MSO Reflections

Earlier in the semester we posted about how MSO planning was going. Now that it is over what is one thing you learned planning? What is something that you and your group planned that connected with the kids? What needed adapting? How did you adapt and did it work? Finally, what was the highlight of the night for you?

Guest Speaker

Hey guys! I'm extremely sorry for posting this late. I'm going to be honest, I completely forgot to post about it........anyways! Our guest speaker was really awesome. What he is about and striving for really makes me think about the future of the churches that we are going into. What was your favorite thing about the activity we did and why? How can we take that into our ministry?

Creative Process

I really enjoyed this week's class when we discussed the process of creating an event. It really interested me because I have never known how to organize an event without getting completely stressed out and overwhelmed. I felt like the process that we learned was easy to put together, and also fun. Some questions that I would ask are, what is the most stressful part to you about planning an event? Would you set it up the way that we learned in class, or would you have a different approach? Lastly, what is the part of event planning that you felt you learned the most about this past Monday?

Wilderness Retreat!!

Hello everyone!! I don't know about you guys, but I had a great time on the retreat :) I do know that most of us felt really stressed leading up to it, but I realized once I got there that I definitely needed a break. I'm curious, what stood out to you guys from all of the teaching we heard? Is there a spiritual discipline you now know you need to work on, or was there a symbol or metaphor used during our worship time that stood out to you? How did you feel about the small group experience/washing of feet? How did you stretch yourself out of your comfort zone last weekend? Did you sense God's presence? Did you have fun?! Sorry, that's a lot of questions...

Midterm Pizza Party

We just wrapped up the midterm pizza party and game night, so, after the past month of planning and preparation, I'd like to hear everyone's feedback. Were your expectations met? What did you think went well? What could we have done better? What was a highlight of the night for you? Let's hear it. (Feel free to give feedback on the night itself, as well as the preparation and planning process as well.)

Themes

In Monday night's class, one of the topics we learned about is a process by which we can come up with an appropriate theme for our camp retreats. One way we learned to do this is to determine some common characteristics or issues of that particular age group. So, for this blog post, pick an age group, list some characteristics for that age group (like 2 or 3), and list a possible theme that would be appreciate for that age. It does not have to be perfect, this is just an exercise to get our mind working :)

Experiential Learning

In this week's class, a group of children came to learn a Bible story from us. We were all divided into groups by the age group with which we would be working. What was it like actually getting to do what we learn in class? Did you notice anything about the specific age group that you were teaching? What was your role in the group?

MSO Planning Brainstorm

So as we're thinking and taking the time to optimize this experience for younger students, we're beginning to see some of the nitty gritty details that are necessary when planning for large events. One big idea is the development of teamwork. So to carry forward this idea of planning and thinking of our future as ministers; what are the implications of working with a team and planning events? What kind of picture person are you (big or small) and how will your strengths and weaknesses affect those that you work with in ministry (volunteers or staff)?

Godly Play

We talked about Godly Play in class this Monday. We talked about parables and stories. Jenn used creative ways to tell us stories, and ways for us to interact with the story. How do you learn and interact best? In your future youth/children's ministry, students will all focus and learn in different ways. What are some game plans that could help when there are those three kids talking over you, that one kid doing cart wheels still, and the other one who asks to go to the bathroom every time you start the lesson. Ready set brainstorm.

Games

In a culture where sports are glorified and winning is everything, it can suck the fun out of innocent games. What steps can we as future youth leaders take to prevent an over competitive atmosphere from taking over games?

What is your most memorable experience with experiential learning or recreational ministry? Share and explain how it impacted your walk with Christ and/or view on recreational ministry.