Reggie Joiner's Blog, page 39

Get the Scoop on #OC2020 During Orange Blogger Week

We’re currently in the middle of the 2019 Orange Tour, but it’s never too early to start looking forward to next year’s Orange Conference. That’s primarily because we just recently announced our theme for 2020: Every Generation Needs a New Revolution.

Watch Reggie Joiner give a sneak peek of the theme and why it’s important:

Orange Blogger Week

To help spread the word about the conference, we’ve enlisted the help of some of our friends in the blogging community. Just like they’ve done in pas...

How to Make Time When You Don’t Have It

Time. As leaders, it’s a precious resource. It seems to fly through our fingers, and before we know it, deadlines have passed and the hopes we have for our ministries must be compromised in order to be accomplished. We find ourselves in survival mode, doing ministry based on what need is most urgent.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if we could manipulate our calendar in order to create more time for our ministries? Not only is this possible, but it’s a crucial step for you as a leade...

35 Reasons My Middle Schooler Might Be Freaking Out

This post was written by Kristen Ivy, Director of Messaging at Orange and Director of The Phase Project.

I recently stumbled across Jason Good’s 46 Reasons My Three-Year-Old Might Be Freaking Out.

His socks are on wrong. His lip tastes salty. His shirt has a tag on it. The car seat is weird. . .
(Read the rest of the list on Jason’s blog.)

The first thing I thought when I read the list was how much I wanted to share it with anyone I know who has a preschooler. Because let’s be honest, this...

The Power of Story as an Ongoing Celebration of Ministry

There is a story in the making at your church. God is up to amazing things in the lives of people in the local church. We mark celebrations of church anniversaries and of people being added. These are great stories to mark and tell. They are a way to see forward motion and how far we’ve come. The Old Testament is filled with celebrations God’s people used to recall God’s goodness. Stories and celebrations of His faithfulness is God’s idea!

Do you help share the reasons to celebrate in your mi...

The Upside Down Kingdom of God

Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to like your ministry. Not everyone is going to like your church. You’re going to make strategic decisions that frustrate people coming to your church. From making modifications to the flow of traffic in your parking lot, to small groups curriculum, to the songs people wished you sang on Sundays, you’ll have critics in your church. The Jesus way of responding might feel strange, but so do most things in the upside-down nature of the Kin...

Three Things Kids Need to Hear From Ministry Leaders

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Fall—and the holiday season that follows it—is a fantastic few months of pure joy and hope. It’s an opportunity for people to share thanks for the blessings God has done, rejoice in the love of God through Christ’s birth and hope for a new year and a fresh start.

As joyful and happy as these months are for a lot of people, it can also be a very challenging time of year for others. Just because someone is supposed to feel joy and hope over the holidays...

A Kindness Manifesto For Leading Ministry Teams Well

It was late in the evening at a conference, and a group had gathered to talk about everything they had learned during the day. There were sessions on fundraising and marketing, sessions on launching ministries and on defining metrics for their success. And there was a lot of discussion in workshops and seminars about caring for volunteers. “They are your lifeblood. Serve them well. Treat them like gold.”

“Sometimes, I wish I was still a volunteer,” quietly mentioned one person in the group. “...

The Two Different Kinds of Knowing

In the 1984 comedy Top Secret, Val Kilmer plays a rock star turned spy in Cold War-era East Germany. In one scene, Kilmer is trying to order food at a German restaurant but admits that he doesn’t speak the language. 

“I know a little German,” responds his female co-lead. “He’s sitting over there.” The camera cuts to another table where a short man in lederhosen stands up and waves. He’s a little German.

The scene is funny because it’s a wordplay on the two different kinds of knowing—knowing i...

5 Qualities of an Amazing Small Group Leader

by Kendra Fleming

If you’re anything like us, you’ve just spent the summer recruiting and training new small group leaders for the fall. As we interviewed and talked to these leaders there are always a few things that we’re looking for. Here are five qualities I think are most important. If you’ve been doing this for a while, then you know ’em when you see ’em!

1. They care.
I’m not talking about someone who is tenderhearted or hugs a lot. I’m talking about someone who genuinely feels compass...

Leading Change: 4 Ways To Attack Problems Instead Of People

by Carey Nieuwhof

As a leader, you dream of a better future. Maybe it involves reaching new families, changing your current ministry programs, launching a new idea, or leading a complete transformation of your ministry. Whatever that dream looks like, it necessarily involves change. But the hard reality is that if you attempt to change almost anything, you will encounter resistance.

Leading change without losing it

When that happens, especially when someone attacks your ideas (or you personal...