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I attended the Orange Conference before Drive, but blogged about them in reverse order for no good reason. Here are my thoughts and takeaways from Orange:

• The Gwinnett Center is a pretty amazing place.
• It was cool to hang out with Mike Kelly and his crew for much of the conference.
• There was obvious intentionality in having less of a “star worship leader” feel, and more of a focus on having a community of worship leaders lead the times of singing together.
• A lot of the guest speakers did not share a message or “talk”, and instead were interviewed by Reggie.
• The “tweet up” (coffee house meet up of folks on Twitter) was fun. Free smoothie’s were a plus, too.
• The Orange staff team works their butts off, and I’m amazed they can pull off a conference like that with a staff their size.
• Rev Run was a guest, and that was pretty cool.
• Perry Noble’s talk was tied for my favorite part of the conference. He talked about his 7 core convictions about Family Ministry. He killed it, and I laughed so hard I was in pain.
• My other favorite part of the conference was connecting with other ministry leaders and Orange staff.
• The new Orange website launched, http://www.whatisorange.org/
• The new Orange Parents website/blog launched: http://www.orangeparents.org/

I’m looking forward to the Orange Tour coming to Washington D.C. in the fall, and I hope a ton of our children’s ministry volunteers will be able to attend.

Yesterday I posted about key learnings I had from a specific session at the Drive Conference. This post will share all the other things I’ve been learning through the other main session and the breakouts.

Main Session #1

• In the opening session Andy Stanley noted that the Colosseum was dedicated to all the Christian martyrs who died there and now crosses hang over the 2 main entrances (the Emperor’s entrance and the VIP entrance). His point was that Christians who lived when it was constructed and used as a celebration of death, slavery, and all sorts of evil could never have imagined that one day it would be dedicated to Christian martyrs, that crosses would hang there and symbolize the resurrection of Christ and not murder, and that people all over the world would be celebrating Jesus.
• Andy’s point was that with God, all things are possible. He challenged everyone asking – What did you once think was possible, but the realities of life have led you to believe it is impossible?

Breakouts – Day 2

• The right people are the foundation of a successful creative process
• The breakout on the creative process made me think a lot about the tension between artists and non-artists, especially when a non-artist leads an artist. Obviously everyone has some level of artistic ability, but clear tensions exist between people who are project/task oriented and people who are not. Not every artist isn’t, but many aren’t. I’m wondering how can someone like me (total non-artist) effectively lead artists in a local church?
• Excellence is simply exceeding expectations or doing the best you can with what you have, in a sustainable way.
• Churches should hire leaders who are people magnets.
• When it comes to money – What do you want for your people (not from)?

This was the greatest quote, from David McDaniel, and it was in the context of financial stewardship but applies to everything:

Why would God allow you (the leader) to break his principles personally and continue to bless your vision corporately?

Sam Luce had the great idea of having everyone who is attending the Orange Conference post their breakout selections and why they chose them. So, here’s my Orange Conference schedule along with the breakouts I chose and why.

Wednesday, April 28

• Arrive in the afternoon.
• 7:30PM – Main Session #1
• 10:00PM – Tweet Up at Chocolate Perks

Thursday, April 29

• 9:00AM – Main Session #2
• 11:30AM – Breakout: Say What you need to say as a children’s small group leader - I’m attending this because small groups are the destination for our children, and we want them to be great!
• 2:30PM – Breakout: Leading through the budget crunch - I’m attending this because we can always use help with making the most of our resources.
• 4:15PM – Main Session #3
• 7:00PM – Family Experience Showcase

Friday, April 30

• 9:00AM – Main Session #4
• 11:30AM – Breakout: Difficult conversations in leaders’ circles – I’m attending this because difficult conversations are a part of leading and I’m interested in what Sue Miller has to say, because she rocks.
• 2:30PM – Breakout: Sticky volunteers for children’s ministry – I’m attending this because the Baby Dedication breakout with Kendra is full, and because I want all the help I can get with making children’s ministry a place where volunteers stick!
• 4:15PM – Main Session #5
• 6:00PM – Go home and get ready for KidStuf!

If you are going to Orange, what breakouts are you attending?

I’m REALLY excited because I’m going to the Orange Conference and the Drive Conference this year! It would be great if they weren’t back-to-back, with a KidStuf at church wedged in the middle, but that’s okay. It will be a whole lot of fun and I’m sure it will be extremely draining at the same time.

I’m really looking forward to meeting a bunch of people that I’ve interacted with online through blogs, twitter, and other social networking sites like www.cmconnect.org. I’ll be flying solo at Orange but Tom, our KidStuf director, is coming with me to Drive. Tomorrow I’ll post the breakouts I’ll be attending at Orange so you can see what I hope to learn.

If you can’t attend Orange, consider watching the opening session live on Wednesday night at 7:15PM here:

http://www.makingoforange.com/

I’m sure I’ll be tweeting like crazy at both conferences and my blogging will depend on how tired I am each night but we’ll see. If you’re attending either one, let me know, I’d love to meet.

Comment here, reply on twitter or email me.

Our church is just over 4 years old, and we have had to develop a lot in that short time for all of our ministries, including our children’s ministry. Fortunately we used resources and ideas from a ton of great churches, including North Point and CCC in Naperville, IL. Our curriculum and strategy partner, reThink, was also a huge help in that process. What that meant was, we typically didn’t have to create resources from scratch and instead had to tweak something that already existed.

We’re far from finished, and I’m sure a lot of what we have done could use further improvement and refining but I wanted to make all of our resources available to children’s ministry leaders everywhere. So, I’ve uploaded everything our church has created for children’s ministry, including processes and systems for leadership, administration, environments, events, and resources for volunteers and parents.

Head on over to the FREE RESOURCES page to see what’s available. Contact me if you need editable files and please send me back anything you improve upon!

Originally posted on OrangeLeaders.com Blog last Saturday

One of the toughest transitions for a child is going from preschool to elementary school. Think about all the possible changes they have to deal with such as a full day of school, progress reports, reading, and most importantly no nap time. That transition can be tough in a church environment as well.

Two of the most intimidating parts of transitioning children from preschool to elementary in our church are entering the environment and the large group time. Entering the environment can be overwhelming because unlike our preschool rooms, elementary is completely open until large group is over and kids from grades K-5 are all together. Large group can be intimidating as well because that type of production is completely new to them.

To ease the transition, we created an event that provides an opportunity for the incoming kindergartners to experience the elementary environment with their parents. The parents check them in, stay with them during the plug-in activities and large group. Once large group is over, the kindergartners are placed in small groups just for them with a leader who gets to know them and help them connect. During that time, we get the amazing opportunity to sit with the parents and walk them through our strategy for elementary children, talking about the environments, events, and resources available to help them continue the conversations at home. That time with parents allows us to address the 3 things that Reggie says parents are silently asking when they come into our churches:

1. Give me a plan
2. Show me how it works
3. Tell me what to do today.

Parents – How else can we help you ease the transition?

Church Leaders – How do you ease the transition from preschool to elementary in your church?

A couple of months ago we finished a project we had been working on for a while.  The goal was to create one resource for parents that would explain our entire plan for children and students, from birth through high school.  We called that resource Blueprint.  By communicating our strategy, we hope that parents can work with it to help them raise their children in faith and character.  As a church, we want to be their biggest supporters and hopefully Blueprint will help let them know how we plan to do that.

If you're a children's ministry leader I hope you can use this resource as a starting point for documenting your church's plan for children and students. You can download the PDF here or read the book online here.

I heard about some children's ministry leaders deciding to blog this week about Orange principles.  The idea started with Kenny Conley and I'm jumping in to share my thoughts as well.  If you're interested, you can follow the conversation through the twitter hashtag, #orangeweek.

If you haven't heard about Orange, you can read about Orange here

Like everyone else, I'll blog about the Orange Essentials each day.  You can read a much better description of them than I could ever write, here.  Today will be about Leveraging Influence.

Leverage Influence

Leveraging Influence is all about creating opportunities for kids and students to serve and experience personal ministry.  This essential is extremely important for students.  Anyone who has ever been on a service trip knows how powerful that experience can be.  There are many reasons for that, but one of them is that we get away and experience personal ministry in a way we probably had not experienced before.  We seem to inevitably connect with Jesus as we serve for Jesus.  For students this is critical because they are at a stage of life where their faith has to become their own, and not just their parent's.  They have to know they are the church as opposed to just attending or preparing for when they will be adults.  

Two of my most pivotal moments in my faith journey came while I was on service trips as a student.  For years I had attended church and learned a ton about the Bible.  But, until I served, I never really thought through what I believed or put it into practice that much.  I think those opportunities helped me see God's heart for people and that changed how I saw God and how I wanted to live.

We can't forget the importance of leveraging influence for children as well.  CCC Kids could probably get a lot better in this area, but right now the way we help elementary kids experience personal ministry is through:

• Simple applications of the teaching that challenge them to serve someone
• November focus on supporting a need through providing resources
• December focus on supporting a need through giving financially

Our curriculum provider, 252 Basics, provides ideas for the November & December focuses and we use those or do something similar.  

How are you helping children leverage their influence?

I heard about some children's ministry leaders deciding to blog this week about Orange principles.  The idea started with Kenny Conley and I'm jumping in to share my thoughts as well.  If you're interested, you can follow the conversation through the twitter hashtag, #orangeweek.

If you haven't heard about Orange, you can read about Orange here

Like everyone else, I'll blog about the Orange Essentials each day.  You can read a much better description of them than I could ever write, here.  Today will be about Reactivating the Family.

Reactivate the Family

Reactivating the Family means we must acknowledge the parent's role as the primary spiritual leaders for their children and encourage and equip them in that role.  In talking about Elevating Community, I mentioned how much harder it is to develop a children's ministry around strong community.  The same is true about family.  It's a challenge to actively partner with parents but if we really believe God has given them the primary responsibility, then helping them is how we can be the most effective.  Hear are some things we do to partner with families:

Drive Time Cards
These are cards we create that let preschool parents know what their child learned that morning and it gives them ideas for how they can continue those conversations at home.  

Parent Child Dedication
In many ways, Parent Child Dedication is a first step in building a partnership between CCC and parents.  It's much more than just a public commitment because we do everything possible to equip parents for the journey they are beginning.

Kindergarten Confidential
Kindergarten Confidential is an event for kids going into Kindergarten and their parents are invited as well. It is an orientation to the elementary environments at CCC and gives us a chance to communicate with parents about everything we do in elementary and how we want to partner with them.

KidStuf
The whole reason we do KidStuf is so parents and kids can share an experience that ties in to what kids will be learning all month.  The hope is that it will be a launching point for conversations at home throughout the month.  It's also a great opportunity for us to communicate directly to elementary parents monthly. 

God Time / Fridge Door Cards
These are cards provided by reThink, our curriculum provider, that let parents know what their child learned in Discovery Island and they have ideas parents can use at home throughout the week with their children.

Family Times Virtue Packs
Family Times Virtue Packs equip parents with easy to use tools to make the most of everyday moments together.  We do not have them available at CCC, but we regularly point parents to the website where they can purchase a subscription – www.familytimes.org 

Dive In
Dive In is a unique 45 minute presentation where parents and children, grades K-5, can learn what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Dive In is designed to help parents lead their children in those important conversations.

Of all that stuff, I think the relationships we build with parents and the conversations that happen within those relationships might be the most important.  We can provide all kinds of programs and resources, but nothing is better than forging a relationship that allows the church and the parents to work closely together in raising children in faith and character.

How does your church partner with families?

I heard about some children's ministry leaders deciding to blog this week about Orange principles.  The idea started with Kenny Conley and I'm jumping in to share my thoughts as well.  If you're interested, you can follow the conversation through the twitter hashtag, #orangeweek.

If you haven't heard about Orange, you can read about Orange here

Like everyone else, I'll blog about the Orange Essentials each day.  You can read a much better description of them than I could ever write, here.  Today will be about Elevating Community.

Elevate Community

Community is our church's name, so it's core to who we are.  We believe that life change happens best within the context of community.  But, in children's ministry there are other things that compete with our efforts to elevate community.  Below I'll outline some barriers we experienced in elevating community, and then talk about why it's important to fight through those barriers:

Simplicity
Community complicates things.  In our elementary environment, it would be a lot easier to welcome the kids, and each week divide them up evenly among our leaders and work through the curriculum.  Putting them in specific groups, with specific leaders and specific peers is difficult and adds a ton of administrative work.  

Recruiting
To elevate community, we need small group leaders who will serve every week in elementary, who will invest in children outside of Sunday morning and who will build relationships with parents.  It's a lot harder to find people who will do all of that than it is to find people who will show up on Sunday and work through some activities.

Parent Commitment
If we only asked parents to drop off their kids while they attended service that wouldn't require much commitment at all.  In fact, it's a blessing to the parents.  Elevating community means asking parents to bring their child to the same service each week and encourage their child's relationship with their small group leader.  Parents have more than enough stress, responsibility and not enough time so asking them to commit to more is difficult.

I realize I just did the worst job at selling the idea of elevating community.  While there are a ton of barriers, it's completely worth it.  It is true that community is more important the older a child gets, and therefore isn't as important when they are young.  The problem is, you can't flip a switch when they're 12 and provide other people in their life they can trust.  That has to be established over time, and you can never start early enough.  After fighting through those barriers we have seen greater community on Sunday mornings and heard more stories from parents about how it's impacting their child at home as well.