Orange
Ryan Reed
You Gotta Make It to OC17

One of the most important events on my annual professional calendar is the Orange Conference.

Why Orange? In sum, when it comes to a student ministry curriculum, I have not found one as powerful, versatile, comprehensive, and intentional as Orange. It cares for the middle school student just as much as the elderly aunt who takes care of him. Orange seeks to equip the entire family, not just the teenage kid, for both individual and familial faith. That simple.

As a user since 2011, I've continually been sold by how well it prepares me to share the Gospel with teenagers and build parent partnerships for faithful ministry in the home. 

You Gotta Make It to OC17
Leadership
Ryan Reed
The Important Role of Self Awareness in ...

This post originally appeared on the Orange Leaders Blog on June 22, 2016. 

What is the toughest question you’ve ever had to answer, and who asked it?

Given that somehow you made your way to this exceptional community called Orange Leaders, I automatically know a few things about you:

The Important Role of Self Awareness in Leadership
Leadership
Ryan Reed
Key Ingredients for a Thriving Ministry Recipe

Not long ago my wife introduced me to the best show on television... Chopped. I love it. Hands down noting beats it. A simple show in concept: four chefs compete against one another using a basket of mystery ingredients - yet so captivating!

Why? Because the ingredients equalize the playing field. Whether the chef be a novice out of culinary a school or a multi-restaurant owner veteran, each chef receives the ingredients at the same time and must respond to them. 

The ingredients are the star of the show. They call out the character of the chef. Not the other way around. It's the ingredients that define the path.

Key Ingredients for a Thriving Ministry Recipe
Church
Ryan Reed
May the Real Me Meet the Real You

Said C.S. Lewis, "The prayer that precedes all prayers is may the real me meet the real you." 

A great friend of mine from college once shared this quote with me. He and I served in Young Life together, leading high school students toward a growing relationship with Jesus. I can recall that he ended nearly every one of his ministry talks with this quote just prior to closing in prayer:

"May the real me meet the real you."

I probably listened to him share this quote with me dozens of times. I think I also used it. But quite honestly, I don't think I understood the meaning behind it until much later in life. Intellectually I understood it. It's simple in structure, but truly profound in its meaning. 

Perhaps I missed it time after time because inherent within this quote lays an assumption that you know the real you. 

May the Real Me Meet the Real You
Orange
Ryan Reed
Rethink Leadership Conference Day 2 #OC16 #RL16

CAREY NIEUWHOF INTERVIEW WITH JON ACUFF

Know your message enough to find the direction, but leave it open enough to let the Holy Spirit inspire new content. 

For humor, build the island, but then make sure that you make a sturdy bridge to and from the island. Satire is about an idea, but mockery is about an individual. We are not called to mockery.

Put handles on ideas so that we can carry them forward. We have enough ideas. Put a handle on them.  

Rethink Leadership Conference Day 2 #OC16 #RL16

ben kerns

Great Leaders Eat Last

Great Leaders Eat Last

A couple of weeks ago, my great friends Benjamin Kerns and Jeremy Zach turned me onto a book recently published by Simon Sinek called Leaders Eat Last. 

Before I bought the book, however, they forwarded onto me this video that I embedded below. 5 minutes into it I paused it, grabbed a notepad, and filled 3 pages front and back with note and insights. The concepts of this video and book fundamentally change the way that I lead. 

Sinek's fundamental thesis supposes what it would look like when we examine the traits of strong leadership through an biological, anthropological lens. His findings may surprise you. It turns out that the most affective leaders may not always be the Alpha-type. 

Is the Future of Professional Youth Workers Secure?

Is the Future of Professional Youth Workers Secure?

Recently, a friend of mine tackled this question on his blog. I thought his response nailed it so much that I asked for his permission to repost it on my site - exactly as it appears on his site. As you read this post from Ben Kerns at Average Youth Ministry, ask yourself this question: Is the future of professional youth workers secure? You decide! Check it out:

There has been some discussion lately among some of my youth ministry friends about the future of our profession. There seems to be another round of shots fired across the bow at youth ministry and the professionals that lead these ministries. Sticky Faith, Family Based Ministries, and people with axes to grind continue to lay the decaying faith of adolescents and young adults squarely at the feet of us professionals and the failed models we are propping up.