Day 30

Our youth ministry office was in a temporary building down the hill from the main building.  David and I were brainstorming how to reach middle school students, when we decided to host an evening week-long event.  We called it “The Zone.”  Mind you, this was long before ESPN and everyone else started using the phrase…

So the week was something like VBS on steroids.  David, Joey, and I divided the kids into teams and assigned them a color.  We had games, goofiness, and Bible Study.  On Monday, we started out with 30 or so kids.  By Friday, we had well over 100.

We had theme nights:  the obvious color night, backwards night, twister night, and polar night. We awarded points for everything… theme-related points, points for winning, points for listening, points for cleaning up, points for brown-nosing, being a good friend points, etc.   It was some of the most fun of my life.

On color night, each team wore items of clothing of their team color.  They dyed their hair blue, red, purple, and green.  They brought hats and gloves and backpacks in team colors.  Signs, balloons, you name it.  We played games by color.  We talked about Joseph.

For backwards night, we wore our clothes and hats backwards.  We walked backwards.  We balked tackwards.  We played games backwards and tried to put toothpaste back into the tube.  Losers were winners.  We talked about how the world’s value system is often backwards from God’s.

On Twister night, we played the biggest, most craziest game of Twister you can imagine.  We spent most of two days spray-painting red, blue, yellow, and green dots on a 100 x 50 foot piece of thick polyethylene.  475 of them to be exact.  Our maintenance crew built a 4x8 foot spinner.  Left Foot, Right Foot, Left Hand, Right Hand.  It was amazing.  We talked about how we are all connected.

On polar night, we cranked the AC down as low as it would go. (I think we still probably owe Riverbend something on that electric bill.)  Everyone wore their ski gear and cold weather clothes.  We played penguin and winter-themed games.  But the best game of the week, was the ICE RACE.  We took 100 lb. blocks of ice, cut them in half, and used them as “chariots” for races.  After covering the floor with polyethylene (and spraying it with a bit of soapy water for a little effect), we taped out an oval course.  One person sat on the ice block, their partner pushed.  Halfway through, they switched.  Cold buns, slippery feet, and falling bodies provided tons of laughter for all.  I honestly can’t remember what we talked about.  I just know we bonded over laughter and love and togetherness.

Those days were some of my best times.  We may not have discovered deep spiritual truths together, but if those times allowed those preteens to find out that love and laughter can be found in the community of faith?  Then, yes.