If you are attending The Orange Conference, then you need to come hang out with us at the “Official Orange Leaders Tweet-Up!”

The TWEET UP will be on Wednesday, April 28th from 10 – 11:30 pm at Chocolate Perks.  Chocolate Perks is opening up special just for us, so come make it an awesome time of meeting new people.  It’s perfectly timed for those of us attending all the Pre-Conference breakouts that have made new friends, as well as THE go-to place to meet all your online buddies after the opening session of The Orange Conference!

There will be free wifi for all the nerds, but Star Trek costumes are optional!  Not on Twitter yet?  No problem!  Go ahead and sign up and be welcomed with open arms!

The Orange Conference is so close to being here and I’m excited to be a part of the Orange Leaders Lounge.  The lounge is going to be a great place to meet up with myself, as well as others.  I put special emphasis on “the others” as meeting me might not live up to my own expectations!

Why would you want to visit the Orange Leaders Lounge?

• All your friends will be there.  If you are reading this blog, AND you are attending The Orange Conference then there is a very good chance that you know of Sam Luce, Gina McClain, Matt McKee and Kenny Conley.  You may have read the greatness of Amy Dolan over at Lemon-Lime Kids or JC Thompson at JCisOnline.  Them, and many more, will all be in the Orange Leaders Lounge!  Come hang out.
• PICTURES: We are going to do be doing Twitpics in the OLL.  We have 2 backdrops that will be up, one is being painted by Hannah Joiner.  You should be excited about this!  People will be able to come up with their team and take a pic with their phone and then add the #orange10 hashtag, it will be fun to track all those pics! We have signs up in the lounge explaining all of this…
• PRIZES: We are also going to be running a contest all throughout Orange, 3 different prizes, 3 different days.  Stay tuned for more details soon…
• FREE OrangeLeaders.com Memberships: Just by visiting the OLL you will have a chance to preview www.orangeleaders.com for one month on a FREE Premium Membership.  It’s that easy!
• Book Signings!  In the OLL we will have scheduled book signings, that will include John and Nancy Ortberg, Donald Miller, Rev Run, and Reggie Joiner.
• I’ve saved the very, very best for last.  The only place to get coffee at The Orange Conference is in the OLL.  Seriously, people.  You can get coffee here and only here.

Here we sit, a little over two weeks away from The Orange Conference.  I’ve been plugging away at the few other 1,000 things my job requires of me, and today I realized that I’m going to Atlanta the last week of April!  And guess what?  You can go with me.  Well… not exactly.  Unless you’re in Lubbock and happen to be on my flight to Atlanta, then we’ll probably just have to meet there.  Anyways, you can attend the Orange Conference and hang out with me and all my friends!

Today is the LAST day to get 50% off the price for Pre-Conference workshops at Orange. If you haven’t already registered for Orange, what are you waiting for? Click here to get registered!

I’ll be hanging out in the Orange Leaders lounge blogging away, and would love to meet you.  Promise me that you’ll register soon, and be there to hang out with all of us.  This year’s Orange Conference is going to be bigger, and better than every before!  Do NOT miss this year!

There are some fantastic breakouts this year, and here are the list of breakouts I’m attending:

Pre-Conference #1: Building an Apprentice Mindset // Let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of staffing changes this year, and I’m looking forward to learning how I can better prepare myself for the inevitable transition that accompanies leadership.

Pre-Conference #2: Leading Strategically from your Strengths // My friend Michael Chanely is leading this breakout, and he’s a Marine.  I’m hoping that he goes all “Basic Training” on my leadership abilities.

Pre-Conference #3: 5 Stupid things that keep your Children’s Ministry from Growing // I’m worried that somebody has been secretly following me, and is going to list the 5 most stupid things I’ve done.  Because 5 is a low number for the stupid things I’ve done…

Thursday Breakout A: Igniting Faith in your Children’s and Family Ministry **SOLDOUT** // I’m really looking forward to this breakout, and learning how I can get kids to express their faith at church, home, and beyond.

Thursday Breakout B: Influencing Transition **SOLDOUT** // Take me to coffee some time, and I’ll give you a lesson on how NOT to influence transition.  I’m hoping this breakout will give me some fresh and unique ideas to go back home with, without scaring everyone around me about “What’s Next!’

Friday Breakout C: Parenting Beyond your Capacity // It’s going to be great to take a closer look at the RED side of ORANGE!

Friday Breakout D: Community is Messy // Church is great…then people show up!

Are you going to be in any of these same breakouts?  If so, then pull yourself off your iPhone long enough to come copy my notes!  It’s going to be a great time learning, growing, and sharing with others that are in the game with you!

If you’ve not registered for The Orange Conference, then go ahead and kick yourself.  You’ve missed out on a great special that expired last week.  However…it’s not too late.  In fact, there is still time to register and still save some money on those that might wait until the absolute last minute to register.

Register your group between February 22 and March 18 and pay $280 per person.  That’s $20 off the regular price of $300!  Let’s do the math for a minute.  If you take 3 people to Orange you can save $60, but you could save $1,000 if you take 50 people!

PLUS, that is not all…

Your church or organization will get 6 months of free curriculum from OrangeLeaders.com!* This leadership material is an incredible resource to use with your volunteers during training events as well as for your own personal growth.

*Access to your OrangeLeaders.com subscription will be available beginning on April 1, 2010. Access to download your materials will be given for a period of three months, although the materials may be used in your environments through December 31, 2010. This offer does not apply to current subscribers to OrangeLeaders.com. Coupons to access the free materials will be emailed to each qualifying group leader during the week of March 22, 2010. Questions? Call 877.313.9826 or email orangeconference@rethinkgroup.org

What do you think when I offer you the chance to see the making of an Orange?  What if I change one of those words and offer you a chance to see the Making of The Orange Conference?  Trust me.  You do NOT want to watch this video on how to make an orange germinate and grow much faster.  Really.

You do however want to visit www.makingoforange.com

It’s MakingOfOrange.com and it’s a way for people to follow along and participate in the process of planning The Orange Conference.  They will be giving daily updates of what the teams are working on and asking for input along the way.  They will be putting up videos of meetings and posting pictures as well.

Then when the conference is happening, there will be interviews with the speakers streaming live from backstage on this site.  Lots of good stuff going on with this site!  Go check it out now!