11.13.2006

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: Week two of a two week series on the Bible called 'Check It Out!
'Fun Factor': Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Average
Length of Lesson: 12 minutes
Student Response: Average

A good weekend! Our attendance really seems to be up and down lately...this week we were a bit down. The best part of the weekend was that it was run almost entirely by two of our interns. One of them took point on programming the whole weekend while the other, did the speaking. The program was great, the speaking was great and the overall feel of the weekend was pretty good. We played a GREAT game that we stole from another junior high pastor friend called 'Pac Man Challenge' in which we blindfolded contestents and had them see who could get the highest score before being eaten. Sounds pretty basic, and it was, but our kids loved it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, I know it's your blog and your ministry you write about in the "weekend wrap-up", but I've got a question.
If the speaking was "great" and the programming was "great" and the overall feel of the weekend was "pretty good" (kudos to the Interns! Long live the Interns!) why do you assign "average" to all your categories on the list this week? The use of "great" and "average" in the same posting, describing the same event, seems incongruent. Just curious.

Anonymous said...

Weston...It's not incongruent at all. Let me explain: It was great BECAUSE we had the interns taking big roles even though the various aspects were simply average. To me, a great weekend isn't only great if energy is high, attendance is up, etc. All those tangible things were pretty average this weekend, but it was a GREAT weekend because of the role the interns played.

He did a GREAT job on the program...even though some of the elements were average.

She did a GREAT job speaking...even though response and energy was average.

Anonymous said...

how do you play that PAC MAN game?

Anonymous said...

I've received a few emails asking me to explain it.

We bought one of those hand-held 'plug n play' Pac-man games at Target (about $20.00).

We plugged it into a cable on stage that went to our big screens and projector screen (you could also just bring in a television if you don't already have one in your youth room).

We got two boys and two girls (one from each grade). The boys challenged each other and then the girls challenged each other. Then the two winners advanced to the championship.

We blindfolded them (this was really more for effect, you could also just have them turn away from the screen) and put the joystick in their hand. When the game started, the crowd yelled directions to help the player find his/her way around the maze. Their turn lasted until they died one time. Highest score advanced.

For some reason, everybody loved it...the crowd was cheering, yelling directions, applauding the contestents.

I think one fun thing to add would be to get a volunteer to practice all week long beforehand and then have him/her come up at the end 'randomly' and freak the kids out with a super high score.

Anonymous said...

Kurt,
Thanks for setting me straight. I read your response to my post and couldn't agree more. After training interns for the last ten years and having some of the same thoughts I have to admit it was humbling to read your response. I have had to give this same persective to my own interns when they questioned their leadership because the actual elements of a program were average forgetting the fact that they were leading was a success! Thanks for setting me straight.