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

Because of His Great Love for Us!

Because of His Great Love for Us!

A couple of weeks ago, I offered a sermon at my church within a series on Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. Even though my previous posts reference sermons on chapters 1 and 4, I want to make chapter 2 available for you also. Truly, chapter is the Gospel. It is the Good News of hope and reconciliation for our sin and transgression. 

During this Thanksgiving week, I feel grateful that because of God's great love for us, we no longer face the wrath of God and consequence of death for our sin and transgression. May know that good news awaits for those who believe because God's great love for you!

Read my sermon below, titled: "Because of His Great Love for Us!"

Live Into the Calling You Received!

Live Into the Calling You Received!

One of the most comprehensive and instructive selections on the church found within the Bible is the great passage from Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4. 

It provides the follower of Jesus with the tools necessary to understand the foundational mission and purpose of the church, the real, active presence of the Body of Christ in our world. 

I believe in the church. As one prominent Pastor once said, "The local church is the hope of the world!" I agree with it so much that I have staked my life and vocation on it.

Below, I have posted an excerpt from my sermon this past Sunday. It is rooted in Ephesians 4, and it contains a worked out response to living into the call that you received from Christ, the head of the church!

May you come to see the church as the hope for the world and the primary means through which one discovers the grace of our Lord and works out her or his redemption!

3 Keys to Earn Trust with Parents

3 Keys to Earn Trust with Parents

Recently, I led 2 high school ministry events that kept students out past midnight. I broke the cardinal rule of student ministry. 

Both events started late in the evening - both concerts - both explicitly Christian. 

Afterward, one of my high school group leaders approached me and asked, "How did you get away with this?" To which I responded, "I didn't just get away with it. For four years, I have been working tirelessly to earn the respect and trust of parents. That is why I can do events like this." And the dividends of doing so pay off huge.

But not just for fun events. Earned respect and trust allow the student ministry of our church to extend 10 times further than it could if I ran a solo operation without the inclusion of parents. How so, you might wonder? Once parents see you as for their family, not against it, then parents WANT to share with other parents about a program that meets the felt needs of their student, while honoring the values of their family.

Indeed - as contrary as this may sound to student ministry leaders - parents are your most valuable asset. 

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:

The Choice, the Plan, and the Inheritance!

The Choice, the Plan, and the Inheritance!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working through Paul's Letter to the Ephesians for the adults of our church on Sunday morning. 

In doing so, my Spirit feels so refreshed and renewed from studying this letter and crafting sermons to share the Gospel for our community. The first 2 chapters in particular address the Good News of Jesus Christ - the work of the Father for every person through his son. 

As I thought about what to post this week, I kept returning to the idea of sharing an excerpt from my sermon. I believe this letter - short of what we observe from the actual act of Jesus himself in the cross and resurrection, as recorded in the Gospels - offers the most robust treatment of the why Jesus matters for our world and what to do about it. 

Read how Paul opens his letter to the church in Ephesus, beginning with chapter 1, verses 3-14:

Is Doubt a Healthy Catalyst for Faith Formation?

Is Doubt a Healthy Catalyst for Faith Formation?

While I attended seminary at Princeton, a new wave of research began surfacing that asked the question: "Is Doubt a Healthy Catalyst for Faith Formation?"

For some, this was a welcomed question that allowed discussion on a crucial topic. It is a daily issue for those of us who serve in professional ministry, especially with adolescents and young adults. I even know older adults with much more life experience and a deep faith, however, who still wrestle with thoughts of doubt. 

I would go so far to surmise that all people to some extent wrestle with doubt regarding matters of faith, such as the existence of God, the means of salvation, and the redemption of all things. It is a very real part of our human existence. Even the father in the Book of Mark chapter 9 exclaims, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

No doubt that doubt is real. 

Yet, I want to pose the question: Is doubt healthy for faith formation?

Beware of 3 Mistakes When Building Parent Partnerships

Beware of 3 Mistakes When Building Parent Partnerships

If you ask my leaders, "What is one thing that Ryan talks about ad nauseum?" I guarantee that they will tell you two things: Contact Work and Parent Partnerships.

Student Ministry is not rocket science. Some people try to make it so, but any schlep called by God can do this work - just ask my wife. :) I would rather compare Student Ministry to baking a cake from scratch. The cake itself only requires a few ingredients, but the slightest distortion of any ingredient - an extra ounce here, too litter there - will always result in a catastrophic pile of culinary disaster! Trust me, I know this, too - ask my wife. :)

Student Ministry requires only a few key components, and truly, depending on the scale and mixture of those components, either beautiful dessert is made or get ready for hours of messy clean up.

4 Truths When Meeting With a Parent

4 Truths When Meeting With a Parent

As my good friend remarked the other day, there is an art to meeting with a parent.

I agree, and it is a crucial, learned skill. I know several youth pastors and youth workers who recognize the wonderful benefit of parent partnerships but feel either intimidated or under qualified to actually do it. Allow me to dispel this: God has entrusted you with the privileged task of gathering, equipping, and sending students, which requires your intentional, faithful involvement with parents.

You need to meet with parents. It must become a regular rhythm of your ministry. Not doing so wipes away half of the people to whom God has called to you to minister.