An Orange Digital Conference Experience presented by Amazing Life
The Church is the hope of the world, and everyday ministry is where that hope takes root. Join us for a digital event that equips every Next Gen leader, from volunteers to senior pastors, with world-class tools, practical strategies, and fresh vision to elevate your ministry and impact the next generation.
What You'll Experience
Inspiring Main Sessions
Interactive Workshops
Senior Leader Content
Product + Strategy Updates
Exclusive Resources
And So Much More!
Registration Options
Schedule & Workshops
All times listed are in the Central Time Zone
10:00 AM
10:05 AM
Welcome
Main Sessions
Workshop access is available with purchase of NextGen or Senior Leader Ticket
11:15 AM
11:55 AM
12:35 PM
1:15 PM
Workshop A
Workshop B
Workshop C
Close
10:00 AM Welcome
10:05 AM Main Sessions
11:05 AM – 11:15 AM
Break & Transition to Workshops
Workshop access is available with purchase of NextGen or Senior Leader Ticket
11:15 AM Workshop A
11:55 AM Workshop B
12:35 PM Workshop C
1:15 PM Close
Main Sessions
This year’s main sessions bring together Patrick Lencioni, Tyler Bates, and Chris Heaslip to equip ministry leaders with practical insights and strategies for building strong teams, leading with vulnerability, and focusing on what matters most, the people they serve.
Whether you serve as a Volunteer, Kids Pastor, Youth Director, Senior Leader, or in any other ministry role, these sessions will offer fresh vision, renewed perspectives, and practical tools to help you lead with clarity and purpose.
Next Gen Experience Workshops
Designed for kids pastors, youth pastors, leaders, volunteers & more!
Why You Deserve World-Class Technology with Jay Kranda
The work you are doing in your ministry is so important and the Church doesn’t need more digital noise; it needs digital clarity. In a world flooded with tools, platforms, and apps, it’s easy for ministries to get caught up in tech trends that feel urgent but miss what’s essential: real people, deep discipleship, and lasting impact.
In this session, Jay Kranda, author of Online Church Is Not the Answer, invites us to rethink the role of technology in ministry. What if tech wasn’t the answer to church growth, but a tool that amplifies your mission when used with wisdom and intention? What if your systems worked as hard as you do, not just managing content, but increasing your Kingdom impact?
Whether you’re leading kids, students, or families, the tools you use shape the experience people have with your church and with Jesus.
This isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about raising your expectations. Because the Church deserves systems as excellent as its message—and your time should be spent on people, not platforms.
The First 365 Days of Life: Why 0–1 Matters with Brittany Compton, Danielle Wilkins, & Nora Davis
Babies grow and change in incredible ways, from their very first breath to their first year. Every moment matters. In those first days, babies are already learning to trust the world around them, building connections with sights, sounds, and smells. By one year, they’ve grown in amazing ways—physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.
The Church is called to embrace the art of everyday ministry, showing up in simple, powerful ways that shape lives. What if we truly believed that faith and brain development start at birth? How would that change how we care for and minister to our tiniest members?
This isn’t just babysitting; it’s sacred work shaping lives from day one. Our nursery environments, volunteers, and the way we partner with families all send messages to babies and parents about their value and belonging.
Let’s rethink how we welcome and nurture these little spiritual beings. Because when we the church invest in the earliest days, we’re joining God’s incredible work in forming faith that lasts a lifetime.
Building an Impactful Multicultural Ministry That Actually Works with Matt Manno
The world is beautifully diverse, filled with different cultures, languages, and stories. When the Church reflects that diversity, it becomes a powerful picture of God’s kingdom. But real inclusion doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intentional effort to create spaces where everyone feels seen, safe, and like they truly belong.
Reaching every tribe and tongue isn’t just about translating services. It’s about how we design our spaces, train our volunteers, write our signs, and choose our songs. Every decision sends a message about who is welcome and valued.
Everyone’s faith journey is shaped by their culture and story. When we make room for that, people don’t just feel included; they find belonging. That’s what discipleship looks like.
In this workshop, Matt Manno, NextGen Pastor at New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, NY, guides us through practical ways to prepare our churches with that same care and intention.
Just like a parent carefully prepares to welcome a new baby, we should prepare our churches with that same care—for every family, every language, every background. Because the Church deserves the best. God’s people deserve to be fully seen and fully loved.
So here’s the question: What can we do, starting now, to build a church that truly looks like the kingdom of God?
Helping Teens Build Faith That Lasts with Leslie Mack & Jayson French
Many teens raised in the church walk away from faith after high school, not because they lacked belief, but because they never learned how to own it for themselves. This session explores how youth discipleship can shift from merely passing on information to actively cultivating spiritual agency.
We’ll uncover how everyday moments, whether at home, school, or church, are opportunities to nurture teens’ faith and critical thinking. This workshop will focus on creating intentional spaces where teens can wrestle with doubt, ask hard questions, and develop the tools they need to navigate faith in a complex world.
By fostering genuine partnerships between church, family, and community, we empower teens to build a faith that lasts, transforms lives, and shapes the world around them. Together, we’ll reimagine youth discipleship as a daily art, helping teens move from passive receivers to active followers who lead with confidence and authenticity.
Your Most Valuable Teammate: How to Inspire, Celebrate, and Keep Volunteers Engaged with Nick Blevins & Kenny Conley
Volunteers don’t just need tasks, they need meaning. They need to know that what they’re doing matters, that they’re seen, and that they’re a part of something bigger than logistics.
In this session, Nick and Kenny will help you rediscover how consistent vision, celebration, and care can transform your volunteer culture. You’ll explore how to regularly connect volunteers to the “why” behind what they do so they’re not just showing up, but showing up with joy and purpose.
From celebrating wins to storytelling, to training leaders who guide rather than manage, you’ll walk away with practical tools to shift from volunteer maintenance to volunteer mission. Because when volunteers feel valued, fueled, and focused on the impact they’re making in kids’ lives, they not only stick with it, they grow from it.
Reaching Every Child with Sandra Peoples
We believe the church should be the safest, most welcoming place for every child, especially neurodivergent kids in Pre-K and elementary ministries. But too often, families face hidden barriers and environments that ask kids to fit in instead of belong.
In this session, we’ll explore what it means to go beyond simple accommodation and create a space where every child is truly seen, valued, and supported. We’ll talk about the real challenges families face and how your ministry can reflect the truth that every child is made in God’s image.
Sandra Peoples, disability ministry expert and advocate, leads this session with deep insight and compassion, helping you take the next step toward full inclusion.
You’ll join a practical and hopeful conversation with tools, mindset shifts, and strategies to remove barriers and build flexible, welcoming spaces. From helping volunteers feel confident to making sensory supports a normal part of ministry, you’ll learn how to help neurodivergent kids and their families thrive.
Together, we’ll imagine what it looks like to center neurodivergent children in ministry, honoring how they connect with God and helping your team take real steps toward lasting inclusion. When belonging is the foundation, the church becomes a place of hope and faith for all.
How to Recruit, Onboard, and Empower Confident Teams with Scott Myers
Strong teams don’t happen by accident, they happen by design. In this workshop hosted by Scott Myers from Planning Center Online, you’ll discover how clear systems for recruitment, onboarding, and training can transform volunteer chaos into volunteer confidence.
Scott will guide you through practical strategies to help you find the right people, place them where they’ll thrive, and give them the tools they need to lead with clarity. From job descriptions to welcome emails, and from onboarding flows to feedback loops, you’ll leave with a systems-first approach that still keeps people at the center.
Because when volunteers are recruited with vision, trained with care, and supported with consistency, they don’t just stay, they serve with passion.
The Long Game: Building Faith Across Families, Generations, and Seasons with Jim Wideman & Chris Heaslip
Everything changes. The Church has always adapted, shifting methods, structures, and models to meet people where they are. But even knowing that, change is still hard. Especially for ministry leaders who carry the weight of both legacy and innovation.
In this session, Chris Heaslip, CEO of the Amazing Life Foundation, sits down with long-time ministry leader Jim Wideman to talk candidly about what it means to lead well when everything around you is shifting. With over four decades of experience in kids and student ministry, Jim brings grounded wisdom, honest reflections, and deep encouragement for leaders navigating change in today’s Church.
This conversation is about leading with purpose when change feels uncomfortable. It’s about making space for what’s new without losing what’s true. It’s about rethinking how we partner with parents and grandparents, how we build teams, and how we stay personally connected to the kids and students we serve, no matter how much our roles evolve.
The Future of Youth Ministry with Jon Rush
Youth ministry today can feel overwhelming, social media trends to keep up with, events to plan, and students to entertain. But what if the future of youth ministry isn’t found in doing more, but in rediscovering what the Church has always done best?
In this session, Jon Rush will help you cut through the noise and refocus on what really shapes the next generation: God’s presence, intentional discipleship, and leaders who stick around. You’ll explore how ancient practices of the Church meet modern challenges like anxiety, identity, and digital overload, and why students don’t need “cool,” they need real.
From raising strong disciples to multiplying leaders, you’ll walk away with practical tools to simplify your ministry and strengthen your impact. Because the next generation doesn’t just need better programs; they need spiritual mothers and fathers who show them how to follow Jesus for life.
Senior Leadership Experience Workshops
Designed for senior pastors, executive leaders, and ministry decision-makers!
Investing in What Matters Most: Your People with Rick Holliday, Todd Lane, Chris Heaslip
The strength of your church doesn’t just come from what you do–it comes from how well you equip others to lead. Ministry is most effective when leaders shift from carrying the work themselves to creating systems that empower others to thrive.
Join seasoned leaders Rick Holliday and Todd Lane for a candid conversation with Amazing Life CEO Chris Heaslip about what it takes to build sustainable ministry. Together they’ll unpack the principles of equipping, delegation, and oversight that fuel long-term growth, without burning out your team or yourself.
You’ll discover:
- How to create systems that multiply ministry impact.
- Why empowering and developing the next generation of leaders is key to your church’s growth.
- Practical approaches to feedback, conflict, and coaching that build healthier teams.
- How to navigate transitions and identity shifts with clarity and faith.
Have Greater Impact This Year: How to Stay Spiritually, Emotionally, and Relationally Healthy with Todd Lane
Leadership is demanding, and ministry leadership even more so. Todd Lane, founder of Executive Leaders, understands the unique pressures ministry leaders face and the vital need to protect your spiritual, emotional, and relational health over the long haul.
In this session, Todd will share practical insights and proven rhythms that help you stay deeply connected to God, maintain emotional resilience, and cultivate healthy relationships amidst ministry’s challenges. Drawing on years of coaching ministry leaders, Todd offers tools to create sustainable habits, navigate stress, and find margin for what matters most.
If you’re ready to invest in your long-term well-being so you can lead with clarity, passion, and purpose for years to come, this session is designed for you.
Staying Whole: Honest Talk from the Frontlines with Nicole Jordan, Larry Cotton, and Todd Lane
Leadership can take a toll, and staying spiritually, emotionally, and relationally healthy isn’t easy. In this candid panel conversation, seasoned ministry leaders share real-life stories, honest struggles, and practical habits that help them stay grounded and whole over the long haul.
Building on Todd Lane’s keynote, this session goes deeper into the day-to-day realities of sustaining health while leading in high-demand environments. You’ll hear personal insights, lessons learned the hard way, and wisdom gained through years of experience.
If you’ve ever wondered how others are really holding it all together, and what practices actually make a difference, this panel is for you.
Access to All Next Gen Workshops
With a Senior Leadership Experience ticket, you’ll get access to both the Senior Leader workshops and the full lineup of Next Gen workshops, giving you practical tools for your role and the leaders you support.
The Lineup
Meet the voices bringing practical ideas and new conversations to your entire team.
Still Have Questions?
Who is this event for?
This digital conference is designed for every Next Gen ministry leader—from volunteers to senior pastors.
How much does it cost to attend?
The main sessions are free! Additional access to workshops and senior leader content is available through paid ticket options.
What happens after I register?
You’ll receive a confirmation email and event access details as the date approaches.
Will the event be available on-demand?
Yes! If you register, you’ll receive access to watch the sessions up to 1 year after the live event concludes.
Do I need to attend live?
Nope! While we encourage attending live for the full experience, all content will be available to watch later if you’re registered.
Can I register my whole team?
Yes! We offer a discounted Group Ticket option that gives your entire Next Gen team access to both the main sessions and interactive workshops.
Is my registration limited to one streaming device?
Yes, your registration allows streaming on a single device at a time. If you’d like team members to join from their own devices and fully engage with the workshop experience, we recommend choosing our group ticket option!
Will I get access to both Next Gen and Senior Leader content?
- Next Gen tickets include all main sessions and workshops tailored for kids and youth leaders.
- Senior Leader tickets include everything from the Next Gen experience plus exclusive sessions and workshops designed for executive and senior pastors.
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We’re planning, with Planning Center, to bring you this digital event.
