YL Leader Survival Guide, Ch. 10
My team dominated club while I was in college. "The Funnel" was funneling, downtime was methodically eliminated, and club ran smoother than the Sugar Cane Train.
After club we would talk about what we could do to make club run even more smoothly. We would talk about what could be improved on, and we didn't stop until club was a well oiled machine of efficiency. This is how you get a club so rockin' that it would make Jim Rayburn shed a single tear.
Just don't take it too far.
Young Life is about striving for excellence. But sometimes things go wrong. The ipod cord goes bad. Someone forgets something. The CD skips (as if anyone uses those anymore). When that happens, what are you going to do about it?
WAY #1: Stress about the little things and ruthlessly critique unforeseen errors.
"You should have brought an extra CD, Tommy! Now look at us, we have to play the game with NO MUSIC!" Poor Tommy. Who could have known the CD wasn't going to make it in that box of clothespins he had to bring for the game? It's an easily fixable situation for next time, but unfortunately there's no "Bye Bye Bye" to jam out to tonight. Therefore, when we think about club, we can only think about the way Tommy screwed it up tonight. We also stress about it all night and wonder whether anyone will show up to such a poorly run club next week.
WAY #2: Embrace excellence in our preparation, and stop beating ourselves up.
So we had some downtime between songs because one of the slides was out of order, even though our new leader thought she put them in order. So what? If we prepare as well as we can, we don't have to stress about the little things that slip through the cracks. We can trust God, make adjustments if needed, and move on in faith. Besides, Gordon gave a great talk tonight. He always gives such great talks...
Obviously, my vote is for "Way #2." When things happen outside our control, do we really need to treat them like they're ruining our ministry?
Let's be honest, a high school kid isn't going to go home and say, "Yeah, it was pretty fun until there was that downtime between the skit and the songs. That pretty much ruined it for me." For the most part, they really don't care. Most of the time, high school kids come for you. They come because of your ministry and investment in them.
The little things are definitely important, and fixing little hiccups is going to make club run smoother, but our unforeseen errors aren't going to ruin God's plans. So we don't need to stress about them. We can fix them for next time, and be peaceful about the way God chose to move that night. It's okay to prepare excellently, execute as well as we can, and then surrender the rest to Him. It's really easy to try to control everything, but we just can't always stop things from going wrong. Don't let obsession over "the perfect club" change your joy into weekly anxiety.
Prepare excellently for club, and then don't beat yourself up if something goes wrong!
Remember, God is in control.
Isaiah 55:10-11 - "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
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