Wow—did you guys show up big for this final contest! We asked you to tell us how you have your community thinking Orange. We asked you to tell us what you’ve got going on outside the walls of your church. We asked you what difference you have made in your neighborhood. You answered in AMAZING ways.

Your stories were so encouraging and inspiring. They left us even more grateful to partner with you in your church’s journey. You were creative and excited, and hopefully those of you who submitted entries are more proud to be at your church than ever before.

The yellow side of Orange is represented by the light of the church. And no doubt there are many lights shining right now in their communities. If you are one of those, whether you submitted an entry or not, we thank you wholeheartedly.

Here are some examples of the incredible stories that were shared with us:

• Participating in local Chamber of Commerce events
• Community-wide youth events
• Thanksgiving food drives with the local fire department
• Mission trips and worldwide partnerships with churches
• 5K run for social injustice
• Camp partnerships with local churches
• Multi-denominational partnerships for common events like fall festival
• ESL and deaf language program
• Homeless outreach
• VBS
• Community/social services and mission facility
• Good Friday and Christmas events out in the community rather than inside the church
• Upward Sports programs
• Summer programs, camps and food for low income families
• Family Experience (FX) at church and in schools
• Outreach opportunities around the 252 Basics monthly life applications
• School tutors and mentors
• Teacher appreciation lunch
• Thanksgiving meals and Christmas gifts
• Community service days
• Mini golf course built from old FX sets for a free family fun day
• Building wells and providing water abroad
• Bible clubs in schools
• Community/civic partnerships like Habitat for Humanity
• Clothes, coat and umbrella collections
• Knitting blankets for low income mothers of newborns
• Partnering families one-on-one with at-risk students
• Woodworking classes
• Random acts of kindness in the community with leave-behind cards
• Hurricane Sandy clean up, restoration and rebuild
• Family nights at YMCA
• Running clubs
• Park and neighborhood cleanups
• Music parodies everyone enjoys and can pass along
• Prison ministries

Here are the three winners of our contest, and a little about how they have their community thinking Orange—in their own words:

Tiffany at New City Church in Kansas: New City Church launched one year ago in an area that desperately needed some light. We moved in when many others were moving out. Our church came with the mission to bring joy to our city. One of our main objectives was to partner with our local elementary school to fill in the gaps. At the time, it was the only failing school in our district. We simply asked, “How can I help?” with no strings attached. In one year, we have provided backpacks, school supplies, launched a grant program for strengthening families as the school’s main community partner, packed weekend food backpacks, provided a day camp over spring break, and much more. The kids know when they see New City Church that there are people that love them.

We also use our facility as a safe, fun place for families to go. The area surrounding our church is government-assisted housing and many families have no transportation. Since our facility is a renovated movie theater, we open it every Friday for a free family movie night with snacks. We also use this event to allow community service organizations to come and provide basic needs and information, such as glaucoma screening, literacy information, and ELL classes. One of the moms in our community put it like this, “Before New City came, we didn’t do anything together as a family, now we do!”

The use of Orange curriculum as our strategy has been vital to helping the kids we have impacted in the community to take their next steps in following Jesus. Orange allows us as a young church to have an easy way to implement a dynamic and exciting Sunday morning experience that kids want to come to. We average 150 kids each Sunday and we often hear that the kids are begging their families to come to church! We have seen many children come to know and love Jesus and obey Him in baptism.

Diane at Hanover Church of God in Pennsylvania: For the past eight years, we have been doing a weekly FX program, which has met with various levels of opposition and has seen many changes. After OC11, I prayed for God to reveal what MOVE He wanted us to make. I was sure it had something to do with the FX. I was right, but not exactly the way I thought. While I thought God wanted me to end or change the FX, I discovered He wanted to expand it!

It took almost a year of praying and waiting on God to reveal to me what HE was trying to show me in terms of making a move. Doors from my past as a public school teacher began opening after 11 years of being away, while almost simultaneously new relationships, like the one with Core Essentials began forming.

While at the school where I was formerly employed, I realized that they haven’t had a new character education program since I was there about 12 years ago! It became clear now what God was doing. My lead pastor gave me permission to use time away from the church to minister to the community through the schools. And the doors of opportunity starting swinging open! In just a few months, my new partner and I, a parent and volunteer in our ministry, were invited to talk to four school districts, the local YMCA and the local YWCA. Almost all the schools took us up on the offer, and we have since produced a School XP in each school! In one year, we have covered more ground than we could have dreamed!

Our FX team of volunteers, who have full-time jobs outside the church, manage to rearrange their schedules to make every School XP. God’s arm has reached out to this community with Orange, extending it into each child’s household as they bring home papers that cue their parents to the value being taught that month, as parents participate in the school activities, and see this in the community. I have heard from teachers and school administrators about how excited they are to have this kind of atmosphere in their schools. And a new flame has just been lit and is growing by the minute as we come up with more ideas to impact our schools and community at every level.

Andy at Eastern Hills Church in New York: For the last several years, we have done a monthly Family XP called Family Fusion. It is a dynamic environment designed for children and families to attend and experience together on Friday nights. While these have been very successful, we have always wanted to do more.

Late 2012 brought the opportunity to partner with a local school and bring our family experience to their school-wide assemblies using Core Essentials. Our church had been reading through Mark Batterson’s book Circle Maker and some of the moms began walking circles around their school and praying for God to open doors for influence. Before we knew it, the principal had given our program the green light. So many parents, kids and volunteers from our church pitched in to pull this off. It was a huge hit with both the students and the administration, and we’ve been officially invited back. There is also the possibility of adding a second school this year.

In addition, we were given the go-ahead to offer a “Bible Club” through the PTO-sponsored after school program. We had over 20 kids in each group, the most kids in any of the after school programs offered. One of our “Circle” praying moms led the charge with the club.

At Christmastime, we opted to launch a campaign that would move the church into the community. We gave children and families a challenge to go out and show compassion to others who had a need. The children were given a dollar and a “Mission Report” sheet to record their creative ideas of how they could use that dollar to do good. We received dozens of reports back of how families creatively showed God’s love and compassion. We saw so many families of all ages work together to do good deeds in their neighborhood. We even organized a couple of “cash mobs” to generate large volumes of revenue for a couple of our local businesses.

Our team has also launched a very successful Upward Ball Hockey League, the only one in the United States. We have seen entire families move from not attending church at all to fully plugging into our church and getting involved.

One of our high school girl’s small groups started their very own charity to raise enough funds to feed three hungry families in Haiti for a year. And each year, our student ministry hosts an event called the Hunger Experience. It is a 12-hour all night event in which the students not only fast to experience hunger but also fundraise ahead of time to sponsor children in the Dominican Republic. We take a trip to the DR each June to visit the kids we support at an organization called Emmanuel House.

We also launched a brand new marriage ministry this past year using the MarriedPeople curriculum. It allowed us to not only engage the couples within our church, but also our community.

And in the spirit of community, this Good Friday we are partnering with other area churches to host a service in a neutral locale. We’re hoping that people who normally wouldn’t come into a church would be interested enough to come to the arena for this service.

A big congrats to Tiffany, Diane and Andy! These winners will receive OC13 tickets and AirTran airfare tickets!

Thank you to everyone who sent us your story. They remind us why we do what we do. And hopefully they’ve also inspired the rest of you out there as well.

Orange is all about inciting wonder, provoking discovery and fueling passion in the heart of every child. The passion piece includes loving the world around them and utilizing influence in their community. We always want church to be defined by Christ and His people, not the walls of any building. So for our last contest prior to OC13, we want to know how you have your local community thinking Orange.

How is your church utilizing its influence in the community?
How are you connecting to the world around you?
What difference have you made in your neighborhood?

Tell us, and your team could be headed to OC13! We’re giving away EIGHT FREE TICKETS AND AIRFARE to the winners! Remember, sell us on your story and include any team members that you want to be considered as ticket winners. A one or two sentence explanation just won’t do. This is your opportunity to toot your own horn! We can’t wait to hear what you’ve been up to.

Send your submission to Kristi Porter, kporter@rethinkgroup.org.

Fine Print:
Contest entries must be submitted by Monday, March 18 at 5 p.m. EDT. Orange staff will choose finalists, and winners will be announced on the Orange Leaders blog the week of March 25. We will select up to eight winners for this contest. These may be from the same church or multiple churches.

By submitting your idea, you give permission to the staff of The Orange Conference to share the details with other people. OC13 tickets and airfare that have already been purchased will not be refunded. Hotel, ground transportation and meals will be the responsibility of the winners. Airline tickets are only good for AirTran, so please consider travel before submitting. Travel within domestic US and Puerto Rico only.

If you are the contest winners, AirTran Airways is pleased to provide you with a round-trip ticket to Atlanta, Ga., for The Orange Conference! Your coach class ticket will be booked in coordination with a travel assistant from AirTran Airways. Travel is subject to AirTran Airways contract of carriage, rules and regulations. Travel is non-refundable and non-transferable. If you have to cancel your trip for any reason, AirTran and OC12 tickets will not be extended or renewed. Reservations are subject to availability and capacity control restrictions. Holiday blackout restrictions will apply. Should you need to make any changes to your itinerary, a $75 change fee will apply. Changes and cancellations can be made up to one hour prior to the scheduled departure time.

Please note that workshops and breakouts for The Orange Conference are already filling up. Content winners will be able to sign up only for workshops and breakouts with availability at the time that the free registration is redeemed.

Should The Orange Conference have a waiting list for attendees at the time of your registration, the winning ticket holders will be allowed to redeem complimentary tickets and attend the event. Any additional tickets desired will be subject to our waiting list terms and conditions.

Whew—you guys make it hard to choose finalists! It was really difficult to FOCUS on just a few when there were so many great entries. Looks like quite a few of our Orange Leaders out there have found tricks and tips that work for them in their ministry, and hopefully it will be helpful information for the rest of us as well.

Below, you’ll find the lucky seven finalists for the “How Do You FOCUS?” contest. Please read through these entries, and when you’re ready to vote, head on over to our Facebook poll to cast your ballot. Please note that this blog post is a MUCH longer post than normal, but we felt it important to maintain the individual voice of each finalist. The three entries with the most votes will receive two tickets each, and voting ends at 5 p.m. on Friday, January 18.

We will also post the additional entries next week so you have a fantastic list of options in your quest to FOCUS.

1. Kim of Friendship Baptist Church
After several years as a public school teacher I entered a career in ministry—a bona fide people-pleaser. This did not bode well for my new career in children’s ministry. My desire to listen to everyone and show them I could do a good job quickly drove me insane! Nothing was getting done. I realized I didn’t know a whole lot about ministry, so I dove in head first and started learning how to manage people, the influx of ideas and information, time, and most importantly for me—learning how to FILTER.

By creating wins with measurable goals for our ministry I’m able to let go of a lot of things either I or other church people think I should be doing. FREEDOM! The books Think Orange and 7 Practices of Effective Ministry were great resources for learning how to create WINS. I’m also learning how to filter people and the things they have to say, either well meaning or not so much! I’m learning how to differentiate between negative people giving negative feedback and positive people giving negative feedback and what to do in each instance. Thanks to Carey Nieuwhof (November 5 blog post) for that one! My people-pleasing days are definitely on their way out! Focus in ministry is something I continue to try to hone in on, but for me, today, there is so much more freedom in it. It’s easier not to focus on the numbers, the negative comments, the 17th person this week wanting to know if we’re doing VBS this year. Our wins assure me and our team that we know where we want to end up, we have a great plan for how to get there, and it will surely be messy along the way. So, we focus on the wins, big and small, that we see in our kids and their families every week. I am excited to see where God leads us this year, knowing that it will only happen if we stay focused and allow Him to lead.

2. Drew of Southside Baptist Church
Being a children’s pastor for five years now, I often feel like the dog in the Disney movie “Up.” I’m getting in the zone, getting work done, only to see a “squirrel” in my peripheral vision that causes me to get off track for minutes, hours, and sometimes even days.

Squirrels can be anything from a co-worker who doesn’t have enough to do, to websites and social media that take our attention away from what we should be doing, to spending too much time helping others do parts of their ministry. None of these are bad; I mean they are just silly little squirrels. But focus, or eliminating unnecessary “squirrel time” from your life takes discipline. Here are a few suggestions that have helped me the past year:

1) Create a schedule: Many of us have schedules, but are they the “law of the land” or simply just a suggestion? Do we let the squirrels know that unless it is a dire emergency that you are not to be interrupted? I’ve read some surveys that claim it takes 15 minutes to re-focus on a project once you’ve been interrupted. So, creating a schedule and making it stick is very important for true focus to occur. Also, don’t be afraid to use modern technology to help you with a schedule. Use devices like your computer or phone to help keep you focused on tasks.

2) Get ahead of yourself and create MARGIN in your life. Oftentimes, my biggest problem isn’t the amount of work, it is focusing on that amount of work early in the process of when it is assigned. When projects are started earlier, it is easier to focus on the project. The emergencies that sometimes are caused by squirrels aren’t as devastating to our production. The work is often done better, and our jobs are much more satisfying when done early. Also, when mistakes are made or directions change, we have a margin, or extra time, that makes those situations much less overwhelming.

3) Take a break from your ministry EVERY day. I often struggle with leaving the work at work. It is sad, but many times I go home thinking of what I didn’t complete. I’ll even take work home, and be distracted from my duties there. I find myself less satisfied with my work, and have a wife that is frustrated with my lack of attention to her. Even worse, I often wake up in the morning worried about what I have to get done that day. If you have done your best to complete a task, leave it at work. If you HAVEN’T done your best to complete a task, leave it at work and do better the next day. When going on vacation, leave work at church.

4) Just because it is urgent to a squirrel, doesn’t mean it should be urgent to you. Have you ever watched a squirrel cross the road in front of your car? They zig and zag like a wide receiver who is trying to score the game winning touchdown with no time remaining. They often panic when face to face with a car, and their hesitation and lack of planning often causes their demise when your tire runs over them. Their panic can also cause severe damage to drivers. Most driving courses instruct drivers to refrain from swerving to miss these animals. The reason for this advice is that your job as a driver is to focus on keeping your car on the road as much as possible. In ministry, squirrels often jump in front of our cars. They take our focus away from where it should be. It may feel wrong, but sometimes you just have to ignore them. They may feel like you have run over them, but an emergency to them should not automatically mean an emergency to you. If you quit swerving from your ministry to bail these squirrels out, they will eventually quit running in front of your car. Or at least give you ample time to brake before reaching them. Don’t let THEIR lack of planning become YOUR emergency.

5) Know your weaknesses. If you lack focus, and feel like you underachieve each day, perhaps there are squirrels all around you that you didn’t realize were distractions, like social media, your favorite sports team or an upcoming vacation. Maybe make a rule that states, “I will not spend more than 15 minutes a work day on social media sites like Facebook or Pinterest.” Decide which squirrels need to be completely banished from your work environment. If something takes too much of your focus away, do whatever it takes to eliminate it.

3. Holly at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church
I am a creative. A multi-tasker. A hoarder. A dreamer. These traits mean that my office is cluttered, my desk is piled high with things I just can’t seem to part with, and at any given moment I am in the middle of at least three different projects. I am also 28, so I’ve grown up with a cell phone and seem to be genetically programmed to require at least two screens in front of me at all times. Needless to say, FOCUS is hard for me to come by. As life happens, I realize more each day that FOCUS is something that I crave–not every day, but enough to give me time to get things done and to provide some structure to my otherwise less than scheduled life.

I try to set aside at least one day a week to be my FOCUS day. I pick a day when I can spend it alone in my office, a day without meetings, and a day when I feel mentally up to it. My FOCUS day schedule goes like this: First, I sit down, clear my desk, and make a handwritten list of all the things I would like to accomplish today. Anything that pops into my head that I need to finish is allowed to go on the list, even if it isn’t really “finishable” in a single day. Once I have a list to work from, I get a clean sheet of paper and make a FOCUS day list of projects, emails, and other items that I’m pretty sure I can accomplish in a single day. I keep the other list and work from it every other day of the week. (Side note–you may wonder why a self-proclaimed gadget-junkie would use paper lists when I have no less than six GTD apps between my phone and iPad to choose from. The reason is simple: gadgets are distracting. FOCUS days are all about getting rid of distraction, which for me means, a few hours with my gadgets put away in my purse.)

The next thing I do is set a timer. Have you heard of the Pomodoro technique? They recommend working for an increment of 25 minutes then taking a 5-minute break. After completing four work increments, then you take a longer 30-minute break. I spend my FOCUS days in increments of work, followed by breaks. It is amazing to settle in and know that no matter what, you are going to accomplish something over the next 25 minutes and be rewarded with a break afterwards!

Once the timer is set, I simply start at the top of my list and work my way down. Sometimes I spend the entire 25 minutes on the first item of the list, other times I will breeze through six or seven items in 25 minutes. Every once in a while, I have a doozy of a project that takes three or four work increments before I can cross it off. While the timer is on I don’t check Facebook or Twitter and I let my e-mail wait. I screen phone calls, but each time the phone rings I add the call back item to my list. The one thing I cannot really control are the people that walk into my office, but I have learned to say (when appropriate), “Hey, I’m really trying to focus today, but I’m planning on taking a break in a little while. Can I call you or come see you then?” Everyone I’ve ever had to say that to has understood, believe it or not!

Eventually, the timer rings and I get to take a break. I check Facebook and Twitter and emails and run to the bathroom and check to see if there are any snacks at the coffee station and visit my co-workers and tell jokes and generally get my extrovert on. On the longer breaks, I’ll go get lunch or run an errand or take a lap or two around the building to stretch my legs. But then I go back to my office, turn the timer to 25 minutes and get back to my list.

At the end of a FOCUS day, I’m usually amazed at everything that I accomplished. Most of the time, I complete everything on my list. The best part about FOCUS days is not that I have crossed things off my list, but that I have actually spent quality time on my ministry. I find that on these highly structured days, the Lord speaks to me in new and different ways. I am given new eyes as I edit scripts for FX or God shows me a new way to demonstrate our virtue of the month. The structure that I hate so much helps me to know more about my God. FOCUS helps me become a better minister to children; it helps me hone in on God’s vision for my life and my ministry. I go home after FOCUS days exhausted and excited about the work being done in my church.

4. Dave at South Bay Church
Below is the way that I focus to help move our ministry forward. For me, it starts with annual planning, which trickles all the way down to what I’m doing each day. So many people have helped me to develop this system and I hope that it can help someone else.

• Annual Goal Setting: I start the year by taking two days away for an annual planning retreat where I develop goals for my personal life and leadership, family and ministry. I spend lots of time praying and thinking about these goals to drill down and simplify them as much as possible because I want to pour my energy, my family’s energy, and my team’s energy into the efforts that will help us have the greatest effectiveness in the coming year. Less is more and the greater our simplicity the greater our effectiveness!
• 6×6 Objectives: After I have developed goals for the year I use a practice from Axiom by Bill Hybels that he calls a 6×6. This is the top six projects/objectives I can work to accomplish over the next six weeks that will have the greatest impact on our ministry. These are not tasks, but these are the “big rocks” that will help move the ball forward in accomplishing our annual goals. Some examples of what goes on my 6×6 are: Prepare Kids Ministry for Adding Service by (date), Develop Leadership Pipelines in our Family Ministry, Develop Systems for Use of Kids/Students Rooms, etc. Under each item on my 6×6 I will make key action steps that need to happen in order to accomplish these objectives.
• Week Task List: At the beginning of every week I will plan my week by looking back at my 6×6 to see what needs to happen in that week to accomplish my 6×6 objectives. I divide my week task list into 3 sections: 1) A List – Top priority items for that week; 2) B List – Secondary items that are okay to not get done; 3) D List – This is my delegation list for my Direct Reports (staff or volunteers) and I try to move as much off of my A/B List to them as I can so I can be freed up to only do what I can do.
• Daily Task List: Every day I will look at my A List on my week task list and see what needs to be accomplished for that day and then I write a list of items in a small journal that I carry with me. My daily task list is usually 8-10 items and I cross them out as they are accomplished.
• Guarding my Weekly Schedule: You have to be organized with your goals, objectives, and tasks, but you have to guard your schedule to accomplish them. I have an ideal week set on my calendar that includes pre-blocked times for meetings, admin tasks, email, focus times (where I work on big picture items only I can do), and I block out date nights with my wife so work doesn’t intrude. My assistant knows not to schedule meetings during my focus times so that I can stay focused.
• Time to Evaluate: I also try to take a full day every one to two months to evaluate where our ministry is in regard to the goals we mapped out at the beginning of the year. This brings me back to the 30,000-foot view so I can see clearly and look over the remainder of the year to see if there are any course corrections that need to take place.

5. Cathy at New Horizons
I have been a Children’s Church Director for almost 30 years. God has blessed me to see the fruit of my labor. I now teach the children of adults who were previously in the children’s ministry!

First and foremost, we pray to get guidance through the Holy Spirit who resuscitates our creative thinking.

We also focus on keeping communication open between our pastor, youth leaders and parents. A successful children’s ministry happens with the support of parents and leaders. We ensure we communicate with our pastor and youth leaders by sharing our goals, calendar of events as well as a wish list. Our church is very small and a budget is not always available. Therefore, we rely a lot on our parents’ financial and moral support. Keeping them informed of our plans is critical. After all, these are their children we’re teaching. Parents should want to be involved in enriching their lives naturally and spiritually.

As we plan, we focus on providing our kids an environment where they feel they are a part of the teaching as opposed to just being a student. Often, the teachers are learning along with their students. Therefore, we involve our kids with planning monthly activities because as they are involved, they feel they’re making important contributions.

At the beginning of each year, we focus on the basics. Many times our children need to be reminded of just basic information such as who is Jesus, who is Jesus’ heavenly Father, how was the world formed, who came first, etc.

The first three months, our focus will be getting back to the basics: books of the Bible, parts of the Bible, parables, Scripture memorization (with understanding). To make this fun, we are challenging the older kids by giving a prize to whoever learns the most Scripture and can tell us what those Scriptures mean. We’re challenging them to know at least three parables and what they mean. This got their attention, of course, because they are so competitive. What they don’t know is everyone will win a prize just for trying.

Our focus is on pulling in children from the community. Many children who live within a block of the church do not attend church. We want to teach our kids how to witness to other children in their own way.

To recap, our focus is:

staying in alignment with our leaders by communicating our plans;
providing a clean, fun-filled, teaching environment for our children;
involvjng our children with planning activities while they learn more about Jesus;
teaching the basics about the Bible, parables, who Jesus is and how to witness to other children.

6. Elizabeth
When was the last time you watched a child pray? I love how children simply speak their mind outright to their heavenly Father, but what I am most envious of is how they can be so focused during prayer: eyes squeezed shut and hands clenched tight. In contrast, I cannot forget the details of my work, my wants or my immediate needs when I try to be still before the Almighty. Why? Arguably, I lack focus, but even truer, I lack a clear understanding of God. I would like to suggest that even though there are a few tried and true approaches to time management, honing our focus for ministry might be a tougher, yet simpler skill. I suggest we learn from these children, how to focus.

When faithful children pray to a compassionate God, they are completely dedicated to the purpose at hand. There is no room for doubt that God is intently listening to them pour their hearts out to their One and Only Father. I just wish I could hold such a sincere faith without self-correction or doubt. Of course, I can and many times I do, but first—just like these children—I have to recognize how much my focus is an outpouring of the degree of my faith. If the task at hand is genuinely worthy of my focus, then it deserves to be my priority and to receive my full attention.

When eager children pray to an earnest God, they are sincerely alive in the moment. There is no reason to be anywhere else but directly in the presence of the Living God, so they squeeze their eyes shut. Yet, I have so many devices intent on drawing my attention to an alert or reminder that I stay agitated and dissociated from any one purpose. Ugh, if only I could stay as eager as a child, I might not fall victim to my own diversions or distractions. I have to start by closing the door, tuning out the noise and unplugging the devices, so I can lose my dependence on these crutches and gain my focus on my real intent.

When little children pray to a big, big God, they make it personal. There is a pure sincerity in a child’s simple language in prayer. It’s just close and personal. I might want to break the mold, shoot for the stars create a new concept or just be original. But, if my aim is too wide, I will potentially lose focus of my target. There is nothing new under the sun, a wise man once said. When I sit down to plan an event or write a genuine message, I am far more productive if my goals are personal, attainable and close.

The next time you have a moment to be alone with God, pour your heart out, squeeze your eyes shut and clench your fists tightly.Then, tell me if it helps your focus. Of course, as adults it is difficult to see our Invisible God so intimately entangled in all the details of our dreary, lackluster, busy lives. But, what if we started all our work—managing emails, organizing our schedules, ministering to His people—with a childlike prayer to focus our hearts on His purpose? What then could distract us from this work?

7. Janet at Christ First Baptist Church
Working in children’s ministry, it is quite easy to lose focus. There are volunteers to recruit, lead, train and encourage. There are parents who need encouragement, leading and a friend to lean on.

In ministry in general, there are always fires to put out, budgets to contend with, planning meetings to attend, and more planning meetings; did I mention planning meetings? It all seems to get in the way and distract me from the real reason God placed me in this place—to do ministry. Early morning meetings and an email inbox a mile long can often divert me from my daily devotion and prayer time.

So, how do I stay focused, and focused in a way that I can contribute to the vision of the church

ministry and that of the vision of children’s ministry? I find myself going back to notes, books, blogs from Orange Conferences, tours and the website. Within those pages there is always a piece of treasure that the Lord has delivered to me through an Andy, Reggie, Sue, Matt, Perry or Joy (just to mention a few.) When I look up from my desk, in my office, I’m often reminded to focus, by way of an Orange axiom, and a new nugget of truth, encouragement or wisdom is revealed. Just what I needed, at just the right time!

Some of my Orange axioms:

• Two influences are better than one.
• Invite others to be world changers not spot fillers.
• Be relevant.
• We are stewards of the message of a better life.
• Make them feel significant by giving them something significant to do.
• We’re not raising children, we’re raising adults.
• If you want to move families in a better way then you need to set your family as a priority.
• Spotlight leaders love people more than themselves.
• Help parents win at home.
• Look at the world through the cross, not from a list of do’s and don’ts.
• Never buy into the myth that you need to become the “right” kind of parent before God can use you in your child’s life.

Nuggets, pure gold, priceless; and there are so many more. I often change them out on the wall in my office. When I take my daily devotion and prayer time and combine it with words and tools of Orange Leaders (two influences), my focus becomes laser sharp again. I become more productive, a better communicator, a more connected and influential leader. The creative wheels begin moving again.

The focused leader within emerges. I trust God more and me less.

FINE PRINT: Voting ends Friday, January 18 at 5 p.m. Winners will be the three entries with the most votes, and will each receive two tickets. If any winners have previously registered for OC13, those registrations will be refunded.

This contest is now closed. Thank you so much for your entries! Winners will be announced the week of January 14.

Let’s face it. Focusing is hard work. Multi-tasking has become the darling of the work world, and while it has its benefits, focus is not one of them. Why do just one task when there are so many others demanding your attention? Whether self-imposed or not, you are busy. There is always more to do than time to do it. And that fact has us all a little frazzled.

However, one of the best features of the Orange community, whether online or in person, is the ability to learn from each other. We learn as much from you as you do from us, and we love to hear from you. So, this time, we’re going to seek out your knowledge.

Tell us, how do you focus? What advice do you have for other Orange leaders? What helps you to accomplish work and ministry on a daily basis?

Have a good answer? Share it with us, and WIN UP TO FIVE TICKETS for your ministry team to attend OC13. You have through next Monday, January 14, at 5 p.m. to let us know. Then on Wednesday, January 16, we’ll announce the finalists to our Orange community and let all of you pick the winners!

By the way, we’re not looking for a simple, three-word answer. This is your chance to write a personal advice column. It should be part of your story—real world answers that we can all learn from. Who knows? Your advice about how to unlock the secrets to focusing may be your ticket to becoming the next expert of the ministry world! At the very least, it could win you the respect of your peers, and quite possibly a ticket to OC13.

Clarify the essentials. Eliminate distractions. FOCUS.

FINE PRINT: Contest entries must be submitted by Monday, January 14, at 5 p.m. From there, finalists will be posted online for the Orange community to vote on. Voting ends Friday, January 18, at 5 p.m. Winners will be announced on the Orange Leaders blog the following week. We will award up to five registrations for OC13. These may be from the same church or multiple churches. If any winners have previously registered for OC13, those registrations will be refunded.

Most people dream of finding an opportunity to do something BIG.
To make a BIG change.
To lead BIG.

In fact, most of us believe—
The best way to make a BIG difference is to get a big following.

What if the biggest things are really accomplished
By doing something SMALL?

If we aren’t careful,
we can work so hard at leading big we never experience the power
of leading small.

When we lead small we realize
that what we do for a few will always have more potential than what we do for many.
When we lead small we simply make a choice to invest strategically in the lives of a few over time so we can help them build an authentic faith.

– Lead Small

Thank you to everyone who submitted their small group leaders for our contest over the last two weeks to win tickets to OC13. It was exciting and inspiring to hear how the next generation is being impacted by those who choose to lead small in your churches.

Drum roll, please.

And the winners are . . .

Sherri Christopher has led a small group of Freshman girls for the past four years. Sherri has done many things to contribute to the girls in connection to each other, their church, their community, and a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. Recently at a small group leader retreat, Sherri created her own version of the Hunger Games, involving both spiritual and physical hunger. It was memorable for everyone who saw it. She is also the pioneer behind Bags For Beds. Their small group of now freshman girls began collecting plastic bags from grocery stores; cutting them into strips, tying them together, rolling them into plastic bag balls, and crocheting them into beds. Sherri is not an ordinary small group leader. Sherri is a life coach, with a discipleship emphasis.

Charlene Davis, Susan Nadeau and Robin North lead Kindergarten and 1^st (Charlene), 2^nd and 3^rd (Susan), 4^th and 5^th (Robin) grades. They have been extraordinary over the last three years. Charlene has the bubbliest personality and puts 100 percent of herself in these kids live every week. She comes up with the greatest object lessons to drive home the virtues, lessons and Bible stories each week. Susan makes sure that all of her kids in her group get rewarded for their birthday, cards, cupcakes, prizes, etc. She challenges our kids every week with memory work from God’s Word and loves when kids get it. Robin is one cool cat. She loves teaching our preteens and connects so well with them. Our tweens love her and are always being encouraged by her.

Rodney and Sheri Shelton serve in a depressed neighborhood and the majority of the people attending are dealing with major life issues. In the midst of all this is an incredible team of volunteers who work with limited resources and space to give 100 percent to the kids in the neighborhood. And leading the charge for youth and children are Rod and Sheri. While working full time at his “paying job” and being a dad and husband, Rod led the largest attended VBS this neighborhood had ever seen. They even saw to it that these kids left with their stomachs full. While they gave up their summer to this effort, they were also running Sunday morning children’s services as well. If that wasn’t enough, Rod also dove into starting a youth program for the Junior High kids who live in the neighborhood. Rod is the kind of guy who talks about the kids in his program with such passion and urgency that you WANT to be on his team. Sheri is the kind of woman who talks about the kids in her program with such joy and love that tears will come to her eyes and yours! These two inspire those around them to be more passionate about ministry, to use whatever resources they have to proclaim the gospel to the kids God entrusts to their care, and to truly live as a servant leader.

A huge and deserving congratulations to these leaders! Hopefully, you’ll find their stories as compelling as we did. And while a few sentences can’t sum up their accomplishments, we just had to share a piece of their stories with you. And we certainly look forward to meeting these folks in person at OC13!

Thank you to all the small group leaders out there who think big and lead small.

It’s time to reward some of the people who make your job easier each Sunday, and all the days in between—Small Group Leaders! These are the folks who dream big and lead small. They invest tireless hours in the children and teens at your church: teaching lessons, praying with them, spending weekdays at their activities, communicating with parents, and trying to figure out what’s cool. (Did Justin Bieber get a new haircut? When does American Idol start again? Can someone stop calling me, maybe?)

The only thing these heroes ever ask for is your support. Well, now we’d like to give them a little something extra. We know that your budget is stretched to the max, and sometimes just getting staff to The Orange Conference can be hard enough. But, let’s face it, these guys can certainly benefit from the OC experience. So, let us help you get them to Atlanta.

Let us know why your Small Group Leaders should come to OC13 for free! Share their stories with us. And if you’ve got any photos of them in action, we’d love to see them! They mean a lot to you, so help us understand why.

Please submit all entries to OCContests@rethinkgroup.org by Wednesday, October 17 at 5 p.m., EDT. Late entries will not be accepted. Winners will be posted on the Orange Leaders blog the week of October 22.

Let’s celebrate Small Group Leaders together!

The 411: We will award up to five registrations for OC13. These may be from the same church or multiple churches. If any winners have previously registered for OC13, those registrations will be refunded. Preconference tickets are not included in this free registration giveaway for OC13. (By the way, the answers to the above questions are: No, January and yes.)

In April, our friends at Plywood People hosted a gathering for people who write for their organizations blog or they have their own personal blog. It was a great time getting to know about the writing that people in the Atlanta community are doing, and what some of their hang ups are when they approach it. Jeff Goins skyped in to give helpful blogging tips, and Gisele Nelson of Plywood People wrote a quick recap. Jeff’s points are great for first-time bloggers as well as a “check” for seasoned bloggers.

1. Blogging is web design.

• If you’re blogging, you’re designing web content. Format your blog posts in quick, bite-sized pieces that are easily digestible.
• Create a cadence with your writing that begs readers to read the next line.
• Use short paragraphs and package them well.

2. Own your own platform. [No more .wordpress or .blogspotting it]

• If your platform is free, then you don’t own it.
• When you own the platform you’re using, you’ll take better care of it.

3. Content is not king, relationships are.

• Having great content is a prerequisite, but it’s not THE most important. Having great relationships is.
• Online relationships are the direct result of offline relationships. Cultivate those relationships.

4. Perseverance Wins.

• Online communities are built the same way offline relationships are—with time and patience. So, give it time and have patience.
• The people leaving a lasting impact are the people who keep showing up.

Do you have a blog? What tips and tricks have helped you along the way?

Now for the contest! Plywood People has generously provided three tickets to their event in Atlanta, Plywood Presents, August 15-16, 2012, and three computer/book sleeves made from billboard materials, crafted by legal refugees. Winners will receive one ticket and one sleeve. There are two ways to enter this contest: 1) Leave a tip or comment on this blog; or 2) On Twitter, retweet the link to this article from @orangeleaders and hashtag #thinkorange and #plywoodpresents. You must be a local resident of Atlanta, or provide your own travel and accommodations to the Plywood Presents event. Three random entries from the blog comments and the Twitter retweets will be chosen and announced on Thursday, July 12, 2012. All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 5 p.m. Good luck!

Plywood People: an innovative community addressing social needs. We are always searching for social problems with the hope to match them with entrepreneurial creativity to organize, innovate, and manage ideas that produce change. We hope to foster conversations and collaboration between the privileged and those in need through educational environments, sustainable ventures, community places, social experiments, storytelling projects, cause marketing campaigns, and new consumption patterns. We live by the mantra: We will be known by the problems we solve.

We have a few goodies we’d like to giveaway to some of you lucky leader readers!

As you know, this weekend is Father’s Day. Take a picture of how your church is celebrating fathers this Sunday and post it to our Facebook page at Facebook.com/orangeleaders. Or tweet the picture and at-reply OrangeLeaders. Entries must be posted to Facebook or Twitter before Tuesday, June 19 at 5 p.m.

The lucky winners—yes, there will be more than one!— will receive the Stormie Omartian book, The Power of Praying Through the Bible:

Stormie Omartian, the bestselling author of the Power of a Praying series, has inspired millions of men, women, and families with her prayers and reflective writing. Now she journeys with readers from Genesis to Revelation, and reveals how God designed prayer so that they can—

• communicate with Him
• embrace the promises of Scripture
• release burdens to God’s care
• walk with Jesus daily
• listen to the Spirit’s leading

Stormie brings home the truths and the wonder of God’s promises. This gathering of devotions from The Power of a Praying® Woman Bible shares Stormie’s heart and the foundation of God’s Word to provide a source of spiritual encouragement and strength for every reader.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRIES. WINNERS ARE BEING CONTACTED!

Last year, one of our winners for this contest was Chris, a youth pastor at Reedswood Christian Church in Virginia. It was his first trip to The Orange Conference, and he had a fantastic time. In fact, he was so moved by the experience, he later contacted us to scholarship several others for OC12 to attend when they might not have been able to! So, this year, we are delighted to announce that we’re offering seven free registrations complete with AirTran tickets for OC12!

We’d love for you to take a moment and nominate one or more people you believe are deserving of a free plane ticket and Orange Conference registration. Please submit the person(s) who you feel are most deserving of this conference package and why they should be chosen. These would ideally be people who couldn’t make it this year, but you feel like they would benefit by being at The Orange Conference 2012.

Here are just a few suggestions:

• The senior pastor who is implementing the Orange Strategy to change his/her community
• The children’s minister who needs to be renewed in his/her vision
• The student minister who needs to be equipped and empowered
• The college minister who is searching for a solution
• The volunteer who deserves a reward
• The church staff whose conference budget was eliminated
• The parent who desires to better partner with their local church

Someone probably just popped into your head! The next step would be to check and make sure they could attend if chosen. After that, it’s up to you to be their champion and send us their story.

Submissions must be sent to OCConcierge@rethinkgroup.org by Wednesday, March 14, at 5 p.m., EST. We will notify the winners via email and post on the blog the following week. Depending on the chosen submissions, we can divide the tickets into one or more groups of people. Therefore, we could have multiple winners from multiple churches.

And if you’d like to scholarship someone for this conference or next year, you can also email OCConcierge@rethinkgroup.org.

Fine Print:
By submitting your idea, you give permission to the staff of The Orange Conference to share the details with other people. Orange Conference 2012 tickets and airfare that have already been purchased will not be refunded. Hotel, ground transportation and meals will be the responsibility of the winners. Airline tickets are only good for AirTran, so please consider travel before submitting.

If you are the contest winners, AirTran Airways is pleased to provide you with a round-trip ticket to Atlanta, Ga., for The Orange Conference! Your coach class ticket will be booked in coordination with the OC Concierge on AirTran Airways. Travel is subject to AirTran Airways contract of carriage, rules and regulations. Travel is non-refundable and non-transferable. If you have to cancel your trip for any reason, AirTran and OC12 tickets will not be extended or renewed. Reservations are subject to availability and capacity control restrictions. Holiday blackout restrictions will apply. Should you need to make any changes to your itinerary, a $75 change fee will apply. Changes and cancellations can be made up to one hour prior to the scheduled departure time.