by Robert Carnes | Jun 21, 2018 | Resources
In case you didn’t already know, we have a podcast exclusively for married couples. Every week, we publish a new post focused on a relevant marriage topic.
Our goal is to explore a question that real couples have, expose the truth behind the issue, and give everyone one simple thing to do to improve their marriage.
Things you probably didn’t know about the podcast
- Our podcast recording studio is in Ted Lowe’s home office.
- Podcast co-hosts Afton and CJ both work on other teams at Orange. And they take time out of their busy schedule to record the podcast.
- Ted and Afton’s spouses also both work at Orange. Ted’s wife, Nancie, is an accountant, and Afton’s husband, Hudson, is a graphic designer.
- We’re often joined in the recording studio by Ted’s dog, Tatter.
- We occasionally take the show on the road and record episodes at events like The Orange Conference and Orange Tour.
- CJ uses grand hand gestures while recording. You can’t hear it on the podcast, but you can see it on Afton’s Instagram account.
- One of our running jokes is how much CJ and Afton like Chili’s 2 for $22. We’re not currently sponsored by Chili’s, but we could be.
- The title of each of our episodes is a question so that people can find it easily from Google.
- In a recent survey, 100% of people said that they would recommend the podcast to a friend.
- We love having incredible guests on the podcast, including Jeff Henderson, Carlos Whittaker, Kara Powell, Carey Nieuwhof, and Shaunti Feldhahn. We’ve got even more great interviews planned for future episodes.
Other good stuff to know
- New episodes of the podcast release on Wednesday mornings.
- Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud and Spotify.
- Not only is the podcast great for your marriage, it’s a resource you can share with the couples at your church.
- You can even help us get the word out by downloading our podcast promotion kit.
- Give us feedback on what you think about the podcast by filling out this survey or leaving us a review on iTunes.
- We already include a link to episodes in every edition of MarriedPeople Monthly to help more couples listen to this great content.
Do you listen to the podcast? What do you think?
Robert Carnes is the editor on the MarriedPeople team. He’s worked in marketing and communications for a number of churches and nonprofits. Robert lives in Atlanta with his wife, Victoria.
by Married People | May 10, 2018 | Resources, Spotlight
We recently released our latest pack of annual resources for marriage ministries. As with every year, these annual resources fall under one overarching theme.
The theme for this year is Game Changers: because small things make a big difference.
Because we’re so excited about Game Changers, we wanted to pull back the curtain a little and let you know more about what goes into creating these resources.
Brainstorming
- We start thinking about our next strategy pack during the summer
- There were several theme ideas that we kicked around before deciding on Game Changers
- It takes a dozen or so creative meetings to develop most of the ideas behind our resources
- We make sure the feedback from our partners shapes how we develop the content
- These creative meetings are attended by our other colleagues at Orange
- We throw all of our ideas up on a creative board to get the creative juices flowing
Example of a creative board
Creating
- We work with a local creative agency called PullSpark to produce all of our communicator, story, and promotional videos—this is by far the most time-consuming part of the strategy pack
- The creation of all videos involves writing film scripts, recruiting local actors, renting a location, and lots of video editing
- We partner with some of the foremost leaders and speakers in the country as the communicators for our events—learn more about the speakers in this year’s pack
- For our small group study, we partnered with our friend Shaunti Feldhahn to customize the content from her book, The Kindness Challenge
- We created the small group study videos in partnership with another video agency called Between the Pixels—these videos feature real couples
Delivering
- Finishing all of these resources takes about 6-8 months in total
- After all of the content has been finalized, the files get uploaded to our new online store and content delivery system, where they can be downloaded by church partners
- This year, we’re introducing a new concept—two tiers of partnership; now you can either sign up for a Starter Pack ($249) or an Annual Pack ($399)
- There are over 500 individual files in the Annual Pack, which equate to more than 17 GB worth of space—that’s a lot of content!
- The one exception to this is MP Monthly, which gets sent to church partners every month
What’s your favorite part of the Strategy Pack? What else would you want to go behind the scenes on?
Married People exists to help your church help marriages. We provide resources, training, and community to church leaders who work with marriages and families.
by Ted Lowe | Apr 19, 2018 | Resources
As church leaders, we can often rush to the rescue of couples in crisis—and we should. But what if we could get to married couples before they hit crisis? What if we could keep them from ever getting into crisis in the first place?
I believe now more than ever, that we can. We simply have to help them with small things for their marriage—because small things that can make a huge difference.
Small Things Make a Big Difference
But wait, marriage is complicated, right? Marriages often have big problems, don’t they need a big solution? Yes—sometimes.
But after working with married couples for 17 years, I think most couples (those who would rank their marriage a 3-10 on a scale of 1-10) can often keep their marriage in the right direction. That is why the MarriedPeople team always wants to help you, the church leader, to help as many couples as quickly as you can.
That is why we encourage church leaders to give couples less content more often.When you give couples small, practical things that they use to shape their habits and daily lives, it changes the game for the better. It’s a game changer.
Game Changers
Every year, we come up with an overall theme for the annual resources we create. And this year, we’re proud to announce that our theme is GAME CHANGERS. Through all of our content, we’ll explore this idea that small things make a big difference.
For our four large group experiences, we’ve partnered with some great church leaders to bring incredible messages to your church:
For small group resources, we partnered with Shaunti Feldhaun to create a small group study of the most important part of every marriage—kindness. While kindness may seem like niceness, it’s not. It’s bigger than that. To use Shaunti’s words, kindness is a superpower!
Help Couples Change the Game
This year’s content is sure to be a game changer for the couples in your church in community. Why? Because it’s full of small adjustments that make a huge difference.
Nancie and I have personally benefited greatly by what is included in this year’s content. We know you and the couples of your church will be as well. Promise.
We’d love for you to partner with us to bring this concept to the couples at your church.
Ted Lowe is a speaker and the director of MarriedPeople, the marriage division at Orange. Ted is the author of two books—one for marriage ministry leaders (Married People: How Your Church Can Build Marriages That Last) and one for married couples (Your Best US: Marriage Is Easier Than You Think). He served for almost 10 years as the director of MarriedLife at North Point Community Church. He lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with his four favorite people: his wife, Nancie, and their three children.
by Married People | Apr 12, 2018 | Resources, Spotlight
Every year, MarriedPeople releases an annual strategy pack that provides your church with a ton of great resources to impact marriages. This includes everything you need to put on large group experiences, host a small group study, send couples on date nights, and send them a monthly email.
This year, the theme of our strategy pack is Game Changers—because small things can make a big difference. We’ll be examining some of these little issues in marriage that can have a huge impact.
To help us with this, we’ve enlisted the help of some tremendous communicators. They’ll be delivering messages for each of the four large group experiences. And we wanted to introduce you to each of them.
CARLOS WHITTAKER: Kill the Spider
Carlos Whittaker is a People’s Choice Award winner, a former recording artist signed to a major label, a social media maven, and currently spends the majority of his time writing books and speaking on stages around the world.
It really began when the Whittaker’s found their family in America’s spotlight with appearances on shows like CBS Early Morning, The Today Show and more when their viral video “Single Ladies Devastation” went viral. But for Carlos, his wife Heather and their three children, this viral moment was just a snapshot of the bigger picture.
Recommended Resource
Kill the Spider by Carlos Whittaker
ANDY STANLEY: What Happy Couples Know
Communicator, author, and pastor, Andy Stanley founded Atlanta-based North Point Ministries in 1995. Today, NPM is comprised of six churches in the Atlanta area and a network of 50 churches around the globe, collectively serving nearly 90,000 people weekly.
A survey of U.S. pastors in Outreach Magazine identified Andy Stanley as one of the top 10 most influential living pastors in America. The author of 20-plus books, Stanley holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from Georgia State University and a master’s degree from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Andy and his wife, Sandra, have three grown children and live near Atlanta.
LEE & MARTICA JENKINS: Love and Money
Lee Jenkins is the president of Lee Jenkins Group—a ministry outreach, financial education, and consulting firm. He is also the Founder and Senior Pastor of Eagles Nest Church outside of Atlanta. Previously, Lee had a 25-year career in the financial services industry. His financial advice has been featured numerous times on CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates, as well as in USA Today.
Lee is a proud graduate of the University of Tennessee where he was a standout defensive back on the football team. After graduation Lee was drafted by the the New York Giants of the NFL. Unfortunately, his football career was cut short by injuries.
Lee is in high demand as a speaker at conferences, churches, and to college and professional sports teams. Additionally, Lee has authored several books on personal finances over the last fifteen years. Lee was named one of the 70 Most Influential Black Christians in the U.S. by the Black Christian News Network.
Lee has been happily married to the love of his life, Martica, for 28 years. They have three grown children, a daughter Kristin, and two sons, Martin and Ryan.
Recommended Resource
On Money by Lee Jenkins
TED & NANCIE LOWE: The Chase
After serving as the director of MarriedLife at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., Ted Lowe started MarriedPeople, the marriage division of Orange.
Ted is the author of two books—”Your Best US” and “MarriedPeople: How Your Church Can Build Marriages That Last,” which he co-authored with Doug Fields.
Ted lives in Cumming, Ga., with his wife, Nancie, and their three children.
Recommended Resource
Your Best US by Ted Lowe
You can also meet the communicators from last year’s annual partnership: CLEAR
Married People exists to help your church help marriages. We provide resources, training, and community to church leaders who work with marriages and families.
by Married People | Mar 22, 2018 | Resources, Technology
We are thrilled to introduce a new online shopping experience for our church partners.
Previously, our partners purchased resources and downloaded content on two separate websites with two separate accounts. Now, we’re rolling those two separate platforms into one place. We hope this will make for a much better user experience.
Click here to visit the new store.
To help you navigate the new store, we’ve included a series of screenshots of the store below. Your Orange Specialist is also on hand to answer and questions you might have.
Online Products
View and purchase all of the resources from MarriedPeople, as well as the rest of Orange.
Login to the store using the same username and password as our previous system. No need to create a new login.
The Strategy Pack
You can now purchase or renew the annual Strategy Pack straight from the store. This is also where you will download all of the Strategy Pack files, too.
MarriedPeople Monthly
One year’s worth of MarriedPeople Monthly access is available as a separate product in the store. For MP Monthly subscribers and all Strategy Pack partners, access to Monthly is provided in their My Downloads section, and the content will be updated monthly as each new issue is available.
Shopping Cart
My Downloads
Find all of the Strategy Pack resources you’ve purchased in the My Downloads tab and download the files directly.
Downloading Files
You can select to download files and folders individually or download them all at once. You’ll see video files listed separately (because of their size), or other files grouped by event or purpose (like marketing or Larger Group Experiences).
For MarriedPeople Monthly, you’ll be able to download each month’s worth of resources separately. You’ll have access to these files starting with your purchase of the Strategy Pack. Access to the MP Monthly content will be open for 12 months, with new files be loaded in the previous month for the next month’s content. After one year, your subscription to MP Monthly will need to be renewed by either purchasing it individually or as part of a new Strategy Pack.
Click here to visit the new store.
What do you think about the new store? Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Married People exists to help your church help marriages. We provide resources, training, and community to church leaders who work with marriages and families.
by Todd Graham | Nov 30, 2017 | Outreach, Resources
So youre planning something awesome for the couples in your church. You wanted to do something that will make a great memory, seriously invest into marriages and get wide-eyed husbands off the proverbial hook. Now you’re days away from making it happen.
It can feel intimidating to pull off your first big one-night event. So here are a couple of tips to host a big night of amazing.
Yes, You Can
You can do this. Stop the self-doubt.
Everything you need is in the Married People Strategy Pack for you. From the step-by-step flow, games, slides, videos and the main talking points for an engaging evening.
Don’t have anyone to do the talk? Just found out your communicator has the flu? You’re covered here too. The video file with the main teaching is included.
Make It Fun
Talking about marriage shouldn’t be boring. It needs to be fun.
Everything about a Married People one-night event screams: “I love laughing with you!” They are meant to remind couples how enjoyable married life can be.
Make It Personal
Don’t forget the camera! Be sure to take pictures of each couple.
Set up a fun photo booth or backdrop, then either email them to each couple to remind them what a great night it was. Or even better, have a printer on site to print them out right then and there to send home with them!
Chill on the Decorations
One of the best things about a Married People one-night event is that they are designed to be man and woman friendly. No lace, no flowers and no touchy feely allowed.
Traditionally, guys don’t like to go to marriage conferences because they are too uncomfortable. Throw out some Nerf footballs, a board game or two, some playing cards (maybe just the hearts) or power tools for center piecesyou are good to go!
What about the ladies? Show me the husband who wants to go back to a marriage gathering and I’ll show you a wife that loved it twice as much.
Every one-night event has everything you need in step-by-step directions to put the amazing back into the marriages at your church. The couples at your church will thank you for it.
