My Favorite #OC15 Tweets

Orange Conference 2015

I was not able to attend this year’s Orange Conference but I stayed plugged in through their live feed and social media posts.  Here are my favorite tweets from the conference:

Leadership

“You can only lead someone as far as you have gone yourself.”

“Time management hack: Look at your week and ask yourself “What 3 things have to happen for this week to be successful?”

“Saying yes to the wrong things is a momentum killer. Be willing to say no.”

“Language should be: • Relevant • Memorable • Repeatable • Effective.”

The first time you do something should be the worst time. Every other time you should be getting better at it.

“Never fight the battle of the “how to” until you have fought the battle of the value of why.”

“Courage is creating a stop doing list to do something better. Be intentional.”

“There’s an inexorable correlation between leadership and change.”

“You need 2 people in your life: 10 yrs ahead of you to show you potholes. 10 yrs behind to show you where the culture is heading.”

“You can’t fall in love with your method, you have to fall in love with your mission if you’re going to be an effective leader.”

“Change the world by investing in one life.”

“Celebrate what you want repeated.”

“Never apologize for having high standards for your leaders!”

“A healthy team culture, creates healthy church, which creates a healthy community.”

Volunteers

Church: we have the most important mission on the planet. Don’t apologize when asking 4 volunteers.”

“Few things are more demotivating to a volunteer than discovering staff didn’t set them up to succeed. Be organized.”

“Non-financial currencies to pay your volunteers: Gratitude, Attention, Trust, Empowerment, Respect.”

“Remind your volunteers often that even if they can’t always see it – they are making a difference.”

“Do we treat our volunteers well enough that they would recruit others to volunteer in our ministry?”

Taking Care of You

“If your only common ground with your spouse is your kids…they’re going to leave 1 day…then what?”

“Hustle is an act of FOCUS, not FRENZY.”

“Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. Passion fades. Your heart grows hard. Rest isn’t refuelling. Learn self-care, not self-medication.”

Family Ministry

“Parents don’t need something else to do. Give them an activity to do during times they all ready have with their kids.”

“For a blended family, attending church together 26 weeks a year is perfect attendance.”

“Reaching and keeping families at your church demands you plan and create systems so families can take next steps!”

“How to reach & keep families: Visitors will make a decision whether or not they will return within 7 sec of parking.”

“Only 18% of unchurched population fit into “traditional family” category. How does your strategy reach all families?”

“The church should be the BEST place that all parents can go to coached and equipped on becoming better parents.”

“One of the best gifts a church can give a kid or teen is to help parents have a thriving marriage.”

Connecting with Kids

“Kids will forget what you say, they will forget what you did, but kids will never forget how you made them feel.”

Next Gen Ministry

“Teenagers will never believe they are significant until you give them something significant to do.”

“The sooner you get students involved in ministry the more solid their relationship with Jesus becomes.”

You can find more tweets by searching the following hashtags: #OC15, #justaphase, #thinkorange.

Keep the conversation going!  Did you follow the conference online or attend the conference in person?  What were some of your favorite tweets or quotes?

Join Me For A Virtual Bus Trip!

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I absolutely love touring Children’s Ministry facilities when I visit churches.  I snap pictures (with permission of course), pick up literature, peek into every nook and cranny, and ask the CM staff lots of questions.

There are many fabulous churches around the country that I would love to see in person but doing that would cost a pretty penny.  But because of ingenious kidmin friends, we can visit 10 churches around the U.S. without leaving our homes (or offices).  How?

My friend Ryan Frank is putting together a virtual bus tour next month.  On May 27th and May 28th, you can get on a virtual bus, meet 10 kidmin leaders doing big things for the Kingdom of God through their ministry to children and families, hear their hearts, see their facilities and ask them questions.

And guess what?  I’ve been invited to be one of the 10 leaders participating in this event!  I am still pinching myself that I get to do something like this…it’s crazy!

I’d love to have you join me for this event.  You can check out all the details here.

Hope to ‘see’ you there!

KidMin Volunteer Appreciation Giveaway

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If you lead a kidmin, then you know that volunteers are the backbone and heartbeat of your ministry.  While we prepare behind the scenes, these faithful servants are on the front lines helping children know and love Jesus week in and week out.  Treasuring and appreciating these folks should always be a priority of ours.  My friends at What’s in the Bible? can help you do just that.

Thank your team courtesy of What’s in the Bible? by entering to win a free breakfast for your team.  Find out more details here.  Hurry – the deadline to enter is Sunday, April 12th!

In the meantime, if you’re looking for fun and inexpensive ideas to appreciate your volunteers, check these out:

15 Ways to Thank Your Children’s Ministry Volunteers

Year-Round Volunteer Appreciation Ideas

I’ve pinned 250+ ideas for volunteer appreciation on Pinterest.  Check it out: https://www.pinterest.com/kathierphillips/kidmin-volunteer-appreciation/

Share with our community! How have you appreciated your volunteers lately?

Flashback Friday: My Favorite Online Reads (Week of March 23, 2015)

This Week’s Favorite Online Reads

Here’s a sampling of some of the online reads I enjoyed this week:

{MINISTRY/LEADERSHIP}

Has the sun set on Sunday School? by Melissa Pandika

5 Steps to More Effective Children’s Ministry by Rob Hoskins

What’s Causing You to Limp Into Weekend Services by Dale Hudson

Strategy, Not Curriculum by Reggie Joiner

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I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I did.

Did you read something this week that inspired or encouraged you? Share it with me so I might check it out, too!