Think of the families you mingle with in the carpool line, checking out at the grocery store, or cheer with from the sidelines at your kids’ soccer game. If they’ve never been to church, would they feel welcome walking through your doors this Sunday? Is your ministry a place where families in your community know they can come for help and hope?

This month, we’ll be looking at how we can provide experiences that are comfortable and accessible for non-attending families in our communities. And on a personal note, we’re going to challenge you to take a look at the power that can be found in your weaknesses and how it can help you be a better leader.

We know that you lead in several ways at any given time. You lead yourself, you lead volunteers, you might lead a staff, and you often lead up. Here’s what we have in store for you to accomplish each of these tasks:

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

How does this happen every single week? Sunday just won’t slow down. But don’t allow How can this happen every single week? Work commitments always seem to be in overdrive. But don’t allow that to interfere with the investment you make in yourself as a leader. Go ahead and grab your No. 2 pencil to mark some personal time each week this month to invest in your own leadership development—20 minutes should do it. We’ve already got a plan for you, so making the time is the first step to accomplishing it.

BOOK PREVIEW: Leading With a Limp: Take Full Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness by Dan Allender
Unlike most leadership books, author Dan Allender writes a compelling guide for leveraging your weaknesses for success. Allender reminds readers that God favors leaders who make the most of power that comes from weakness.

PODCAST: Mark Malin
Mark Malin is the senior pastor at Oakbrook Church in Kokomo, Ind. Mark shares with us how their church had been intentional about reaching out to the community around them.

REAL WORLD: Starbucks
Starbucks is significant to most of us; it’s how we get through our days and get a quick caffeine fix. However, this time we are taking a look at what makes Starbucks such a successful organization…you may be surprised, it’s more than just their great coffee!

VIDEO: Reggie Joiner
What kind of picture are you creating for your families that walk in the doors of your church? Is it a picture that they may never be able to live up to? In this video, Reggie challenges us to help our families live a bigger story not just a better picture, because God is telling a story of restoration and redemption through each of our lives.

TEAM LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Now that you have a plan to invest in your own leadership skills, why not make a plan to do some investing in your volunteers? Not like giving away big, fat bonus checks, though. We have a way to invest in your volunteers for free!

We’re going to make it really simple to become more intentional with your volunteer communication via some good-looking emails (if we do say so ourselves). We’ll even do the writing for you. Plus, you can even add your own words of wisdom to the messages.

Whether you’re leading a large staff, a few people, or you’re trying to lead up to your senior leadership, we’ve got something for you. We’re including another book review with this portion of YouLead because we felt it would be a great tool to reinforce this month’s topic. Speaking of that, this month’s focus is (drumroll)—

COMMUNITY-WIDE FOCUS [F7]
Experiences and accessibility are made available for those who might not normally be comfortable in a church setting. (See page 101 in The Orange Leader Handbook.)

WEEKLY EMAILS: Why We Do What We Do
Providing your volunteers with information that they can share with the parents of the kids and teenagers they serve will go a LONG way with your leaders. Sometimes the barrier between a volunteer and a parent is a simple lack of creative ways to connect with the parent—it’s time to change that.

This month, we’ll be sharing encouragement, stories, and research in emails that you can send your volunteers. And we encourage you to challenge these leaders to turn around and share this same information with the parents of the kids and teenagers in your programs. Simple—did we mention that already?

BOOK PREVIEW: Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas by Jud Wilhite
Las Vegas: A place where many go to “have it all” and leave with nothing, they’re stripped. Jud Wilhite shares the story an amazing faith community and of eight people who, when they had nowhere else to turn, embraced God’s grace.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP PODCAST: Jud Wilhite with Carey Nieuwhof
It’s not every day you get to sit in on a conversation between two incredible leaders. Carey Nieuwhof, senior pastor of Connexus Community Church and Jud Wilhite, senior pastor of Central Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, dive into what it means to be a church that is focused on what’s outside the walls of their church.

REAL WORLD: Churches
If you’re going to reach your community, then it’s important to understand the culture of the community that you live in. We’ll take a look at four churches, who decided to do “church” a little differently.