24 a lock-in.

What an awesome weekend...

Back in February, I think, I talked to Shad about planning a back-to-school lock-in for the youth. I talked to our Sunday morning band about leading worship, talked to my friend Grant about speaking, talked to Ashley about designing some promo stuff and tshirts, talked to a guy named Joseph who is the most amazing sound/tech guy I know and started planning with Shad. Early in the planning stages, we picked Romans 12:1-2 (from the Message) to be our key verses:

Maybe in April or May we decided the theme would be "24" (totally Shad's idea, and I loved it!). Again, I met with all of the aforementioned people to update them... and started meeting with a handful of other people to plan. If you are a fan of the show, you know the intensity that comes with every episode, every second. Shad and I wanted every second of the lock-in to count. Let me just tell you that it is a great concept... but much harder to actually execute than to dream about. Mid to late July everything was really coming together. Our small group leaders were excited and involved, our speaker was set, the band was good to go, there were a handful of people responsible for each hour as well as transitions so that we could make sure "every second counts."

Megan had great games and activities planned for every potential moment that we had some extra time-- she was awesome, never letting there be any down-time. Brian and Chip planned a game of waterballoon volleyball that was incredibly fun. Barbara and Rachel planned a scavenger hunt that went over so, so well! And, we had the students involved with learning the key verses of the weekend... memorizing Romans 12:1-2.

Grant and I had been talking a lot over the past couple months; he planned both messages and both small group sessions. When he sent me the first draft of the small group time, I was really blown away. He had put so much time and effort into making it relevant, interesting and useful—he really exceeded my expectations! I heard so many great things about the small group times.

Plans with the band changed on Wednesday (3 days before the event). Part of me kind of wanted to panic, but Shad was praying about it with me and just prayed, "God, you knew this was going to happen. We wish we knew sooner, but this is no surprise to you..." and it really hit me that God really was not surprised by this, so I really just needed to trust that it was in His hands-- and honestly, it would be better that way anyway. I texted Joseph to let him know what was up and he wrote me back asking me if I wanted him to ask around and try to find someone. Well, sure. Why not? I filled Shad in and we both started kind of working up a plan B. By the end of the day, we kind of had a plan B, a plan C, and maybe even a plan D haha. But, I'm pretty sure you can guess what I'm going to say next... Yep, there was no need for a plan B, C or D. A band, Chasing Seven, was available and interested in playing. The funny thing is that a good friend of Joseph's knew the band, but none of us had ever heard them play or met them. It really was totally out of our hands...

The band was amazing. So much more than I ever expected. They sounded great, had great energy and were awesome worship leaders. I met up with Jeremy for a few minutes after they played to thank him for coming out (they traveled over an hour each way to come play)... I filled him in on some things from "this side" and told them that they were truly an answered prayer--in several ways. "Ironic" enough, the band had had crazy things happening on their end, and Jeremy told me that if he had gotten the call any earlier in the week, they would have probably declined. God is good, huh? That is an understatement!!

After an amazing time of worship led by the band, and an awesome message on living a life of worship from Grant, and a great time in small groups... We headed outside (where it was not raining/storming even though it was supposed to) to enjoy some camp fires and roasting marshmallows.

At the camp fires, Shad initiated a kind of open forum, sharing his story and encouraging the students to share theirs... what a great time of getting to know each other a little better. I think that was great for the students. Barbara G asked Shad why he liked working with teens so much, and I so admire his response.. "When I look at teenagers, I see who they can become..." Because I was once a teenager in his student ministry, it was really cool and encouraging to hear that. Grant and I were hanging out and he said how much respect he had for Shad because he is so genuine. Me too, Grant!

Sunday morning was a breeze--Grant led worship (I had no idea he could sing? haha), talked on Romans 12:2 and not conforming to our culture, then dismissed everyone to small groups again. The whole weekend went better than I even hoped for, and I'm so glad it was out of my hands!

Though most of them will probably never read this...

On Sunday afternoon, I started making a list of everyone that really made the weekend come together... I'm posting that on here, so (1) if you read this, you know how much I appreciate you, and (2) so that anyone else who reads this will see how many people made the weekend great. A big thank you to...

Shad (couldn't have even done the weekend if he hadn't believed in me enough to let me start planning it-- not to even mention all he did during the planning and during the weekend),

Barbara R (planned the meals, scavenger hunt, prizes, and was a small group leader),

Steve (helped me at registration and with planning),

Megan S (planned games),

Brian and Chip (planned games and were small group leaders),

Barbara E and Dede Z (small group leaders and helped with any/every random thing that was needed),

Barbara G (helped with registration and was a small group leader),

Andrew, Caitlin, Chelsea, Ronnie (college guys who were small group leaders, helped with any/every thing!! huge help all weekend),

Chris C (small group leader),

Michele and her sister (small group leaders),

Mary (helped with scavenger hunt and honestly a sight for sore eyes on Saturday),

Jeremy & Chasing Seven (band),

Grant (speaker),

Joseph & Kari (sound/tech/videos/game/prizes) & some friends of Joseph who I don't even know who helped Joseph and Kari with videos/sound),

Travis S (lights),

Judy (prizes),

Ruth (donation),

and probably many more who helped any/all of the above--including donations, planning, etc.