That time of year is creeping upon us - the one where youth groups and children ministries are scrambling for volunteers and epic game ideas to entertain (and completely wear out) the younglings.
If you've ever been to such an event, you may have fond memories of excitement and adrenaline (or disappointment), coupled with snippets of scripture, biblical teaching and lots of singing.
I've attended many of these functions as both a participant and leader (because if you're not giving up getting paid for a week to suffer for Jesus, are you really a Christian? {please note the heavy drips of sarcasm in this- never feel obligated to sacrifice yourself or resources}) so I've learned where my favorite place to serve at these events is. The best volunteer role for me is "Camp Nurse" because that means that I get to play all of the games without team commitment and I'm under no obligation to stay up late or wake before dawn (also, I get a bit too giggly during service, at times).
Because apparently, church camp is one of the few places where full grown adults can "go crazy" and still be trusted with the lives of young ones.
I discovered my "One Weird Trick" two summers ago, when I was voluntold to be a team leader for our church's children's ministry's daycamp.
Before I reveal the big secret, there are a few significant things that I must establish. First, I have this uncanny knack for becoming "too aggressive" when it comes to competitions. I'm not sure if it's panic inspired, but I typically create a strategy to solve the problem (aka - win). I can't quite explain it, but I dive dark and deep and at times become diabolical (like the one time I won a silly baby shower game by hiding all of the clothespins I had acquired inside of my hairdo. What? I was still wearing them….you just couldn’t see them. I also spent the entirety of the party not connecting with anyone and I became mute, eavesdropping on conversations and tiptoeing around, just to hear folks slip up and say the dreaded word that would earn me another clothespin. I definitely lost some friends that day).
Secondly, this particular week, the team intentionally assigned to me had no “A-listers”. I had the crew with minimal enthusiasm and no team spirit. Most of them were only there because it was summer and their parents probably needed a break. Add to that zero (wait- I think one kid had a some skills) hand-eye coordination skills, minimal scripture knowledge and I was looking at the perfect formula for the team with the greatest capacity to lose. This realization was all I needed to dig deep, and go crazy, because I was in it to win it... I mean... teach these kiddos about the importance of team work and the love of Jesus.
My "One Weird Trick", after these observations, was this - to vocally state "We are the winners" as much as we could - literally speaking our win into existence. (This is based on the theory that there is power in words- power of life, and death - and the belief that when you speak things in faith, they will happen.) The best way I could think of to do this was to craft a phrase or two that declared our future win into our Team Cheer on day 1. Because we clearly needed every ounce of help we could get. My hope was to subtly ensure winning, despite every odd stacked against us.
Camp came, camp happened, (After-hours Chell may have showed up) and (to my dear son's chagrin) my team won. Were we the best? No. Did we suck? Yes - a bit more than I would have preferred, but my rag-tag team of unenthusiastic kids would get hyped at cheer time as we spoke our winning into existence. And we won.
And as crazy as this sounds - the following summer, I passed this advice along to a friend as she led a team of youth to victory with this same "weird trick". I challenge you, take heart, dear leaders. Do not let the seeming unworthiness of your team bother you. I implore you, try this "One Weird Trick" this summer and send me your stories of victory and life.
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