by Kelli Wallace and Kristen Brady
When most people think of “Sweet Sixteen” images of birthday parties, driver’s licenses, and college basketball come to mind. Not so much for us! When we think of “Sweet Sixteen,” nothing but pure Orange dances in our heads!
Welcome to Kelli and Kristen’s Orange Sweet Sixteen: 16 resources that will have you Orange in no time! (The first eight will be featured today, and the remaining eight will be featured next week!)
1. FREE help anytime you need it: That’s right, here at Orange we want to make sure that you have all the help that you need to implement our curriculum to the fullest. In order to do that, we provide each of our partner churches with Orange Specialists for FREE! Don’t believe us? See for yourself!
2. Volunteer training at the click of a button: As a leader, you’re always looking for ways to train and equip your volunteers to be the best they can be but sometimes this process can be lengthy. To help with that we created the Training Tab which can be found on each of our curriculum websites under the “Volunteer Training” tab. Behind this tab is a gold mine of knowledge that is just waiting for you to discover and implement in your ministry! As a follow-up to the Training Tab on the First Look side of things, we have a DVD resource called UnPacked 2 that is available for purchase through the Orange Store that will take your volunteer training for small group leaders and storytellers to the next level. Check out the First Look blog to read a review of the DVD. Finally, once you train your volunteers it’s so nice to be able to show them the appreciation that they all deserve. The Ovations DVD has everything you need to plan a Volunteer Appreciation Event like none you have ever seen! This DVD is full of planning materials and videos for you to use, all you have to do is find a date on the calendar. Volunteer training and appreciation—who knew it could be so easy?!
3. MC Haggis, our FAVORITE Scottish rapper: You can find him monthly, either through Get Reel or your Parent CUE App, spinning his rhymes about the monthly 252 Basics life application. He’ll also let you know about the widget and the fun things you can do with it during the month with your family. Why do we really love him? Because, he connects with kids like no other! Kick it!
4. Compact Version of 252 Basics: Now we have two versions of the same curriculum to meet your needs depending on the size of your ministry. Our K-5 version (252 Compact) is for smaller and multisite churches. We give you small group activities designed for a variety of ages that can be adjusted easily without additional supplies AND a streamlined presentation of each week’s Bible story.
5. Our Vimeo video channel: Did you ever see one of our videos and wish you could show it to your parents or staff? Did you love those Orange Conference commercials so much you wanted to watch them again? Did you ever wonder what goes into the making of a series or wonder where we came up with the idea? Did you need a bumper video for your XP3 series? If you’ve answered yes to any of those questions, our Vimeo channel is at your disposal. We try to put all public videos in this handy dandy place for you to watch and share with others.
6. Curriculum Posters: First Look and 252 Basics each have poster bundles on the Orange Store for purchase. The posters come in different themes and some can even be purchased in bundles. Why do we love these? For starters, kill two birds with one stone—they are great for decorating and no one has to know you’re really vision casting to volunteers and families at the same time! The added bonus: Kids LOVE to look at them!
7. Parent CUE Cards on the First Look Curriculum matrix: You can take these images, reduce them down and print them on magnet paper. Once you cut them out, you have a magnet for each of your families to take home to remember the memory verse for the month. Kristen is a former Preschool Director, and these cards were one of her favorite things to give away each month; it was great information for the parents, and fun for the kids! Voila! Partnering with parents in an instant!
8. A fabulous Customer Service team: Okay, so Kelli may be a little biased on the CS team’s fabulousness since she is one, but they are a great resource for you to utilize. Not only do you have access to our amazing Orange Specialists who are experts in all things Orange, but you also have our Customer Service team available to you throughout the week. You can always reach us with questions at customerservice@rethinkgroup.org or 866.343.4874 ext. 7100. They are here to serve you!
That’s it for this week! Check back next week for the final eight! Hopefully you’ve discovered a few new tools, or learned more about the ones you were aware of, to help as you implement the Orange Strategy.
Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
Kristen Brady is a First Look Preschool Curriculum Orange Specialist. First introduced to Orange seven years ago as a kindergarten small group leader for 252 Basics at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., she has been a storyteller at Wiregrass Church in Dothan, Ala., and a preschool director, children’s director, storyteller/host and worship leader for Cumberland Church in Franklin, Tenn. When she has any free time, she spends it with her husband Bruce, and their four kids: Tucker, Claire, Jack and Ellie. Kristen connects to the Orange universe at kbrady@rethinkgroup.org.
Kelli Wallace is in the customer service department. Kelli likes college students so much that she decided to lead a group of them to Kenya in 2009. That’s Kelli, always setting her passion into action. She experienced the ins-and-outs of customer service while working for various non-profit organizations. Orange is lucky to have someone who loves people the way that Kelli does. Chat with Kelli about all things Orange at kwallace@rethinkgroup.org.
