Friday Night Flood In Review – 1/4
Hoo boy. Let me say that again. Hoo BOY! Tonight was rough. Well, let me back up a little. It was not all bad. But a lot of it was rough.
Tonight was the payoff for nearly 2 months of advertising Assault. It is based upon the American Gladiators game by the same name. There were of course, several teens who neglected to add their names to the mandatory sign-up sheet that had been out since the beginning of December (does this surprise anyone reading this?). But on the whole, the event was a huge success. And one that we will more than likely repeat down the road. In fact, I would like to get into a habit of hosting these “big events” on a monthly basis at Friday Night Flood.
Our Truth Time (I really need a better name for that portion of the evening. Anyone have any good aquatic ideas for a title?) went fairly well, with a game that was quick and fun (look for the video next week). And I showed footage from Wednesday’s Spamtastic Challenge event, and tied it into a message about how God molds us from bleagh, into something usable, and even beautiful. (Again, look for video next week).
The roughest portion of the evening went like this. After a bad December of students not picking up their trash, we declared that food and drink would be restricted to the gym. We still had to pick up food and drink garbage at the end of the night around the rest of the building. Add to this the chewed gum deliberately placed on the wall in the Gym, and we are closing down our snack shop next week as a result. I even had to track down a couple of teens to get them to come back inside and clean up their shredded court summons they left on the floor and a bench that was broken due to an inability to respect the property and sit in it anywhere near correctly. (not normally a problem, but this time it broke because there was a lot of over the top unnecessary and unacceptable horseplay going on). The reasoning that was given to me as to why the pieces were still all over the place? “I put it in his girlfriend’s lap.” Pass the buck. Ugh. Postmodern relativism at its finest (look for more on this subject soon).
Add to all this a lot of horrible attitudes from several students who believe that they are the ones in charge of the evening, and a necessary meeting with a student’s guardian, and you have my evening. I can still say that I love my calling, I really do. There was even a teen (who I blogged about previously) who needed to talk about some struggles before the night ended. And a few other conversations that really happened as only God could ordain them.
Tonight was rough. But I still love my calling.
I have had several meetings like this where you find that you are doing more to put out fires and try to keep things safe than you are ministering. I just had a thought. How cool would it be to have an “assistant principle” type person who was just in charge of all of that messy stuff. I mean, this person wouldn’t be super well liked, but they would be doing an invaluable service by freeing the youth pastor up to just sort of be a minister instead of an enforcer.
I can think of a dozen reasons why this wouldn’t work or might not be a good idea, but after a night of doing more cleaning than relating it sure does make me smile to think about it.
that it does. that it does.
I found your post while searching for American Gladiator youth ministry games, but have to share my thoughts about your evening. If you don’t have some kids who can’t behave and have been summoned to court, you’re not doing effective youth ministry. Good job reaching the people who Jesus would be reaching.
thanks chris. i have long said it and will continue to say it for an even longer time, but some of my favorite kids to work with are those who have these types of problems. As rough as it is, i agree that if we ado not have those kids in our ministries, we are merely a holy-huddle, which is not effective in any way.