Category Feeling Friendly

SMS Classic: Help I’m Busy (Part 1)

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I’m going through some of my old SMS posts because of two simultaneous requests from some friends about “scheduling.” So, it gave me the idea to re-post some of the blog posts that seem to have ministered to the masses.

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A good friend of mine, whom I consider very much “on the ball” as a Youth Pastor recently confessed to me that he’s really struggling with keeping his schedule straight and balanced while still trying to maintain his sanity as he navigates youth ministry, church ministry, family life, personal relationships, etc. etc.

Okay, this wasn’t a just a good friend.  It was four.  I literally have had the same conversation with four of my good youth pastor buddies in the last three weeks.  So, I thought I’d give this Student Ministry Stuff (SMS) blog post a shot at tackling the foundation of the Youth Pastor’s Time Management.

Some people are “charts and graphs” people.  Others reject them.  So I’m going to challenge myself to do a two week SMS blog post again and write to both those who can deal (or should deal) with the attempt at becoming organized with a thought-out plan (methodology). Next week I’ll try to get in the mind of a free-thinker and create a non-system way (philosophy) of taking on the busy schedule.  So, those who already reject me for being “chart-y” give it a shot anyway, and/or come back next week.

Let’s lay the cards out on the table right away–we  (Youth Pastors/Leaders) want to do well, we want to please others, we want others to like us.  But we feel like we’re failing a lot of the people a lot of the time.  It seems, as a Youth Leader (whether paid or not) that ministry never ends and there is always someone else we can be reaching out to, discipling, blessing or keeping off our backside.  Toby’s Mom wonders why you’re not giving Toby individual attention; the board member wonders why he didn’t see your truck at the office “at all” on Thursday?  Mr. Gregory emailed you about the most trivial theological discrepancy “he heard” you taught his daughter last Sunday. Unfortunately this may be your life:

Why didn’t you return my email?… Where are your receipts?… When is camp?…How come we didn’t do more songs last night?… Why do we sing so much?…Can you fill-in for me this Sunday and preach?… We used to have 40 at youth group, why are there only 32 now?… Toby didn’t know about the mission trip application deadline, can he still turn in his form?… Honey, how many nights are you going to be out this week?… Daddy, you went to Toby’s game, how come you didn’t come to my spelling bee?

Jesus.  Will. You. Please. Return.  NOW?

I am praying for you.  I’ve been there.  I want to help.  This week I’ll present one possible help: become a little more task-oriented by creating a pretty simple system that helps you keep things in place.  The reality, this is not a fix-all, but I hope it creates a little rhythm in your life and will help you see when and where you do and do not have margin in your life. Essentially, I hope it gives you a little more of a helicopter view of your ministry/church life and could possibly give you freedom to say the words that you (I) need to say a little more often: “No” and “Help.”

The following are some suggestions to give yourself a little overview of your ministry life and the landscape of the year, it’s just the first of a two step process for the day (be patient).

  • Create a list of the “majors” in your ministry (sacred cows and regularly scheduled programs): This list should include youth group night, Sunday school times, small group time, all the normal camps or retreats you do, etc. You’ll probably add to this list as you think through the following lists as well…
  • Make a separate list of your typical weekly meetings: This list may include staff meetings, one-on-ones, network meetings, etc.
  • Jot down a third list of the weekly tasks that are obvious to you:You need time to study for messages, time to return calls, plan for programs, set up chairs, powerpoint creation, etc.
  • Write down (4th list) the things you like to avoid that take time (that is, if they haven’t already been listed above): For me this was stuff like data entry, return phone calls (I’m much better with email), reports for committees or elders, financial matters, etc.
  • Create a 5th list of the spiritual and relational stuff you wish you had more time to do: This list, for me, would have included more prayer time, personal normal sabbath, more prayer time, long term study for a teaching series, time of being mentored (not just mentoring others), more prayer time, personal evangelism, more prayer time.

Now that you’re overwhelmed again with all the stuff you can/should/need to to, you’re going to create a chart that helps you to see that some, even most, of the stuff can get done if you’re smart about where you place these items in your chart (as you add them to your chart, scratch them off your lists).

A couple tips:

  1. Be realistic… I have friends who love to study the Word.  In fact, I love to study the Word.  But the reality is, I couldn’t be effective at being a Youth Pastor if I was spending 10-12 hours on each talk.  I typically had 2 or 3 messages each week (not including the semi-regularly scheduled preaching in “Big Church”).  I would have had to neglect other areas of ministry–namely shepherding people– if I were to spend that much time on each talk.  The same could be said for other areas, not just messages.  So, be realistic about how much time you actually need to spend on emails, financial matters and messages.
  2. Understand your season… If you’re creating this chart while in the midst of planning a camp, retreat or mission, you’re probably overwhelmed with how long things take. You may want to wait until after the major event to give yourself a more realistic view. In addition, understand that this chart is just an overview, not a “have to” list.  This is YOUR chart, it can change and it isn’t a legalistic formula (I hope).
  3. Don’t celebrate your busyness… You are going to have to come to the realization that you simply can’t do it all, your above created lists may be so long that an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper isn’t even big enough for your Sunday tasks.  This is when you need counsel. And probably counseling. Seriously, have someone help you pare down your list/chart.  Don’t be the Pied Piper and try to do it all yourself.  Begin to recruit others around you to do some of the stuff you don’t like or aren’t good at.

StudentMinAdminPlanner (larger view)

In Word, Pages or even Excel, create for yourself a simple chart, like the one above, where you plug in those lists that you’ve created.  Take this bad-boy to church, give one to your spouse and begin to operate with it as a bit of a check-list.  In a couple weeks you’ll see that you need to make some changes or perhaps you’ll find that you’re not quite the ANALytical thinker and need more of a “philosophical” approach that I’ll attempt to take a crack at next week.

Last… remember you’re called to minister to students, leaders and parents.  This is a great calling. I am excited that you’ve been called to it and even though the words don’t come often enough, I’ll say them again.  Thank you!

Grace,

Brian

Get In The Game

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

As we approached the church for a youth leader lunch I remember being greeted by a guy who seemed somewhat familiar, maybe I’d seen him at some other regional gathering? He pointed us in the right direction and I thought it was nice that either the organization or the church was nice enough to send out a greeter to make sure we all knew where we were going.

After about 30 minutes of sharing lunch with my Seattle-area youth leading friends the greeter from outside popped up and introduced himself as Greg Stier, the President of Dare2Share (the organization hosting the lunch and training).

Flash forward about seven or eight years and I’ll tell you that the greeter/speaker Greg Stier I remember from that day is the same Greg today; furthermore the organization he leads, operates with the same humility he demonstrates by being the door-greeter at their training events.

I was in Florida all of this last week, I had several meetings with other organizations and was scouting for a few mission trips Youthmark has coming this spring and summer. Knowing that I was going to be in town I decided to double up and check out the Gameday tour for Dare2Share. Arrangements were made for me to not only attend but to serve behind the scenes for D2S. From set-up to tear-down, I’ll have you know that the team of employees, talent, speakers and volunteers were there for one-reason: to serve teens, leaders and one another so that the gospel is heard, taught, trained and sent!

Something we introduced last year through Youthmark, called “Speed Witnessing” was adopted by D2S as “Speed Training” for this years tour. And though I was excited to see this, I can tell you any “proud” moment I had for that was morphed by the pride I felt for the body of Christ serving together to put on a training conference that was so rich in content, so practical in application and 100% focused on Jesus and the good news he gives by grace alone through faith.

It truly was an honor to partner with Greg, Zane, Prop, Brenton Brown (and band) and scores of “others” that were never seen. From security to finance, from tech to talent, there was absolutely no pretentiousness or rank. Humility, grace and a sense of purpose permeated all that was done. All the parts were needed and though many in the crowd see the “personalities,” the personalities see “team.”

If you are a Youth Leader within a days drive of one of the remaining D2S conferences this year, you really ought to consider bringing your group to the event. And if you’re a Dare2Share alumni from the last couple of years, check out their new Lead The Cause University this summer. I am super pumped about this because my good friends, Everfound are leading worship at LTCU and then next year for the 2013 “Follow” tour by D2S. So fun to see my friends partner together in ministry (and selfishly, I am excited, because Dare2Share is coming back to Seattle for Follow).

Greg, thanks for being courageous in the faith, serving teens, youth leaders and the kingdom through humble and relentless leadership and thank you for taking the time with every student or adult who wanted to talk… those small times of “greeting” really do make a difference!

Grace,

Brian

Has Anyone Modeled Evangelism To You?

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I get really excited about the Spring! Though we are five months away from our retreat season, we are busy putting together the framework for our 2012 tour.  The Mission51 Retreats give us the opportunity to train all who attend our Spring Retreat in the area of life-evangelism. We truly believe that mission is not a trip. Though trips are great, I believe that the other 51 weeks of life beyond the mission is where the real work of mission takes place (for both the sending team and the receiving communities).

In the spring of 2010 our theme was “Live and Love Loudly” for our Mission51 retreat. We focused on the first letter from Paul to the church at Thessalonica. It’s a great letter and it gave me some fun ideas. One of those ideas I will give you as a “freebie” to use in your youth group, small group or just for personal thought!

The video below was used to help set that stage for evangelism training. When we hear the word “evangelism” or “share your faith” we see many begin to squirm. Quite simply, people are afraid to share because they fear failure and rejection. But the reality is, their fear and failure stems more from a lack of model than anything else.

Who has modeled witness to you? Who have you learned from when it comes to evangelism?

For those who haven’t had it modeled to them, I invite you to find a mentor. For those who are active, I invite you to teach others.

With a very small budget, a decent camera and some very low-paid (read: “no-paid”) actors and some okay editing equipment we put together this little piece we call “read, daddy.”

Grace,

Brian

Refuge, Resource and More… Get Networked!

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Back in 1995 a postcard awaited me as I began unpacking my boxes for my brand-new Youth Pastor position at Melrose Community Church. The postcard was a simple invite to the Youth Pastor Network meeting Tuesday morning at Mom’s Cafe.

I had barely even met the people in my church let alone anyone else in this town, but I decided to risk and go–if nothing else, I figured the bacon and eggs would be worth it. I walked into the upper floor of the cafe and immediately heard the distinct sound of group laughter down the stairs. “This must be the youth pastors” I thought to myself. The 90 minute gathering felt much more like family than a meeting. At the conclusion of our time, Kirk, one of the guys in attendance handed me his business card and said, “call me anytime in the next week and this card is good for a free lunch.”

I remember saying,”yeah, I’ll check my schedule and see if I can make that happen.” Internally I was rejoicing and thinking, “I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING going on, but I’ll wait at least two days to call…”

Today, Kirk is one of my good friends (and actually works with me at Youthmark). His simple invite was an invitation that has led me to a life-long commitment. A commitment that says that we are better together.

You may not feel you need a Network. In fact, many of you may have a great circle of support already. However, you may be the perfect “Kirk” for a Youth Leader in need. Or perhaps you’re the “Brian” of yesteryear and really do need to have someone surrounding and supporting you.

I have the privilege of being involved in several network circles and two local networks that I coordinate. Though no longer a Youth Pastor, I am heavily involved in Student Ministries. I am excited to serve alongside these great brothers and sisters. The younger among us teach us much about current youth culture, whereas the older among us offer up our mistakes as things to avoid as well or our triumphs as things that may be worthy of repeating.

The National Network of Youth Ministries has existed for many years and is committed to better-networking Youth Leaders with one another. They too believe that we are better together! In order to better understand what is and what is not happening in the world of the youth leader and networks they have put together a survey they’d like all youth leaders to complete. I’d love to help them get the information they need. I just took the survey and it took me eight minutes. Would you support the network in a similar way? Here is the survey!

I hope you’re involved with a network, it truly is a resource, refuge and much more. Know that you have gifts to give and gifts to receive from others! If you have questions about a local network, don’t hesitate to contact me and ask, I can probably point you in the right direction.

Grace,
Brian

An Open Letter to Church Members/Pastors

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Overheard at  any church this week: “I’ll pray for you.”

Praying for others is awesome…

But what if?

What if more often we changed the word for to with?

My friend Timothy Eldred, President of Christian Endeavor is spearheading an effort (pray with youth) that I believe can change the very makeup of YOUR church. I encourage you to continue to pray for the youth, but what if we had many actually pray with youth?

Please take the time to read-up on this movement because there are so many additional components that can/should be explored and included as to how you and your church incorporate praying with youth. However, the movement launch date is coming up next week, September 11, 2011. I suggest you talk to your Pastor, Youth Pastor, Worship Leader, or whomever you need to make something simple but significant happen!

This simple and significant cause is to get an adult to commit to praying with a youth (students approximately 12-20 years old). Though many will commit to praying for the youth, what would it look like to have the seasoned saints in your congregation praying with the youth.

In your church services on 9.11 invite any/all teens who are in attendance to come to the platform (or just stand where they are if you want to honor the shy ones). Start by praying for this group of teens.  Thank God for them, plead with God to use them as missionaries on their campuses, in their clubs, within the community and even at your church.

Now, do something even more bold…

Explain that praying for the students is great and needed, but let the adults know that we want to move from just praying for to praying with them!

Invite any adult (or several) who would like to commit to partnering in prayer with one of these standing to go and stand by them, speak with them and pray with them (perhaps have a worship song led for all others?)

It’s small, but five minutes set aside for partnering in prayer can lead to something that becomes very significant. Ultimately I believe you should do the entire Pray21 program (which partners adults with youth for the purpose of prayer for 21 days… please note that they’ve thought through all the liability issues, please follow their lead).

I believe that the youth can and should be the best missionaries we have in the United States (and beyond). But they need not just our prayers, they need our partnership. Praying with them will lead to greater intimacy in the church. Students will sense their significance and the church (the one body) will unify. I firmly believe we’ll see more and more students stay in our churches and we’ll see a significant missional movement in the lives of our students. Such a movement that we’ll actually see the hearts of our adults melt and our congregation members will become missional as the youth are unleashed to do ministry!

At Youthmark we’re committed to Mission51, the 51 weeks beyond a mission week, a retreat or even a pray with youth Sunday! I believe this Pray With Youth movement will FUEL mission51!

Will you take this to your people?

Grace,
Brian

Get Over Your Evangephobia!

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Question: Why do you go on mission trips? Is evangelism a major in the equation or an occasional bi-product? Do you and your youth have evangephobia? I hope you’ll take steps toward sharing your faith, a free resource is being offered by Dare-2-Share on Tuesday, June 28 (described below).

I recently returned from a short-term mission with a Youthmark Mission Venture team to Costa Rica. In our short-history at Youthmark we have been blessed to have been in many rural setting in the US (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada. Last year we had a large team in Mexico, but this Costa Rica trip marked what I would say was our first true “international mission.”

We loved serving (and serving with) the Costa Rican people. However, our goal with Youthmark has never been to just serve, we long to see service and evangelism fit together like me and a Venti coffee! Well, God provided those opportunities in unique ways. Though a language barrier existed, the barrier for some of our students far-surpassed language. Though they were raised in the church, some had never shared their faith.  Praise God, this Costa Rican experience will, I hope, fuel their future of sharing Christ-crucified and Mission51 (the 51 weeks of the year beyond this mission) will take-off!

As you examine your ministry, your group or perhaps even your church; is there a heart for evangelism that is followed by feet ready to swiftly move so that hands can be used for service and mouths may be used for witness? This is, after all, our call! Jesus has left us here (on earth) to share his story!

My friends at Dare-2-Share are once again doing a one-hour webinar titled, “Evangephobia” on Tuesday, June 28 at Noon eastern, 9:00 AM pacific. I went through the first one and having been through many D2S events, this one-hour event is well worth your time.  Greg Stier will give you some very practical tools for your church, group and self!

I believe God has called us to “all nations” (including Costa Rica), however, our first calling (according to Scripture) is our “Jerusalem.” I believe every believer is called to reach our own neighborhood with the good news!  I hope you’ll consider checking out the webinar (go to Dare2share.org and pre-register, it’s free) and even better, I pray that we’ll see our neighborhoods as our mission field!

Organizations like Youthmark, Dare2Share and a few others are making a concerted effort to see the Great Commission become the MAJOR focus for all churches (and believers for that matter). If you’ve got the phobia, get trained, get reliant and by the power of the Spirit, get going!

Grace,
Brian

Feeling Friendly: NW Ministry Conference

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I am a couple months into my Feeling Friendly weekends; a series of posts in which I highlight a specific ministry, organization or individual offering services that would enhance your ministry. It’s been fun to hear about some connections that have taken place as a result.  Just yesterday I was blessed to be the recipient of something similar. Check out the missionalchallenge blog here.

A couple weekends ago I took part in a pretty sweet conference in Chicago. It was my first experience at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference hosted by Simply Youth Ministry and Group Publishing. In addition to the SYMC, I’ve attended many-a-conference in the past. For this edition of FF I would like to highlight a conference for all of you in the the Pacific Northwest.  The NW Ministry Conference has been around for years, a few years ago they made a great move by changing their name from the NW Christian Education Conference to the NW Ministry Conference.

For an area that is as “unchurched” as the experts say we are, I will tell you that the NW Ministry Conference is proving otherwise. With over 3000 people in attendance each year and literally hundreds of workshops and hundreds of vendors the NWMC has the “feel” of a very legit conference. It takes place April 7-9 at Overlake church in Redmond.

I have been honored to be a speaker at this event for many years and am once again given the opportunity (get to teach “Mission51” this year!!).

For those in the “know” of Youth Ministry, the line-up this year is very strong! In fact, I’d say its the strongest lineup of offerings the conference has ever had. A great mix of local leaders (people many would know and great leaders we’ve never heard of), with a fantastic bunch of national “names” in Youth Ministry as well.

The GREATEST element of the NWMC to me is the commonality I sense in ministry. Because it is not just a youth leader conference you can go to whatever workshop you want.

  • Want some training for preaching? -It’s there!
  • How about counseling? -There!
  • Want to better understand those elementary minds you’re about to inherit in your middle school program? -Go to one of the workshops for kids ministry!

I’m excited to have a number of my friends offering workshops this year! My best bud (and author), Jeramy Clark is teaching a few workshops. He and his wife, Jerusha are flying up from SoCal; Jerusha, has authored many books and is really an expert in her field (dealing with identity issues, self injury, women’s ministry, etc.). She will be facilitating a few workshops too! Over the last few years I’ve gotten to know Greg Stier pretty well and am excited that he’ll be here to train for THE Cause! Though Dare2Share isn’t coming to Seattle right now, I know Greg would love to stay in touch with the NW leaders for their return!

I’ve always been impressed with Doug Fields and Duffy Robbins, both older “names” in Youth Ministry but having spent some time at national conferences with these guys, I can tell you, they don’t think of themselves at “names.” They are very approachable and desire to see Youth Leaders trained to be more effective in ministry! A great opportunity to join them for their extended track (“Speaking to Teenagers”)!

Hope you’ll check out the Conference, you’ll be blown away by how affordable it is ($29-$120 p/p)! On top of the great tracks, great people and great opportunities, the main sessions are entertaining, worship-filled and inspiring!

Grace,
Brian

Feeling Friendly: IGNITION

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

A couple weeks ago the men at my church had a “Hockey Night.” Seattle has its own Minor League team, the Seattle Thunderbirds. Blessed by a friend who hooked me up with a ticket I made the five mile trek to the arena in Kent. It was a blast to cheer on the T-birds with about 80 guys from church and about 5000 from the greater Seattle community.

A couple things stood out to me about the game itself:

  • 5000+ were screaming to our hearts delight for high schoolers. The average age of the players is probably 17.
  • These same fans cheered even louder when these same 17 years olds stopped skating and started fighting.

Yep, there we were, rising up to cheer on a fist fight between two not-even young adults. Only in hockey!

What if we cheered on high school students who were fighting for a different cause?  What if we were celebrating the fight it is to be a young man or woman of God in todays society? Well, we have that opportunity.

My “Feeling Friendly” this weekend is for the IGNITION conference taking place March 25-16 at Faith Church in Kent, WA. Described as “Serious Fun” this conference is really unlike others. The subject matter for this conference is “The Bible.” The purpose of the conference is to equip students who already know and love Jesus with the tools and information they can use to dig even deeper in the Scriptures and Application. The “fun” will show up in the events they have planned, the times with friends, meals and the exciting worship (think concert-like setting). The “serious” will show up in the content; creating an atmosphere where real questions are not just asked but honestly addressed (elective classes, main session speaker, etc.). I think it is going to be quite exciting to see a couple hundred teens praising God in song and digging deep in His Word!

I’m excited to be a part of it, speaking in the electives, but also representing Youthmark.

If you are a Youth Pastor, Youth Leader, Parent of a teen or a Student, IGNITION is something you ought to “seriously” look into! Check out the Facebook page here or the website here.

I’ll stand up and cheer for this fight!

Grace,

Brian

Feeling Friendly: Graduates

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For the first seven or eight years of being a Youth Pastor in late May/early June I’d have the dreaded task fantastic opportunity of blessing our grads (in all seriousness, loved the blessing part, the shopping part was the “dread”). As graduation day and/or our “Senior Sunday” approached and as the invitations started pouring in for Grad-Parties I began to panic.  Mainly, because I don’t like going to the Christian Book Store that much.

I believe in honoring our seniors and gifting, but I didn’t like going to the local Christian Bookstore, Hallmark or gift-card factory to try to find something that would work, I didn’t want to get individual gifts for each student, because then it becomes the “he likes you better than me” contest.  However, I did want the gift to not be so generic that it was just a courtesy-gift. A Lucado book for him, a WWJD bracelet for her didn’t seem “fair.” But the WOW CD seemed to be just too generic and an attempt to make it more personal by getting a card for each grad on top of the gift just got too expensive.

Then I found it (and later they found me, Spire has since done my publishing)!

Feeling Friendly is a weekend series I began for my blog several weeks ago; through this series I hope to highlight ministries and products that enhance Student Ministries/Churches, etc.  Today’s Feeling Friendly highlights a gift you ought to consider for your grads!

Graduate To Greatness is a COMPLETE gift for your grads and was perfect for me with my grads because it met several requirements:

  1. It’s a Gift: Not only is it a book but it comes with the audio-version for those grads who aren’t readers (ironic huh?)!
  2. It has a Card: Not paying extra for a card, the card gives me the opportunity to write something short & simple, yet personal for each grad.
  3. No Wrapping Required: It comes in a Gift-Box which requires no wrapping; no extra time!
  4. One-Stop Shop: All I have to do is order online and it was delivered to my office!
  5. I Looked Good: Because our church also did a Celebration Sunday for the students I got to take these gifts to the individual grad-parties and hand them to the students, they all thought “Wow, Brian personally got me a gift.”  (I rarely let them think any different)
  6. It is BETTER and CHEAPER than any other gift I ever purchased for graduates: I’ve done the books, the music CD’s and the gift-card thing before, but everything was well over $10 (and then add a card on top of that).  You can get the Book, CD, Box, and card for under $8!

I believe you should check out the Graduate To Greatness early-bird special and get your grads their gift well in advance.  Spire has awesome products for churches, but I’m particularly impressed with this one, it’s specifically for our high school grads or  young adult grads (AA or Bachelors degrees)!

If you’d rather, you can call them at 1.800.992.3060 and mention the early-bird special!  I would typically buy two years at a time to get the lowest bulk-rate as well (just a thought).

You ever seen those “Hair Club For Men” commercials? (Please, no slams here, I am aware…); well, I can end this little Feeling Friendly the same way, “not only am I involved with Spire, but I’m a client as well.”

A great gift you should take advantage of!

Grace,
Brian

Feeling Friendly: Design

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

You have to know the backstory on this “Feeling Friendly.”

MTV’s The Real World pretty much started it all; reality TV. Several years later it really hit the mainstream with the breakout show, Survivor. I immediately became (and two this day am) a big fan. It was nearly 11 years ago and I credit the show for one of my favorite Youth Ministry memories as well.

The New Year’s Overnighter and the yearly outreach fall retreat, entitled “The Great Escape,” were the two events in which we’d pull out all the stops programatically. Because the year 2000 was an election year, Jimmy (our Jr. High Pastor) and I decided in the spring the theme “Decision 2000” would be a hoot to build a program around for our fall retreat some 6 months later. Think: campaigns, scandal, delegates, etc. Now fast forward a couple months after we had already announced and promoted the theme, Jimmy and I sat down for our customary brainstorming lunch (nothing like some Azteca spices to get the juices flowing). Well, no “election” juices were flowing. After an hour or so it came to us… the ol’ switcheroo! We spent the greater part of two months pulling off a secret thematic switch.  All of our advertisements, decorations, registration forms and announcements continued to push our “Decision 2000” theme.  But everything behind the scenes was spent discretely creating the most creative program I had been a part of.  There were literally four of five of us that knew about this (not a single student or volunteer leader).

Because the Great Escape had such a great reputation, students, though skeptical of the theme, invited their friends to “Decision 2000.”  We packed the camp out with a record 190 students and nearly 30 adult-leaders.  The anticipation was electric.  Then it started.  The camp chapel decorated in red-white and blue.  The lectern sitting up front as if a political speech was to begin; the Decision 2000 video started. It was filled with slow patriotic music, black and white pictures and a voice-over filled with boring facts about the U.S. Governmental history.  Students literally started fidgeting; our core students began questioning in their minds why they brought their non-believing, church-skeptical friends.  Jimmy and I were receiving the glares; then about two minutes in to the bore-fest the video went static; an announcement came across the screen, “Sorry for the interruption, Decision 2000 has been Cancelled, to bring you the next episode of…”

The Survivor theme song came on with a wonderfully spliced video with our unknowing leaders highlighted in the video (our staff retreat just two weeks prior had initiative games in which we used bandanas; the leaders had no idea we were capturing snap shots and videos to use for this Survivor video).  While students paid close attention to the projection the entire Chapel was transformed in one-minute (we had let our work-crew know thirty minutes prior).  The “election” stage scene became the set for a Survivor Tribal Council.

The weekend was a HUGE success as 16 leaders (supported by their teams of about 11 others) competed for the crown. The advertisements, graphics and video really set the stage and enabled us to pull of the big surprise!  We were not voted off the island!

This memory has made me “Feel Friendly”

Feeling Friendly is a weekend series I started a few weeks ago. Because weekend readership fluctuates so much I thought it’d be fun to get something consistent going on the weekends. It is essentially a plug, advertisement or “Brian approved” product or service! I know that word-of-mouth marketing is the best form of marketing out there; so this is my word to you about some of the folk I have used, will use or really like! To see past “Feeling Friendly” posts, click here.

Jimmy and I were the ones who master-minded the theme, but there was NO WAY we could have pulled off this heist without Peter Beringer.  Peter was our intern at the time.  Peter masterfully did the graphic work and produced all of the videos.  It was seamless!

Since 2000, Peter went on to be a Youth Pastor for a number of years while still dabbling with design work, web site design, photography and video.  A few years ago he launched PeterBDesigns.

I am privileged to have Peter and his family as close friends, but I’m also blessed to have Peter as one of my graphic design guys (I’m also honored to have the graphic design guy from our Publishers at Spire!).

Peter works so well with his clients.  He is gracious in both pricing and time.  I’d HIGHLY suggest you contact Peter if you deal with any of the following (or anything sort of related):

  • Cover/Poster Design
  • Logos/Icons, etc.
  • T-shirt (or other apparel) graphics
  • Advertisement Graphic Design and Layout
  • Business Cards (or all things letterhead/stationary, etc.)
  • Photography

He may even be open to some simple video work as well (ask him, I didn’t seek his permission to say that!  ha!)

Pretty much anything to do with graphic design, vector files, photoshop, etc. he would love to help you with.

Here is a link to some of Peter’s portfolio of work, a number of these items he did for me/youthmark.

In addition, I have added a couple designs you may recognize recently from Youthmark.

Contact Peter and he’ll hook you up with a quote!  Just mention me, because then his quote will be better (again, didn’t ask him for permission to say that!).

Grace,
Brian

Peter developed this logo for Youthmark

and this one for our spring retreat in 2010