Welcome to part 6, the last in my series on mastering your youth ministry calendar. If you’d like to start this series from the beginning, check out Part 1.
Have I Made Any Assumptions?
Critical Thinking
Challenge your assumptions and consider alternative perspectives.
I thought they were going to do X
I thought the church would do y
I thought I would have more Z
Thinking has always gotten me trouble. I thought I would have more students come. I thought I would sell more t-shirts. I thought the church was going to supply more help. We make assumptions all the time, from how much food do we need at a midweek meeting to how many kids are going to camp.
Assumptions can you cost time, money and trust. So, what can you do about it?
If you think it, confirm it. If there is something you think is going to happen, and you have a way to confirm it, make a phone call, send a text, draft an e-mail and confirm it. Better to find out and be right than not to call and be wrong.
Do you think you have this many volunteers coming? Confirm it.
Do you think you have access to the pool at the hotel? Confirm it.
Do you think the speaker understands what you want? Confirm it.
Ask questions; don’t make assumptions. – Angela Ahrendts
How do I come up with a contingency plan?
Develop a plan for potential challenges or unexpected circumstances.
My brain is non-stop in the planning process until I have my back up plans in order, until my plan B’s have a plan B. You may think this is excessive but when you’ve failed as much as I have, you learn to keep that taste out of your mouth.
The key to good contingency plans lies in asking the question, “If this happens, then what?”
When planning a meeting, I usually over plan. Because I have a small group of students, if one person misses, it changes the dynamics of the meeting.
If I have a game I want to play and it requires x amount of people or even teams I have to ask, “What happens if I do not have x amount of students?” I continue asking questions
How can I use this game with less people?
What is my back up game if there isn’t enough people?
Should I choose a more flexible game that does not rely on numbers?
Do we need to play a game at all?
These are the kinds of questions you should ask regarding every program element
What if I don’t have enough volunteers?
What if the internet goes out?
What if my illustration doesn’t work?
What if it rains or weather gets in the way?
Asking these kinds of questions will certainly train you to keep you on your toes but it will also stretch you to be a better planner.
If you’re looking for a better way to plan your youth meeting, pick up My Youth Meeting Playbook.
Flexibility
Be prepared to adapt your plans as needed.
Don’t be married to any idea you have because it will likely change in some manner. The worse thing that can happen is that you get an idea in your head and think, “That is exactly how I see this going.” Because, once you do that, if the outcome does not fit what you saw in your head, you will be prone to call your event/message/meeting a failure which it may not be.
You must always be able to predict what’s next and then have the flexibility to evolve – Marc Benioff
You can have vision for what you think is optimal but you have to stay flexible concerning your outcomes.
How many do you think will respond to the altar call?
How many kids do you think will go to camp?
How many volunteers will show up?
What does flexibility look like in each of these scenarios?
To be rigid in your demands for a certain outcome is to sideline God’s blessing.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Ephesians 4:20
God is always at work and wants more for you than you can possibly imagine. God can do immeasurable things, let’s make room for that.
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