high school ministry | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Philosophy Behind HSM’s Summer Calendar 2011

Last summer was incredible so this summer we’re hoping to build on what we learned and have another great break. Here is a little insight behind what HSM has planned for this summer. If you haven’t seen the calendar and list of events yet, you can check it out here:

All about relationships
The summer is all about hanging with students. We embrace the beauty of time off from school and the different pace around the church office. Summer = relational ministry goldmine.

Free, free, free
Summer camp is the signature event to kickoff the summer and the only one that costs money – after that every event is totally free. In the past we have had events that each charge admission, and over time these add up to frustrated parents and limiting participation.

Low prep time
The events on the summer calendar are meant to be low-prep time events. They are basically excuses to do relational ministry. Prep for Free Coke Friday? Grab some frisbees and a cooler of Gatorade. Done!

Regular recurring events
Want to remember the summer schedule? Every event happens 7 times this summer. 7 Midweeks, 7 Free Coke Fridays, 7 Bagels & Bibles. If you come to one, you can figure out the schedule for the summer. If you’re free on a Friday, you know what we’re up to that day.

Lots of Bible time
One of the big emphasis of our summer is plenty of time in the Word. One of the advantages of no small groups and no high school classes is that we have blocks of time and regular opportunities to pull off our own classes fr spiritual growth.

What should we try next summer that is working for you?

JG

1 View Comments May 18, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Summer Calendar 2011

Today our HSM Summer Calendar for 2011 went to print – pretty excited about the look and schedule for what’s happening when school is off. I’ll post more about the philosophy behind it soon, too.

JG

4 View Comments May 11, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts How to Raise Your Parents – AC and AJ

This weekend to kickoff our How to Raise Your Parents series, we had one of the HSM Staff demonstrate the proper technique a parent should talk to a kid when they messed up. Funny and super cute.

JG

3 View Comments May 11, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts How to Raise Your Parents Series Video

The series bumper video for HSM’s How to Raise Your Parents series. There are 4 steps in the video, and #4 will change each week of the series to be something funny to keep it fresh.

JG

3 View Comments May 10, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 137

Weekend Teaching Series: How to Raise Your Parents (series premiere, week 1 of 3)

Sermon in a Sentence: A good relationship between parent and teenager is built on trust: trust for your parents and trust from your parents.
Text: Proverbs, Ephesians 6
Service Length: 61 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend I had the chance to introduce the topic of trust as the foundation for a healthy relationship between teenagers and their parents. It was also the start of the series, so had some fun setting up my experience as a kid/teenager in my home. Lots of fun stories, and an object lesson about trust where I had a clear tube of colored water that sprung leaks as the parents lost trust in their teenager. We talked about trust-builders and trust-busters – students hopefully walked away with a clear understanding of how important trust is and how to build it between them and their parents.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This week was a super tight program that included a fun opening song, a couple videos about upcoming events (HSM Summer Camp and Killball) as well as a funny video about parenting and trust. Clean, direct program, with lots of students involved greeting, cameras, band, control room, creating graphics, etc.

Music Playlist: Not a Child Anymore, Freedom is Here, You’ll Come, Your Love is Strong

Favorite Moment: The opener this weekend was written by McKenzie – it was about parents and how they are crazy and don’t trust their teenagers. At first, I was worried about the song’s message, then when the band got to the last line, it was a total payoff and super sweet. Incredibly creative and a beautiful tribute to parents masked in what really is going through a teenagers mind. Brilliant, I’ll post video when I can find someone who recorded it.

Up Next: How to Raise Your Parents (Doug Fields speaking, week 2 of 3) [read the whole series are here]

1 View Comments May 9, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Killball Cup Promo Video

The Killball Cup deserves it’s own promo video. The last dodgeball event of the year. Of course, this video from some local HS students still takes the top honors for Best. Dodgeball. Video. Ever.

JG

1 View Comments May 4, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 136

Weekend Teaching Series: Thread (summer camp registration kickoff weekend 1-0ff)
Sermon in a Sentence: You are God’s masterpiece.
Text: Psalm 139:13-16
Service Length: 66 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we brought in this summer’s HSM camp speaker to promote this summer’s big event in HSM. We had picked Ron Merrell and were so excited to have him teach what has now become the official registration kickoff weekend. Now, we’ve never done a weekend like this before, and honestly hadn’t heard or seen much from Ron so it was a risk. To some degree, this was going to be a preview of summer camp. It was awesome! Ron is a great communicator and students were introduced to his heart and passion for Christ. Students walked away challenged about their identity in Christ and many were already buzzing about HSM Summer Camp. Mission accomplished, great weekend.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This week had some fun on stage with a game of “Let’s Make a Deal” and a cover of a OneRepublic song. We had lots and lots of balloons (goes along with the summer camp theme) and a huge camp signup/info table. Lots of student greeters and energy, especially considering we were coming off the week break from Easter.

Music Playlist: OneRepublic opener, Our God, Divine and Holy, Your Love is Enough

Favorite Moment: I think we just established a new tradition in HSM – the summer camp kickoff weekend. Really inspiring and awesome, proud of the team and excited for our students. The only way it could have been better was if we had the summer calendars to handout, too (my fault, I’m a little behind from vacation still). I spent some of the weekend up in big church doing the announcements and promoting summer camp registration to parents, too.

Up Next: How to Raise Your Parents (series premiere, week 1 of 3) [read the whole series are here]