For Leaders Who Care About Kids At Every Life Stage
Author: Kristen Ivy
Kristen earned her Bachelors of Education from Baylor University in 2004 and a Master of Divinity from Mercer University in 2009. Before beginning her career at Orange in 2006, she worked as a high school Biology and English teacher, where she learned firsthand the importance of influencing the next generation. Kristen and her husband Matt are currently parenting through the phases with a Kindergartener (Sawyer), a preschooler (Hensley), and her own “Zero to One” baby (Raleigh).
Kids who are black, white, Asian, Hispanic. Kids who are fostered or adopted. Only children, middle children, and youngest children. High risk, special needs, gifted, introverts, extroverts, strong-willed, or mild-tempered . . .
All kids need the same thing.
Actually, it may seem like kids need a lot of things. In fact, if you listen to the voices in our culture advocating for kids, you can very quickly become overwhelmed by all the things kids need.
Josh Shipp is new to the Orange family, but we were immediately moved by his story and integrity. Inspiring and hilarious, Josh uses his platform as a TV host, author, and speaker to share the powerful message that every teen deserves a chance to live life at it’s fullest. Josh has proved integral to our High School Phase research and we can’t wait to see what he does next!
Sue Miller can most accurately be described as a cornerstone, not just for us at Orange, but for preschool ministry as a whole. For 17 years she led a 3000-strong children’s ministry at Willow Creek Community Church and since 2005 she’s developed groundbreaking ministry books, resources & events for preschool leaders, volunteers, & parents. She’s an expert on families and an integral part of our family at Orange.
This fall Jon Acuff joined Orange in 13 cities for Orange Tour. Behind the scenes we wanted to ask Jon a few more personal questions about how these ideas show up in his own life.
Anyone who wants to know more about the high school phases probably already knows Brad Griffin. We love hanging out with Brad because he blends academia and real-world ministry—which just means he’s the kind of smart that also feels incredibly relatable. Brad’s experience as a youth pastor and small group leader combined with his discoveries from the past ten years at FYI bring insight to the Phase Project about what it really means to mobilize the faith of highshoolers and emerging adolescents.
