This afternoon I leave for a six-day trip to Tirane, Albania. When ReThink asked me to go, my first question was literally, “Where’s Albania?” They didn’t even know, so we went to Wikipedia to find out: Albania is across from Italy and next to Greece.

I’ll be working with an organization with a huge heart for the global, next-generation of the church: One Hope. Their vision: that EVERY child on the globe would hear the Gospel by 2030. Incredible! I’m blessed beyond blessed to serve on behalf of Orange to help them in this endeavor. They are currently serving in 85 countries, and are growing that number each year.

One Hope loves thinking Orange. They realize that child evangelism can’t stop with the child but must reach into the home as well. We’re excited to help them get started and turn Albania Orange!

I’ll be training children’s pastors, staff, and volunteers how to implement 252Basics elementary curriculum in both the capital city (Tirane) and a more rural area as well. I don’t have a definitive schedule quite yet, but it doesn’t matter. I’m so excited to learn more about the culture and see how Orange fits into the greater strategy of One Hope.

I will have some access to Wifi throughout my trip, so I will try to keep you updated as I can. Please pray that this trip goes well, but that most importantly leaders get the right tools to build relationships with kids that will ultimately lead them to Jesus.

Follow One Hope on Twitter.

Some of the most fun I had all of the Orange Conference this year was leading a breakout on Hosting. We looked at what it takes to make a great host from the basics questions you need to ask anytime you are called to host an event to the deeper skills of creating a moment and characterization.

Here is the presentation:

Creating a family experience can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right planning and time, any church can pull off a family experience that will connect what you’re talking about on the weekends to what’s happening at home throughout the week.

Here are the notes and presentation slides from my breakout at Orange Conference 2012:

The theme for Orange Conference 2012 is Game Changer. We’ll be focusing on those moments in culture and in our lives that changed the way we play the game of life.

In culture these could be an innovation like the printing press or a tragic event like 9/11. Whatever they are, these are moments that have shaped our world view and our approach to how we live our lives.

You and I have faced these as well. People and moments throughout our brief lives that have shaped us into the people we are today. Good or bad, they impact our lives in the same way as the momentous game changers throughout history.

As I’m looking forward to next week, I’m also thinking back on these game changers in my own life, one of which happened last year at the Orange Conference.

Chances are that as we talk about Game Changers next week, you may also experience one of your own. Embrace each moment of the conference and allow the Spirit to move within you. Follow where He leads. And celebrate each milestone on the journey.

It’s what I want to do now. So, in chronological order…

1. My first lead in a school musical: Colby the Computer. Yes, that silly computer who when programmed with a memory verse would spit out a catchy praise and worship tune that would set the kids dancing.

I was in third grade. The costume was made of a cardboard box, but it didn’t matter. The acting bug caught me, and I was hooked. For the rest of my schooling, this was what I loved: being on stage, acting, and singing my heart out.

Nothing has changed. This became more than hobby, but a passion that I bring into my work at Orange  and volunteering at Browns Bridge Community Church.

2. Rod Hosterman and my first high school play: Several teachers throughout my life have impacted me, but none more than Rod. He saw something more in me than I saw in myself and encouraged me to audition for my first high-school play. He taught me a solid foundation of theater and acting. He was always one of my biggest fans.

This play was a game changer because for the first time I realized that this was a viable option for my future. I knew I’d never be the next George Clooney, but I knew that somehow, someway I’d be doing this sort of thing for the rest of my life.

3. Gary Barker and my senior recital. College was the same way. I had a handful of professors that inspired me to various degrees. Gary did this exponentially. He helped me see that one could reconcile faith and the fine arts with integrity. He was also my senior theater recital advisor. While we were planning the event, he kept pushing me to write from my guy, to present something that pushed boundaries, and to communicate my heart on the stage.

Through that process I discovered me. I’m still that person with the same ideals and dreams. The only difference is that they’re no longer just dreams, I get to live them out each day.

4. Brian VanderArk and my first real church job: I remember his two fingers tapping on the table in Bob Evans like it was yesterday. He wanted to know how my heartbeat for ministry. He had his own sneaking suspicion. He wouldn’t offer me the job I’d applied for because he saw a passion in me that I didn’t know was possible: family ministries.

Brian was more than a boss, but a mentor and friend who saw me through some of my worst as young leader. He let me make mistakes but never let me hanging without a net. He shaped me into the leader I am today. He taught me what servant leadership and vision casting is all about.

And while a game changer probably shouldn’t be an entire eight year span of time, working on family ministries at Ada Bible Church with Brian VanderArk changed the way I look at the local church and what it takes to grow the next generation of church leaders.

5. Reggie Joiner and Orange Conference 2011: I don’t need to talk about Reggie. If you read this blog at all, you know who he is and how much I respect him as a person and visionary. Throughout the years, I was an Orange fanboy helping host the Orange Tour at our church and wherever I could at the Orange Conference. But Orange Conference 2011 was a game changer.

The theme was “It’s Your Move.” I felt as if that first session was being spoken directly to me. I was feeling restless and checking out some options for what could be next. Every time Eugene said “It’s Your Move” I knew that, well, it was. I needed to move. Little did I know at the time that the move would be to Atlanta to work for Reggie.

That was a serious game changer.

But really, they all were. Moments of life magnified by their significance on my future.

If you’ve made it through this whole post, first of all, thank you for reading my personal history. Secondly, I’d love to return the favor. I’d love to hear your personal game changer. Comment below!

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells… it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
– Dr. Seuss

When was the last time you did something crazy?

Maybe you jumped off cliffs in Hawaii.
Maybe you spontaneously hopped into a car with your family for an epic road trip.
Maybe you took a day off without calling anyone to tell them.

One summer while I was working at a camp, a buddy and I took a spontaneous trip to a concert festival five hours away. We drove through the night to get there and through the night to get back before our call time for music rehearsal.

We felt alive from the music, the people, and most of all the adventure.

While some might say that moving halfway across the country to Atlanta to work in family ministry is crazy, really we haven’t been that crazy in a long time.

We’re prepared and calculated.  We watch budgets and make sure our kids have everything they need to succeed in school. Spontaneous anything might get in the way of our plan.

Perhaps we’re taking ourselves to seriously. Perhaps, like Dr. Seuss suggests, we need to add some nonsense into our lives to awaken our souls to new possibilities.

The same thing happens in ministry all of the time.

We have plans, budgets, scopes, and deacons to report all of those to. We take our ministry seriously.

You know, sometimes I wish there was a “Jesus laughed” verse to counteract that one about him weeping.

And while that may sound random in the scope of this discussion, I think we all approach ministry with an un-needed weight. When I was pastoring, sometimes I took myself SO seriously. I cared so much about the plan that sometimes I forgot to think outside of that plan —even for a moment—and just enjoy the crazy that comes with being in ministry.

I really think it would have helped me with solving problems and helping people to look at life and ministry from the wrong end of the telescope.

Life has enough worries on it’s own without us adding un-needed seriousness to every moment.

Take risks. Follow Jesus. Enjoy the ride. And laugh like crazy.

_______

How about you? How do you keep yourself from taking yourself too seriously? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. – Dr. Seuss

No one doubts that we have difficult questions to answer in children’s ministry.

How do I handle a child whose parents are getting a divorce? A grandparent who passes away? A DOG that dies?

What do I teach, when? Do we teach chronologically? Do we teach topically?

How do I teach? Do I use puppets? Video? Fog, lights, and lasers?

The questions are endless. The questions are complex. But, like Dr. Seuss says, the answers to these questions may in fact be quite simple.

A few weeks ago, Jenna and I were talking about raising our own kids in faith. We thought back on our own experience with the church. Both of us grew up in families who loved God and sought to serve Jesus with their lives. Those families raised us in the church, every time the church was open: Awana, VBS, Sunday school, church services, and special events.

We are Gen-Xers who still love Jesus. They must have done something right. And they did, but it might not be what you think.

We couldn’t recall what we learned and when we learned it. We might have remembered a scary puppet or three and we definitely could remember the flannel graph boards. But more important than all of that, we remembered people.

Sunday school teachers who loved us unconditionally.

Youth pastors who saw leadership potential in us and invested in our growth.

Congregations who were more like aunts and uncles than just people we went to church with.

Friends who encouraged us to live like we said we believed.

People.

Answers to “who” questions not “what” questions.

In children’s ministry we tend to focus so much on the what’s and how’s of ministry that the who questions get our left over time and attention.

I have a feeling that I still believe in Jesus not because of exactly what I learned but because of the people who lived like Jesus as they taught me about Jesus.

I realize that this sounds dangerous. We have many questions to answer regarding content and curriculum.

The answer might be simpler than you think: Teach kids that Jesus is their Savior. Teach them how to be like Him in a way that’s relevant for them and suits your faith community.

BUT, do all of this in a way that elevates the relationships in a child’s life. Their learning will be exponentially greater if they see faith lived out in the lives of authentic, genuine leaders who love them for who they are.

Yes, we will have complex questions, but the answer might be very simple:

Love kids.

Be with them.

Listen to them.

Help them understand that they are accepted as they come, complete with their hurts and fears and questions.

Walk with them as the Spirit leads them to discover their part in God’s Big Story.

This week is the anniversary of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Theodor “Seuss” Geisel’s influence goes beyond the classroom and reaches into children’s ministry. This week we’ll take a look at how his thoughts can help us as we approach the Big Story we tell.

Adults are obsolete children. – Dr. Seuss

I encountered this phrase years ago while preparing for my senior theater recital. At the time I believe I made some sort of Seussian vow never to allow this to happen to me.

Yet, no matter how hard we try to stop the pull, most of us after time fall into the trap of life and stress and bills and pain and everything else that comes with the responsibility of being a grown up.

We lose our child-like wonder that sees beauty in everything and trusts God no matter what.

As children’s pastors, we must continually strive to create moments in the life of children that will propel their relationship with God through Jesus Christ. My prayer is that they never lose their child-like Wonder at the awesome God of the universe.

I wrote the following post for the 252Basic blog here. When I think about this quote from Dr. Seuss, I think it’s absolutely fitting to include it here.

“Back to Wonder“

I wish you could have heard the squeals coming from the row in front of me as the plane accelerated and lifted into the air. Or have seen the wide-eyed glee in the seats next to me as the buildings began looking less like skyscrapers and more like Lego models.

My kids had flown several times as toddlers, but this was the first flight where they were aware of the sheer awe of taking flight.

We only have one first time to experience lift off and landing, soaring above the clouds, and looking down on the tiny cars on the interstate.

This flight didn’t disappoint. My kids were enraptured with WONDER.

I believe this same thing happens when we first encounter the awesome story of the God who created the heavens and the earth, parted the Red Sea, and raised His Son back to life to save us.

When we hear those stories for the first time, they incite WONDER in our hearts. They cause us to squeal with glee that Someone loved His people enough to rescue them time and again.

What about the second or third or twenty-second time we hear those stories?

On our return flight, the kids were more excited about the beverage service than they were about the take off and landing. They were more engrossed in their hand-held games than what was happening outside the plane. From here on out, each time they fly, they’ll take more and more for granted. What once incited WONDER will be ignored.

The same happens when we hear Bible stories again and again. We take the moments of WONDER for granted. We expect God to send the manna, to help the boy kill the giant, and to raise the King of Kings from the dead. We stop being enamored with the most amazing story ever told.

The Orange strategy is built on a scope and cycle grounded in Wonder, Discovery, and Passion. We want incite WONDER in our kids, provoke DISCOVERY of how they fit into God’s Story, and fuel PASSION for them to live out their faith in the real world.

Scope is important. Everyone needs a plan. However, we don’t want to get so lost in the scope that we forget the importance of cycle.

In the scope and cycle of 252 Basics, we return to stories and virtues with an end in mind. We hope that each time a story is told that kids once again encounter an awesome, wonderful God who loves them. We want our kids to feel like they’re hearing these stories for the first time, every time they’re presented.

We hope that you do the same.

We’d love to hear how you’re helping to incite WONDER in your environments! Comment below and share your ideas.

This post was supposed to go live yesterday, but alas I was hacked. Without further ado, Happy Valentine’s Day… a day late.

______

Last night Jenna and I shared our life-stories at small group. As I was prepping and thinking about high school and all those mixtapes I made for girlfriends, I became inspired to make a special mixtape for the girl who stole my heart.

Of course, I couldn’t find a 90min Maxell xLii’s anywhere. I grabbed two CDs and iTunes and went to work on putting my heart into and hour and a half of music for the one and only Jenna Scott.

But it’s not just any mix. These are the songs I would have put on a playlist had we been high school sweethearts back in the day. Yes, much of this was my music of choice – Even saw Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant in concert during that time. And don’t get me started on Steven Curtis Chapman’s The Great Adventure! What’s crazy is that most of this music I still do love to some extent – ok, maybe not NKOTB – and it all in someway hints at the fact that I’ve got the best wife in the world. Her love is strong and keeps me going.

To Jenna, my one, only, and always True Companion. I love you…

What’s missing? What would you have put on a mixtape for your high-school sweetheart?

Side 1:

Do You Dream Of Me | Michael W. Smith | The First Decade | 1993

You’re The Inspiration | Chicago | Chicago – Greatest Hits 1982-1989 | 1989

Babyface | U2 | Zooropa |1993

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You | Brian Adams | Anthology [Disc 1] | 1991

(They Long To Be) Close To You | The Cranberries | If I Were A Carpenter | 1994

Friday I’m In Love | The Cure | Wish | 1992

Your Song | Elton John | To Be Continued… [Disc 1] | 1990

Sweet Child O’ Mine | Guns N’ Roses | Appetite for Destruction | 1987

Pour Some Sugar On Me | Def Leppard | Hysteria | 1987

Need You Tonight | INXS | Kick | 1987

Side 2:

The Way You Make Me Feel | Michael Jackson | Bad | 1987

Step By Step | New Kids On The Block | Step By Step | 1990

Whole Lotta Love | Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin Box Set (Disc 1) | 1990

Ice Cream | Sarah McLachlan | Fumbling Towards Ecstasy | 1994

Lucky One | Amy Grant | House of Love | 1994

Mad About You | Sting | Soul Cages | 1991

All About Soul | Billy Joel | River Of Dreams | 1993

Thank You | Tori Amos | Crucify [EP] | 1992

Go There With You | Steven Curtis Chapman | The Great Adventure | 1992

Wild Horses | The Sundays | Blind | 1992

True Companion | Marc Cohn |Marc Cohn | 1991

When we prepared to bring Taye into our lives, the adoption agency had us go through diversity-training. The idea class being that our once very vanilla family (minus a hip-hop record or twelve) was going to bring a very chocolate child our home. While this was an eye opener to the fact that our lives were quite monochromatic, we didn’t think that bringing Taye into our home would change much.

We weren’t completely wrong, yet we weren’t right either.

When we brought Taye into our lives, all of a sudden we realized just how white our lives really were.

Every book we had in the house was about white children.

Every doll we had in the house was caucasian or at best sun-tanned.

All the papers that came home from church were—you guessed it—filled with white kids.

And there was Taye who at one point wondered aloud “When I gonna turn ‘nilla?”

We worked hard to celebrate Taye and how God made him. We brought diversity into our home with books and dolls that appear more like our family.

Then one Sunday this past summer while attending LifeChurch.TV, Taye brought home this:

“Dad, he like me!”

I could have cried.

Even creative people in the church with our radars up, sometimes miss something so simple: Have options for crafts that celebrate children just as God created them.

Just a little bit of extra money and time can mean the world to a family who sometimes feels out-of-place. Make your church a refuge for these families not a place where they are constantly reminded that they are different.