Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Learning As We Plan
We have been talking about 'hands-on' learning, and I definitely think this class has helped us experience this. As we're working hard toward planning the pizza party and MSO, what can we take away that can help us in our future ministry? What is a game you have learned in your planning efforts that you could use in a youth group or children's group? Or what is a specific organizational detail that you have come across that will help you better plan in ministry? What is a problem that you have encountered and how have you learned to handle it? Discuss some ways in which you are learning more about yourself as a leader and what your strengths and weaknesses may be.
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I agree completely that this helps us experience "hands on learning." I think each one of us will be able to take away different lessons from our planning. I have found that each of the games presented would be applicable for a youth group setting. One game in particular that I had never heard of was miniature tanks and I think I would be able to incorporate that in a youth group setting, so thank you Dylan Miller for introducing that game. One organizational detail that I have found important to use in my future ministry is delegating. I have seen this so perfectly done by John in our group. A problem that I have encountered is having time to get everything done and we have found that the way to handle it is to split up when necessary. I am learning that I need to get better and not overbooking and managing time. I also am finding out that sometimes not everyone will like leadership decisions that are made, but sometimes as leaders we need to stand our ground in our decisions.
ReplyDeleteI think this class does do a good job of showing us what the real world of youth ministry loos like. From my experience with this and what I do with young life and first pres I think I am realizing more and more that in youth ministry we can so easily get wrapped up in events and lose sight and ability to actually foster spiritual and life transformation of our teens. I don't think that Youth ministry has to be as event driven that is has become today.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I am still struggling with and thinking through is something James told me, that often when people come together to plan events relationships can come from those meetings and time spent together. Dylan and I were pretty tight going into this class but I have loved getting to know Cody and Tanner even better than I did before and I think that is the biggest value that I am learning from planning all these events. I can only imagine the relationships that can form if we put teens on teams to plan events! Also Tanner has an incredible gift of exhortation ;-)
I agree with both Tanner and John. Through planning things like this, we are not only gaining a better understanding of how to order and plan events like these, but also how to collaborate with others on creating events. This is expanding our understanding of how to plan as well as giving us extra resources of games and ideas for future events in our ministry. I agree with Tanner though that delegating has been something great to learn, as well as how to delegate based upon gifts and their personalities. I am definitely more equipped now and have a better idea of how to plan an event than I did prior to this class. I am excited to see how it all pans out and learn more from actually running the events themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think what I am benefiting from this class is that we are getting practical experience instead of just being lectured at. We are seeing the struggles of planning events like this. one of the helpful things that we are seeing is how to work with other groups to plan and organize events. A lot of the games we are using are games I have already learned about through past experiences so I am not sure there are really any that I will be able to pull away anymore than what I did in the past. One major thing I have earned about events is that it is important to get the news out to the people more than two or three days in advance.
ReplyDelete(Derrick) What i Will be taking from this experience is the knowledge of how much depth events like Blast, NYC and MSO truly contain. Each event like this has to go through stages of clearance. it is not just coming up with a couple of events/ games/ activities and throwing party. You first must set your budget and knowledge what supplies you already have and how you can utilize them. You must set up meetings for planning so that everyone is up to date on what is happening, what problems might occur, and what needs done and by whom. You then have to et up the area in which you are going to do the event. If it is not in your own facilities but say the local YMCA you must first procure the permission for using their facility on that time and day. Then there is the aspect that you must be make sure not to damage the facilities as it is one rude and not good, and two because it lowers your credibility and you might not get the facility or any other facility the next time you want to hold the event. then there is food. what is going to be liked and eaten, what is healthy, hat about allergies, do we need an alternative, etc. Who will be in charge of what event, is the line of communication clear and open? Do we have any contingency plans for a possible worst case scenario? All this and so much more planning goes into these events.We as future leaders need to understand that it takes months, and years of planning for some of these events. It can not all be done on the spot....
ReplyDeleteThus far, I've really learned that organization and communication are key! With my group being in charge of running that pizza party, i think it is crucial on our part to have excellent communication with everyone else. As a matter of fact, the problems I've encountered in ministry have been ones of poor communication. When communication isn't great, things are misheard or mistranslated. All those lead to broken relationships. Ministry is on relationships. When relationships fail, we fail as leaders of ministry. The one game I've learned an love is the RPS tourney. If done right, you learn new people while having a blast. Plus it creates unity in the room and helps makes two evenly divided teams for other games. My weaknesses are definitely organization and time management. This class is helping me manage those fairly well. My strengths are yet to be really established i guess. I hope the rest of this year brings those out into light and blesses them.
ReplyDeleteThis class has done a great job of teaching what it should look like to organize and plan events and so on. We have also learned about several games. I have seen a lot of these games played, but I have also learned a lot of new games that I have never even heard of like fruitbasket, over the mountain, etc. All of them can be used in different settings and I think that most of them can be used in young adult groups and even in groups of youth workers or other adults that are interested in team building and just having fun in general. I am learning more and more about myself that I am not a "take charge" leader but would much rather lead from behind the scenes and be the one just leading by example. For me, it is just how I function. I have also learned this semester that I can take charge if I need to, I would just rather not be the one giving orders and handing out assignments. I've also learned that I function best when I am flying by the seat of my pants and doing things last minute =)
ReplyDeleteI learn better through hands-on activities and I am learning that I can truly do these things and make sure everyone has fun playing the game. For my Nazarene Ministerial Scholarship Program I am working at a church and one Sunday I led the Teens Sunday School. I played the game, 1 Frog with them and they loved it. They did not want to stop playing. I was finding out that I am having more faith and more trust in God to help out in those situations. One thing that I have found out is that God is in my plans. For that same Sunday, I found out that I would have to lead the Sunday school the night before and I was like, "Alright God, let's do this. He lead me to have an amazing lesson and I had a great time!
ReplyDeleteI definitely learn better through doing (yay John Dewey) and last summer I did an internship at my church and one situation really stands out as a true learning experience. We so an event every year honoring the senior class and this past year I was literally put in charge of the organizing whole thing. I ordered food, got decorations, and signed Bibles. I ordered 80 balloons for the following Sunday. Long story short, when I got there to pick them up, they were gone; they just gave them away! I called my youth pastor and she just said "You know what to do. I have faith in you," and I jumped into youth pastor mode and got it solved. So I think this class has done a great job in preparing us for things like this and gives us practice in what planning an event truly means.
ReplyDeleteI would agree as well that I learn best by doing things. I have had several internships and I believe that I have learned as much through those internships as in my classes. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to plan several events through these internships. The first few events that I planned were really hard, but the more events that I have planned the easier it has become. I believe that what we are learning in this class will even help me more in planning events in the future!
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