Small Town Kidmin

Orange Friends

Jared M — February
10
2011
10 Notes

This year will be my first chance to experience the Orange Conference. I am absolutely thrilled! I’m excited about the opportunity to travel twelve hours each way talking to my pastor about the Orange strategy and we can better implement it in our church. I’m excited about hearing amazing keynote and workshop speakers. I’m excited about the welcome pack and the nametag. But what I’m most excited about is the people I’m going to meet while there.

I’ve been blogging and tweeting for a while now and I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people online. Now, I am going to get the opportunity to meet a bunch of them in person, as well as many new people. The following is a short list (in no particular order) of some of the people I’m excited to meet. If you are not on this list, there is a good chance it is because I don’t know you’re going, so leave a comment and let me know you’ll be there.

Dan Scott. Dan is one of the most authentic kidmin bloggers out there. He openly shares about his personal life and his ministry life. Plus, he makes awesome 252 Basics virtue and bottom line slides. I can’t wait to talk with him about life and kidmin.

Kenny Conley. Kenny was one of the first people to get behind me and support me as I ventured out into the online kidmin world. I’ve had a few email conversations with him, but I’m really looking forward to talking with him face to face.

Jim Wideman. Jim is an icon in kidmin and I realize his time will probably be highly coveted. If I can just shake his hand and say hi, I will be content. However, I have a list saved in my phone of questions to ask him if I get the chance.

Matt McKee. Matt is one of those guys that I would like to meet just because I’m sure if I got within proximity to him I’d be instantly cooler. Plus, I’m sure the guy is a human wi-fi spot and I can use him to upload some blog posts while I’m there.

Sam Luce. From what I can tell about Sam, he is a pretty smart guy, especially when it comes to kidmin. He also seems like a guy who knows how to have a good time. I love having a good time and I’m hoping to be in the same place as him for at least a little bit.

Barbara Graves. Barbara is the hardest working person in kidmin. Seriously. Also, Barbara and I have been working together on the kidmin1124 project, so we have that in common. It will be awesome to meet her in person, though I’m going to have to be quick. (On an only slightly related note, do you know the scene in Over the Hedge when the squirrel drinks the coffee and moves really fast. That’s how I imagine Barbara.)

Wendy Douglas. Wendy is another member of the kidmin1124 team and other than Wayne, I think I’ve gotten to know her the best through the project. Unfortunately, I still don’t know her all that well. I’m hoping to change some of that during Orange.

Amy Dolan. Amy is just a really great asset to the kidmin community and besides her blog, she has also helped bring us the What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry e-book and web conference, as well as the What’s in the Bible curriculum. She’s certainly a pivotal member of the kidmin community.

Once again, if you’re going to be at Orange this year, let me know in the comments. If you read this blog, I definitely want to meet you so I can find out what’s wrong with you!

Under About Me, Orange Conference

Godly Work

Jared M — February
10
2011
6 Notes

“Don’t rank the Godliness of work based on it being church related.” Dan Miller of 48 Days to the Work You Love

When I first heard this statement, it really resonated with me. As someone who works a secular job, it is easy to discount that job as less Godly than my ministry job. But, hasn’t God called me to work the second job just as much as the first? I believe the answer is yes, though that can be a tough pill to swallow. Does God actually call people to secular careers? One again, yes.

For many of us, the reality is that our primary income source and often the biggest consumer of our time is a job that has little to do with church ministry. There is a very small percentage of Christians who are employed directly by a church or ministry.

What would happen if we all started putting the passion into our secular work that we put into our ministry? I’d admit that I often find myself struggling to find the purpose of my other job, mainly because I feel strongly called to work with children. But lately God has been showing me that He put me here for a reason (He just hasn’t told me what the reason is yet). In fact, I think God needs me out here, interacting with others and learning from their stories.

You know how when you least want to hear a certain Bible verse, God usually has someone share it with you? Well, whenever I’m really frustrated with work and want to do less than my best, God usually speaks this verse to me. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Then, I ignore Him, so He has someone “share” the same verse with me. Then I get frustrated because I don’t want to hear that! I want to hear David in the Psalms calling down judgement on those who mistreat him. But God’s right, I’m not doing my day job OR my ministry job for others, I’m doing it for Him. It doesn’t matter what my job is, it isn’t about me and it isn’t about anybody else, it is about doing what God has asked me to do.

So the next time you feel like someone else is called to ministry and you’re stuck in a job, just stop. Being called of God goes way beyond ministry. God calls people to every single line of work including teachers, business people, lawyers, politicians, garbage collectors, stay-at-home mom or dad, bank teller, accountant, retail clerk, and, well, you get the picture.

Under Kidmin1124, Small Church Issues

Timothy, You’re Looking a Little Orange

Jared M — February
9
2011
2 Notes

Anyone who does family ministry or incorporates an “Orange” strategy of partnering with parents has most certainly heard Deuteronomy 6 used as the theological framework for thinking orange. I agree that Deuteronomy 6 is an excellent scripture to use, but I wondered if there were any Biblical instances where that type of ministry was actually successful (Israel’s history isn’t exactly the perfect model of living a life of faith).

It was while preparing a sermon titled, Think Orange, and desperately trying not to use Deut. 6 as my theme verse, that I realized there is one person in particular whose life was drastically impacted by the intersection of Godly parenting and church instruction. That person was the young man Timothy.

The Yellow
As you may recall, Timothy was mentored by Paul and Paul often refers to him as a son. Paul mentions Timothy in all but three of his New Testament Epistles. Timothy traveled on a few journey’s with Paul and eventually was asked by him to stay and lead the church at Ephesus. Ephesus was where the Temple of Artemis was located and was also one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire. For those two reasons, it was a center of pagan worship but under Timothy’s leadership, the Ephesian church grew.

The Red
2 Timothy 1:5 gives us a unique glimpse into the influence of Timothy’s family on his faith. Paul mentions that both Timothy’s grandmother, Lois, and Timothy’s mother, Eunice, were Christians. It is believed that it was Lois who first accepted Christ, then Eunice, then Timothy.

What is exciting about this is that even though Timothy’s father was a Greek and was never mentioned as having any impact on his Christian faith, he became a God-fearing man and a leader of the early church. It was Timothy’s mother and grandmother who instructed him. In 2 Timothy 3:15, we learn that he was educated in the Holy Scriptures even from childhood. Since Paul was not around then and the “Church” was a new concept, it is almost certain that it was his mother who was diligent in teaching her son the Bible.

The Orange Result
As a child, Timothy was instructed primarily by his mother and grandmother. As he grew a little older, Paul became a mentor, like a modern-day small group leader or Sunday School teacher. As Timothy entered young adulthood, he leaned more and more on the church influences and less on the family influence, but both remained strong in his life.

If we will equip families to teach their kids and then work alongside them to be the second voice saying the same thing, I believe we have the potential to see a generation of students who are much like Timothy. They will be those who, even from a young age, “set an example in speech, in life, in faith and in purity.”

According to Church Tradition, Timothy was eventually martyred for his faith, stoned to death in the streets of Ephesus while attempting to preach the Gospel during a pagan parade of idols. That’s what a real Orange strategy can do. It can create a generation of people who love God so passionately, even death can’t keep them from speaking out.

Under Family/Orange Ministry, Theology

Family Experience in a Small Church: Worship

Jared M — February
8
2011
Add A Note

This post is part of the Family Experience in a Small Church series and also fits nicely into my Orange week posts. To get up to speed on the Family Experiences, visit the introduction post as well as the post about the welcome.

Following our the Welcome skit with our comic host interaction, we have family friendly worship. We always choose high energy, action focused songs for this section. In fact, I usually get a pretty good workout here and have often thought about doing a kidmin aerobics video series.

One of the key reasons we decided to begin doing the family services was the desire to create shared worship experiences. It is the desire of our church leadership to see kids, teens, parents, and the older generations worshipping together. While the family experience is not the end-all for creating that environment, it is a step in the right direction. We encourage everyone, young and old, to participate in the worship including singing and doing the actions (dancing when necessary). We do not get 100% participation, but we get a pretty high percentage and I’m happy with it. It is so fun to see reserved parents, goofy kids and their teenage siblings, and 80-year-old ladies all trying to keep up to Hillsong’s ”One Way.”

While the worship time is certainly fun, I am careful to point out that fun is not the goal, but is part of the process. I do this by asking this question. “Why do we sing songs at church? a) because it’s fun, b) to worship God, or c) because it’s fun to worship God. Sometimes I throw in an off the wall option c to keep them on their toes.

We use DVDs from a variety of publishers to maximize our worship experience. I like DVDs because they require fewer people to operate than a live band, the sound quality is drastically better than our church worship band, and the words are automatically synced to the music. I don’t have the awkward moment when the sound guy forgets to advance the slide and everyone stops singing. We mix and match songs primarily from, Hillsong Kids, God’s Kids Worship, and Brent Weber.

Under Family/Orange Ministry, Small Church Issues

Orange Tour Webcast

Jared M — February
8
2011
Add A Note

It seems like more and more kidmin conferences are reaching out to a wider audience by offering their conference, either in part or in whole, online and for free. This is especially good for volunteers who typically do not attend conferences, but hear about things second hand from their pastor or possibly not at all.

The Orange group, the ones who marketed the Orange philosophy, have many resources available for equipping those who work with children. One of those resources is the Orange Tour, a traveling mini conference. Next Tuesday, February 15, they will be making some of the best sessions of the Orange Tour available as a webcast, for free. You can view the full info and sign up here http://whatisorange.org/orangetouronline. I am including the schedule and speaker bios below.

SCHEDULE (Tentative) – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15

1:00 p.m.	Session 1	Reggie Joiner
2:15 p.m.	Session 2	Reggie Joiner Sue Miller Stuart Hall Carey Nieuwhof
3:45 p.m.	Session 3	Reggie Joiner
5:00 p.m.	Call It Quits!
* All times are Eastern Standard Time

SPEAKERS

REGGIE JOINER is the founder and CEO of Orange, a nonprofit organization providing resources and training to help churches maximize their influence on the spiritual growth of the next generation. Orange provides innovative curriculum, resources and training for leaders who work with preschoolers, children, families and students. They have partners throughout the United States and eight other countries. Orange is also the architect and primary sponsor of The Orange Conference and the Orange Tour which provide national training opportunities for senior pastors, church leaders, and ministry volunteers.
Reggie is also one of the founding pastors, along with Andy Stanley, of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. In his role as the executive director of Family Ministry, Reggie developed the concepts of ministry for preschoolers, children, students, and married adults over the course of his 11 years with the church. During his time with North Point Ministries, Reggie created KidStuf, a weekly environment where kids bring their parents to learn about God, as well as Grow Up, an international conference to encourage and equip churches to create relevant, effective environments for children, families and teenagers.

Reggie is the co-author of Seven Practices of Effective Ministries (Multnomah, with Lane Jones and Andy Stanley) and the author of Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide (David C. Cook). Think Orange encapsulates Joiner’s philosophy and practice of family ministry, combining the strengths of family and church to capture the hearts and minds of the next generation.

Reggie is a graduate of Georgia Southwestern College. Reggie and Debbie Joiner live in Cumming, Georgia, and have four grown children: Reggie Paul, Hannah, Sarah and Rebekah.

SUE MILLER joined Orange in 2005 after 17 years of leading Promiseland children’s ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Sue was instrumental in leading the change process that grew Promiseland into a cutting-edge ministry known around the world. The story of how all that happened is told in her book, Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week.

Sue travels extensively teaching and helping churches partner with parents. She mentors leaders, inspires volunteers, and serves as a consultant for churches who want to go Orange. And in her spare time, she leads the charge with the First Look curriculum team at Orange.

CAREY NIEUWHOF is the lead pastor of Connexus Community Church, a multi-campus church north of Toronto and strategic partner of North Point Community Church. Before starting Connexus in 2007, Carey served for 12 years within a mainline denomination, transitioning three small rural congregations into a new congregation that experienced significant growth. He speaks to church leaders across North America about change, leadership, parenting and the strategy behind Orange. Carey co-authored Parenting Beyond Your Capacity with Reggie Joiner. He and his wife, Toni, live near Barrie, Ontario, and have two teenage sons, Jordan and Sam. In his spare time, you can find him cycling his heart out on a back road somewhere.

STUART HALL is the director of training for XP3, the student division of Orange. He also leads DASH INC, an organization he founded in 2000 to develop spiritually influential students that engage culture. Stuart co-authored The Seven Checkpoints: Seven Principles Every Teenager Needs to Know, MAX Q: Developing Students of Influence with Andy Stanley, and the leadership edition of Wired: For a Life of Worship with Louie Giglio. One day he may write a book by himself. Stuart, his beautiful wife Kellee, and their three incredible children reside north of Atlanta.

My Kidmin Tech Adventure

Jared M — February
7
2011
2 Notes

I had an exciting opportunity this Sunday to incorporate tech into our kidmin programming. Prior to Christmas, none of the kids in our ministry had cell phones. Now, at least four of them have private lines. When I realized this fact on Sunday, I also realized the opportunities this could create. After obtaining permission from the parents, I text messaged each of the kids our theme verse for the month. I also asked the parents for permission to text the kids occasionally to encourage them to incorporate our monthly virtue into their everyday lives (never during school hours, though wouldn’t it be awesome to remind kids to be kind during recess?).

Some of you probably think this is a very basic incorporation of tech into kidmin, and you’re right. But in the small town I live in, tech advances much slower than it does in most of the US. You know when AT&T says they cover 97% of America, we’re in the 3%.

With this little experiment of using texting to send the verses to our kids, I am also looking for the opportunities to do the same with the parents. Do you do something similar with your kids and/or parents? Let me know in the comments section. I’d rather not reinvent the wheel. But for those of you who are going to suggest Twitter, we’re not there yet.

Under Kidmin

100%, All Natural Orange Strategy

Jared M — February
7
2011
1 Note

Maybe we’re not quite there yet, but our church is working towards a strategy that successfully leverages the influences of both church and family to help reach the world for Christ. In its simplest form, that is what I understand the orange strategy to be. If I’m wrong, I guess I’ll learn that when I watch the free Orange Tour Webcast next Tuesday. Are you going to join me?

I’ve also discovered that a variety of authors will be writing about the orange strategy this week. I will be joining them, though unofficially, and will also be offering some of my thoughts on both the orange strategy and the upcoming Orange Conference.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to invite you to join me at the Orange Conference April 27-29. I’m looking forward to sharing the experience, both the twelve-hour drive and the conference, with my senior pastor. I’d also love to meet up with as many kidmin peeps as I can. I’m especially interested to hear how some of you in smaller and/or rural churches are successfully implementing a comprehensive orange strategy into you ministries. You can register for Orange by clicking the banner ad on the side or the one within this post (for the record, I do not receive any compensation from them for that ad). If you register by February 17, you save $30 per person and receive $50 Orange credit, up to $200.

Under Family/Orange Ministry

Bible Reading Challenge Week 6

Jared M — February
6
2011
Add A Note

I have a confession to make. For the first time since starting the one year reading challenge, I fell behind this last week. And it wasn’t just one or two days, it ended up being most of the last four days of the week. Ouch!

Okay, now that I’ve confessed my inadequacy at keeping with my Bible readings this week, I want to encourage those of you who may have fallen behind at any point. It happens, but don’t let that stop you from reading all together.

Monday (February 7, 2011)

Exodus 25-27

Tuesday (February 8, 2011)

Exodus 28-29

Wednesday (February 9, 2011)

Exodus 30-32

Thursday (February 10, 2011)

Exodus 33-35

Friday (February 11, 2011)

Exodus 36-38

Saturday (February 12, 2011)

Exodus 39-40

Sunday (February 13, 2011)

Leviticus 1-4

Under General

Free Resource Friday: Orange Tour

Jared M — February
4
2011
2 Notes

What is it worth to you to hear Reggie Joiner, Sue Miller, Carey Nieuwhof, and Stuart Hall all talk about the Orange Strategy? The Orange Tour has been traveling the country doing just that for thousands of leaders across the country. Now, they are bringing many of those same sessions right to your office or living room.

On Tuesday, February 15, those four leaders will be broadcasting the Orange Tour webcast. The webcast is a one day event that features some of the key sessions from the Orange Tour. Not only that, but I have worked hard to get them to agree to let all Small Town Kidmin readers view the webcast for free. (Truthfully, the entire webcast will be free to anyone and I didn’t even have to ask.)

For all of the information, go to whatisorange.org/orangetouronline. You can also sign up to receive email notifications as more details become available.

This is really a great opportunity for all of us in children or youth ministry, but especially those of us in rural America. I strongly urge you to try to make arrangements to watch the webcast and even see if you can get your pastor and/or student director to watch it with you.

Under Family/Orange Ministry

Question of the Month: February

Jared M — February
2
2011
2 Notes

I know there are a number of forums out there with great discussions happening, but it seems like it is mostly the same people participating in the discussion. I’m hoping to get the conversation going on here by asking an open-ended question. The goal is to get the conversation started. What happens from there is up to you. I know people don’t comment much on blogs, but I encourage you to leave a response and participate. Just the process of typing your answer may be beneficial to you. Please feel free to remain anonymous and use a pseudonym in the name line.

So, here’s this month’s questions.

Should we teach kids how to defend their faith (apologetics)?

For added discussion: Does the Christian faith even need to be defended? Does teaching them apologetics make our faith sound weak? How do we do this? Special classes? During Sunday School? During regular kids’ church? If we do teach it, at what age should we start?

Under Kidmin, Question/Poll, Theology