Lock-In!!

The kids in the youth group have been requesting we do a Lock-In since I started working with them. We have a pretty tight group and they couldn't wait to party ALL-NIGHT-LONG. Spring Break seemed like a logical time to throw this shindig. I knew it would be difficult to make them sleep so I gave them what they wanted and planned activities from 6:00 pm to 7:30 am the following morning. Most parents called me crazy - to stay up all night with these teens. But with some intentional resting-up before hand and plenty of activity to keep my mind stimulated, it really wasn't too bad. They had a great time and a little drowsiness on my part is worth it to make some lasting memories for these military children.

Here's a brief run-down of some of our activities with pictures:

Spring Break was one of the first nice weeks we had this spring and so we stayed outside playing ultimate frisbee until the sun went down. Then we went inside and had pizza for dinner. The kids took it on themselves to play games at their tables. It's always good to see them interacting in a healthy way.

After that, we launched into a ream of silly, messy games designed to test their daring and teamwork. The group was divided into four teams. They all competed in eight different events. The team who won the most events at the end, won a big prize. The events included:

• Blowing up a balloon using only your nose
• Seeing who could hold out the longet while cups-full of ice were dumped down their shirts
• Trying to make the largest number of cheetos stick to a teammate's face that was covered in shaving cream
• Making ice cream sundaes on their teammate's face
• Sculpting animals out of chewed gum
• Playing pictionary by drawing pictures in chocolate syrup using only their faces
• And a relay race where they had to chug several sodas that had been taken through an obstical course designed to shake them up a little bit

Strong man challenge - withstanding the ice dumped down their shirt

Still going strong after 10 minutes with a pound of ice down his shirt

Chucking cheetos at their teammate's faces which were covered in shaving cream

Dropping ingredients for a banana split into open mouths below

Beginning the obstical course

After the game was over, we took the energy level down a notch and had an awesome time of worship in the sanctuary. We've been working on developing a student-led worship team over the past several months, but this was their first opportunity to utilize the microphones and drum set in the sanctuary. They put on a 40 minute set - and each person on the worship team took some time to share their thoughts on what worship really is and to challenge the students in the audience not to let anything holding them back from giving God their all. I'm so proud of them!

After worship was over, we played flashlight tag in the santuary for about an hour. I was pretty sure people walking by the chapel on their way back from a night on the town would think that we were holding some sort of crazy cult practice in there because of all of the screaming and flashing lights in a dark room. But they had a great time.

Finally, at about midnight we opened it up to free time. The students could play video games, watch movies, sit and chat, sleep (haha - yeah right.) The game systems our leaders brought in have motion sensors on them and so most of us played dancing games all night. It was so fun! I especially enjoyed watching the boys slowly try the games out and then get hooked. This lock-in was about courage, daring and breaking down barriers and I'd say that definitely happened that night (even if much of that courage was born out of sleep deprivation. ;^)

Beating the kids at their own game. Oh yeah!

Still smiling at 3:00 am.

I also enjoyed some good conversation with them. It's rare when I have the time to sit still and talk. Usually on Monday nights I'm running around and finishing up last minute preparations. So we talked, sang, and watched the sun rise at about 4:30 am. It was very hard to wait patiently for the protestant men of the chapel to come in and cook us breakfast at 6:30. But the food was fantastic and definitely worth the wait. Over all the event was a big success!