Life of a youth pastor .

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Make a list and check it twice. Event planning in ministry.

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to do list - task management concept - isolated text in vintage wood letterpress printing blocks

We have 325 kids/students and 100 adult leaders registered for 2016 Winter Camp. Each year we are growing in attendance by 20%…it’s really fun to watch this thing take off!

Four months ago we launched registration for our winter camp. On August 23, we offered up a family BBQ and open house where parents could hear the vision from our NextGen team and meet their child’s small group leader. As a bonus, incentive, bribe…we promised a promo code to all that attended. This promo code would be good for $25 off of the camp price.

InstagramBBQ15

It worked. Really well.

Parents and students showed up in droves, we had almost 1,000 people show up. We had a short program that was jam packed with high energy music and a compelling vision moment from our NextGen pastor, Kenny Conley.

Our team made a decision this year to be finished with “camp stuff” before Christmas. Well, with a few changes on our staff team and one being out with a baby for a few months we slowed down a little bit but we almost did it. In reviewing our project plan we are 85-90% there. We will come back from our week off of work ready to knock it out, but most of the heavy lifting is finished!

When you decide to aim for a due date on any project take this into consideration:

  • Pick a reasonable due date. If it’s something as big as a camp start planning 5-6 months out.
  • Work as a team. Assign tasks and sub-tasks to each person on your staff or volunteer team.
  • Each task or sub-task has it’s own due date to keep things moving along.
  • Check-in weekly. Pick a time each week to review the checklist, where are you stuck?
  • Keep this updated in google docs where others can see progress or lack thereof.
  • Assign one person to be the project manager. This naturally can be the boss/supervisor but someone else on your team may be a better fit because of how they are wired.

My next post will be a step by step checklist with tasks and subtasks that should be helpful for any camp/retreat.

We got 180 campers to sign up in one day…here’s how.

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bait and switch

It’s all about deals…perhaps some would call a bait and switch, for which I don’t apologize. On September 1st we had 180 campers sign up for our Winter Camp in January! Yes, camp is still over 4 months away but we have almost 50% of our camp capacity filled…and here is how we did it.

It started a few years back with a desire to better partner with parents in my ministry. I wanted a place to bring together my parents, small group leaders and students to talk about our ministry philosophy of a small group culture and the events. So, first let’s answer this question: How do I get all of my parents, students and leaders/volunteers to one place? THE ANSWER for my first year of doing this was FOOD. Food brings people together, and in Texas there is no better way to do than offering a BBQ to families and leaders. Though this worked the first year, we needed a bigger reason to invite them back the following year…some parents may not seem willing to come to an event where “they already know what you are going to share” even if you have new content or vision for the year.

So, now let’s answer this question: How do I get all of my parents, students and leaders/volunteers to show up in one place year after year after year? …and not make it feel like pulling teeth?  I have used a phrase this year that seemed to go over well and somewhat contagious among my staff, “We bribe our parents/students to the BBQ, it is a bait and switch method and we don’t apologize for it, because in the end EVERYONE wins!” Let me explain in bullet points (to keep it brief) how this works.

THE BAIT AND SWITCH

  • Invite all parents/students to the annual BBQ.
  • REQUIRE that all small group leaders and volunteers attend.
  • Incentive: All who attend the BBQ will receive a promo code for $50 off camp registration. (Adjust your camp budgets accordingly so this doesn’t tank your budget, we plan to go into the hole a bit on the front end and compensate that with our “regular rate” and “late rate”)
  • Promo code can only be used by those that attended BBQ and must be used on opening day of registration.
  • On opening day we had 180 campers register for camp.

The other BAIT AND SWITCH

  • Remember the initial reason for the BBQ? We want parents to mingle with small group leaders.
  • After our large group program together, the parents must go meet and talk with the SGL for the meal ticket to get their BBQ.

Each year our NextGen team is refining this process but we have some BIG momentum from it. Don’t underestimate that there is a lot of planning for an event like this. However, it does generate lots of interest for your upcoming event or program along with creating a space for your audience to hear vision from your staff.

Organize for camp with custom lanyard schedules.

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IMG_9396      Bottom line: Get organized for camp by making your own lanyard schedules. 

Each year we run a full on NextGen camp. For MLK weekend we take 3rd-12th grade to the same camp setting, but run three independent camps according to age group. Sounds crazy and perhaps impossible right?! The three age groups never bump into each other except for MS/HS sharing a large group program.

Think about it: 300-400 kids & adults running around for three days trying to figure out what’s next, when to eat and where to be is asking for complete chaos. As you know, doing this for one age group brings enough headache of it’s own. Instead of trying to keep up with camp books, or kids asking the cabin leader every moment, “What’s next?”…we did lanyards this year and I’ll never look back.

What you will need: [Read more…]

Inside peek: Planning our Winter Camp.

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todos

The only successful to-do list includes this formula: Assign + Execute = Done. 

What appears to be a massive to-do list is almost just that. Some of these to-do’s will take 10 minutes while others may have taken 10 collective hours poured into them by our entire NextGen team. The multi-color spreadsheet to the right is our master schedule of 3 camps happening simultaneously at the same location on one weekend: 3-5 grade, 6-8 grade and 9-12 grade.

Assigning. This is probably more important than execution. If the task is assigned a champion to ensure it is completed then you do not have to worry about the 10 minutes – 10 hours it may take to execute the to-do. Evenly distributing your workload for a huge task like winter camp is the only way to go. It should never be one person’s job. If the item is not correctly delegated it will most likely not get done or present a source of frustration for the whole team. On our to-do board, in each checkbox there are initials representing the champion of that task, most of our team picked their own tasks to own. This came out of experience in a certain area or a gifting that made that task more preferable.

Executing. It usually always takes longer than you think, so allow double the time you think it may take so that you can produce quality work and not simply just get the job done. I’m not only talking about your input or work on the project: take into consideration graphic artists, t-shirt companies, shipping+handling timelines, and room for error if something needs to be redone. Set some timers. Today I had 15 minute timers going to keep me on task to execute my current to-do so I could move on to the next one. In the same manner, when a team-mate finishes their tasks you should start playing dominos (let one person that is finished fall into another persons task to help them until they are finished so that you can speed up the endgame)

This is probably not far off from what you and your team does before a camp or retreat. In a project as this you will be heavily reminded the importance of teamwork, if not you may be doing something wrong. You might be able to lift a few heavy things but you can’t do it all. Learn that now and you will still be sane in a few years and perhaps even your longevity in student ministry will increase.

A word of advice: Don’t wait until the last minute to think out loud with your team and start assigning and executing tasks. It’s never too soon to begin a project, but too soon can turn into too late very quickly.  Set dates on your calendar now for planning your next big event, set alarms on your phone, and reminders on your calendar for certain tasks. I suggest 4-6 months ahead of time.

Do you want more students at your camp? Do some forward thinking like some of your families.

If your personal and work life feel like they are overflowing with to-do’s try this exercise, I call it the “brain dump”.