The Seven Oaks Group
We just got back from our congregations first year to attend the Lads-to-Leaders Convention. I know your congregation may be considering this ministry. I wanted to write about our experience and how we went about it in the hope of helping you as a first-timer as well. I am going to use a bullet list to organize my thoughts and ideas.
How We Got Started:
- After getting the approval of our elders, we selected a steering committee lead by one of our deacons. I originally helped get the committee going, but do not serve on it now. The committee is compromised of one deacon, our youth minister, and two ladies. Of course each of their spouses work and serve as well.
- We invited Ben Giselbach from L2L to come on a Sunday to tell us about the program. Ben’s workshop involved a combined Sunday morning Bible class, a short talk during worship, and a longer afternoon explanation of the program.
- The steering committee selected several events for us to be involved in and asked parents to sign their kids up for events and committee to going to the convention. We chose to go to the Nashville Convention site.
- We were late in trying to develop this program for the 2016 year. We did not have Ben come until early December. We got the events all going in January and some not till February.
- It it normal for it to seem overwhelming and intimidating!
- We had some kids participate with us in events that did not attend convention and invited any child to be involved. We did not have as good as participation as hoped, but felt we had a good number for the first year.
- The committee assigned or recruited volunteers to coordinate an event and work with the kids. They then allowed these coordinators to select the time and venue for preparation and training.
- Regarding finances, our elders budged $2,000 for this ministry in 2016 and paid the registration fee at convention of all those attending. Each family paid for their hotel room at convention, though the church offered if assistance was needed. The church also provided food at the convention.
Our Experience at Convention
- We are only about 2 hours from the Nashville convention site, so we chose to go down early Friday morning and return late Saturday evening.
- Convention was much crazier and busier than I ever imagined. We have four kids, three were involved in the activities. So we were always going to a new event. We signed up to judge two events each, which added to the chaos.
- The hotel is huge and everything is spread out so we walked a ton.
- The weekend was well-organized, though it was a bit confusing for our group at first. We had trouble getting our rooms and finding out all we were supposed to be doing at the start.
- The award banquets were exciting, boisterous, and extremely fast-paced. The kids were thrilled to be able to go on stage and we were all encouraged to learn our Bible Bowl teams did well. Our 3rd-4th graders won 1st and the 5th-6th grade team made the finalists.
- We had a couple from church go to host the hospitality room. This room had food for the group. I couldn’t imagine doing the weekend without bringing some food. We ate breakfast and lunch in the room. We had lots of sweets and snacks as well. We ordered pizza on Friday evening and some of us walked to the mall on Saturday evening.
- We found that the convention gave a tremendous boost to the enthusiasm of the program. The kids came back fired up and ready to prepare for next year. We see the importance in kids participating in convention and it is nice it gives a set deadline. It provides lots of motivation for the kids.
Our Plans for Year 2
- The committee is going to be making plans for our second year very soon. We hope to recognize and award those who were involved in this first year, while trying to use the momentum from the convention to inspire more involvement.
- We plan on doing some of the year-around events and getting started much earlier in our convention preparation so we are not so rushed.
- Also, we learned how to make convention easier and better in terms of logistics and planning.
If your church is looking for a ministry tool to help prepare your youth to be leaders and more involved in the service and work of the church please check out Lads-to-Leaders. Contact them for how to get more involved.
Their website is: www.lads2leaders.com
