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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
What does it mean to harness the qualities of a color?
Orange connects parents and leaders with the same strategy and same end goal.
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For Family Ministry leaders, Orange represents much more than a color. It is a philosophy, a strategy for implementation, and a community.
A couple of weeks ago, I invited my good friend and colleague in ministry, Curtis Zackery, better known as CZ, to speak to my high school students at our weekly gathering called Anthem.
That's him in the above photo! CZ is a highly gifted speaker, hip hop artist, and pastor. Over the course of our short friendship together, he has sharpened me into a better husband, pastor, and thinker. We routinely swap resources and ideas. I value our friendship, and I am grateful for his witness in my life.
As my good friend remarked the other day, there is an art to meeting with a parent.
I agree, and it is crucial. I know several youth pastors and youth workers who recognize the overwhelming 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. Therefore, be confident in your call and leadership. Period.
I hold a philosophy of leadership that allows much space for my adult leaders to own and embrace the responsibility of faith formation within the lives of our students. Essentially, I want to create space for my adult leaders to function like youth pastors in the lives of their 3-5 kids.
With each passing week that I serve with my leaders at Wyldlife and Anthem, I am landing all the more on this paradigm for adult leadership in youth ministry. I touched on "the why" part of this subject a couple of weeks ago in my post: "Take Your Head Out of the Sand." It may be helpful for you to read that post first before continuing with this one.
