The Orange Leaders Audio Blog: Recent Episodes
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The Orange Leaders Audio Blog helps family, youth and children’s ministry leaders influence the faith and character of kids and teenagers. Five days a week, Monday through, Friday, we will share the best strategies, tips and ideas from the Orange Leaders online blog. Each episode will cover relevant family ministry topics with posts from leaders like Reggie Joiner; Carey Nieuwhof; Kristen Ivy; Adam Duckworth; Sue Miller; Mike Clear; Jim Wideman; Dan Scott; Meaghan Wall; Frank Bealer; Dr. Jim Burns; Yancy Richmond; Nick Blevins; Brooklyn Lindsey; Geoff Surratt; and Kenny Conley. Each guest contributor is an Orange Leader – someone who passionately engages both the church and families to influence the next generation. If that’s you, you are part of an incredible, global community helping kids have a better future. We are for you and the development of your leadership in ministry. For additional resources and episode transcripts, visit www.OrangeLeaders.com.
In today’s episode, you’ll hear an excerpt from the Orange Strategy Guide audiobook, which helps any leader understand how to combine the light of the church and the heart of the home to influence the faith of the next generation.
A small group leader can be one of the most important people in a kid’s life. In today’s episode, Tom Shefchunas shares his thoughts on what every small group leader should know before taking on the job.
No one creates a small group thinking it won’t last, but they often do. Today, you’ll learn how to build a small group that will keep meeting week after week.
Though social media is necessary in your ministry, it does have its downsides, including negativity on your posts. Find out how you should handle negative feedback in today’s episode.
While summer serves as a break from rigid programming, the fall is coming and it is a strategic season for growth. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to create a plan to cultivate new leaders in your ministry.
Culture dictates how your team will fulfill the duties and vision of your ministry. Today, you’ll learn what makes up a healthy culture.
There will always come a time when you have to work within a group setting in your ministry, but cohesion is optional. Find out how to work well with others in today’s episode.
Even the best small group leaders struggle with a dip in attendance. Find out the common reasons why people stop attending small group.
Your church’s social media strategy shouldn’t be implemented alone — you need a team! Learn how to build the right social media team in today’s episode.
An organization’s attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs are what create your mission’s synergy and momentum. Learn five ways to have a great staff culture.
As leaders, we all share a desire to grow in our leadership. Learn how you can use this summer to cultivate personal growth in your life.
Building and leading a small group culture in your church can be difficult, but the smallest acts of kindness can make a huge difference. Learn how one church used a postcard to reinforce leading small.
Time spent supporting small group leaders and the parents of the kids in the small group will help the next generation form a faith of their own. Learn how this model will benefit your church’s ministry in today’s episode.
Life change happens in small groups. Today, you’ll learn why it’s essential your church moves to a small group format and how it’ll benefit your entire ministry.
Recurring evaluation of our volunteers sets them up for success. Learn how to properly assess the strengths and weaknesses of your volunteers in today’s episode.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to show your volunteers you appreciate them using Gary Chapman’s five love languages concept.
Having strong marriages among those in your ministry can ultimately lead to increased faith in the next generation. Learn how your church can implement a marriage ministry in today’s episode.
The way you lead through transition can either build faith or fear in your team. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to lead through transition in a healthy, honest way.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to transition out of a position with professionalism and grace, while maintaining healthy leadership.
You were created to grow. And even though growth is often uncomfortable, you’ll learn ways to push through the zone of discomfort in today’s episode.
Ministry growth happens when community happens. Learn what this means for you and your ministry in today’s episode.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn how leaders leverage their influence best by encouraging others to leverage theirs.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn why grooming your volunteers to lead may be a better option than hiring someone from the outside.
Intentional loss can make way for tremendous growth. In today’s episode, you’ll learn some necessary changes your ministry needs to make to flourish.
Bringing ministry teams out of silos into alignment provides tremendous opportunities for the next generation’s spiritual development. Learn how to do this in today’s episode.
Trusting your volunteers to do good work and giving them responsibility has more impact on the life of your ministry and others than you may think. Learn how in today’s episode.
The crucial part of sustaining volunteer longevity is communication. Learn the best and effective ways to do just that in today’s episode.
In the busyness of doing ministry, we can often forget how invaluable volunteers are. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to celebrate your volunteers.
When change happens, it’s important to know your core identity. In today’s episode, you’ll learn some helpful questions to ask yourself to get to know yourself better.
In today’s episode, we’ll learn how to help your church’s volunteer culture reach its highest potential.
In today’s episode, we learn why saying, “Everything is going to be OK” might not be as empathetic as we think.
Social media is a great tool, but it does have its challenges. Today, you’ll learn how to work around those challenges in today’s episode.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn why identifying volunteers as servants changed the way they serve in ministry.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn the important lesson of how to keep morale up among your volunteers while also keeping a pulse on the volunteer culture at your church.
To grow our ministry, we must be willing to exchange outgrown practices for new ones. Learn how to do this well in today’s episode.
More than half of students are expected to turn from their faith in college. Learn how you can help decrease this number using small group leaders in today’s episode.
Soundtracks used during kid ministry tend to lock us in inflexibly, but it doesn’t have to. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to use pre-recorded music to benefit your ministry.
The best leaders are exceptional managers. Learn five essentials leaders should manage in today’s episode.
Youth ministry leaders often wear many hats and one, singular job description never seems to encompass all the things they do. Learn the absolutes of the job in today’s episode.
Change is hard work, but pruning is necessary for growth. In today’s episode, you’ll learn why cutting away some aspects of your ministry will be the best thing you could ever do for it.
Recruiting students who will be a good fit for your youth ministry long term is similar to college football recruitment. How? Learn more in today’s episode.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn why having a plan in place to move volunteers and leaders from one level to the next will decrease chaos in your ministry.
The beauty of the gospel is we don’t have to do much to enhance the message — it’s all there. Find out in today’s episode how to engage in meaningful messaging.
Leadership development takes time. I’m today’s episode, you’ll learn how time will help build trust and confidence amongst the people you work with in ministry.
Using music in your kids ministry has great transformational potential. Learn how to have structure during worship without forgoing fun.
Social media is a very prominent part of young people’s lives — the good, the bad, and the ugly. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to talk to your students about how to use social media responsibly.
Often, we get tired of the slow moving progress in our ministry. Today, you’ll learn the outlook you should have to be content with the pace.
If you work in a small church, you might be wondering if the Orange curriculum would benefit your church. Learn how one church, with a congregation of 250, uses the curriculum.
High capacity leaders will help advance the mission of your ministry, and in today’s episode, you’ll learn how to attract those kinds of leaders.
As the primary way through which we communicate, our words are essential. In today’s episode, you’ll learn the importance of speaking positively about the schools and families in your community.
If you cannot lead and impact adults, you’ll never have an outstanding ministry to families. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to work well with adults and volunteers.
To change what truly needs to be changed in our churches takes courage, even fearlessness. In today’s episode, Carey Nieuwhof challenges our idea of “drama” and how it can benefit your ministry and life.
In kids ministry, there is often a lot of gray area, leaving ministry workers with a lot of questions. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to handle certain challenges that often arise in kids ministry.
Talking to kids is a lot different than talking with adults. In today’s episode, you’ll learn the best ways to approach kids to have the meaningful conversations you want to have with them while in a summer camp setting.
It’s important that kids see their parents worshipping outside of church. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to be an example in your worship to parents of the kids you lead.
Sunday should be a launchpad for conversations throughout the week. Today, you’ll learn why the day-to-day moments matter most in a child’s life.
The win in your ministry isn’t how many people attend your church each week, but how meaningful those interactions are. Learn how meaningful interactions change the way content is heard in today’s episode.
Traditions aren’t solely for fun — they create history. Today, learn how great an impact having traditions has on your kids.
Ministry leaders: How connected are you to your team and what they’re handling? Are you in the trenches, or on the outskirts? In today’s episode, we hear from Ronne Rock about the importance of having a leader who leads on the ground level.
Today’s small group is yesteryear’s Sunday school class. In today’s episode, you’ll learn why unpacking faith in a circle is important for your child.
In today’s episode, you’ll hear how one church’s anti-bullying assembly in public schools helped them build a trusted relationship in the community.
Success on social media isn’t just about how many people follow your account. Learn how to track your social media’s level of engagement.
There are four values a successful ministry leader should instill in his or her team. Learn what they are and how to establish team cohesion in today’s episode.
Work-life balance when you’re working in ministry seems contradictory, but today’s episode shares seven tips to maintain a great relationship with your family while working in ministry.
A child moving up to the next age level in small group can be nerve wracking for a parent because of the newness of it all. Learn how to alleviate their anxiety in today’s episode.
God uses camp events to draw students to Him in an incredible way. Learn three ways to ensure your next middle school camp event is a great one.
In today’s episode, you’ll have the opportunity to answer some questions meant to help you reflect on what success means to you in terms of your small group structure.
Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in existence and your ministry has a great opportunity to leverage the platform to boost engagement of those inside and outside your church.
You might be thinking your church doesn’t need or have the content for a podcast, but you’re wrong. Learn how easy it is to launch a podcast at your church.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn the importance of living a life on purpose and building your legacy through authenticity and personal connection.
Great sermons are the key ingredient to growing a great church. Find out how to draw an audience in during today’s episode.
As ministry leaders of the next generation, it’s our desire for every child to feel known and have a sense of belonging. In today’s episode, you’ll learn the best way to achieve that — by leading small.
There are a variety of ways to implement the Orange strategy at your church. Learn how your ministry can benefit from it in today’s episode.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn why it’s important to ditch catchy mission statements and replace them with a focus on strategy.
Social media gives pastors a chance to connect with the student in their ministry throughout the week. Learn how social media can keep you connected to students in today’s episode.
The Orange Strategy is easy to understand for some, but complex to live out. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to explain the strategy to your ministry’s volunteers.
Every great story involves struggle of some kind. In today’s episode, Daron Dickens discusses the importance of embracing the struggle in your story.
Do you want to be a church of small groups or a church with small groups? This is an important question to ask and one you’ll learn your personal answer to in today’s episode.
There are more ways to communicate than ever before, but one that seems to remain tried and true is the email newsletter. Learn four ways to build your ministry’s email newsletter in today’s episode.
The success of your ministry and whether parents bring their kids back is largely determined by how you treat them during their first visit. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to best connect with visitors.
Everyone can go farther and faster with someone coaching them. In today’s episode, you’ll learn the five traits of an effective coach.
Showing appreciation gets overlooked when we’re inundated with life’s tasks. In today’s episode, you’ll learn easy ways to cultivate a life lived in consistent appreciation.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to organize different types of small group models, from affinity based to life stage small groups.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn why intentional delegation of tasks on your list will help improve your focus and strengthen the overall vision of your ministry.
The lessons in failure are often difficult to see when you’re currently experiencing them. In today’s episode, you’ll learn an important way to view successes and failures.
Small groups have the potential to connect everyone in your church to relationships where they can serve, love, and grow together. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to structure a small group model in your church.
To make any advancement in your ministry or personal life, you have to take some risks. In today’s episode, you’ll learn a new way to look at risk that might be what you need to help you make the leap.
Discord among your team wreaks havoc on morale, often leading everyone to choose a side. In today’s episode, learn how to handle this conflict in light of the Fruits of the Spirit.
If you don’t set boundaries in your personal life outside of the ministry, someone else will set them for you. Learn some important ways establish a healthy rhythm for your work and family.
Having consistent small group leaders is great, but having those same leaders be as passionate as you are about serving others matters even more. Learn ways to motivate your small group leaders to be more passionate and giving.
In leadership, fear sometimes gets the best of us. In today’s episode, you’ll learn a personal mantra to repeat to yourself to help you lead with confidence.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn three reasons why the Orange strategy will benefit your ministry and support the families and volunteers of your church.
In today’s episode, you’ll learn about the Intimacy Bullseye and how it can help you determine appropriately what information to share and with whom.
In today’s episode, leaders will learn how to practice truthful, loving, and empathetic responses to sometimes tough questions they are asked.
Culture is everything when considering the alignment of your volunteer team. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to create a plan that nurtures a healthy volunteer culture.
We often hear the phrase, “leveraging your influence,” but what does it really mean in terms of serving youth? In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to create personal ministry experiences for the students you serve.
Jesus lived in a rhythm of rest, and as ministry leaders, we should as well. Today’s episode tackles why recharging is just as important to your ministry as other items on your to-do list.
In today’s episode, Ronne Rock paints a picture to illustrate why focusing on your ministry’s purpose is key to bringing others closer to God.
Having alignment on your team isn’t easy, but it beats the alternative. In this episode, you’ll learn from Frank Bealer the three important things to focus on for the optimal alignment of your team.