Original post at http://tomshriver.com/2012/11/06/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
If you got a chance to see my latest post, Fog of War (http://tomshriver.com/2012/11/02/fog-of-war/), then you know that I just had a lock-in and paintball event. It was a great time and the kids loved it. I even got preemptively invited to a few birthday parties that the youth are doing at the paintball field.
We did, however, go over budget on food. I mean…we spent a lot of money on food.
We also had a kid who snuck out of the guy’s room at 3:00 am and video taped the girls sleeping. Yikes! Don’t worry – I had a long chat with that young fellow.
All of these details are important to remember but are often forgotten about by the time the next lock-in roles around. Here is what I do after every youth event:
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
I take 15 minutes out of my day to go over the good things that happened at the event (relationships built, fun had, some kids heard about Jesus for the first time), the bad (money went over a bit but we had the funds to cover it), and the ugly (video taping of girls, sneaking out to steal church food, etc).
Spending just a few minutes immediately following an event to write down what happened (good and bad) will make your next event so much better. Now I know a few things:
-Increased security in guy’s room so they’re not sneaking out.
-Plan better for food – get a few families to each bring 1 pizza and only have to purchase 3-5 from the Church budget
-They love paintball and want to do it again
-Etc
I strongly encourage you all to write everything down that happened and make sure to follow up with it next time around. Sometimes this gives you insight into your event leadership in the first place – did I plan this event well? Was I a good steward of our church’s money? Should I have stayed up all night instead of falling asleep?
Strong self evaluation leads to better leadership. I also encourage you to share your insights with adult leaders from the event to see if they have anything to add. This can be one of the best things you can do to strengthen your youth ministry.
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