Who is in charge?

On Jan. 8th we started a regular hangout with youth at the nZone called…”the hangout”. Yeah, real original, I know. Well, the intention of this hangout is to give students a safe place on a Friday night to hangout with friends, play some games, watch a movie and eat some food. It has been quite successful so far and our intention is to carry this on until students get bored with it.

Last Friday night, I had to leave early from “the hangout”. I talked to all the leaders before I left indicating what had to be done to clean up, etc. I thought things would run smoothly from there as there was only about 45 minutes left and the kids were just playing. However, I found out on Sunday that things didn’t run very smoothly after I left.

Things became disorganized and it kinda fell apart where students became disengaged. As I was talking with a person who was there, it was clear that the main reason why things fell apart was because I didn’t clearly designate a leader for students to follow. I assumed that the leaders would lead a game and capture the interest of students if they saw things fading. However, because I didn’t give clear expectations and point students to a leader or leaders, no one knew what to do or who to follow. And because of that, things fell apart.

So, what did I learn? I learned that I have to be clear with expectations of leaders and appoint clear points of contacts if/when I have to leave again. Even if I am there, I have to make sure that the leaders in charge know exactly what is expected of them. If they don’t know expectations, then they won’t be set up properly to succeed & they may become frustrated very quickly.

What about you? Have you had an experience like this before? If so, what did you learn & what changes did you make because of it?

TAKE A MINUTE and share your thoughts and experiences so all of us can benefit.

Tom Pounder

A father of 4, Tom is the Student Minister and Online Campus Pastor at New Life Christian Church in Chantilly, VA. He blogs, vlogs, and podcasts regularly about student and online ministry stuff.

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