by Nick Blevins | Oct 8, 2015 | Family Ministry
Our team attended the Orange Tour last Friday, as we do every year. I was able to be part of the Lead Small event the night before, which also was a lot of fun. The Orange Tour is a taste of what you can experience at the Orange Conference, and registration for the...
by Nick Blevins | Oct 5, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Student Ministry
Orange is an organization and it’s a strategy, and that organization provides curriculum based on that strategy. Our church has used Orange since we started almost 10 years ago. The Orange Conference is one of my favorite experiences each year as thousands of...
by Nick Blevins | Sep 21, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Lead Small, Student Ministry
In two posts last week I wrote about what #LeadSmall is and 4 questions to help you #LeadSmall in your family ministry. Making small groups the foundation of your children’s and student ministry is no easy task, but I believe it is the best way to minister to...
by Nick Blevins | Sep 16, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Lead Small, Student Ministry
In this post I wrote about what Lead Small is and shared some insights from studies done on the teenage brain that point to the need for students to be relationally connected. I also mentioned that I believe every church should have a consistent small group with a...
by Nick Blevins | Sep 14, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Lead Small, Student Ministry
What is Lead Small? Lead Small is a phrased coined by Orange that promotes the idea that every child, student and adult needs a small group of peers to connect with as they grow in their faith. They, like me, believe the best place for someone to grow their faith is...
by Nick Blevins | Sep 9, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Student Ministry
In this post I wrote about how we can improve the quality and consistency of our ministries, primarily through systems and leadership. In terms of how they work together, I noted that systems set the floor while leadership raises the ceiling of an organization....
by Nick Blevins | Sep 7, 2015 | Family Ministry, Leadership, Systems
In this post I wrote about how we try to keep a finger on the pulse of our environments in order to monitor quality and consistency. That’s always a challenge in family ministry, where children and student ministries both function like churches themselves with...
by Nick Blevins | Sep 2, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Student Ministry
As our ministries grow it becomes harder and harder to keep a finger on the pulse of each environment. Even when the ministry is smaller it’s impossible to be in every room, every small group, and every large group environment. On top of that, we want to help...
by Nick Blevins | Apr 21, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Strategy, Student Ministry
In the previous post I listed some obvious benefits to growing your volunteer base. We have all experienced most of those benefits and many of us are hoping to grow the team right now because we know the potential for what could be. However, there’s another...
by Nick Blevins | Apr 20, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Strategy, Student Ministry
Too Many Volunteers? One time I was at a ministry conference, sitting in a breakout on volunteers, and there was an interesting moment. Most people in the room were looking for ways to grow their volunteer base, but one guy raised his hand and basically said he had...
by Nick Blevins | Apr 16, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Strategy, Student Ministry, Systems
This post is part of a series on 7 Keys to an Effective Volunteer Training System. The best way to have strong participation in volunteer trainings is to make the events themselves have a “can’t miss” feel to them. It’s easy to talk about, but hard to create....
by Nick Blevins | Apr 15, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Strategy, Student Ministry, Systems
This post is part of a series on 7 Keys to an Effective Volunteer Training System. As ministry leaders, it’s important to serve our volunteer teams by providing helpful training on a regular basis. In an effort to get as many people as possible to attend,...
by Nick Blevins | Apr 14, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Strategy, Student Ministry, Systems
This post is part of a series on 7 Keys to an Effective Volunteer Training System. In the previous post I wrote about the best way to encourage volunteers to attend training events. The personal invite on the front end is critical, but follow up after events is...
by Nick Blevins | Apr 13, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Leadership, Strategy, Student Ministry, Systems
This post is part of a series on 7 Keys to an Effective Volunteer Training System. A volunteer training system isn’t very effective if only a small percentage of your team participates in trainings. In talking with other ministry leaders, it’s easy to see...
by Nick Blevins | Apr 9, 2015 | Children's Ministry, Family Ministry, Strategy, Student Ministry, Systems
This post is part of a series on 7 Keys to an Effective Volunteer Training System. Content is king I don’t know where I heard that before, but I have certainly found it to be true. Andy Stanley and the North Point staff define an irresistible environment as one...
