As you take advantage of On The Verge this year, make your roadtrip productive by having some creative roadtrip ideas planned that will not only bond you closer but make your ministry better.  Here’s some ideas:

1.  Get to know your team better by playing a modified version of “Loaded Questions” or “Would You Rather” and offer points and a free meal for the team member who gets the most right. 

2.  Offer some spiritual gift tests while on the road that they could take and talk about your strengths and what they contribute to the team.  The Four Elements of Success by Laurie Beth Jones is a great read to simply ask the question:  ”which element best describes you?” 

3.  Have a strategizing session by analyzing where you have been, where you are now and strategizing where you want to go as a youth ministry this upcoming school year.  

4.  Travel with other youth pastors from your area or offer to pick someone up and “compare notes” of what’s working in each other’s minstries and have an idea exchange. 

5.  Plan a creative back-to-school event this fall by giving someone in the car a notepad  and brainstorming the name and some clever elements to make the best back-to-school event this fall!

6.  Share some “high/low” moments by cultivating some transparency in the car of your high this past school year and your low.  Also sharing where you are at in between a 1 to 5 rating helps everyone see where everyone else is at.

In youth ministry we “run” from event to event, from Wednesday night to Wednesday night and from meeting to meeting it seems.   That’s why we need to have times where we can get away from the running and allow God to “walk” us through our youth ministry to show us what is important, what needs to be “tweaked” and what needs to simply die.  Jesus seemed to never run in the Bible.  Jesus walked down the road with the fig tree and saw a fruitless tree (Matthew 21:18-22).  He basically said, “You’re dead to me” and moved on.   Fruitless tree’s don’t benefit anyone… and neither do some of our programs.  On The Verge is a time to have you stop running and have Jesus walk with you through certain parts of your ministry:  your calling, your leadership, your meeting nights, your small groups and all the parts of your ministry.  He knows what’s working and what’s “just leaves.”   We’ve all been running but when you devote a weekend for you and/or your team, Jesus can encourage you to have faith, crush your doubt and have a new sense of purpose and vision for you this new school year.  Make On The Verge part of your calendar this summer!  See you May 1st!