As ministry leaders, we cannot deny that partnering with parents is a big need in our churches. But, what does this actually look like? How do we make parents feel like they are being partnered with versus communicating an strategy that never really happens? Partnering with parents looks different for every mom and for every dad. Tune in to today’s episode as Rachael Sibcy helps us find each partner’s partnering language.

One of a leader’s greatest responsibilities is to keep an eye on the culture in which they serve, and to make adjustments accordingly. In today’s episodes, executive pastor Rob Cizek shares three increasingly negative attitudes about the church today and what we can do to change them.

When we come into a new position of leadership, no matter the length of our resume or the reason we got there, it’s easy to want to quickly prove ourselves as wise, capable, and worth the investment. We map big plans, oftentimes without truly having a clear idea of what our destination should look like. And we can cause more harm than good. We can lose great employees, destroy trust, and even damage the credibility of the ministry or organization. In today’s episode, discover Ronne Rock’s three essentials for leading through change.

Spiritual growth and serving are connected. Most students who get spiritually stuck need avenues to do something significant. If we want to keep moving students in a better direction, we must create consistent opportunities for our students to serve. Through their research, Fuller Youth Institute found that the more students serve and build relationships with younger students, the more likely it is that their faith will stick. Sociologists of religion have found a correlation between church growth and youth involvement that is consistent across different types of churches. Inviting students to serve has many benefits. In this episode, Jeremy Zach shares how we can begin utilizing our high school students to volunteer or serve.

Let’s set the stage. You have successfully recruited lots of volunteers, but are they on mission? Do they understand why they serve? Are they excited to be there? Do they feel well equipped to lead? Are they encouraged? Do they feel appreciated? Do they feel like they have a voice to make it better? These are such great questions to ask yourself as a family ministry leader. As cheesy as it may sound, it really does start one volunteer at a time. In this episode, Chard Ward shares a few things we need to commit to doing well for each volunteer.

Spending time with small group leaders (SGLs) is a huge priority for those of us in ministry, but it’s a challenge. You probably have a full-time job, children or other obligations that make finding time to for SGLs difficult within the rhythm of your week, month, or year. And, SGLs have lives too. They have families, school, jobs, and full schedules. How do you make time and create a rhythm for winning every week with SGLs? In this episode, Gina Abbas shares how she creates space in her life and increases her capacity to care for small group leaders and SGL coaches.

While the church has one common mission to reach people for the kingdom, those of us who have family ministry titles are oftentimes solely responsible for championing a vision for kids and teenagers in a setting traditionally focused on adults. You have two choices: 1) Make it better so that your church can more effectively reach the next generation, or 2) Don’t, and it will all stay the same. Since you are reading this, you are likely a leader. And what do leaders do? Change things! So, where do you begin to lead the way in getting a church to invest more in family ministry? Find out by listening to today’s episode by Rebekah Bullard.

In our churches, prospective volunteers have fears about helping our ministries. One of the biggest fears people have when they think about volunteering is the potential of not being able to do it well. Nobody wants to jump into a role and then be embarrassed by not knowing what to do. Our job as leaders is to ensure new volunteers are connected and prepared for what’s ahead. On this episode, Nick Blevins shares five steps we can take to help connect and train new volunteers.

You want your church to grow to reach new people, and you’ve convinced yourself that you really would grow if you only had one or two more things to make your ministry thrive. And would you? Carey Nieuwhof’s theory says you wouldn’t. Before you get discouraged, let Carey explain why this line of thinking rarely, if ever works. In this episode, Carey Nieuwhof discusses five things that won’t make your church grow (despite what you may think).

Whenever you add up the actual amount of time you have to influence the spiritual direction of a kid’s life, it could make your task seem daunting and even impossible. In most “best case” scenarios, you will only get about 40 hours in a year to share with kids everything they need to know about God, Jesus, faith, forgiveness, grace, love, life and eternity. If you have less than 20 times this year to connect with kids in your area of ministry, what are you going to teach them? What’s the one thing you don’t want kids to miss? Amy Fenton tackles that question in this episode of the Orange Leaders Audio Blog.

How do we make sure we’re casting a clear vision that’s memorable, meaningful and helpful? The tough part is clearly defining and communicating the vision. As our churches continue to grow and add new volunteers and staff members, we are constantly casting vision to ensure everyone is on the same page and headed in the same direction. Powell Grisham has learned a few things about casting vision to volunteers and shares his insights with us in this episode of the Orange Leaders Audio Blog.

According to Mollie Marti, “A noble leader answers not to the trumpet calls of self promotion, but to the hushed whispers of necessity.” As leaders in the church, we are to constantly giving away the most basic thing that we posses: our leadership platform. When a leader encourages and equips their volunteer team to lead in their place, amazing things can happen. How do you inspire passion and drive in your team so that they pick up the torch and lead the charge? In this episode, Joe McAlpine shares how to develop volunteers into leaders.

The Orange Strategy combines the influence of parents and the church to give kids the best chance to grow spiritually. However, the church’s role goes beyond children or student ministries. In this episode, children’s pastor Ryan Bicker shares how the entire church should get involved with the four essential ingredients of an Orange church.

When the light of the church (symbolized by the color yellow) combines with the heart of the home (symbolized by the color red), we align our efforts to impact kids and teenagers (producing the color orange). Discover it means to be an Orange Leader from Jennifer Wilder on our introductory episode of the Orange Leaders Audio Blog.