yea...we have made a few mistakes!

Mistakes...yea we have made a few in our journey toward implementing the Orange Strategy at Grace Community Church. We feel like if we are not making mistakes we are not living by faith. Innovation always involves risk and our team is constantly processing what we need to do to be more effective. Let me break that down...we have made some big mistakes as we tried to THINK ORANGE. I know if you read my blog you hear me talk about youth ministry and family ministry but my role here at GCC allows me to serve with both our preschool and children's ministry almost every week. For our team one of our greatest mistakes was not creating a large group environment for our preschool ministry. We assumed it was not needed, that kids would not connect, that it would cause too much chaos, and it would be too difficult. WE MISSED IT. Last year we had a few amazing volunteers who took the challenge, gathered a team, and had our first preschool large group experience. From the first morning we tried it we were blown away. The kids loved it. Every kid left knowing the bottom line for the day. Every teacher/volunteer was thrilled. Parents were emailing our preschool director all week saying....THANKS! For three years we missed the opportunity to take our preschool ministry to the next level because we were scared it would not work and we doubted we could gather the volunteers. Now we can't imagine not having preschool large group time. Watching our preschoolers worship, dance, and interact with the Bible story is priceless. One of our biggest misses has become one of our most powerful environments at our church. Most of us who work with k-5 grade, teenagers, or college students can't imagine not having a worship experience for our ministries...why not start that journey with preschoolers. We learned it's a pretty big deal. Don't make our mistake!