I can get a little obsessive when it comes to planning. I've been known to do a ton of preplanning and research when I am thinking about doing something. Over the years it's always been my goal to try and out plan parents and students so that my summer calendar is done and published before they plan their vacations. The summer of 2011 is no exception.
This year we decided to do a Houseboat trip for our High School ministry. At first we were planning on going south to a lake in Texas but it was a bit too close to the Mexican border and with everything going on there just didn't seem the right fit. So I started researching about 10 different options.
I generally start my research on Google Maps and look at spots that are within a decent driving distance. For this trip we looked at everything from the Colorado river lakes (Powell, Mead, Mojave and Havisu) to Missouri lakes and the south including Arkansas. We looked at bus cost, taking vans and flying. Google is a huge help too as I tend to look for reviews, feedback and other sites that might give information about where we are thinking of going.
This year we have a very short window for our trip May 31-June 4 so we couldn't do a ton of travel time. So I basically limited my looking to places that were within about 8 hours of driving. We're also trying to reduce costs this year so if we can get away without taking a charter bus that would be a huge thing. But, the only way to do that is to take church vans and have parents come along and drive too. That adds some complexity to the trip.
But, we found a spot in Arkansas that I think will be perfect. I'll know just how perfect when we head out there soon to go and check it out and take some videos. But from what I've done with Google Earth checking out the lake the location seems perfect.
The above part of this post seems a little rambly so here's a few things I take into consideration when planning trips:
1. What does our group need? This summer we need to build community in our youth group. We're moving the 8th graders up for this trip and are really reaching out to the younger grades to build some cohesion for our group. We have a great ski trip happening in December that will help meet this need too so this summer trip will build upon that.
2. What type of trip meets that need? We could do a ton of different things but a houseboat trip totally meets our need this summer as it will be just our group for 4 days on a lake without any outside influences. I've done houseboat trips with two other churches and these type of trips built community in ways no other trip can. We've taken students to camps before but when you add a bunch of other students from other churches in the mix the same community building doesn't happen.
3. What resources do we have to pull off this type of trip? I'm hoping to have some financial resources given to us to make this trip happen. I also have a number of parents, volunteer staff and paid staff who would be willing to go. I've done this a lot so have some expertise in this type of trip. I generally look at resources before I look at anything else when planning trips. The only part of this trip that is tough is that I'm the only one who has done this type of trip before.
4. How can we sell it? This is one of the harder parts of this type of trip. At both churches where I have done this type of trip before the first year we did it was a small year of attendance. But, then the next year we'd almost double in size as students generally are the best suited to "sell" other students on a trip. But, with that said we have the need for community now so convincing students who have never heard of a houseboat trip before is a tough sell. The way we are doing it this year is by focusing on the transition and the connection issue with parents. I'm being totally straightforward and telling parents that if they want their students to connect with our high school ministry then this trip will make it happen. The 120 hour principle is helpful here too. If a student comes on this trip we will spend 120 hours with them. If they come to our HS ministry every Sunday morning for a year we'll spend 52 hours with them. More is better.
There's a lot more to the planning I do but I should probably just say that obsessing is a good thing in this area. I like the Good to Great philosophy here and so I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can make a good trip a great trip. I try to know as much information about the trip and the company we are working with and the location we are going so that we have answers to all potential problems before they happen.
I'd love some feedback about how you start out from scratch planning things. I know someone will say "prayer" first so let me say that the reason that's not mentioned is it's a given.
