Thursday, April 3, 2014
Big Events/Retreats/Camps
I am finding out more and more that I love big events, retreats, and camps. They bring about unity and love to a group of people. We had talked a lot about what we can do to make the camp/ big event/ retreat amazing and the things that we needed to include in order to do so. What was an experience that you had faced during a big event/retreat/camp that you think could have been avoided by following those ten steps that we talked about? Could there have been more people to help out? Better cabin/lodging place to better fit everyone? If you have not experienced something like that, what could be an example of something gone wrong that could have been avoided by those ten steps?
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I agree with you that big events, retreats, and camps are awesome! Growing up they were always my favorite aspects of youth group. I always felt that the community of the youth groups would grow closer at these events. As I reflect back on my experiences at big events and camps I cannot really think of bad experiences that could have been avoided. Either I had pretty good experiences every time or I have found ways to forget about the bad experiences (That may be a problem with having positivity as one of my strengths). One example of an event going wrong could be students getting into things they should not be and getting bored. This problem could be avoided by making sure that your event has games and other recreational activities and the right amount of staffing to be in each room that students are in. It is important to go over the information from this top 10 lists with your adults so that they can work towards following the list with you to prevent unnecessary issues from arriving. Another issue could be people showing up with the wrong idea of what the event was or barely anyone showing up at all. In order to avoid that they should make sure to have a good plan for marketing and publicizing and a good budget so that students can afford the event.
ReplyDeleteBig Events/Retreats/Camps have such an amazing impact on teens and ministries. I attended a district camp in high school and overall I really enjoyed my experience. However there were a few things that I didn't like very much. Spiritually, the camp was great. I grew so much. There was awesome worship band and the speaker was excellent! However other aspects of the camp seemed to be a bit of a struggle. For example, we were fed two meals a day. We had "brunch" at 9:00AM and then didn't eat dinner until 5:30-6ish. So we were all pretty hungry most days..haha. Also there seemed to be so much down time. I think this can be nice and beneficial at times, but when someone mentions camp I don't really think of sitting around in the afternoons and not really doing anything. I'm not sure if there was a lack of volunteers, or it was just poorly organized. In our future ministries, let us remember that the spiritual aspects of these events or camps is crucial and needs to be poured into. However, camps need to be fun as well! We need to incorporate games and plenty of activities to keep students busy and having fun. Also, food is a must. :)
ReplyDeleteThis class has made me hate big events and camp. I think the way that we are doing it, four people having the same responsibilities and having required meetings for the whole groups is one of the most inefficient way of planning big events and camps. These events have the ability to be impactful, fun and redemptive (I accepted Christ after coming home from a summer camp) but they also have an ability to be the main focus of our calendars and ministry. Some may find that the best way to do ministry, and that is valid, but I do not. it's easy to make these big events ways to get people in our church but the real important parts of events happens with the relationships that develope before and after these events, which, from my experience, rarely happens in the big event world today. A time I saw follow through happen poorly is these past two summers I've worked at a summer camp, I don't talk to a single kid I had in my cabin, and the rest of the counselors are the same. A time I saw it done well is at Young Life camp. All of the guys I went to camp with had a relationship with a leader before we went and to this day I know at least 5 out of the 9 guys in my cabin have a relationship with that leader.
ReplyDeleteI've never really been to camp so I'm going off of hypothetical ideas here. I thing one big thing that could be a problem is being under staffed. I feel if you do not have enough people to pull an event off smoothly it will not do well. It is my experience when plan stuff in the church that it is almost better to have extra help just in case you have some last minute problem and need an alternate volunteer or extra set of hands. I also think that having the right amount of activities planned for the event is a good thing to be sure of. When an audience is bored they tend to lose focus, but when they are doing things that are keeping them engaged they are more likely to give you their attention.
ReplyDeleteI personally have never been a fan or a hater of big events. Camp was always fun in my opinion, but I never felt connected with the people around me at them. Maybe that's just me being an introvert though. I am with John a little though about the ineffectiveness of these events. I do not think these relationships really grow or deepen during the trip so much as expand. Camp can provide bonding experiences in which relationships can form and growth can occur. it is up to us as leaders to follow up on those relationships and growth to make sure it was't just a one time thing. As for Kauri I have to go against what you said against down time. Yes it is beneficial to have scheduled events and games, but if everything is just go , go, go =, go then there is never anytime to relax and actually experience what is going on. That is a problem with those of us growing up in modern society. We have to be busy. Sometimes maybe it is okay to not be busy and just have the option to do something available, more so then make something mandatory... Besides if we bring kids from the city to a campgrounds out in the fields and forest... why are we not letting them actually experience it for themselves? For example, In New Mexico the standard procedure for quiz meets is for all teams to arrive at the church location he day before the meet. Because the typical distance to the nearest town is about a three hour drive from any one location, it is understandable. The host church will then open it's doors for a lock in rather than force the visiting churches to compete for hotel rooms. During these nights there were scheduled matches that were purely for fun and had nothing to do with the scores. there was also down time where teens would go around talking, playing hacky sack (before it was death hack) and communicating with one another. They were able to create there own experiences through this down time in a way that no organized game could create.Maybe if we emphasized the ability to create your own experience rather than trying to guide that experience many of the problems we have with the ten steps might disappear.... Well maybe 15 years ago that might have worked... These days who knows. We have kids and teens addicted to electronic media and we can't tear them away from their phones long enough to test it out.... The real enemy I think would not be ripping the technology from the kid's hands but opening their eyes and our own eyes long enough to realize that not everything needs to be posted, shared, tweeted, blogged about, snap chatted, or immortalized in a photo. Maybe we can just let it happen and enjoy the now and not the past? cause what FB, Twitter, Etc all celebrate is what has just happened not what is happening now at this moment at this place in the present with these people.
ReplyDeleteI attended just about every event that my church or district threw my way and greatly enjoyed what I experienced there. It was filled with great interactions, relationships, realizations, and lessons that still hold and remember today. However, I would say that the biggest thing that was lacking in my experience and environment for these events was follow up in my group. I think that whether or not we are planning the even ourselves, or just taking our group to an outside planned event, there should be a follow up time to process and discuss. I feel that I experienced "the spiritual high" and then was left in certain circumstances to myself to make sure that I kept up with these new emotions and convictions. I would say that something like accountability or follow up should be incorporated for the plans for each group in order to ensure that they remember and act upon what they learned and experienced so that they can partake in a more full and genuine transformation.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved camps and retreats while I was a teen! I believe that God can really work through big events like camps and retreats. However, I have seen some horrible things that have happened at retreats that could have been prevented. One year at my church camp a group of students thought it would be good to go into another room and throw shaving cream and soap all over everyones stuff. There were several phones that got ruined. They even got it inside a few guitars and ruined them as well. I personally don't have a problem with pranks, but it makes me mad when they cause harm to someones belongings.
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