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

friendships

Giving Thanks with a Full Heart

Giving Thanks with a Full Heart

I began this post a few days ago, but between cross country flights, reconnecting with my in-laws, filling up on wonderful food, and then eating leftovers of wonderful food, I still want to post my thanks and gratitude before we move too far away from Thanksgiving:

First and foremost, I am so grateful - everyday... every moment of the day - for the grace, forgiveness, and salvation afforded to us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine my life without him; although, I can remember well when I chose a life apart from him. It is by the grace of God every day that I can love God well, love others, and know that I am loved. Praise God for what he did for every single one of us on the cross and resurrection!

Are You Heeding this Advice?

Are You Heeding this Advice?

In a coffee shop last week with my great friend and ministry colleague, Curtis Zackery, he shared a quote with me that I want to pass onto you. 

It certainly gave me reason to pause and think about the value of friendship in my personal life, the nature of it, and our proclivity to abandon it for the '2-foot ladder' (see Lecrae, "Fear) up which all of us so long to climb! 

C.S. Lewis says of friendship:

Orange Friendships

If someone pinned me up against a wall and forced me to confess my MOST favorite Orange quality (though you would never have to do such a thing for me to talk about Orange)… I would say, "Easy! It's all about Friendships!"

In my Monday post, the number one reason that I noted for your church to become Orange is so that you don't do ministry alone! If for no other reason, then Orange is worth its weight in Gold! It's that simple.