ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS IN YOUTH MINISTRY...

... is when students have good clean fun.

I really love it when students just get to laugh, especially when I know that's rare in their own personal world.  Tonight was one of those nights and we just simply had a great time with students at a "root beer kegger car rally".   There was no agenda really.  Just a good time and some root beer floats.

Ingredients for this night:

• kegs of root beer
• ice cream for floats
• volunteers to drive
• clues to hidden points and a few hidden people all over town
• cell phones for pictures
• a list of ridiculousness to do like:
• find a pregnant woman and get her to sign your belly with her due date.
• get a picture with one person in your group in hand cuffs by a cop or in a firetruck at a station
• build a pyramid in a public setting
• re-enact the iwo jima with a flag pole
• etc..

here's some of the silliness in pics:

At the end of the night I heard so many great things from students and volunteers.  In fact, I probably heard 10x more feedback on this night than I do on any "serious" talk I give.  They said:

great job Brian, I really had a lot of fun.

let's do that again, I haven't laughed that hard in a while

hey, if you ever need any more help, let me know.  I really had fun tonight.

That stuff fills my tank.  I'm not saying I don't love it when students make more significant decisions with their life, but I really it just does something to warm my heart when I watch students engage in great fun and laughter.

I think they need it really. I know I do.