This past weekend we hosted a dodgeball tournament with the junior and senior high school ministry at Grace Church. This is an event that we have been doing for at least four years in this ministry (personally this was only the second one that I had been a part of). Several months before this event, our team got together and thought creatively about how we could maximize the purpose of this event and create a memory and attraction that would extend to students who don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We determined that our purpose for this event was to create an onramp to the ministry for students. We wanted to create an appealing experience that would be easy for committed students to invite their friends and fun enough to give them the desire to take the next step. As far as creativity goes, we looked up the Guinness Book of World Records for what the largest game of Dodgeball was. Suprisingly it was 50 vs. 50 and was set by the rock band Weezer while shooting a music video for "Troublemaker". I could've sworn that I have played a larger game of Dodgeball when I was in elementary school. I guess no one recorded it!
We were more than pleased with the results of this event. As we reflected on the reasons for this we concluded that there were a few things that contributed to this:
1) we communicated this clearly to the students what the purpose of this event was.
2) we kept the cost down. It was free to play. The only cost was lunch if you chose to buy one.
3) we allowed students to register at the door. This made it hard to organize the teams and brackets
on the fly. However, it was helpful for students to procrastinate and wait and see if something
better comes up (which is what their track record shows)
4) The World Record was a draw for students. They want to be part of something bigger and the idea
of being a part of a legitimate world record was appealing to some. It is amazing what can happen
when it means more than just a dodgeball tournament. It appears that we destroyed the record! It
will be interesting to see if the people at Guinness recognize it.
5) we provided the means for students to watch the NCAA Tournament. This removed a potential
conflict for those students who wanted to watch the games.
There are some great ideas as to how to build on this event for next year. One thing that we would like to do is partner with other local churches in this endeavor. I'm left grateful for the team of staff and volunteers who knocked the ball out of the park. I am proud of our students who asked their friends to join them (there were a lot of students I didn't know who showed up). I am grateful to God for the best job in the world.
Read Jed Culbertson's blog about World Record Dodgeball
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