Tom Shefchunas
Tom Shefchunas—better known as Shef—is the Executive Director of Student Strategy at Orange. In this role, he leads the development and strategy for XP3 Middle School and High School curriculum. Previously, Tom was North Point Ministries’ Multi-Campus Director of Transit, their middle school ministry, for 12 years. And before that, he spent 10 years as a high school teacher, coach, and principal. Additionally, he is the co-author of Lead Small with Reggie Joiner. Tom and his wife, Julie, live in Cumming, Georgia, with their three children, Mac, Joey, and Cooper.
Give Kids Someone and Somewhere
Wednesday March 16, 2022 | Tom ShefchunasEvery child and teenager needs a place to belong. If you believe that, order a copy of When Relationships Matter today. You’ll learn how to structure your ministry, empower leaders, and create experiences in your ministry to prioritize relationships. Read more
How to be a Small Group Leader in 2021
Friday February 26, 2021 | Tom ShefchunasOur whole world looks different than it did a year ago, and that means ministry looks different too. Due to Covid-19, all of our ministry programs shifted from in-person to online or socially distanced in the span of about seven days. Read more
Developing the Concepts for Leading Small
Tuesday June 5, 2018 | Tom ShefchunasWhen I got my first job as a professional Christian there were two big strangely related tensions in my life. First, and obviously, I had a brand new job in a brand new culture in a brand new “industry.” Secondly, I wanted an iPad. Let me explain. My new job was challenging. My title was […] Read more
The Pyramid Approach
Wednesday September 1, 2010 | Tom ShefchunasThis is the finale- Part 3- in a series on the different ways to recruit. Sign up for his RSS feed at Coach Shef #3. The Pyramid Approach Basically…let’s talk pyramids schemes (No offense meant here). Your current leaders replace themselves. This is when a leader, who is having a great time serving, brings other […] Read more
The Storefront Approach
Tuesday August 31, 2010 | Tom ShefchunasThis is Part 2 in a series on different ways to recruit by Coach Shef. #2. The Storefront Approach Here we are catching those who “show up” – The right people seek you out. (The wrong ones will sometimes too…Let me say this one more time…Are you running background checks?) This way you know that […] Read more
The Traveling Salesman Approach
Monday August 30, 2010 | Tom ShefchunasThis week we continue our conversation with Coach Shef on recruiting: There are basically three main ways to get leaders: a Big Push, catching “Show-Ups”, and leaders replacing themselves. I tried to keep with the sales theme from last week’s post on “Selling What’s Important” and I will unveil a different approach over the next […] Read more
Still Recruiting? Sell What's Important
Thursday August 26, 2010 | Tom ShefchunasThere is nothing more important to your ministry than the quality and quantity of your volunteer leaders. So your priority needs to be that. Normally when I talk about the job of getting leaders, I talk about treating it like a job interview. You can’t be desperate…and you can’t take just anybody. You have to […] Read more
Awkward Conversations
Monday August 23, 2010 | Tom ShefchunasI recently had a member of my team ask me for 5 minutes… We began our conversation and he started with a lot of prefacing. That’s never a good sign. As you might have gueseed…after the prefacing…he called me on something I had done that made him uncomfortable. I had fallen short as a leader […] Read more
Underpromising Leadership
Tuesday July 6, 2010 | Tom ShefchunasI was once told that a definition of leadership was “letting people down at a rate that they can stand.” In some ways, I get that. I think there is a bit more to it but…here’s my problem…I love saying “yes.” I’m still a people pleaser. And, though I say “yes” too often, I still […] Read more
