EFFECTIVE BIG EVENT PLANNING!

Hey Guys!
I will own the fact that this is getting posted far too late in the game. But let's use that as an object lesson ;) When it comes to effective big event planning, the planning process needs to begin early on. Pulling things together days before the event, or even during, creates for a stressful situation. So how should you plan? I think the biggest thing I learned from MSO was that I should plan with people who have done the event in the past, seasoned team members. James and Jen had some good and useful insights into how our team could better utilize the space. Asking the right people the right questions during the proper planning process allows the team to bypass avoidable problems. So, what are some questions you wish you would have asked before MSO, and what are some questions you are going to ask before your next big event so that your planning is effective?

AH-HA Moment of The Semester

This semester was a challenge, especially with  the projects and the amount of time that we needed to set aside for this class. Some if not most of us did not realize that. Some showed frustration, and other emotions that were expected but sometimes they were more elevated that probably should. Myself included. But the big thing that I was able to walk away with from this class and semester might be deep but is very meaningful to the ministry and student we/I will be touching once my time is done here at MVNU. That is that not matter how much stress, frustration, headbutting, and what ever else I may encounter in ministry or life it is absolutely worth going on that to not only put a smile on a kids face, but create the opportunity to reach a student on their level and where they are in life. It's the difference I can make in a students life that makes any amount of stress or frustration worth that time it takes. That smile on that kids face, that conversation I have with them might be just what they need to change their outlook on life for the better.

What moments or events stood out to you? How do you think the events we put on will help you in ministry once you are done at MVNU?

Camps/Retreat Ministry

What have you learned about yourself by working with your team this year? What are the strengths that you bring to a team and what are some possible weaknesses? What are your positive or possibly negative tendencies in team work?

Midterm Pizza Party Post

Hi, friends!  Here's where we want you to reflect on your Midterm Pizza Party.

Questions to reflect on:
1.  What is your overall review and thoughts of the evening?
2.  Evaluate pre-party and during party--what went well?  What things would you change?  What worked? What didn't?
3. What did you learn from this event?
4.  What stood out to you as a take away from this event?

*Next class time, we will have you evaluate your involvement and your team members involvement of planning and pulling off the event. (This evaluation will be individual and only seen by me and James.)

Godly Play 2.0

I really enjoyed the opportunity we had last week to apply what we were learning in a real world ministry environment.  In what ways did your group incorporate Godly Play into the lesson, and how did the kids respond? I noticed with the preschool group that they were much more engaged in the Bible story when they got to build a snack that demonstrated the wall of Jericho and act out the story. I believe Godly play should be used in more church settings for all ages. What do you think?

Camp retreat!

How can we help tune out the "noise seeping through the walls" at our retreats to better listen to God? In our world with the noise we have become accustomed to how can we get the more "techie" kids to join in and have fun? What does the environment have to do with the activities we can plan? What was your favorite part of a church camp or retreat?

GODLY PLAY

Part of the Godly Play sounded familiar, so is there something from your childhood or current time in life that is similar to Godly Play? In what ways can we take Godly Play and apply it to older people, whether youth, young adults, or elders? Lastly, what would you say is most valuable about Godly Play, as in, what have you learned from most or seen others learn from?

MSO and Games

We heard that it is a good idea to mix a variety of different types of games into your groups and retreats. What types of games are your favorite? What was your favorite game when you were in youth group? How can we make sure we balance the different types of games that we offer in each room at MSO?

Games in Ministry

Games in ministry
Should games in ministry be competitive? Is it a reflection of the grace, love, and mercy of Christ to use games that are competitive? Competitive games help students to experience the winning and losing that occurs in real life such as getting (or not getting) a job or promotion. Having only competitive games seems to take away from the fact that we are all loved and valued by God evenly. We are all given the grace and mercy of God without regard of our skills and abilities because God is not in need of what we might offer.  I think that a balance of both competitive and non-competitive games is best for those in our ministries.
Pizza Party
Do we have a theme? If so what is that theme? Our budget is $220 total. Do we have arrangements for food and drinks? How are we going to promote the party? What games will we be playing?

Why Rec Ministry Matters?

   All of those who have grown spiritually through youth ministry all have experienced some sort of recreational ministry in one way or another. This is significant because of our experiences that we can look back and reflect at great times in our lives where God has touched us at a specific moment. There was a specific time where my youth group played a game that involved random food that was put in a brown paper bag. We were supposed to eat whatever we grabbed in the bag, no matter what it was. Sometimes we lucked out and got something tolerable, other times you didn't get so lucky. The end goal was to be the first team to finish everything in the bag and the winning team got a prize. This game matters because to this day I can look back at a silly time like that and more memories come to mind that are far more important. I reflect and see that now I have grown tremendously in my faith since that time we played that game, which is awesome to see my improvement. Through recreational ministry many relationships can be built and this is important in order to have a successful ministry.

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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.