Category: Uncategorized

The Cost of Leadership

My boss, Brian, has a saying that goes like this:  “Leadership is a series of losses.”  Like usual, the first time I heard him say it, I had no idea what he was talking about.   But over time, I’ve come to see that he’s got a genius streak.  Let me explain.

A few months I ago I received a promotion.  I was given more oversight, more responsibility and new roles.  Of course, getting promoted is a good thing and feels very nice.  I also love the idea of providing vision and oversight to the ministry.  However, I’ve learned that promotions aren’t all smiles and sunshine.  In fact, I’ve been mourning this transition for a few weeks now.

You see, I’ve spent the last five years building things.  Some of these things I’m very proud of.  About 50 adult volunteers make our high school ministry what it is.  It’s been my privilege and responsibility to recruit, train and walk with these volunteers.  I was the one who interviewed them, chose their small group and helped them find their way in the early days of volunteering.

I care deeply about each one of them.  We’ve walked through some heavy stuff—student and family crisis, personal loss, feelings of inadequacy, and relational conflict.  I also feel a strong sense of pride in knowing that I’ve had a role in equipping them.  But, it’s no longer my role to equip them.  I am losing this role.  It’s time to hand it over to someone else.

Over the last 3 years, I’ve built a high school to college transition program that I love.  At the risk of sounding like a regular jackwagon, I’m incredibly proud of this ministry.  I love it because it’s unique and effective.  My greatest joy in ministry over the last 3 years has been watching graduates of our ministry thrive in college and adulthood.  Knowing I’ve had even a small role in their growth is very rewarding.  But, with my new position, I won’t be able to lead this program any longer.  I am losing this role.  It’s time to hand it over to someone else.

For the last 12 years, I have been leading worship in student ministries on a regular basis.  I absolutely love playing music and drawing students into the presence of God.  I can’t imagine not leading worship.  And yet, it’s no longer my job to lead.  I’m losing this role.  It’s time to hand it over to someone else.

Please understand that I’m very happy about my promotion and I’m excited and honored to lead our high school ministry.  I feel this is exactly where God wants me and I know that it’s right but I have to be honest about the cost of leadership.  It’s terribly painful to build something and then hand it over to someone else and trust them to do the work.  Leadership costs something.

Moving up in an organization always leads to greater leverage and lesser contact.  5 years ago I left behind the role of everyday contact with high school students.  It was a painful but ultimately good transition.  And now, as the leader of our high school ministry, I have been gifted with the leverage to direct the entire ministry and yet, I know I will have less contact with our students and volunteers and less contact with some of the roles and programs I have loved over the last few years.

In this way, leadership is a series of losses.  I must let go of what I love and learn to empower others to take what I have built and transform it into something that is uniquely theirs.  Have any of you had this experience?

 

Burnout in 3 Easy Mistakes

Fresh out of college, I scored a killer job as a high school youth pastor at a church of 1,500.  I went hard.  I built an impressive senior high ministry.  Nearly everyone in the church was happy with my work.  And yet, five years later I was completely done.  Toast.  Burnt out.  How did I do it?  It really only took three mistakes…

THE ME SHOW

My church hired me to do ministry, so that’s what I did.  I led worship, taught twice a week, counseled students, organized and led trips, events, and retreats and even kept the budget.  Along the way, I discovered that I’m pretty good at most of these skills.  Partly because it was the expectation of the church and partly because I’m a control freak, I continued to personally do everything for years.

I’m convinced that my biggest mistake was not empowering others to do the work of ministry.  I was terrible at developing and equipping volunteers.  My unwillingness to empower others for meaningful roles directly led to my burnout.

KEEPING BUSY

I came into ministry thinking that a full schedule of programs, events and trips was a sign of a healthy ministry.  I now believe the opposite.  My first student ministry consisted of three weekly programs, events twice a month, 2 retreats and 3 mission trips per year.  Maybe this would have been OK if I had delegated the leadership of a few of these elements to someone else…but I didn’t.  I planned, organized and led all of these things myself for 5 years.

Looking back I can’t believe I survived as long as I did.  I also can’t believe that someone didn’t pull me aside and say, “Slow down buckaroo!”  Either way, I kept an insane schedule for 5 years and then crashed.  I’ve learned that sustainability is a key concept for longevity.

KEEP IT INSIDE

I am convinced that many youth pastors burnout and become bitter because they mishandle conflict.

There have been times in my career in which I encountered conflict—not a shocker.  But here was my problem:    Instead of going directly to the people that I had issues with, I took my frustrations to my “bitter bubble”.  You know what I’m talking about—that safe place where you back up the dump truck of resentment and let it fly.

I felt like I was protecting work relationships and doing my church a favor by not introducing conflict but truthfully I was doing them and myself a huge disservice.

Conflict, when handled with maturity is always good.  It sharpens vision and actually builds trust and confidence.  Confrontation, handled well, is a gift that provides us with the opportunity to evaluate and grow.

Because I was afraid to handle conflict with confidence and maturity I became bitter—this is what happens in the bitter bubble.  Over time, this led to insurmountable misunderstanding and resentment that never should have existed in the first place.

IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL

So, if you want to stay in ministry for a good long while, I have 3 tips:

  1. Empower and delegate
  2. Stick to a sustainable schedule
  3. Be honest with your frustrations—do not participate in a bitter bubble!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Happiness Doesn’t Make You Happy

We are seriously confused about happiness.  On the one hand, we have more opportunity for happiness in our society than every before.  For the most part, we can have anything we want almost anytime that we want.  And yet, our culture is seriously unhappy and discontent.  We’re never satisfied or content–with what we have, with our relationships, with achievement, with sex, basically anything.

It’s not just adults either, over the last decade that I’ve been involved in student ministry, I’ve noticed a sharp increase in students who are either depressed or very unhappy.  What’s the deal?  How can we be so unhappy when we have everything we could want or need?

I think it is because we fundamentally misunderstand happiness.  Popular psychology argues that happiness is attained when we get or achieve what we want.  Be who you want to be.  Get what you want.  Do what you want.  When you release yourself from pressures to conform and do your thing, then you’ll be happy.  Personally, I think this is a misunderstanding of human nature.  As I understand the Bible,I don’t think we shouldn’t trust our desires.

Two ancient verses from the Old Testament describe what I’m talking about:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 16:25)

Here’s a very basic interpretation:  Your heart is a liar and often when something seems very right it is very wrong.  In other words, contrary to popular belief, you can’t trust your gut and you shouldn’t follow your heart.  To put it bluntly, what you think will make you happy will often leave you empty or worse, break your heart.

Happiness is elusive because it moves.  Let me explain.  The year was 2002, the Xbox had just come out and I simply had to have one.  My Playstation had become utterly worthless to me.  So, I bought the Xbox and it was amazing.  Then, in 2005, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 and with one quick press announcement, my Xbox was dead to me.  I couldn’t play games on that worthless old piece of outdated technology.  I simply had to have the 360.  So, I went out and bought one and it was amazing.  And now, what will be released in a few short months?  The Xbox One.  And when I see my friends playing on it my 360 will become utterly worthless to me.

What I experienced with the Xbox applies to relationships, achievement, sex and anything else.  The girl I couldn’t break up with fast enough back in 10th grade was the same girl I just had to have 3 months earlier.  Happiness is elusive because it moves.

Here’s the truth:  constantly trying to keep yourself happy will never lead to true happiness.  You will experience flashes of happiness but then it will move.  You’ll constantly be chasing something you’ll never actually achieve.

Happiness isn’t really what you’re after anyway.  What you want is meaning.  You want to live a life that is meaningful.  Living a meaningful life unlocks joy.  Unlike happiness, joy doesn’t move because it isn’t dependent on external circumstances.

The Apostle Paul used the word “joy” constantly and he lived a pretty rough life.  He was beaten, imprisoned, stoned (from rocks not plants), shipwrecked and eventually murdered because he was a Jesus follower.  Yet, in the midst of all this pain he repeatedly wrote of being filled with joy.  How is this possible?

Paul experienced joy because he knew that he was desperately loved by his Creator and Savior.  He felt joy in the midst of abuse and pain because he knew that he was pouring his life out for something that really mattered–for something deeply meaningful.

Joy is possible when you have nothing, when you are rejected, when you are hurt and even when you are dying.  Joy is far superior to happiness.  Stop living for happiness because happiness won’t make you happy.  Give your life to something meaningful.

 

 

 

 

Introducing Our Newest LifeLine Staff

I have big news!  I am so excited to announce that we have hired Kirk Bierens as our Knapp Street High School Pastor.  I’m so pumped about this that I can barely contain myself.  Kirk and I have been friends for years.  I couldn’t be happier that he’s joining the LifeLine team.

For those of you who don’t know Kirk, I’d like to introduce you to him and share why I’m so excited that he’s joining the LifeLine team.  Here you go.

FEARLESSLY FUN

Fortunately for LifeLine, Kirk never exactly grew up.  When society told him to calm down, chill out and sit down in a lazy chair he went snowboarding.  He’s never slowed down and is still incredibly fun.  Earlier this summer, Kirk joined up as a cabin leader at Camp LifeLine and brought it strong.  His cabin was named “Kung-Fu Panda” and he showed up with a 6 ft. replica.  I’m pretty sure there was even a string that produced Jack Black’s voice attached to it.

Kung fu

After camp, when most of us were nearly in a coma, Kirk was going on about how he and his buddies were going to build a raft, float down the Grand River from Grand Rapids to Lake Michigan and then sink it in the big lake.  Who is this guy?

I love that Kirk is fun.  He’s got that crazy edge—He’ll do anything.  I’m sort of thinking of using him as a stuntman for our LifeLine videos.  I love bringing his kind of energy to the LifeLine team.  I never want to get stale or boring and I’m pretty sure Kirk is incapable of either.

THE BEARD

the beard

Quite simply, you just have to fear the beard.  A few months ago, Kirk and his buddies registered for a trail marathon.  You have to be hard to run one of these.  It’s such a manly run that they decided to forgo shaving until after the run.  Respect.

GENEROSITY

As a friend, Kirk has always been incredibly generous to me and my family.  A few years back, my family went through what we now call “the year of poverty.”  It’s a long story but basically everything went wrong.  During this year, Kirk hooked me up with a moonlighting job in his painting business.  We painted a beauty school–no joke.  I’d work at the church until 4 or 5 and then paint with Kirk until 2am.  The thing is, I’m a terrible painter and I’m pretty sure he and his real crew had to fix my mistakes but his generosity during our time of need helped us get through a hard time.

Later that same year, he showed up at my house with a free washer and dryer that we still use.  Did I mention that he’s generous?

FAMILY FIRST

I love Kirk’s family.  He has one of those families that you just love to watch because their interactions are so authentic and loving.  I’ve heard him talk about the uniqueness of each of his kids and how’s he’s trying to draw out each of their passions and gifting in individualized ways.  He’s a great dad.

kirk fam 3

LifeLine is about family.  We want to resource and inspire parents toward greatness.  We recognize that we exist to partner with families.  Kirk brings a lot to the table in this area.  I know that he will be a great model and resource for the families of our Knapp Street Campus.

no beard

HUMILITY

Kirk is not about Kirk.  I love this about him.  He once wore a simple white v-neck for about 2 years straight because he felt like fashion had become too important to him.  He just wants to follow Jesus, serve the church and his family and keep the spotlight on others. In fact, when he sees this post and how much I’ve highlighted his life and character, I’m pretty sure he’s going to want to fight me…privately, in a quiet place, because he wouldn’t want it to be a big deal.

CREATIVITY

I’ve already mentioned the life size Kung-Fu Panda.  Kirk is an artist, and a good one.  Here’s one of his paintings…yes, it’s a painting and not a photo.

kirk's painting

I’m excited to see how Kirk’s creative gifts will influence LifeLine.  And, I’m secretly hoping he’ll do a portrait of me for posterity.

NOTHING HELD BACK FROM JESUS

Kirk is one of those rare guys who is dead serious about following Jesus.  He applied for this LifeLine job because he wanted to be obedient to how God was leading him.  A few years ago, after a deeply impactful mission trip to China, he and his family were ready to drop everything and move to China as missionaries.  And when I say ready, I mean they were inches away from moving across the globe when Molly, Kirk’s wife, became pregnant.  Change of plans.

I love that Kirk doesn’t hold anything back from Jesus.  Everything is in play.  Here’s the truth:  I want Kirk on the LifeLine team because I want my faith to look like his.  I want our students to live like Kirk does.  He follows Jesus passionately and recklessly.  He puts his time, money, talents, possessions, passions—his everything on the table.

Welcome to the team Kirk!  I’m looking forward to serving together.  Our team and ministry will be better and stronger with you on board.

 

What I’m Reading

I’m on vacation this week so I’ve been catching up on my favorite blogs.  Here’s a few posts that stuck out.

 

When it comes to youth culture, Walt Mueller is one of the best minds out there.  If you are a parent, his Center for Parent/Youth Understanding site is a great resource.  Also, I found his thoughts on the 2013 Teen Choice Awards is very insightful.

 

As for student ministry, Kurt Johnston at Saddleback is an absolute boss.  I love what he has to say here, especially about work-ethic among youth pastors.  This is something I’ve written about myself.  You can check out my post here.

 

Lastly, this post about church phrases by Chuck Bomar is fantastic.

In Case You Thought I Was Normal…

Part of what makes Camp LifeLine so outrageously fun are the program characters.  Our students love Chucky and Lucky, El Mattadore, Strawberry Sam and the rest.  If you’ve never seen these videos or characters you will think we’ve lost my minds…sorry about that.

By the way, if you knew me in high school or college, I assure you that I’m just as intelligent and popular as I was.

Camp 2013 Opener from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

Camp LL 2013 | Wednesday Story from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

 

Camp LL 2013 | Friday Story from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

Worship Night in a Box

Year after year, our most impactful night of camp is worship night. The experience this year was the most amazing yet. We built the experience around the theme of surrender. What transpired so was powerful that I thought I’d share our script. Feel free to steal all or some of it for your own ministry.

ATMOSPHERE

We always begin our worship nights with small group time. The purpose of this time is to set the tone for the night. Instead of a countdown, explosive music and beach balls flying through the air, small groups walk in silently.

For the most part, we lit the room exclusively with candles. On a side note, it is much easier to employ minimal lighting if the band uses iPads for their chord charts. We use a mobile app from planningcenteronline.com. Check it out.

NOTES

  • We always attempt to keep our worship experiences at an hour or less. Always leave your students wanting more.
  • I usually build our worship nights around a new song that fits the theme very well. This year the theme song was Arms Open Wide. It’s cool to bookend the experience with the same song.
  • Our worship nights usually include a few short talks—no more than 5 minutes, several videos and an interactive element or two.

SETUP MODULE

Intro Song (as students are walking in)

Arms Open Wide (chill and without bridge)

Intro Talk

We welcomed the students to worship night and invited them to connect with God. We introduced the theme, invited everyone to experience the event as they felt comfortable and then led the group in prayer—everyone with palmed lifted upward, ready to receive whatever God had for them. It’s important to note that we gave them permission to sit, stand, sing, pray, be quiet, write, or basically whatever else would help them connect with God.

Worship

Here for You

The Lord our God

 

CONFESSION MODULE

Confession Video

Confession from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

 

Confession Letters

We spoke to our students for a few minutes about what confession is and how it unlocks our hearts toward God. We shared 1 John 1:9 and then invited each student to write their own letter of confession to God.

Worship

Instrumental during letter writing

Never Once

 

CROSS MODULE

Communion Video

Communion Talk

We spent 5 minutes describing what communion is and how to participate in it. We also invited students to come down and nail their letters of confession to the cross after communion.

Communion (The Wonderful Cross during)

We stationed pairs of leaders with bread and juice at stations around the crowd. We like to have students come forward to the elements. It makes the experience more interactive.

Nailing Letters of Confession to Cross (Beautiful Things during)

photo(4)All Things New

 

SURRENDER MODULE

At this point we brought the cross, which had been in the shadows, to the forefront of the stage. It was a powerful moment as we talked about how, at the cross, all our sin has been washed away. In Christ we have a new identity. We are sons and daughters. We are no longer defined by our mistakes or what has been done to us.

Then, I read Romans 12:1-2:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Jesus is asking for for our lives. He is looking for disciples—for partners in His kingdom work on this planet. We then brought all of our volunteer leaders to the front and invited students to surrender their lives to Jesus to and come forward to be prayed over.

Worship

Here’s My Heart Lord (During prayer time)

Arms Open Wide (full version)

No One Higher

SMALL GROUPS

After the final song we sent our students to their small groups to process and share. As always, groups are central to what we do. Middle school students, especially, need help understanding and communicating what they experienced at worship night.

So that’s it–pretty simple really. Go ahead and steal all or some of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dynamite and Sledgehammers

img_drilling-1957-with-new-rig

I come from a long line of water well drillers.  My family even has a picture of my Great-Great Grandfather drilling a well with a horse.  Now that’s old school.  I worked in the industry off and on for over 10 years and enjoyed most of it.  I’ll be honest; working outside during the winter in Michigan was not my favorite.  Also, I’m kind of a sissy because I was developing tendonitis of basically every joint possible.  In 2003 I transitioned out of water well drilling and into student ministry.  I know that I’m exactly where God wants me as a student pastor but there are some things I love and miss about drilling.  The biggest thing I miss is just that…”things”.  There is a huge difference between working with people and working with things.  Let me explain.

When you’re repairing an old well it is perfectly acceptable and often necessary to beat the heck out of it with a sledge hammer.  This is especially helpful when the repair is not going well and you need to let off some angst.  With my children, we call this throwing a tantrum. Let me just say that I throw an excellent sledge hammer tantrum. I’m guessing it would be frowned upon to unleash the sledge in the church office.  When you get upset in the church office you have to do something constructive like take a walk.  Lame.

Secondly, dynamite. Yes, I’m being serious. Back in the day, water well drillers would regularly obliterate underground obstacles with dynamite.  I cannot adequately put into words the euphoria a person experiences when touching off a half-stick of dynamite. I’m still trying to figure out a way to incorporate dynamite in student ministry…

As much as I fondly remember working with things rather than people, I’ve chosen a different path.  I’m a student pastor and not a well driller.  I don’t work with things. I work with people.   Although I often miss wanton destruction I have to admit that for me, only student ministry stirs my soul.  God has wired me in such a way that only people can bring me to tears–both out of sadness and joy. Only student ministry and more specifically, students and volunteers bring out the passion that God built into me.

I’ll always be grateful to the people who pointed me toward my life’s passion.  I’ll always be thankful that God guided me to the mission He designed me for.  Sometimes people drive me crazy but I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

I know there are days when you want to throw in the towel.  Sometimes people can break your heart or betray your trust.  Maybe that happened today.  In these moments, remember what it is that stirs your soul.  The fact that you as upset as you are betrays how much you care.  You’re right where you’re supposed to be.

A Tribute to Christina

Today, one of my favorite co-workers of all time is saying goodbye to our student ministry team.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been so sad to see a teammate go.  Christina Thelen has been on staff with us for the last four years.  She’s brought an incredible amount of life, passion and professionalism to our team.  We’re going to miss her terribly.

Today’s post is for you Christina.  There are so many things that I appreciate about you and here’s my attempt to highlight a few of them:

DEVOTION

You’ll never find a more devoted friend than Christina.  If she’s in your corner you have a serious ally.  If we were in the old west, she would be at your side at the OK Corral.  She will always defend you and fight for you—even when you’re wrong, which has been great for me because I’m often wrong.

I’ve learned a lot about what it means to be a good friend from Christina.  She is always there, always on your team and will always willing to give when you are in need.  You’re not going to find a more devoted friend than Christina

FUN

Our team is ridiculously fun.  We’ve been told by others that whenever they visit the LifeLine office that they just want to sit and hang out all day.  We pride ourselves on being fun.  Christina has been a huge part of this.  She has a fantastic sense of humor.  Truthfully, many of the ideas for our funny videos have come from her.  We just like to steal the credit because it makes her mad.  And honesty, one of our favorite activities is making Christina mad.  It’s just too entertaining.

PASSION

I’ve always been a little timid when it comes to conflict.  I’m prone to roll over and surrender when the conversation gets heated.  That’s not how Christina rolls.  At first I thought she was just “likes to fight girl” but now I understand that she lives with conviction and passion and she deeply believes in student ministry.  When it comes to fighting for an idea that will increase ministry effectiveness or help students, she’ll go to the mattresses.

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One of the things I’ve learned from Christina is that some things are worth fighting for.  When it comes to the things you believe in—your passions and convictions, don’t roll over when you hit resistance.  “You gotta fight for your right…”

STRENGTH

Christina has made me a stronger person—literally…by hurting me…a lot.

Christina Tribute from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

EMPATHY

Christina is simultaneously one of the toughest people I know and the most sensitive.  She truly loves students and empathizes with their pain.  She can do “empathy face”—you know, when you’re listening to a painful story and your face displays the same emotion that the story teller is feeling?  She cries with those who cry and celebrates with those who are celebrating.  I don’t really know how to do this because I’m a “F-“ at empathy.

One of the things I’ve noticed about Christina is that students and volunteers constantly go to her when they are in pain.  She is great at listening and truly caring about what you’re going through.  I learned this during my failed adoption.  She was a very good and empathetic friend during one of the most painful episodes of my life.

Christina loves people exceptionally well—especially when they are hurting.  She’s taught me so much about student ministry.  She’s been a star player on our team and we’re going to miss her.  We love you Christina and wish you the very best in your transition.

10 Things That Make Camp LifeLine Awesome

1.       A Lake

Our camp is on a lake.  That’s cool.  Every morning I wake up to be blown away by God’s creative beauty.  Also, our students swim, tube, fish, and ski.  Basically, having camp on a lake is awesome.

2.       Buttons

This year our students earned or were awarded 19 different buttons.  It sounds ridiculous, and it is, but they went NUTS over these buttons.  It was a great way to keep them engaged.

photo

3.       LifeLine Gear

Our campers all received a t-shirt, a drawstring backpack and buttons.  Our students LOVE our t-shirts and LifeLine apparel happens to be one of our best marketing tools.

Our volunteers received everything our student did as well as a hoodie and a trucker hat.  At this point some of our volunteers wear basically nothing but LifeLine gear.  They are walking billboards.

photo(1)

 

4.       The Leader Fridge

There is a fridge in the cafeteria of our camp that is packed with Starbucks Frappuccinos, pop (soda if you’re not from Michigan) and other assorted goodies.  Simple things like supplying your volunteer leaders with good beverages can do a lot to help them thrive during the week.

5.       Christina

We have Christina.  You don’t.  Therefore we win.  Basically, Christina has been either on staff or volunteering with LifeLine for a decade.  In her other job she is an event planner—and I mean huge events with billions of people.  Essentially, she handles all the logistics of camp and it goes off without a hitch.  Just don’t cross her or you’ll be sorry…or dead…or potentially both.

Christina

6.       Epic Storyline

Because we run our own camp, we have the freedom to create our own programming.  Here’s the storyline for this year’s camp:

Chucky and Lucky (who have been at camp before) were Wolf Scouts but now the Bear Scout Den Mother (Sean Connery) has called them to Bear Scout Training.  The objective is to capture a bear and prove themselves worthy of being Bear Scouts.

In the process, Lucky is captured by the Bear and thrown into the back of a creeper van.  In the end, the Bear and Lucky become friends.  Lucky brings the bear to closing session, the bear is revealed to actually be El Mattadore (another returning character) and all the campers receive their Bear Scout pin.  Get it?

Ok…ridiculous, I know.  Here’s all you really need to know:  every time one of these characters appears on stage or in a video the place erupts.  I mean, they go nuts.  Our students love these characters and the storyline provides and insane amount of fun and laughter.  Stop judging.

Lucky

Lucky Get’s Captured by a Bear

7.       Fishing

Shaun, one of our volunteers is an avid fisherman and acted as our fishing guide.  Every day our students could enter a lottery for a chartered fishing trip.  It was basically awesome.

8.       Neon Dance Party

It’s tradition that at the end of our variety show comes a dance party.  It’s incredibly complicated, but here are the instructions:

  1. Bring some dancing fools to the stage
  2. Begin throwing down some killer tracks
  3. 3 or 4 songs in, hand out neon to every student
  4. Sit back and watch the magic
  5. As always, end early.  Leave them wanting more.

 9.       Muck War

Camp is not complete without an epically messy muck war.  Here are your instructions:

  1. Split all of your students into 4 teams.  Place them at 4 corners of the field/arena/coliseum
  2. Provide teams with:  entirely too much flour, billions of water balloons, and an astronomical amount of shaving cream
  3. Sit back and watch the magic

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Side note:  have your leaders hold the cans of shaving cream.  Giving them to the students may lead to stitches—not that I would know.

 10.   Morning Show Infomercials

Just watch…

Cheetos Fingers from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

11.   Love

I know I’ve already used my allotted 10 things but hear me out.  The awesomest thing about our camp is that middle school students experience a whole lot of love.  For some, a week of camp can be transformational.  I love watching high school students and adult volunteers pour themselves out to love and lead middle school students.