IV.? CHECK YOUR BALANCE
At this point you have laid out your purpose, you have listed all possible programs, activities and events, and you have matched them with your purposes.? Now you have to check your balance before filling out your calendar.? What do I mean by “check your balance?”? I mean this:

Are your purposes BALANCED?? Do you have the right amount of programs, activities and events in each purpose area? If the above Mesa, Arizona church has purposes of EVANGELISM, DISCIPLESHIP, WORSHIP, FELLOWSHIP, and MINISTRY, does the church’s annual calendar congruently have a balanced number of programs, activities and events in each purpose area?
For example: what if FIRST CHURCH OF GEHENNA has a “Celebration” service on Sunday (WORSHIP, DISCIPLESHIP) a weekly Tuesday night program called “Growing Deep” (DISCIPLESHIP, WORSHIP), small groups (FELLOWSHIP, DISCIPLESHIP), a Bible Camp (DISCIPLESHIP, WORSHIP, FELLOWSHIP), and a leadership team that helps run all of these (MINISTRY) . . . and that’s about it?? Is this church missing anything?? EVANGELISM is missing from this ministry.

This ministry should add monthly fun events that students could invite their friends to or specific outreaches where they bring in a speaker to share a Gospel message?

Your annual calendar should reflect your purpose.? This should include different types of programs, meeting the needs of different students. If your calendar is filled predominately with a bunch of fun and games and nothing with DISCIPLESHIP value, chances are that students aren’t going to be challenged to grow in their faith in that ministry.? Furthermore, your students that are eager to grow are going to either go somewhere else where they can grow, or they’ll stay and become stagnant.

On the other hand, if you calendar is filled with only deep Bible studies, prayer meetings and intense Biblical teaching, chances are your ministry won’t be doing a lot of EVANGELISM.? Students won’t feel like they can bring their friends and IF they do, their friends will probably not feel comfortable and they won’t come back.

A balanced ministry with a balanced calendar will have programs, activities and events in each purpose area, reaching out to students, providing a place of growth, and building mature Christians who will minister to others. Make sure your ministry’s schedule is BALANCED to reflect your purpose.


V.? START DECORATING YOUR CALENDAR WITH YOUR MATCHED EVENTS
Now that we have in mind what events fulfill what purpose, we can plan out our calendar.? Unfortunately, many youth workers often start at this step- just filling in events on the calendar.? However, the way we have done it, we are going to make sure our year reflects our Biblical purpose for our ministry.

This is the fun step.? Lay out your calendar for the school year, grab activities, programs and events from our lists and plop them on our calendar.? I wish this step was as easy as simply “grabbing and plopping,” but, obviously there are things to consider when choosing dates:

ITEMS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING DATES:
Natural Order: No, I’m not talking about some Darwinian principle, I’m talking about the order in which events should be placed on your calendar.? For example, don’t just plan a huge event at the beginning of the year with no warning.? Some ministries have planned big events, passed out flyers and assumed they would get a great response, only to be disappointed with the turnout.? Many events like this you want a rolling start, a “momentum.” I speak about this kind of planning in detail in my article: HOW CAN MY YOUTH GROUP GROW?

In the same way we want to make sure and plan appropriate events to follow up other events- or in other words . . . THINK PAST THE EVENT!? For example, let’s say you spent all of September pumping a huge kick-off event in October- the event goes fantastic and tons of new students show up and have a great time.? The question in any new student’s mind is- “is there something to come back to?”? What can you pump at that event to bring students back the next week?? Make sure that you communicate “be sure to be back here next week when we . . .”

Don’t feel like you always need to be throwing watermelons in wood-chippers or eating goldfish out of a vat of apple-juice.? You can draw people back with speakers or good topics.? “Next week don’t miss when we talk about “RECOMMENDING SEX: WHAT THE BIBLE ACTUALLY SAYS ABOUT SEX!”

If you have a big outreach event where students will have an opportunity to respond to the Gospel . . . what do you have planned for those students?? Do you have mentors who can start discipling those students the next week?? Do you have a NEW BELIEVERS BIBLE STUDY that can start the next week?

Make sure your natural order of events makes sense.? Build momentum for events and activities.? Have appropriate follow up programs and events ready to keep that momentum rolling.

School Calendar: Another item to consider when planning your calendar is the schools calendar (or calendars from several of the main schools you work with).? I always pick up a school calendar to see when their activities, events and sports games are.? I’ll never forget a year that I planned a great winter retreat, only to find out that it was on the same weekend as the school’s winter dance.? This retreat was one of the greatest outreach events of the year for me.? I always had a large number of kids make decisions for Christ that weekend.? That year, I lost several needy kids to the dance- which could have been avoided by checking the calendar.

The same could happen with a weekly youth group night competing with football games or basketball practice.? Try to choose a night that doesn’t interfere with the school’s sports schedule.

Area Churches: Many of my readers work for para-church organizations such as Young Life, Youth for Christ/Campus Life, or Campus Crusade.? Check to see when the local high school or college group meets at area churches.? Planning your club in competition with these churches closes two major doors: the ability to plug students into that group, and good report with that youth worker.

Facilities/Equipment/Transportation: You can write the week to go to camp in as many weeks as you want, but that camp might have only ONE week for you.? The same with buses, vans, drivers. Many of these logistical hoops might have to be jumped before penning in a date.? Which leads us to our last step.


VI.? DOCUMENT WHEN TASKS NEED TO BE DONE
Planning a year in advance not only keeps you on track in your ministry focus, is also opens opportunities for excellence in your activities, programs and events.? If you plan ahead you have 10 TIMES the chance of getting that facility you want, riding in the transportation you want, booking that speaker you want.? And all of us have been at events where any of those weren’t great- it affects the attitudes of kids, the attitudes of staff and very often, the overall perception of the trip.

Let’s face it- $$ is a big issue for many of us.? Lots of times we choose against certain trips or event because of price.? Planning ahead opens the doors for fund-raising as well.?

Every year that I ran a campus outreach in Sacramento I took a group of students on a huge Easter Break Trip to Southern California.? This trip was a week of amusement parks and the beach, with a program every night.? Every year we had a large number of students give their lives to Christ.? This trip was over $200 a student.? For some students that’s no big deal.? For most the kids I worked with- that was huge!? I wanted them to go- so I started fund-raising opportunities early in the year.? We started selling See’s candy and we did work days where they solicited hourly pledges to feed the homeless at the Salvation Army.? Through these fund-raisers, I saw students that never could have thought about going- go and receive Christ on the trip.? Why?? Because I made a couple calls to Salvation Army.? I printed out pledge sheets.? I stopped by See’s Candy and loaded up my trunk every two weeks.? A lot of work?? Yes. Kids coming to Christ as a result?? Yes.

DOCUMENTING:
Look at your events for the year, one day at a time.? Ask yourself, “Is there anything I need to do prior to this month to make this event successful?”? If the answer is “yes,” write it down.? For example, do you have an event that is going to need a guest speaker?? Why not start looking for one now??

https://thesource4ym.com/speakers

Every year I would plan a guest speaker within the first month or so to come in and share the gospel.? At the school I worked with, rap music was very popular so I would usually book a Christian rap artist.? This had to be done months ahead of time.? I often had to book an extra large sound system for this event.? Several years in a row I contacted a local church that sent several guys to come out, set up and run the sound for the concert.? These guys, excited about what went on that night, would go back and give great reports to the church.? Very often I made it a point to thank that church, several times from the stage on Sunday morning, announcing how many students received Christ and thanking them for their participation in the event.

Events like this one demanded extra security.? This gave me the opportunity to call up men I knew from area churches and ask them to be involved.? Many of these men were so impressed with the event, they became financial supporters.

Every event you plan has some planning, booking or recruiting involved.? Document when you need to do this, transfer those tasks to whatever calendar you use, even making some of the calls right then if necessary.


WHY PLAN AHEAD?
Regardless of whether we are full time youth ministers or whether we are the pastor’s sister who somehow got suckered into running jr. high Sunday School, we have the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of young people.? This privilege has been entrusted to us by God.? We might be the only glimpse of God a student sees.

What does your program reflect?? Excellence?? Or whatever you throw together because you are really busy.

Here’s the ironic thing: if you plan the way we have discussed, if you take the time to book things ahead of time, nail down necessary details and plan ahead . . . you’ll have MORE TIME and you’ll open the doors to opportunities for greater impact.? Remember Jim Burns’ quote, “in reality, a well administered ministry will provide more valuable time to spend with your students.”

SELF TEST: MINISTRY PLANNING CHECKLIST

Here’s a checklist where you can rate yourself or your ministry in the above areas.

HOW WELL DO I PLAN AHEAD?
(Note: This quiz is designed for a church youth ministry.? If your ministry is a specialized ministry, ie: a campus outreach ministry, a student leadership ministry, etc.? then certain questions would not apply to your ministry)

Circle Y for YES and N for NO in the following questions. If you are ever doubtful of an answer- Circle the right hand Y or N for that question.

I.? START WITH PURPOSE
Y/N? 1.? Do I have a purpose, vision or mission statement?
Y/N? 2.? Do I even consider my purpose statement when I plan my programming and events?

II.? LIST ALL THE EVENTS, ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS YOU CAN THINK OF
Y/N? 1.? Do I consider and/or look for new events, activities and programs for my ministry?
Y/N? 2. Have I ever brain-stormed new ideas with staff or students?
Y/N? 3.? Have I ever checked out another ministry to get programming ideas?

III. MATCH EVENTS/ACTIVITIES/ PROGRAMS? TO YOUR PURPOSES
N/Y? 1.? Do I ever plan a single event, activity or program where I try to reach ALL types of students at that one event?
Y/N? 2.? Do I plan events, activities or programs where I target or try to reach out to unchurched students?
Y/N? 3.? Did I or one of my staff ever give an invitation last year at an outreach event?
Y/N 4.? Did I ever bring in a guest speaker for the purpose of outreach/EVANGELISM?
Y/N? 5.? Do I plan events, activities or programs where students can grow in their faith?
Y/N? 6.? Are there Bible studies available for my students to plug into?
Y/N? 7.? Are there small groups my students can plug into?
Y/N? 8.? Do my students have an opportunity to worship God?
Y/N? 9.? Do I have a student leadership team?
Y/N? 10.? Do I plan student leadership events, activities or programs?
Y/N? 11.? Have I brought in a speaker/trainer to equip my students to reach their friends for Christ?

IV.? CHECK YOUR BALANCE
Y/N? 1.? Have I evaluated if my events, activities or programs match my purpose?
N/Y? 2.? Do I have events, activities or programs that are primarily “church-kid” friendly?
N/Y? 3.? Do I have events, activities or programs that primarily reach out to students, but don’t provide a place of growth?

V.? START DECORATING YOUR CALENDAR WITH YOUR MATCHED EVENTS
Y/N? 1.? Have I ever made a annual or 6 month calendar?
Y/N? 2.? Do I plan activities and events with enough time to advertise and build up to them?
Y/N? 3.? Do I have a strategy of how to attract students back after visiting an event or program?
Y/N? 4.? Do I have something planned for new believer AFTER a program or event??
Y/N? 5.? Do I pick up a school calendar to help me plan mine?
Y/N? 6.? Have I checked other neighboring ministries schedules near me?
Y/N? 7.? Do I check items of logistical importance (transportation, lodging, staffing) before booking events?

VI.? DOCUMENT WHEN NECESSARY PLANNING TASKS NEED TO BE DONE
Y/N? 1.? Do I use a planner, palm pilot or some sort of daily/weekly scheduling/task tool?
Y/N? 2.? Do I transfer programming “to do’s” to my scheduling tool?
Y/N? 3.? Do my students know about big events and trips several months out?
Y/N? 4.? Do I provide fund-raising opportunities months prior to an event or trip?
N/Y? 5.? Have I booked a speaker, a place of lodging or a vehicle within four weeks of an event this past year?

Y/N Am I tired of these stupid questions?

SCORING
There is no cool mathematical equation that will help you take your score and figure out whether or not you’re the next CEO of Youth Specialties.? ALL of these questions can individually help us re-evaluate and maybe even sharpen certain areas of our ministry.

The answer to each question should be the Y or N to the far left.? If you circled the Y or N to the right, then that highlights an area in the article that you should read again and reconsider in your ministry.? I don’t claim to have all the answers- but I do hope to make us all think about the “why” in many of these areas.?

SAMPLE YEAR SCHEDULE

We talked about it- you?ve heard many of the details outlined above- let me show you what it looks like.

The following is a sample year schedule I planned out one Summer. IMPORTANT: This is the schedule for a campus outreach with the purpose of reaching unchurched kids with the Gospel and plugging them into the local church. My methods were through a weekly CAMPUS LIFE CLUB, volunteer staff spending weekly time with students, activities, eventually a Bible Study and taking students to church.

Note:
If you haven?t already read my article, ?How do I make my youth group Grow?? I encourage you to read it. It speaks about the order of events and how to create momentum:

https://thesource4ym.com/howdoi/staffgrowth.asp

Most of the weekly agendas that I used for my CAMPUS LIFE LIFE events (on the first Monday of the month) or my IMPACT events (the other Mondays) are on my TOPICAL PROGRAMS/WEEKLY OUTREACH MATERIAL PAGE:

https://thesource4ym.com/outreach

Most of the events such as scavenger hunts, etc. are on my events page:

https://thesource4ym.com/events