Ahead of the Game
This past summer was incredibly hectic. I lost almost all of the month of July to VBS and the National Youth Gathering. While it was productive stuff, it hurts to lose a key month in getting ready to launch the new year of ministry as students return to school. Not having enough to do in July (or, perhaps because I had so much), I decided that this would be the year we schedule a full year’s worth of programming before the summer was over. It was a hectic time, but it’s been so helpful.
I’m reminded of just how helpful it is as we plan for the Workcamp this year. Possibly for the first time ever, I’m looking for resources from Group Workcamps before they are ready to hand it out. Our group rep, Kris, has been so helpful as I call looking for information. She was amazed that I was already looking for official registration forms (not available until January) and Pre-event Bible Studies (Mid-November), theme clip-art (No timeline) and the leader’s manual (Mid-November). It’s not often that I get to be the one who is better planned than Group (or many other people for that matter…).
I don’t feel like I’ve perfected the communication system yet, but I feel like I’m making big strides towards that end. Taking a week in the summer to map out the year has been so helpful and I look forward to doing it again next year and adding additional layers of planning and strategic thinking to it. In fact, I should probably schedule that time now…
