JCISONLINE

Hey, I recently found out that people read this blog from people not my little robot friend that tracks my site. Don’t be a stranger if you do… I’ve been thinking of ways to try and get my readers more involved. The little robot that I’ve trained to watch this site tells me that people read it, but sometimes I don’t hear from you.

That makes me sad

Your voice matters, so speak up. I’ll give you a chance to throw your first comment out there with a softball question:

Preteen Bible Study Follow Me

Recently I bought a copy of the Preteen Bible Study based on the book by David Platt, Follow Me. I’ve looked through the book numerous times now and I’d love to share my thoughts on this book.

How to fix the gap between Children’s and Youth Ministry

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk via Compfight cc

After being at Orange Conference for the last two years, one thing sticks out to me. The preteen age group is one that churches are struggling to reach. I personally think it comes down to one issue.

The relationship between Children’s Ministry staff and Youth Ministry staff.

I’ve learned that I’m not normal. I’ve spent time working in both worlds. I started in Children’s Ministry and now I’m in Student Ministry. While working in Children’s I was also a volunteer in the High School ministry.

Student and Children’s staffs don’t see eye to eye. In fact, sometimes they don’t even like to be in the same room.

I think it’s pretty simple why this disconnect exists. 2 things:

Programming vs Process

Relational vs Discipleship Process

These two seem to be common denominators in most staffs involving Student and Children’s Ministry.

Not to mention, most Children’s staff people are older than those working in Student Ministry.

Because of this, Student staffs are seen as immature (and probably are)

Children’s staffs are seen as out of touch with culture (and probably are)

But if you want to improve the relationship between departments and also improve the process for parents of the age group affected by the gap between then you have to improve the relationships between the two departments.

Here are some things that will help you begin to bridge the gap between those two departments.

Pray for Drew

I’ve talked a little about Kristen’s brother, Drew before on my blog, but this past weekend Drew had a scare and was put into the hospital. He was having difficulty breathing and was taken there because he was having difficulty breathing.

Since, his kidneys have failed and they’ve discovered an infection in his lungs. The doctors are optimistic and so are we, but it’s tough on a family that is unbelievably giving and strong in their faith.

Not to mention, Drew is a warrior. While dealing with Cerebral Palsy his entire life, Drew has made me understand that he’s a warrior built for battle.

National Thank a Youth Worker Day

Today is a fun day for youth workers. It’s National Thank a Youth Worker Day. There are a ton of ways to say thank you. But if you really want to make a difference in the life of someone who works with your youth, then here are a few suggestions:

My iPhone 4s has been simplified

After reading this post from John Saddington at Tentblogger, I decided to challenge myself and reduce the number of apps on my iPhone 4s. I’m down to 24 apps and will be down to fewer in a couple of days after the Orange Conference. (Note: I also added Twitter back for #oc13 and have subsequently deleted it)

You can see everything I’ve got on my list here. I am going to try and get rid of safari and possibly spotify soon. I’ve made the change for a little over a week and it has been pretty glorious.

I had two strategies going in.

Huge thanks to MinisterSearch

I’ve been a blogger at Orange the last few years and the blogger’s lounge has always been a blast, but this year and last David and his team from MinisterSearch have made it spectacular. They make us feel like royalty. Besides being a child of the King, I’m not, haha.

MinisterSearch is the most experienced and most successful PASTOR STAFF SEARCH FIRM in the country and David and his team will hook you up. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to connect with the search firm that gets results. MinisterSearch has led close to 400 pastoral staff search for church all over the US and in Canada and their long-term retention rate is more than 90%.

They make the lounge super fun and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and loved. If you are a church looking for a new staffer or a pastor looking for a new place, then please do yourself a favor and click on over to ministersearch.com and let David Lyons and his team walk you through the process!

Building a healthy and effective leadership team

This post is my thoughts from a breakout I attended at Orange Conference 2013. You can click the link to view all of myOrange Conference 2013 posts.

This breakout was given by Jeanne Stevens. I’ve heard Jeanne at Orange before and came away impressed. I chose this to hear her thoughts and she killed it!

She talked through the 5 C’s of Healthy Teams. Here are a few of the highlights:

There was a question asked in the session: “What if your church seems ok to sacrifice the many for the one? How do you handle that?” Jeanne responded like a pro and made a statement I won’t soon forget, “[In the church] We get stuck with being nice.” “Don’t sacrifice the many for the one.”
You cannot manufacture a calling.
Healthy communication and pace lead to healthy conflict. Health conflict promotes healthy growth.
When hiring, do you want a thoroughbred or a pony? You have to teach one how to run and get to show off another. (WOW!)
Authenticity leads to true authority.

Here are pictures of my notes from this session:

Are you having any struggles with your leadership team?

Outsiders 5 questions to ask when reaching unchurched students

This post is my thoughts from a breakout I attended at Orange Conference 2013. You can click the link to view all of my Orange Conference 2013 posts.

Here are a few of my main takeaways from the session.

There is a stark difference between a ministry geared towards insiders and geared towards outsiders.
If you develop a ministry geared toward outsiders you could help the insiders develop an outward worldview.
Why would you use feedback from insiders to reach outsiders?

In order to reach outsiders you have to strategically think through all elements from your program from top to bottom.

Here are pictures from my notebook filled with goodness:

Do you struggle with designing a service geared towards outsiders?

The power of focus #oc13

In case you didn’t know. I’m at a conference. It’s called the Orange Conference. Over the next few days, I will be blogging primarily about what is going on at the Conference. I’ve already posted a little bit about the Orange Conference and you can view my stream about Orange.

They are also debuting a new app showing you a timer of a date when your kid will graduate. It’s pretty amazing. It helps you keep focused on making the most of your time.