by Tim Walker | May 16, 2017 | Resources
by Tim Walker
When my boys were younger, we had a huge plastic container filled with Legos®. My parents had kept the container for years, and it was an amalgamation of various sizes, shapes, colors, and sets.
Other than the random blocks that would somehow end up scattered in our home, I really enjoyed this phase. We would sit and build whatever our minds conjured. Well, let me clarify, I would sit and build variations of the same thing—a house.
You see, for me, the tub of Legos was overwhelming. My brain couldn’t handle the endless options. So I would default to what I knew—making a house. I would look for the rectangular larger base, dig out the scattered windows and doors, and fill in the rest with blocks of various colors and shapes.
But that changed when my sons began to desire new Lego sets. Sure, we had enough Legos to build whatever we dreamed, but that new box sitting on the shelf at the store promised that we could recreate our favorite scenes from Star Wars. And it delivered. With the step by step instructions, we were able to take what was in the box and build an exact replica of what was pictured.
The difference? We had a plan, a guide that I could follow.
Now for some of you, you could take that tub of plastic bricks and make some amazing creations. In your mind, you can see how all the pieces have potential, and you know how you want to use each and every one of them to construct your overall vision.
But for others of us, we need a plan. We’re smart. We’re creative. But we want some kind of guide to help us know how to use the resources we have.
When you purchase the annual Strategy Pack from MarriedPeople, you get a tub-full of resources. things like:
- 4 one-night events
- 4 Date Nights
- 12 issues of MP Monthly
- a multi-week Small Group study
While that list looks nice and short, it’s filled with all kinds of files, videos, and slides—things to help you plan, promote, and implement a strategic marriage ministry.
For some, you can see that list and instantly start building a plan.
For others, you see that list and want to just keep doing what you know.
MarriedPeople wants to help those of you who need a little more than just a tub filled with Legos, or marriage ministry resources. So our team has a created a Scope and Cycle. Not because we believe you have to follow a specific plan—you know your church, your community, and your calendar better than we do. But sometimes we all need a suggestion of what would be to simply see things in a different way.
Here is the MarriedPeople Scope and Cycle document. Download it. Assemble your team. And use it as a launching point for building your own plan—or follow it exactly. Your choice.
Whatever the case, we know you and your volunteers will build an amazing, pro-active ministry to help couples connect and stay connected.
And if you need some additional help, contact the MarriedPeople Orange Specialist at info@marriedpeople.org.
Tim Walker is an editor on the MarriedPeople team, and blogger at timswords.com.
by Tim Walker | Mar 22, 2017 | Resources
While our team is busy putting the finishing touches on our new annual Strategy Pack, we wanted to give you a sneak peek at what is coming soon.
The new CLEAR Strategy Pack will be available for purchase April 1. At the launch of CLEAR, many of the files for the Larger Group Experiences and Date Nights will be available, with some additional files being loaded before the end of the month.
The Small Group materials, included in the Strategy Pack and listed below, will be available for download in mid-May.
Our theme for 2017-2018 is CLEAR with one simple statement:
“Marriage has enough questions. Get CLEAR.”
The 2017-18 MarriedPeople Strategy empowers you to empower couples to get clear. Here’s a description of what’s in CLEAR Strategy Pack.
Larger Group Experiences
There are four Larger Group Experiences. Here’s a summary of each one.
Get Clear on . . . God’s Help. You have a big fan of your marriage—God. He wants you and your spouse to succeed, to be the best version of the two of you. And He’s provided a Helper, the Holy Spirit, and a great tool to help you do that—simply pausing and praying.
Core 4 Habit: Love God First
Communicator: Michael Owens
Get Clear on . . . What’s in Your Backpack. Every one of us is carrying something every day. For some it’s baggage from the past, but for a lot of us, it’s just the pile-on of everyday life and the demands that come from adult-ing. You probably know what is wearing you down, but what about your spouse? What is he or she carrying? We need to see past our own stuff, and get clear on what’s on our spouse’s heart and mind.
Core 4 Habit: Respect & Love
Communicator: Ted Lowe
Get Clear on . . . Technology. Technology is a part of our lives. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s not. But technology is either of those things in and of itself, it’s a tool. And we can use it to connect with our spouse more, or disconnect and distract.
Core 4 Habit: Practice Your Promise
Communicator: Mo Isom and Jeremiah Aiken (husband and wife duo)
Get Clear on . . . Your Team. Who are the people surrounding your marriage? Friends. Family. Co-workers. Neighbors. Acquaintances. Those are the people in the background of your lives. Are they adding value to your relationship? Are they encouraging you to be the best version of your US? Are they bringing clarity?
Core 4 Habit: Have Serious Fun
Communicator: Ted Cunningham
Small Group
Clear contains a six-week small group study that is different than anything we’ve ever done before . . . for a very good reason. Here’s a description.
Get Clear about . . . Money. We’ve partnered with our friends at brightPeak to offer you what we believe is one of the best small group studies on money out there! Why? Because it doesn’t just talk about money from a practical standpoint—it looks at it from many different angles, including the emotional side of money. With short videos provided 5-10 minues of teaching, this study is written in a very clear, easy to understand and easy to lead format. Also, there are some fun, hands on activities as well. This isn’t just information about finances, it’s an experience—one that will help you and your spouse get clear about your finances.
The CLEAR Strategy Pack also contains four date nights, as well as access to 12 issues of MarriedPeople Monthly.
For those of you who have purchased a Strategy Pack in the past, you’ll notice a few key differences in CLEAR:
- The CLEAR Strategy Pack contains just one promo video . . . but we promise you, it’s really, really good. You’re going to want show it multiple times for your different marriage ministry environments.
- As noted above, our small group study is six weeks, and it’s a study on money that’s interactive, fun, and inspiring. (Those are words seldom used to describe a study on money.) Each session contains a short 5-10 minute video and is easy and fun to lead. Participant’s guides are sold separately in a digital format only. Prices vary based on the number of users who need access.
- We’ve switched up the style of our video communicator videos for the larger group experiences. We’ve also invited some new friends to join us this year. We think the couples in your church will really enjoy meeting and learning from them.
- A new Scope and Cycle document to help those of you who want guidance to know when to use what resources in your marriage ministry strategy.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that you still have a MarriedPeople Orange Specialist who can help you navigate both the content and the strategy of a pro-active marriage ministry!
We can’t wait to show you more about CLEAR. Don’t worry. You won’t have to wait much longer.
Tim Walker is an editor on the MarriedPeople team, and blogger at timswords.com.
by Tim Walker | Jan 31, 2017 | Resources
Planning a Valentine’s or MarriedPeople event in the next couple of weeks? Make sure your decor is both man and woman friendly. It sets the tone. It lets couples know that you have their back, and, especially for guys, it lets them know that you created this event with them in mind too.
At our Marriage Ministry One Day event in November, we asked one of our MarriedPeople partners and decor gurus, Archie Rish, to decorate the tables for the event. He came up with some great ideas utilizing items from the Dollar Store, Walmart, and a few other sources.
So look over these images. Be inspired. And come up with some ideas that fit the couples in your church and your community.
(hint: this is just blocks of wood and 4US cards from the US Strategy Pack)
80s theme
yes, that’s a real cake . . . and it was delicious!
painted footballs, can of boiled peanuts (it’s a Southern thing), box of Cracker Jack’s
jars of candy and 4US cards from the US Strategy Pack
painted globe, 4US cards, a piece of wood, and maps
coffee urn, coffee cups from the Dollar Store, coffee beans scattered about—the table smelled so good!
We would love to see some of your decor ideas as well. Post them in the comments section or on our MarriedPeople Facebook page.
Tim Walker is an editor on the MarriedPeople team, and blogger at timswords.com.
by Ted Lowe | Jan 19, 2017 | Resources
by Ted Lowe
At MarriedPeople, we believe there is something special that happens when you get 10-1,000 couples in the same place at the same time. It provides opportunities not only to empower the couples in your church, but also in your community. We get particularly excited about well-executed, one-night events, and that’s why we provide many of the resources you’ll need to pull the event together in our Strategy Pack or single Larger Group events.
But this post isnt to convince you that Larger Group Experiences can have a big impact. While we provide art, video, promo materials, games, etc., for the night, there are some things that you’ll need to figure out—two things that can have a big effect on your attendance and budget. Those two things are:
So we want to give you some tips on how to decide what might work best for your church and your budget.
CHILDCARE
Childcare is a biggie, because it’s is a deal breaker for many couples. So you have to address it. Here are some child-care options:
- Provide onsite childcare. (This could even be a potential fundraiser for youth group events like mission trips and camp.)
- Provide a list of high-school students you would recommend.
- Provide childcare reimbursement. This is when the couple finds their own babysitter. The church provides a detailed form (included in the MarriedPeople Strategy Pack). Couples turn in the form and the church mails them a check. This one scares churches leaders to death, but it really does work well because people can use a babysitter they trust. They can also get to ride to and from the event with no kids in the car! While childcare reimbursement seems like it would be crazy expensive, it’s not because many people don’t turn in the forms.
FOOD
People often ask us if we think they should provide food at their one-night events. The short answer is yes. But we go back and forth over whether they should have dinner and dessert, or just dessert.
Some churches offer dessert, coffee, and water. They open the doors at 7 and the event starts at 7:30. This way couples can go to dinner before the event, and have dessert at the event. Dessert is a lot less expensive and easier to pull off than a full meal.
At the same time, I have had a lot of church leaders say that providing dinner is what makes people show up. One church told me they provided dinner because it kept people from going home after work. The leader said, “If couples go home after work, many of them don’t want to get back out.” This same church also has a local restaurant that provides all the food. It’s great marketing for the restaurant, and it obviously makes it much less expensive for the church.
The deciding factors are what works best for your budget, volunteers, and community.
So there you have it: Hold their babies while they hold their forks. (Cut a brother a break, I had to do something to land this random but important plane.)
If you are planning a MarriedPeople Larger Group Experience and need help thinking through your event, our Orange Specialist, Nancy Squires is amazing. Feel free to contact her at info@marriedpeople.org. Plus we have a great community of partners who are sharing ideas and learning from another both on this blog and on our Facebook page.
Thank you for doing something more for marriages in your church and community!
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 Guest Writer | Jan 17, 2017 | Resources
by Jonathon Mitchell
You just downloaded your first MarriedPeople Larger Group Experience from the Strategy Pack Holy smokes, there’s a lot of stuff in here! We’ve been putting on Large Group environments for a few years with MarriedPeople. The first thing that I liked about the curriculum was that it fit with the overall Orange Strategy that two combined influences (Church + Family) make a greater impact than just two influences. One of the things that we’ve learned from Orange is that what happens at home is more important than what happens at church. This includes marriages, and we realized we couldn’t ignore this incredibly important relationship, anymore.
So, if you’re ready to launch a Larger Group event, here’s a quick overall run-through of how we plan out our Large Group Night Out Events.
1 Month Out
- Schedule our host couple and send them their script
- Schedule our teacher for the evening (Watch the teaching video and make the call—can this be pulled off live with excellence or would showing the video be better for our couples?)
- Coordinate with our food/snack people. Give them the theme of the evening and turn them loose (remember, think guy-friendly—one of our last Night Out events was a campfire theme including beef jerky, s’mores, and buffalo flavored popcorn).
- Schedule our tech team members (lights, sound, Computer Graphics)
- Announcement from weekend service stage 4-weeks out—usually showing the promo video
- Bulletin, email and announcement screen graphics with event details
- Include details about the Large Group gathering in MarriedPeople Monthly
3 Weeks Out
- A post on social media promoting the event.
2 Weeks Out
- Create the schedule in Planning Center (or scheduling spreadsheet)—scheduling hosts, teachers, tech.
- Another social media post—both from church and personally.
- Second announcement from stage telling them what they’ll experience that night. (Let them know the night is guy-friendly a.ka. no mush.)
- Schedule Pre-Production meeting with Hosts/Teachers/Tech
Week Of
- Assemble the computer graphics in our worship presentation software (ProPresenter, Easyworship, Media Shout, etc.)
- Social Media posts and reminders
Day Of
- Morning of: Social Media reminders
- 2 Hours to Event: Set up crew sets up
- 1.5 Hours to Event: Pizza for set up crew, hosts, teacher, and tech delivered
- 1 Hour to Event: Pre-Production run-through of Planning Center (or schedule spreadsheet)
Our Night Out Events happen on Saturday nights every quarter, but yours can be on whatever night works best for the married couples in your community.
Making great events starts with great prep-work. Giving couples the opportunity to be out of the house, to laugh, be around other couples and ultimately to connect with one another is a big deal.
But don’t be intimidated by the idea, with a little prep work and all the resources MarriedPeople provides, youll be able to help couples connect with a fun night out that will have a big impact. You can do this!
Jonathon Mitchell has served as an Executive Pastor, and lives with his wife and two kids in Missouri.
We love featuring the work of many different experts and thought leaders on marriage. Want to contribute to our blog? Email admin@marriedpeople.org to find out more.
by Tim Walker | Jan 13, 2017 | Resources
Sometimes help is closer than you realize.
If you’ve purchased a MarriedPeople Strategy Pack, you have some great resources to implement a marriage strategy in your church, and even in your community.
But in the mass of videos and documents and graphics and other files, there is a one resource you may have missed. One that may be exactly what you need to figure out how all of this works in your particular churchthe MarriedPeople Orange Specialist.
MarriedPeople wants to help church leaders succeed as they help marriages, not just give them another resource. One of the best ways is to help leaders connect with their Orange Specialist, better known as the MarriedPeople OS.
Not every church is the same. Some churches are big, some are small. Some are in a building, some are portable. Some are in the city, some in the suburbs, some in rural areas. And while we create the Strategy Pack to work in all those settings, some times you just need a little help figuring out the how for your particular setting.
So what does a MarriedPeople OS have to offer you, the church leader?
- A wealth of information. They talk to A LOT of leaders, people who have been there, done that. They can pass along some best practices not only from their own experience, but also from the experiences of other leaders. They can share marriage ministry trends. They can even help you customize the MarriedPeople resources to fit into the culture of individual churches.
- A network of marriage ministry leaders. The MarriedPeople OS can connect church leaders to other leaders in their region who are using MarriedPeople resources. When church leaders connect to other church leaders, their ministries can thrive as they encourage and support one another.
- A strategist for marriage ministry. They can help leaders implement the MarriedPeople Strategy. They can talk through ways to best integrate the resources into the culture of the church. They can help develop a plan to cast the vision for the churchs marriage ministry.
- Orange information. Your OS eats, sleeps, and breathes the Orange strategy. If the church leader has a question regarding the Orange strategy or other Orange curriculums, the MarriedPeople OS can answer it. If they don’t know the answer, they won’t leave the leader hanging. They will get the answer for them.
- Administrative Assistance. Your MarriedPeople Orange Specialist can help you find files, change passwords, add users, and find invoices. Need to sign up for the Orange Conference, Orange Tour, or renew a subscription? They can help with these and many other tasks. All you have to do is ask.
The MarriedPeople Orange Specialist team wants to connect with you! They want to help leaders create wins in their marriage ministries. Don’t miss out on this resource that is only a call or email away.
Email info@marriedpeople.org to get connected today, or simply select the envelope icon in the upper right corner when you log into your MarriedPeople account.
Tim Walker is an editor on the MarriedPeople team, and blogger at timswords.com.
