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How to Create FUN & MEMORABLE Youth Ministry Events on a Small Budget · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

0:00
SPEAKER_02: There's some creative ways to do things to break even or not spend any money at all.
0:04
SPEAKER_02: The whole point is we want to create something fun and meaningful at the same time.
0:10
SPEAKER_02: And the bottom line is connection.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: We want people to feel connected to each other, to the ministry, to church, to God.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: That should be the baseline goal for every single thing we do in youth ministry is we're forming connections for people.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: Today we're talking about how to create fun and memorable youth events on a budget.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where every week we give you actionable and practical tips to help you fast-track the growth and health of your youth ministry.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: My name is Jeff Lascola, and this is Kristen Lascola.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: And today we are talking about ways to create memorable youth events on a budget.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: And this is a great time for this episode because we just did a really great event last Tuesday.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: And I really spent zero dollars and it was one of the best events of our summer.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Kids had so much fun, couldn't get enough.
1:17
SPEAKER_02: We called it super chaos.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: And pretty much what that means is instead of going our regular two hours for our midweek program, we went three.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: Cause our students always are like, why don't we have chaos more than one night a week?
1:31
SPEAKER_02: Why don't we have it longer?
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Why is it only two hours?
1:33
SPEAKER_02: Why is it only on Tuesdays?
1:35
SPEAKER_02: I love that they want more.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: And in the summer, we can give them an extra hour.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: So instead of going 6:30 to 8:30, we go 6:30 to 9:30.
1:46
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna use that event as our framework for how to create some memorable elements with really not having to spend any money.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're anything like me, you started with a very, very little youth ministry budget.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: And there's or no budget.
2:03
SPEAKER_02: Or no budget.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: And this you could pull off with no budget.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: I think what I wish I would have learned ahead of time, like earlier in ministry, is some of these, like I always thought, and we've talked about this before on the podcast, like I had to foot the bill for everything, but there's some creative ways to do things to break even or not spend any money at all.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna break it into some different types of categories.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: So the whole point is we want to create something fun and meaningful at the same time.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: And the bottom line is connection.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: We want people to feel connected to each other, to the ministry, to church, to God.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: Like that should be sort of like the baseline goal for every single thing we do in youth ministry is we're forming connections for people.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: And for youth ministry, we're really packaging it in fun.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: And so fun is kind of a generic term, but you'll see what I mean by that.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: So whenever I think through an event like super chaos, I think like that.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: I want to have a meaningful connection, like with all the different things we said, wrapped in fun so that it's attractional or attractive or motivating for people to come and be a part of it.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: So, number one, I always think I want there to be something fun to eat.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: And I think you can do that for free, or you can do that for very cheap.
3:35
SPEAKER_02: So we did a cotton candy machine.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: We happen to own one at our church.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: I don't know where it came from.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: It just showed up one day.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: Before that, I was renting one and they were 50 bucks to rent.
3:46
SPEAKER_02: Charge the kids two bucks for cotton candy, which is nominal.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: You make your money back, and you'll like I've I'm on like my third event with the same sugar.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: Like it lasts forever.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: So um, you have to buy the sugar, you have to buy the little paper cones, and then you can rent it, or you guys can buy one and just have it, and the ministries can split it.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: Or we've done nachos, you know, in the crock pot.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: You just go to Costco and get that dirty nacho cheese.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: That's really not it.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: It just feels so like what is this?
4:17
SPEAKER_02: How is this free?
4:18
SPEAKER_01: Or you're just saying because you're charging.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like if kids pay two bucks, you break even, and that's that.
4:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, we've done a boba bar before.
4:25
SPEAKER_02: I think that is like especially fun for like high school.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: They've done um, like you buy the boba beads on Amazon and then you do different flavors, Italian cream soda.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: It's super cost effective.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: All you need is club soda, a few different tirani syrup flavors like cherry, strawberry, watermelon, whatever, a little half and half if you're doing the cream, and whipped cream if you want to go extra, and that's that.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: Or something I've done in the past that's like completely no money involved, is have parents sign up to bring a treat or a snack to share.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes people love that.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: Parents will always ask, How can I help with your ministry?
5:06
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, hey, we do events once in a while that require food.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: If you want to do that, do that.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: So I always think there's gotta be something fun to eat and something for them to look forward to.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: Kids, my kids especially, I think are suckers for a snack, like cotton candy, snow cones, nachos, just something besides like, I got a Snickers bar at the Snack Shack.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: We always have that available.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: But if you're doing an event, having like kind of a special fun food.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: Our high school group once did, they got the glass bottle Mexican Cokes, and then they had like a chips and guacamole bar, and you could go and get your thing, and it was kind of fun.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: And then number two, have something fun to wear.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: So this is where a theme really comes in.
5:52
SPEAKER_02: So our theme for Super Chaos was superheroes, and I wore a Superman costume and it had like all the muscles on it, you know, and it was like really funny.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: And we had a leader dress up as Frozone and Mr.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: Incredible, and then the kids could wear their costumes.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: So, speaking of connection, that's just a really easy way to connect everyone.
6:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we themed our game superhero, like Spider-Man versus Superman.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Are you asking the students to dress up too?
6:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: Did any of them do it?
6:20
SPEAKER_02: Some of them did, yeah.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't like every single kid, but they would wear like a Spider-Man shirt or like a cage.
6:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: Something easy, but it just kind of created like a little bit of cohesiveness.
6:33
SPEAKER_02: One fun theme our high school did recently is they let the kids vote on it.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: And this theme was so weird, but they voted on it and it won.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: It was performative male, and you it's a very Gen Z thing, but I guess he has a matcha and airpods, and he wears certain shoes.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
6:55
SPEAKER_02: They told me all the things about this performative male.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: It sounds like an award at the Oscars.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the best performative male goes to I it was weird.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: One night we did cringe night.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: So you just wear anything that's like super cringy, like, oh, I would never wear that with that.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Right.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: I think another fun theme is thrift.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: So, like, go to the thrift store, come up with the craziest, funniest outfit you could have, like a catwalk and prizes for like best costume.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, another fun one would be leaders dressing up as students or students dressing up as leaders.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: I had a leader once dress up as a student.
7:34
SPEAKER_02: Like she, I think she dressed up as junior high boys for Halloween or something, but then she did the whole bit and she was like, Oh my gosh, I'm not even out.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: That ball didn't even hit me.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: And she was just being like obnoxious the whole night, and it was so fun.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, what else have we done?
7:53
SPEAKER_02: We've done glow in the dark, you know, neon.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: So I feel like that's a really inexpensive, no cost way to bring everyone together and kind of theme it out.
8:05
SPEAKER_02: I think a theme is really, really, really fun.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: And obviously you could do it for like thrift, you could do that so cheap, or dressing up as a student super cheap or free, depending on what you have around.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: And some of the ideas you've thought of, if you can kind of do your due diligence ahead of time and get like a shopping list or whatever, you can probably price it out before you get anything, and then even reach out to your parents, volunteers, anybody in the church community, and just say, hey, this is what we are aiming to do.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: Could you contribute towards this or or take one of these things off of this shopping list so that we'll have all the stuff and just get it done that way too?
8:42
SPEAKER_02: Totally.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: Like our high school group, like I they do like a friends giving, you know, and they get decorations from you know, people that donate.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I mean, it takes a little more legwork, but who wants to store a bunch of decorations anyways?
8:56
SPEAKER_02: I definitely don't.
8:57
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so now we have something fun to eat, something fun to wear, or like, you know, the theme bringing everyone together.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: And obviously, we need something fun to do.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: So for us, one thing um that is totally free and sprinkles an extra little pizzazz into your event is I love to sprinkle just dances in between my games at events.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: I don't do this on normal youth group nights.
9:25
SPEAKER_02: So, like, say we're doing a glow night or super chaos last week.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: We played three games.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: It was a lot because it's super chaos.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: Instead of just going back to back game, game, game, game, or like they went to small groups and then they were supposed to release back into the auditorium to play another game because we had the extra hour, instead of just like, all right, everyone, sit down.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna like go over how to play the next game.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: I didn't have to even get their attention.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: I just played a just dance, and all of a sudden everyone's like like totally focused on what's going on up front.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: And then I explain the game after that because it's like, well, now that I have your attention and we're all back on the same page, and it's a great way to transition in between things.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Um and my students love it.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: They were begging for more.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna do you a favor because I've spent hours on YouTube looking for the best just dances that are number one, appropriate, clean, number two, fun.
10:20
SPEAKER_02: Number three, like I like doing it with multiple people so it becomes like partner kind of stuff.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: So my classic favorite was YMCA.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: That's a dance with four different characters, so kids can get in little groups.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that one's a hoot.
10:37
SPEAKER_02: It's so much fun.
10:38
SPEAKER_02: My second favorite one is That's What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: And I think there's four or five guys in that one.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: That one's super hype, super fun.
10:48
SPEAKER_02: And then Ghostbusters is another one.
10:51
SPEAKER_02: I like doing that one around Halloween, so sometimes I save that.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: But you mean fall harvest.
10:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean harvest festival.
10:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, don't come for me.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: And then my new unlocked treasure that I found is I'm gonna botch how to say it, Dragonstea.
11:12
SPEAKER_02: Wait, Dragon Steia Pneuma.
11:16
SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, yeah.
11:18
SPEAKER_02: Dragon Stella Day Tae.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: I feel like when they say it in the song, you're like, oh, that just rolls right up the tongue, and it's very easy to prove.
11:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll sing it for you.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: My hoo, my ha.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, okay, so it's like three guys and they're on this like airplane wing, and it is so fun.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: We were like dying laughing.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: That one is a new uh find.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: I uh usually use my staples of YMCA and uh Ghostbusters and One Direction, all of that.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: And then I found this one.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: My leaders were like, let's do YMCA.
11:52
SPEAKER_02: I said, just wait for it, wait for it.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: I have a new one.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: And we did it.
11:56
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, let's do it again.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: I can't get enough.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: And that one's a three, and that's super duper fun.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: Another element I love to do, obviously, candy isn't free, doesn't grow on trees, but I love to throw candy out um during the just dances or go past it out.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: Like if people are dancing, like, good job, you know, so they dance and then earn their candy or something.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: It's just, I don't know, it's just the extra fun little thing.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: So the just dances and then the games.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: So that's like for me, the something fun to do.
12:28
SPEAKER_02: I love playing high energy games at events.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to play a high energy game every single time you meet with your students.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: I think it's good to vary it.
12:38
SPEAKER_02: Like maybe we do Pictionary one week and maybe we do dodgeball the next week.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: You know, try to vary it, don't be the super intense all the time or super mellow all the time.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: But at an event like Super Chaos, we played three really fun games.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: One game, this one's brand new.
12:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give you this as well.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: This was called Castle Ball.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: So basically it was dodgeball, but each side, like if you we had Team Spider-Man versus Team Superman, each team would have a tower of boxes on their side.
13:13
SPEAKER_02: It was like kind of in the middle.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: And on top of that, it was like the middle back.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: On top of it was a cone.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: And so you're playing dodgeball, but if the other team knocks your cone off the top of the castle, the they get a point and they get to jailbreak and have everybody come in.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: If they get three points, it ends the game completely and they win.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: So every time you knock off the cone, it doesn't end the game, it just jailbreaks and gives you point three, and then the game is actually over.
13:45
SPEAKER_02: So it's really hard because you're playing dodgeball, but you're trying to defend this cone and this tower.
13:51
SPEAKER_02: Because if you throw the dodgeball at the box, like the boxes were sturdy.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: So if you hit it at the bottom box, it's not gonna knock the cone off.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: But if you hit it like at the middle box, it might knock the cone off, or you'd get a clean shot of the cone and people would be like, oh, and just like fly off.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: And it's hard because you're protecting yourself and the cone at the same time.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: So people would focus too much on protecting their cone and they'd get hit.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: I did find that you have to create a circle of cones around the castle because you don't want kids to like touch it or puppy guard it in that way.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and this was so funny.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: I didn't even think to explain this role.
14:29
SPEAKER_02: This kid ran across the boundary line into the other team's side and just knocked the cone off.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Yeah, yeah.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: And everyone was like, and I'm like, what are you doing?
14:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the round is not over.
14:43
SPEAKER_02: Since when do you get to cross the center line during dodgeball?
14:48
SPEAKER_02: He thought he had like cracked the code on this game.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, capture the flag.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kind of like turned it into that.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: My students loved it.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: We're always looking for a great version or a variation for dodgeball.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: So Castle Ball, I think it's an actual game, but what I did is the jailbreak thing, it was like my team's idea.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: So you got that for free, super duper fun.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: Hey, quick question for you.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever felt like you were working really hard in your youth ministry every week, but you don't know what the next step is or how to grow your youth ministry?
15:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, you are not alone.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: And that is exactly why we created our course and coaching program called Youth Ministry Growth Accelerator.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: Inside the program, we're gonna walk you step by step through strategies, systems, leadership principles that help ministries grow, both in size and in health.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: This isn't just theory, it's the exact framework we've used and taught to youth pastors all over the country and even globally.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: In addition to the course and coaching, you will also have the opportunity to join a cohort community where you can meet with other youth leaders who are on the same journey to encourage each other, share ideas, and stay accountable as you put things into practice.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: So if you're looking for a clearer path to grow your ministry, head over to grow your youth ministry.com to see everything that's included.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: Once again, that's growyour youth ministry.com.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: All right, let's get back to the episode.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: So we have something fun to eat, something fun to wear, something fun to do.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: And if you notice the do, it's like doing it all together.
16:25
SPEAKER_02: So again, remember the bottom line of connections and then something meaningful to share.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so that is where small groups come in.
16:34
SPEAKER_02: That's where worship comes in.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we still did all that at Super Chaos, and not every event is gonna have small groups in worship, but this one did, and it was awesome.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: You know, the worship was high energy and fun, and everyone, I feel like when my students feel connected through fun or a game or a costume, like when they already feel connected as friends, they worship a lot better and a lot differently.
17:02
SPEAKER_02: So that's really interesting.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: I was listening to a podcast um this week, and I didn't even know it was Christian until she started talking about Jesus.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh, and she was saying that play is like part of spiritual formation and that like God designed us with this need to play, and that's how we connect.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: And it's I I don't remember everything she said, but she was talking about how play is a highly spiritual form of expression and spiritual development and all of that.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: And I see that in my students, in the sense that when they play together and they express that part of themselves, they're a lot more willing to express their the spiritual side of themselves.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: Like they had let walls down in a very non, in a very safe setting, you know, and then it lends itself to let your walls down in the spiritual setting that's coming.
17:58
SPEAKER_02: So when you allow your students to play, have fun and connect and be cohesive, you're priming the pump for them to actually have a spiritual experience because they're now letting their walls, they've already practiced letting walls down, you know, and now they're willing to do it in another capacity as well.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: And I think there is a connection there.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: Totally.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so yeah, having something meaningful.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: So you've primed the pump with that now, small groups or worship or something like that.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Did you do a message that night or no?
18:29
SPEAKER_02: I did, yeah, because it was like a normal, it was like youth group, but expanded, you know.
18:35
SPEAKER_02: So I did, I did a message.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, okay, and then something fun to see or hear.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, so or feel or smell.
18:51
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so this is more creating vibes, like we play funny videos, or maybe you have a themed playlist, or maybe your light show matches the game really well.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: You know, light show.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so like our tech guy.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh, like while the game is going on.
19:07
SPEAKER_02: When we're like, all right, the game is predator, the lights go red, and then he has this song that goes and it's like you it's it's now become like this Pavlov's dog kind of concept is like as soon as you hear that the kids start screaming and he programs lights and sound to go with different games, so it's not just like you know, the lights are up and we're like, and we're playing dodgeball.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: All right, I need it's like dodgeball, the slide goes up, the lights change, and then a different song comes on.
19:44
SPEAKER_02: So it's like the sensory cues of like now something fun's coming, right?
19:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, and so I just feel like, you know, I wish Noah was here.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: He's our tech guy, and he pairs his lights, his sound, and we make the slides and just put them in Pro Presenter.
20:02
SPEAKER_02: But when he clicks it to the game logo slide, he pairs it with some kind of music and a different light setting.
20:12
SPEAKER_02: And it's just such this immersive visual cue.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: This is hype, this is exciting, this is what we're doing, and it helps people get on board.
20:21
SPEAKER_02: It's just, you know, it the energy in the room definitely shifts for sure.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: And that to to and that's free.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, no, it's not free, but that's obviously a high production, you know, with lights, sound, tech, all that stuff.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: If you're a smaller youth ministry, I think you could probably steal some of those same elements, just probably not on a grand as grand of a scale, but even something like right before you announce the game, shutting the lights off, or you know, if you do have access to new music that you can play, cueing it up to have someone start to play it.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: And I think just on a smaller scale, it's gonna still make it impactful for you.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I was a very small youth ministry.
21:02
SPEAKER_02: I still did that, you know.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: It just again, it wasn't as hype, but it wasn't like I didn't do it.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: So I would pick a song that was gonna go along, like we play this song called Me Buried Treasure, and I'd always cue up like Pirates of the Caribbean or you know, something like that.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: Or we play a game called Spoon Ninja.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: I'd always get Mortal Kombat like ready to go.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, so I was always kind of thinking along those lines.
21:26
SPEAKER_02: Now we have the lights to go with it.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I had like a light cue to kind of go with it, but what I would say is sometimes just in our room, I would like turn off the lights to create more of a vibe.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: Or if you have like market lights or string lights or black lights, you know, you could try to change them on a very low budget scale.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: Just yeah, do what fits your budget, your room, the size of your ministry, and all of that.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: And so far, really, most of this is free.
21:59
SPEAKER_02: Like It this is very doable.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: And then the last thing, kind of to talk about to create something memorable, I feel like reliving things we do through photo, video, and social media always creates this nostalgic experience.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: So we always are posting almost in real time of what we're doing on our social media or at least after the event.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: Or if it's a really big event, we'll do a recap video of it.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: So, like we just did our summer camp and we surprised the kids at Super Chaos and showed them our summer camp recap video.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: And it's put to music and it's so fun.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: If you want to check out what the recap videos look like, you can go to chaosjh.com and click on our videos and you can see like what a typical recap looks like.
22:51
SPEAKER_02: And it's so fun to relive it.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: And then you can use that for promotion for next time.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: And kids love to see themselves.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes reliving the memories is as fun or more fun than actually doing it.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: And then it does create a sense of belonging.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Like that was me.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: I was there.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: I'm on the screen.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm a part of this.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: And it does create that sense of belonging and connection and community.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: And that's ultimately again what we're trying to create.
23:19
SPEAKER_02: Why?
23:19
SPEAKER_02: Because you are meant to be a part of the church.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: You're meant to belong here.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: And so we we are creating these elements to accelerate that for a student.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: You know, adults typically don't need all this to feel like they belong, right?
23:35
SPEAKER_02: Adults connect differently.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: They air conditioning, sauce.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: You want a cup of coffee and everyone to be quiet, right?
23:41
SPEAKER_02: No.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: And they are joining a Bible study and they connect over that, or they adults connect through serving, which is true for students as well.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: But we try to create a community that is sort of accelerating that process for students and trying to capture them at every walk of life as well.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: And remember, like you're trying to bring in students that are very new to the church, have no experience with church, are curious about a church.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: But if you get them in the door, you've attracted them somehow.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: And now the job is how can we keep you here?
24:18
SPEAKER_02: How can we show you that even if it's not a special event, even if it's not a special night, even if we're not dressed up in performative male costumes or eating cotton candy, that this is worth coming to because this is where life change started for you.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: This is where you met Jesus.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: This is where you learned how to worship.
24:39
SPEAKER_02: This is where you met someone who started a discipleship relationship with you.
24:45
SPEAKER_02: Like that's why we do these things to get people connected so that they can experience life change.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: And to me, this is everything we talked about is a really great formula for getting kids connected.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very safe way and fun way for kids to cheap and cheap to invite, you know, friends to.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: And I think like if you're seeing these peaks and valleys of we do an event, we have a spike in attendance, and then we just go back to regular youth group and it dips down.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: The problem is not the events, the problem is happening, you know, midway or the in betweens.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: And it's like if if they don't feel connected, if they don't feel like it's a place for them in all those other non-event times, that's where the problem is happening.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: Here's the thing this is like hype, what I've talked about, but every single youth group night has an element of excitement.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: Right.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: It's not like so, then we went back to normal, boring church.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm looking at my list here.
25:38
SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, we always have something along these lines.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: And the truth is, whether we'd like to admit it or not, you know, one of our plumb lines in student ministries at our churches, if it's not exciting, they're not gonna come.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: And we could debate that all day long whether we want that to be true or not.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: It just is.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: It hasn't that even applies to the Bible.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: I totally the Bible is.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: Shame on you.
26:03
SPEAKER_02: Shame on you.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: It's like the Bible is exciting.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: So if you're not teaching it that way, then that's one of the problems.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: That's a great point.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the Bible's super exciting, and doing it justice is, you know, our weekly calling, you know, making sure students understand like this isn't a dusty old church.
26:19
SPEAKER_02: It's not a dusty old Bible.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: It's like living, thriving, active, exciting, all of it.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, we actually you uh touched on it for a second there.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: We did do an episode all about a Glover Knighter.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's an event, super fun event.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Check that one out and see if that's something maybe your youth group would love to do.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: Let's do, I have no, I have no question of the day.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: I have no community comment.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: Let's just go right to the giveaway winners.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: This is the last giveaway we're gonna be doing for this particular giveaway for our 300th episode.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: The winner, this is for I believe it's 40 pool noodles.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: That may last you for a while.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: And I apologize in advance if you don't have the storage space for them.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna take up that.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: The winner is Adam Swarr! This actually is not the first time Adam has won in one of our giveaways.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: I believe it was the year last year or the year before he won something, too.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: He has some weird strategy like that.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, he left a review, and that's 25 extra uh points right or entries right there.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: So that was easy and free.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: And free.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: And now you get pulled noodles.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully you have somewhere to put them.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: All right, the next one is for a set of six glow-in-the-dark rhino skin dodgeballs.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: You and glow in the dark for like that's a precious commodity.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: Three, four, five years or something.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: You've had yours.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: At least.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you take care of them, obviously they lie.
27:44
SPEAKER_02: I hide them.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: They only come out on glow in the dark nights.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: All right.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: The winner for the glow in the dark dodgeballs, and our final winner of this giveaway is Miss Deb Klein.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: You deserve it, Deb Klein.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: Deb is also one in the giveaway.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: Do we not have a lot of people enter these?
28:04
SPEAKER_01: It was like over 400 entries.
28:07
SPEAKER_02: Holy schmoke!
28:08
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: both of them, we they added extra entries to their so that's it, that's a ticket right there.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody this year who won did that, but smart, smart play there.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations, you guys.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: Deggy for all of you who participated in the giveaway and celebrating our 300th episode.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: We hope you enjoyed this one.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for watching and listening, and we'll see you next time.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast for every wiki wiki wacky.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: Every wiki wacky, we give you a wiki wacky tip.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: Today, we're talking about fun ways to create creative memories.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: Today, we're talking about how to create memorable and fun youth events.