  1. VIII.Question 7 – Does this meet family needs? 
    1. Do the materials take the Sunday lesson into Monday through Saturday? 
    2. Does the curriculum matter for 1 hour a week or 168 hours each week?
    3. If a child attends every other week will they be able to follow along? 
    4. Are materials provided in the curriculum to equip the family?
    5. Will a nontraditional family feel included?
  1. Question 8 – How do you access and edit the curriculum?
    1. Do you have the technology necessary to make the curriculum accessible to volunteers? 
    2. Do you need a CD-ROM drive, jump drive, or high-speed internet?
    3. Do you have the audio, visual, and technical supplies to present the lesson?
  1. Question 9 – How much work will it take for you to make changes? 
    1. Is it editable and easy to alter? 
    2. Are there plenty of options if you don’t like a particular portion? 
    3. Are you going to be making minor tweaks or major rewrites? 
    4. Do you have the time and margin necessary for the changes? 
  1. Question 10 – Do I really need to change?
    1. Are you the only one feeling the need to make changes?
    2. Could you add some flavor to spice things up or do you need to change the recipe? 
    3. Is now the right time?
  1. A special note before making changes. 
    1. The change in your pocket illustration. 
    2. What’s at stake?
  2. Let’s look at some options

 

A link to this full google sheet: HERE

 

In a recent KidzMatter Magazine, you can see a description and overview of many curriculum options.

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This is a curriculum evaluation created by a team made up of 60 practitioners with years of weekly classroom experience.2

What do you do from here?

    1. Pray
    2. Research
    3. Contact curriculum providers
    4. Explore samples
    5. Seek wise counsel
    6. Pray

Orange Small Group Leader Resource Reviews and Giveaways

Giveaway 

To Enter To Win: https://kingsumo.com/g/tuoom3/small-group-leader-resource-giveaway 

As you look back on this past year, what has changed in your ministry? If you’re not intentional, you can easily drift into bad habits and ineffective ministry. If you want this new year to be an opportunity to intentionally recharge and redirect you and your leaders, here are two books to set you in the right direction. 

When Relationships Matter – Make your church a place where kids and teenagers belong. 

Before kids and teenagers can wrestle with abstract concepts like faith, hope, and the meaning of life, they need to know who loves them and where they belong. When Relationships Matter explores three values and nine practices that will help you create and improve your small group strategy. 

If you want to measure the success of your weekly experiences for kids and teenagers, you need to ask two questions. Are kids connected? Are they known? Research shows that kids who have five or more adults who invest in their faith over time have a greater chance of having a mobilized faith. When relationships matter, everything changes.

“The best way to help kids know God is to connect them with someone who knows God.” – Reggie Joiner

“We have to go out of our way to create a culture in which it’s safe for kids and students to ask hard questions about faith.” – Tom Shefchunas 

“Never sacrifice the next generation on the altar of your past methods and preferences.” – Reggie Joiner

“If you want to fight for everyday, authentic faith in the next generation, you need to support the relationships that matter most.” – Kristen Ivy

Check out When Relationships Matter, the newest release for leaders of small group leaders from Orange. Visit https://whenrelationshipsmatterbook.com to download a sample (plus some FREE RESOURCES).

 

Lead Small – Five big ideas every small group leader needs to know.

Lead Small clarifies the role and responsibilities of the small group leader who works with children and teenagers. It explains five proven strategies you can use to lead your small group well:

• BE PRESENT . . . so you can connect your kids’ faith to a community

• CREATE A SAFE PLACE . . . to clarify their faith as they grow

• PARTNER WITH PARENTS . . . to nurture an everyday faith in kids

• MAKE IT PERSONAL . . . to inspire their faith by your example

• MOVE THEM OUT . . . to engage their faith in a bigger story

“When we lead small we simply make a choice to invest strategically in the lives of a few over time so we can help them build an authentic faith.”

“If you are simply trying to instill faith and morals for the sake of your few, but it’s not a personal priority, they’ll eventually catch on.”

“A child will never feel significant until you give them something significant to do.”

“Your few are not problems to be solved. They are people to be loved.”

Check out Lead Small, a must-read for every small group leader. Visit http://www.leadsmallbook.com to download a self-evaluation guide to see how you are currently partnering with parents and a next step build to build a stronger partnership. 

To Enter To Win: https://kingsumo.com/g/tuoom3/small-group-leader-resource-giveaway 

#NYWC19 Big Room and Breakout Notes

Red and Blue Photo Fashion Influencer Facebook Post Set

Big Room Session One

Albert Tate @alberttate 

“Remix” is when you take something old and make it new again, that’s what I feel like this gathering at YS is all about. I need a remix in my soul. I need Him to do something new with what is old in my life. Ministry, you can learn how to do it and make it happen but what used to be a passionate pursuit becomes something you just show up and do. 

Luke 7:11-17 – Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

We dismiss the pain of our realities too many times in our Christian circles.

Don’t cry as if there is no hope. 

You may be here on the verge of giving up…don’t give up, don’t quit, now is not the time to throw in the towel. If you still have breath in your body you have purpose in your chest. 

If you tie your identity the success of the ministry, when the ministry stops being successful you stop being successful. God has tied us together so we can carry each other through the burdens. God sees you, we come together so we can see each other. 

God jumps in the ditch with you. He says, ‘I’m here and I know the way out. The devil is a liar. Not only does God see you, but we see you and you’re not alone. When you have a ditch in your life, God jumps in with you. He knows the way out.

Jesus wants to breath new life in places that have been dead in your soul. He has been doing great things in your ministry and what He wants to do through you He first has to do through you and in you. And as He does it, you’ve got to thank Him. Thank God with the fullness of expression. 

Every great gift demands a great response. If you got that excited about a tiger (woods), let me tell you about a Lamb!

Social Media Madness: What Kids’ Social Media Posts Reveal About Who They Are and What They Need

Speaker:  Walt Mueller 

In today’s world, kids live out their lives on social media. To get to know our kids along with their deepest longings and needs is a task made easier when we take time to deconstruct how they are fabricating, curating, and promoting themselves online. In this seminar, Walt will walk you through how a student’s use of social media can open your eyes to their most pressing unmet spiritual needs, along with practical ministry responses that will answer those needs with Gospel-centered hope. The seminar will end with some suggested social media practices that can re-form students in ways that bring honor and glory to God.

How to take a social media “purposeful pause – 

https://digitalkidsinitiative.com/resources/handouts/

In a world of tremendous noise, what matters is relationships. Devices are undoing our humanity, but relationships screen louder than this (device). 

95% of teens have access to a smartphone

53% of 11-year-olds own their own smartphones. (4 years ago it was 13)

45% of teens say that are online almost constantly. 

Common sense media census 

Technology is not a bad thing. The question is, “In what direction are we going to use it?” Do we advance the Kingdom of God or advance the kingdom of world, flesh, devil with technology?

Discipleship is about all of life. 1 For 10:31, all for the glory of God. 

Think about integration. Our faith is not about just coming to Jesus but seeing our faith woven in every area of our lives. The Gospel speaks to all of these areas of our lives. 

“Social media is a primary playground for creative self-expression.”

Out of the overflow of the heart the fingers text. 

This is not just a student thing…this is a human thing. 

Two main tasks of childhood and adolescence are:

  1. Identity Formation – Who am I?
  2. Worldview Formation – What do I believe?

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/Media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2019-infographic

Signals – to deeper needs

For many of our kids, their use of social media is an effort to fulfill unmet human needs.

An identity “fitting room” where I can create and curate myself in order to be liked. Watch the movie “8th Grade”

Fabrication – on who fabricates or manufactures something; a counterfeiter or falsifier. 

Curator – one who has the care and superintendence of something. 

Promoter – a person or organization that helps something to happen, develop, or increase. 

Students believe this about identity: “I am defended by my appearance…and what it looks like to others.”

“Selfie Harm” 2019 Project from British fashion photographer Rankin “Make your photo social media ready.”

”The screen becomes not a vein of truth, but a mirror of desire.” Mark Bauerlein

An identity “fitting room: where I can create and curate myself in order to be liked. Help them to find their identity in Christ. When you find your identity in places other than Christ you are engaging in idolatry. 

Resources: Face Time: Your Identity in a Selfie World by Kristen Hatton

Resource: What do you think of me? Why do I Care?  Edward T. Welch

Connections in a world of broken relationships. 

“I wanted a hug, and I got pregnant.” 

Significance and validation in a world where I’m forgotten and feeling worthless. We feel less than. <

James 4:2

If we’re honest, way too many of our posts scream, “Hey, look at me!”, “Hey, look at my kids”, “Hey look what I did.” It’s about showing off our kingdom. Humble Brag. 

Seek the spotlight….and it will blind you.
Don’t compare your insides to every else’s outsides.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Fear of Man
Idolatry

Significance and validation in a world where I’m forgotten and feeling worthless. Remember and value! 

Additional Ministry Strategies…

Teach Biblical humility. (Col 3:12) God’s goal for us is to not make us impressive but to make us holy. 

Don’t bite with a “like” when someone is fishing for that “like.” If they are seeking significance and validation in things outside of Christ, don’t encourage this through liking their post. 

Let your work and reputation speak for itself. Teach by your example. You don’t have to post your own report card. 

Answers to the questions I have about life that nobody in my life is answering. How much are you doing in your ministry to give them answers? 

Convenience because my life is hurried and harried. #1 problem with college students. Also causing sleep issues. Offer knowledge and experience of Sabbath rest. It is reflexing and relaxing to rest from social media. 

Escape because I need to forget my hurt and pain. Diversions from time to time are not bad. Offer help, hope, and healing. How much are you doing in your ministry to offer hope and healing? 

Redemption because I am empty, incomplete, and need to be made whole. Ec 3:11. Longing for heaven. God-shaped vacuum. Look for the spiritual hunger points, the unknown gods of this next generation. Point them to the redeemer. How do you point them to the redeemer? 

Don’t forget the relationship. They are watching you. In the context of a relationship, your words and your example speak loudly! 

How to Jump-start Your Youth Ministry

Speaker:  Justin Knowles  @justinknowles3

Whether you are literally starting a new position or you have been in your position for year and just need a reboot, there are some practical ways in which to get the blood flowing in your personal leadership, your volunteer leadership and ministry programming to get the ball rolling again. Sometimes we just need to restart, ask some hard questions, take a go hard look at our ministry and make some tough decisions to breath life again. This workshop is a very practical way on how to essentially…. Re-start.

What does jump-start mean? 

Not immediate, 6 months, full of prayer. 

I don’t want to go anywhere God is not leading me. 

01 Meetings, Meetings, Meetings. Gathering info on the people you serve.

Do we really need more meetings? Most of the time why things get stagnant is because we stopped paying attention, got complacent (into a rhythm) and stopped listening. You only get answers to the questions you ask. Jesus was the master at asking questions. Be the best question-askers. 

Spend 1st month in meetings with: 

God; we don’t want to go where God’s not leading. Spend at least one day alone without a phone and without distractions. 

Leaders; They are your boots on the ground and your best insight or worst obstacle. 

Core Students; Who do you want to listen to? If you’re there to serve them you should hear what they have to say. Would they invite a friend?

Meeting with God. Think through these questions:
How is my heart?
What do I need to work on to be a better follower of you?
Are you loving what you are doing? Am I still called to this?
Am I using the gifts you have given me to really further Your Kingdom?
Are my values aligned with Your Values?
Where do you want us to go?

What is missing that we need to be focused on?

Meeting with Leaders.

What is the best thing in our ministry right now?
If you had the power to change something what would it be?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate our service?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate us at outreach/reaching new students?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate our teaching/small group curriculum right now?
How do you follow up with new students?
What is one thing you can bring to the table to benefit our ministry?
What is the biggest thing you need from me as the leader of this ministry?

Meeting with Core Students. 

What do you think about…

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate our student service? 

In the service, we put on worth being invited too? Why or why not?

On a scale of 1-10, how comfortable are you inviting a friend? Why?
Are the events we are throwing worth being invited to? Why or why not?

On a scale of 1-10, how are the leaders we have leading our group? Explain.

02 Vision and Strategy. Do you have one? 

Andy Stanley on vision…

A mental picture of what could be, fueled by a passion that it should be.

We don’t drift in good directions, we disciple and prioritize ourselves there. 

Keep it simple stupid. Michael Scott. 

Sandals Church:
Youth Attendance – Last year ____, This year ___.
# of small groups – Last year ____, This year ___.
Summer Camp attendance – Last year ____, This year ___.
# of students serving – Last year ____, This year ___.

Attendance is “a thing” not “the thing”

If I can get a kid to summer camp, I’ll have them the rest of the year. 

Strategy – the playbook

Midweek. Target audience is 11th grade boy. Element of fun (can we uncross the arms and help them lean in?). Biblical message. Nod to new students (assume they are there). 

1st Wednesday

Monthly invite night. 20-30 minutes after service to hang out with students. Cereal Bar. Movie night. 

Groups

A place where students can dive deeper. 15 students max. In house curriculum and front line to parents. Minister to the families of the kids and not just the kids. 

Weekends

Main connection point between services. Care for them and make sure they are there. Attend one and serve on. Attending services outside of just youth services. Connected and serving beside other adults so they feel like part of the church. 

Schools

Pick one school and all in. Want teams and leaders to go all in. Not every kid will come but every kid can know we care. 

Local Outreach and Missions

We want our students to go with the church on a missions trip not on a youth only trip. We can also get adults serving through this 

Summer Camp / Winter Conference

2 strategic events we want every student to attend. 

Online, Omni-Channel. 

Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, podcast (student morning show as they are getting ready for school.)

Why calendar placement matters…

Lots of calendar exists but don’t serve a strategic purpose

Build momentum. 

How does the calendar work with event registration? 

There is a wave that happens when you stack events and teaching strategically. 

What if you had a worship night before summer camp so you jumpstart the worship experience at camp. 

03 Leader Culture and Training. 

Do you have glorified babysitter or ministry leaders?
Do they wonder why leaders are there?
Are they viewed as glorified security guards? 

Do they know the students names? 

Do the leaders know why they are there?
Train leaders to know what the win is before they step into the position. 

If you don’t know why leaders are there then you have a babysitter. 

Do your leaders know what it means to win? Everyone wants to win. 

Conversations about Jesus – Do you talk about Jesus?

Follow up – Did you go beyond the initial contact?

Wednesday plus – Did you interact in some way outside of Wednesday Night? 

When leaders know the target, they can hit it easier. 

Simple, clear, concise goals. 

1-4 most important goals. 

Communicate them every single week.

Follow up in one-on-ones if leaders are not meeting them.

This is how you upkeep your leader culture.

You are the keeper of your culture. 

You are the CRO! Chief Reminding Officer of your ministry. 

By the time you are tired of saying it, they are just starting to get it.

A solid leader process equals solid leaders. 

Potential leader applies online. 

Lead will send them general info of their campus.

1st meeting sit down

2 week of showing other leaders (hands-on training)

3rd week and 2nd sit down (go through expectations)

Add them to CCB groups and co-leader, celebrate them next week as a new leader. 

Leader Expectations 

Eyes and Ears

See the needs

Look for students 

Self care 

Develop relationships

Facilitate over teaching

There is safety or boundaries 

Empower parents

Walk the walk

Be consistent

Get training

Celebrate loud, hard, and often. Drive leaders miss this often. 

If we don’t celebrate, our leaders will feel used.

Every week highlight a leader who did something great. 

Our job as leaders is to make sure our leaders know: 

What our wins are. 

Know how to get those wins. 

Celebrate those wins. 

04 Intentional Outreach

Take a hard look at your service. 

Things to think about…

Changing your culture requires change in the organization. 

Don’t just do things to do things.

Develop any type of culture takes time. 

This should not be done alone. Invite your team into it. 

Tough Questions to ask about your service/events:
Is your service/gathering worth being invited to?
Is the language that you use, new-person friendly?
Is your service/gathering have the new person in mind when they do show up? 

After Service Events

No more stand-alone events but attached to Wednesday nights. Because it has a higher ROI. 

Exposed to a hope and community when they come. 

Events are shorter. Leave wanting more.

Once a month is a great goal. 

It doesn’t have to be extravagant. 

Unleash the leaders to do what they do. 

Summer camp is a linchpin. 

It’s an outreach. 

Challenging to the believer and engaging to the non-believer. 

A week of camp hourly equals a year-long of Wednesday nights hourly. 

Fall is based on the summer camp experience. Make this the main thing. 

Can a non-church kid go?

05 Social Media the place where students will look. 

Don’t do it all. 

Know what your students use most and go all in there. 

Make it stand out. 

Think about how many good looking advertisements there are. 

If social media is the main form of communication and connection for students and friends, why wouldn’t we go join them in that setting?

Helpful Apps

Word Swag

Over

Unfold

To schedule:

Hootsuite

Later

Buffer

Spend an hour now to plan the week later.

Message recap

Monday Devo – written by students and leaders

Schedule it out and follow the plan.

Big Room 2

Lucas Ramirez @TheLucasRamirez

It is time for the generation of leaders today to disrupt division and move us into completion. 

John 17:20-23 Prayer for Unity

It is time for the church to rise up as the example of unity.

A murmuration of starlings – moving together and avoiding a collision. 

The why and how behind the formation. Birds first taught us how to fly and now they will teach us to unify. 

Our movement is density-dependent. Critical mass. You can’t murmur ate with 3 birds. 

 

Reggie Joiner @reggiejoiner 

How you work together can change how a generation sees God.

The enemy gets nervous when we decide to do things together. 

Nehemiah 8:3

I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down, why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?

Nehemiah was actually working on the wall. He couldn’t stop the daily work he was doing because it was too important. 

Keep working together, regardless. 

Keep doing something personally, that reminds you why you do what you do. Who is the person and what is the ministry in your life that is remind you of what’s important? Experience first hand the impact of how important the work you are doing is to the kingdom. 

All the volunteers Nehemiah needed were already in the town. They just needed a strategy and a plan. 

What would it look like if you decided to surround yourself with the right kind of people?

Who are the people in your circle who make you feel inspired? 

Take it a step further and make a list of the people who do NOT inspire you. You have VIP in your life. Inspiring, and you have very Draining people.

Leaders who are negative, who think they are the smartest people, who want to pick political fights…do not inspire me. 

Keep reminding everybody everywhere what matters most. 

By showing up week after week, you are making a statement week after week that THIS matters. 

This work matters; it is so critical. You are surrounded by people who collectively make the enemy nervous. Keep working together regardless. 

Those on the outside the wall changed their mind about who God was. Wouldn’t that be great if we did something so amazing that people changed their view of God? Those inside the walls trusted God in a way they never did before. Worship broke out in a way it had never happened. It changed how an entire generation listened to God. It wasn’t because of a bible story they listened to God. It wasn’t because of a communicator. It was because of what they experienced together. The miracle of this story is what God did with what they did together. How you work together can change how a generation sees God. 

Danielle Strickland @djstrickland

Lie number one is it’s none of your business. 

Lie number two is it’s too hard and too late. 

Maybe the ministry of reconciliation was a hope for a better future? 

Start to rediscover who Jesus was. 

Start to preach this. 

The heart of the gospel is reconciliation. 

If you want to combat the lies there’s one posture that will help. Be in Christ. When it looks too hard and too late, be in Christ. 

The clearer your vision of Jesus, the truer the Gospel you preach.

It’s not too late, it’s not too hard, and it is part of your business. Preach a Gospel of transformation to the too hard and too late. Pray for Sauls to be transformed into Paul’s. If you’re believing the lie, get a clearer vision of the one you serve. It’s not too late, it’s not too hard. 

Samer Massad @SMassad7

Death by distraction – being pulled in so many different ways that we can’t keep it all together.

Distraction is anything urgent that takes your attention away from something important.

If we aren’t careful, distraction will drain the life right from us.

Your ministry is the ‘urgent’ that wants to distract and pull you away from the thing that’s most important… your personal relationship with Jesus.

Ministry can take up so much energy that it distracts from actually sitting and being with Jesus.

Luke 10 – Mary and Martha

Are we doing too many things for God rather than spending time with Him? 

How many of us have the voice of Martha in the inner parts of our hearts? You have messages to write, small groups to plan, work to do. There’s no time to listen, sit, and learn.

The Distraction Dilemma: 

Even a good thing can distract you from a better thing. 

Doing for Jesus is not the same as being with Jesus. 

Ministry is important, but what Jesus is saying to Martha is that it’s about order and priority.

If the devil can’t make you sin, he will make you busy…. even with ministry.

Jesus wants to restore what’s been depleted. When we get caught up doing for Jesus instead of being with Jesus, we have a depletion and fatigue of the soul that sleep cannot fix.

Your capacity alone will never be what it can be when you’re connected to Jesus.

What if we took on the posture of Mary? Time to sit and learn, unadulterated time with Jesus. 

Nobody wins and nobody gets your best when you fail to come to Jesus and get rest.

Jesus doesn’t love you because you’re in ministry. He loves you because you are a son or daughter of God.

Faith for Exiles
Mark Matlock and David Kinnaman

The Builders 1927-1945. 

Believed the exterior world could change our interior world. Focused on technology to make you happier. Dreamed of a 3 day work week. Dad would point to the roof over the families head as a way to show love. 

The Boomer 1946-1964

Massive generation out of world war 2 generation. Shaped by Vietnam. Blind faith in question. 

The Busters (Gen X) 1965-1979

Small generation. Surprise to parents well made plan. Contraceptives with errors created surprises. Latch key kids. Reality Bites movie. 

Millennials (Gen Y) 1980-1995

Most abused and misunderstood generation. Participation trophies from their parents who felt abandoned by their own parents. Positive psychology comes into play. Technology to prepare for kids in a whole new way. Internet disruption. Corruption in so many leaders in business, sports, and politics. Technology- A wisdom to their generation they could teach the older generation. 

Digitals (Gen Z) 1996-2009

Never breathed air without internet. New way of interacting with the world. Pioneers with an imagination of how to do things in a whole new way. 

Generation Alpha 2010-2025

Parents have these kids later in life. More single kid families. Parents change vocations more in their lifetime than any other. 

Direction setting questions 

Teenagers ask the same basic questions. 

Identity: Who am I?

Autonomy: What decisions are mine to make?

Belonging: Where and with whom do I fit in?

Epistemology: what is my trusted source of truth?

Being asked in adolescences and again in their 20’s. 

The shift facing the church in these changing times. No longer living in Jerusalem. Trying to preserve something that feels list. Make America Great Again. 

https://youtu.be/Q8mQRTkrBcs

Weight of Digital Babylon v. spiritual input. 

2767 hours per year on social media

153 hours typical spiritual content 

291 hours for churchgoers. 

Screens Disciple

Normally someone who has doubts would talk to someone. Today they do research online before taking with a person. The screen has the discipling conversation before you even get an opportunity. Same as doctor asking what we think is wrong because we research before walking in. 

Resilient Disciples digest nearly double the hours of Christian content annually. 

562 hours of content annually

Four kinds of exiles 

(Not different religions or those who never identified as Christians)

18-29 year olds who grew up as a Christian. 

Prodigals ex Christians 22% (10 years ago was 10%)

Nomads lapsed Christian’s 30%

Habitual Churchgoers 38%

Resilient Disciples 10%

Pressures facing today’s exiles

Searching for identity: who am I, really?

Fighting anxiety: how should I live in today’s world? Fear of missing out

Experiencing loneliness: am I loved?

How do I make a difference in the world?

How do we define resilient disciples?

Christ followers who…

Attends church at least Monty and engage with their church more than just attending worship services.

Trust firmly in the authority of the Bible. 

Are committed to Jesus personally and affirm he was crucified and raised from the dead to conquer sin and death

Express desire to transform the broader society as an outcome of their faith.

Resilient disciples: developing Jesus followers who are resiliently faithful in the face of cultural coercion and who live a vibrate life in the Spirit. 

We have a lot of people in the church who have their hand on the doorknob of the church almost ready to leave. 

At what age did you consider this. 

Resilience 11 

Habitual 9 

Nomads 8 

Prodigals 8

Those who are stronger in their relationship with Christ are engaging on a deeper level at a later age. 

Meaningful relationships means being devoted to fellow believers we want to be around and become. 

What do you mean by discipleship? 

Recognizing our identity, aligning our values, and developing skills in the way of Jesus Christ. 

3 Part Triangle: Values, Identity, Skills. 

Put post it notes on each of these. What are the marks of a disciple? 

Pay attention to how the programs and interactions at your church are forming the identity, skills, and values, and what the content is they are conveying. 

Exiles are instrumental to God’s purposes in time of change. God uses a remnant in moments of epic trust, where they are all in for the glory of God. 

Vocational Discipleship

Josh Griffin Why games?

Humor and fun are disarming. 

Fun shortens the distance to the heart. 

Games help speed up interaction and relationships. 

When students walk into your ministry they have their arms crossed and an “impress me” attitude. 

Games are a tool in your toolbox to invite kids to Christ. 

Potential engagement tool as a part of the message and teaching. 

Demonstrate cultural relevancy. (Is Kanye Smiling game). 

Always Games?

Entry level programming should always have an element of fun. Fun can take many forms and shapes…sometimes games. 

Back pocket game: sit down if…

Lightsaber or slap wrestling. 

First to…

Head, shoulders, knees, cup

10sie. Ten dice per person. All ones. 

Train Wreck. Half kids on each side, pull out a chair. 

Frozen Turkey Bowling

Wink: sit in circle. Boy girl look down. Whoever is it winks at another. 

Cougar Cougar. Sardines but once found, they can tag. 

Broom hockey. Line up by height. 1-20 and 20-1. Yell number and get puck in through goal. 

The Grunge: one tag person and get ride of the grunge by assembling the flashlight. 

DYM: Create a great game that crushes it. What if instead of it dying on the your hard drive it goes on a site that you split the costs. Instead of 20 people playing and enjoying it 2000 do and you make some money. 

Name that candy bar. 

Nailed it or failed it. Cat edition.  

Extreme Bingo

Chris, Chris, Chris, or Chris

Peter, Peeta, pita, or p.e.t.a

Is it really in the Bible?

Picture of game on screen. 

Instructions. Here’s how to play

Who can play. 

What are we playing for? Prize. 

Here’s how everyone else can be. If the person loses the prize is thrown into the audience. 

Rock Paper Scissors to determine tie but if you tie you’re both out. 

Might even come back to the game later in your talk as a callback. 

The Source for Youth Ministry games database. Click group size, supplies, etc. 

Use Facebook communities and groups. DYM community. Private closed group so a youth pastor can join without worrying about church. 

Dude Perfect YouTube. 

Minute to win it. 

Crowd control games

More than dodgeball – 3 things on a cracker. 

Rhett and Link. 

Jimmy Fallon and Ellen. 

Pinterest. Extreme Jenna with a twist. 

Exhibit hall

Sit down if

Jiggapuff 

Poser

Rock Paper Scissors

Head shoulders knees cup. 

Screen games. 

All play vs contestant. 

Trivia in corners. 

Dead Cat

Name it, Claim it 

Lamentation or Taylor Swift Lyrics

Birds, Bees and other animals

Name that celebrity tattoo

Nailed it or failed it pool party edition. 

So you want to move to Canada. 

Trump or animal

Movement games

Mazecrase 

Mafia2.0

Messy games

Use sparingly

Blender of doom

FAQ

Should game tie in? Yes and no. It can but doesn’t have to. Who’s my neighbor game. Father’s Day game my dad is smarter than your dad. 

Where do games go in the program?

Think roller coaster. If you come late you miss it. 

Is there a strategy of putting games in some certain order. Wouldn’t lead with blender of doom because win rapport with all play games. 

Encore game. Take turns singing a word back and forth between two groups based on word. This is a game to play later. 

What should I use for a prize?

Bob Ross Funko. Cans of Pringle’s. Dollar store. 

Also big fun and extravagant prizes. Sometimes games to promote. Grand prize be scholarship to camp. Also used as marketing. 

How long should the game last. 

Based on content and if leaning on evangelism more is okay. If focused on discipleship, less. 

Should one person host. 

Missing a great opportunity to invest in the next leader with a cohost even if not needed. One person drives the game, the play by play. The second person is color commentary. 

How do I shake up a game or format that feels tired. Variety is the spice of life. 

DYM Gold. 

Dym.today/gold

30 days free trail without credit card and with credits. 

Consider:

Introduce the prize halfway through the game. 

A twist in the game. 

Almost always do the game before the game. 

Nona Jones #nonanotnora

If we are not careful we will allow what we see in them to become their truth. 

We will allow their behavior to become the ceiling for their potential to rise.

There are people who say that this generation is dead, but I know a God who can bring dead things to life.

Mark 5:21-36 

Don’t be afraid, just believe. – to think to be true. 

Believe has the power to make reality conform to what we believe to be true. 

I thought I was being invited to hang out with my friend. What I didn’t realize was it was Jesus calling me to hang out with Him.

What he realizes was that the church was not a place you go, it’s a community you belong to. 

Church is not something you do for 90 minutes on the weekend it a lifestyle of 168 hours. 

Our God is a God of impossible faith.

Mark 5:37-38

This generation is not a generation that is dead, they simply need to be awakened. The people laughed at Jesus and Jesus put them out. 

Mark 5:41-43

If we want to raise this generation to life, we have got to go to them. We bring the power of God to them. Where they are, is in the digital space. If we say, “I don’t do Facebook” what you are really saying is you don’t do home visits. 

Check your team

There are people on your team right now who don’t really like kids and who don’t believe in the power and potential of this generation. We don’t need warm bodies we need people who believe in the power of God to bring the dead back to life. We need people who are not constrained to tradition. We need people married to the message but not the methodically. We have to give them something to eat because this society is giving them junk food. Jesus is the bread of life. 

God has chosen you to the assignment to which you have been called. 

Crystal Chiang @CrystalcChiang

Keeping up with student culture is pressure.

If you think about those who are leaving the ministry, it almost always comes down to the pressure. The pressure to try harder and plan better.

“Every week there are opportunities laying on the ground that we won’t get too.

Grace and Peace

We trust grace to step in with our salvation but not our exhaustion. 

We think peace is the absence of pressure. 

Their peace comes from knowing who calms the storm. 

Peace is knowing I planned the event but God owns the results. 

Peace is knowing that I present the truth but His Spirit convicts. 

The faith we pass on is the one we live not the one we preach. 

Lean into what might feel impossible and trust the one who saved us from our sins to save us from our schedules.

Doug Fields @DougFields

Busy is not a Christian versus a non Christian issue, it’s a heart issue.

Everyone in our youth ministry is too busy (families, kids, you).

We are called to follow a Savior. To walk with Him, not to run ahead of Him.

Are we substituting abundance for busyness?

I hear you all say, ‘My pace has never been faster and my soul has never been drier.’

Busy is an enemy of love. Discipleship cannot be rushed. You can’t hurry depth. That’s just not the Jesus way. 

How would you describe Jesus in one word? Dallas Woolard used the name relaxed. 

Jesus modeled a love that stops, that strolls, that meanders.

Jesus was relaxed and moved slowly – normally to the frustration of people.

Presence is more important over business. 

The greatest command was not to get more done but to love Him and to love others. 

Don’t focus on a more productive life but a more present life.

You have to become comfortable with “no” Anytime I’m too busy it always points back to unneeded “yeses” 

Anyone can do your job. Only you can care for your family.

I’m afraid that we are being heroes to our ministries rather than being a hero at home. 

Become aware of what’s beneath your “yes”

Business is the surface issue of something much deeper.

You want to feel love, value, and appreciated so you say yes. And a subset of this is a fear. A fear you won’t be loved, valued, and appreciated so you say yes. 

Ask: Why did you say yes to that? This is where you find the brokenness in your life. 

Busyness is a choice, and there’s a price to pay for it.

You don’t have to answer people right away. Say you will get back to them. 

What’s the worse that could happen? You’ll lose your job…what about your marriage. There’s one Savior and you’re not Him. Jesus left people unhealed. Jesus didn’t minister to everyone. You won’t either. Maybe what you’re wanting to do is not on God’s agenda. 

Less panic, more prayer. 
Less activity, more intimacy. 
Less movement, more moments. 

What is one area in your ministry where you need to cut back and say no?

“Busy?” “Nope. Just trying o be like Jesus.”

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