With all nighters every semester (middle school in the fall, senior high in the spring), I find that I have to remind myself frequently the value behind these over the top events! Especially the last couple weeks while I recovered from One Incredible Night.

By over the top, I mean we have our craziest games, spend obscene amounts of money on prizes, pack in more activities than what kids can actually accomplish, and go hard for ten hours straight.

Ten hours straight? And then cleanup after?

Why?

These are the kinds of events that land our student ministry on the map. Here’s what I mean by that; all nighters, band nights, exciting trips – maybe they don’t have a lot of depth to them, but that’s okay. They create an energy, an excitement, a sense of anticipation, and a pride in being connected. One Incredible Night is a great example of that; middle school kids literally talk about it and anticipate it year around. They will invite more friends to that one event than all our other events combined. It creates buzz in the schools and neighborhoods. It gives our students a sense of excitement and pride that THEIR church is the one hosting it.

Which in turn, by association, makes our small groups program, our Sunday mornings, our mission trips and our service opportunities things worth checking out.

Plus, there is nothing funnier than watching middle school girls gag on bologna because they’re hoping to win a Justin Bieber life size cut out. Seriously. It’s disgusting and it’s awesome.