Last Wednesday we had so MUCH FUN with the rap artist DaMac at HPNY.
The man has killer talent. Heart for Christ. Piles of humility. Funny. Oooo--eeeee. We enjoyed having him around. You may want to book him before he's Lecrae famous.
It was a great night.
But I overlooked an important piece of planning.
Stage management.
I failed to set boundaries before his performance.
I should have learned my lesson from the Crowder craziness that happened in the KFC YUM CENTER back in 2011. It was a low stage. The first big event for the venue. They center had overlooked setting up a barrier between the people on the floor and the stage.
It was obvious that the lowness of the stage lent to people jumping on it. People across the center lit up that night when the song turned into an anthem we all new, it was time to dosey doe to "I saw the light". 7,000 people jumping, vibrating the walls and the floors. 1,000 on the floor. Hundreds literally touching the stage.
I remember the security manager ordering me to kill the concert when people started jumping onto and running across the stage. I was emceeing and it was going to be my responsibility to shut the whole thing down. Ummmmmmm, yeahhhh, not coool....
I almost died.
I didn't want to do it.
Thank goodness David's a pro and shifted from hoedown mode to a worship ballad just in time before I had to be "that girl" who shut down the party.
But I didn't learn.
And I hosted a concert.
With a low stage.
Last week.
In fact, I also have knowledge that the stage can come apart sometimes.
I've been on it when it happens.
It's not meant to support more than a few people.
So, when Pastor Tomy and I stepped out of the room for 90 seconds (if that!).
The students did their thing, and took over the wobbly not meant to hold more than two of them stage.
I walk into the room, see the party, feel the hand of my wise husband on my shoulder (flashback to Crowder). He whisper yells in my ear: You better get those teens off the stage, it's going to come down.
Of course I needed to. But it was too big for me.
So I asked him to help me.
I wasn't prepared. I hadn't envisioned the teen spirit, the energy, the crazy factor.
I could have had a few leaders in place at the foot of the stage and on the steps.
(And will have them there in the future.)
I'm thankful that no one was hurt.
I'm happy that Michael (DaMac) didn't get upset. He was the coolest about it!
I'm glad I still have a job. Facilities saw the photos and they texted me lovingly "May not be a good idea having youth group on the stage".
All is good in the world.
One thing that wouldn't be good is for me to repeat the same mistake triple time.
That's the cool thing about mistakes, fails, mess ups, oversights.
They teach us things.
I can plan chaos, as long as I've thought through the consequences and planned for them.
Look at your last week's work.
Where did you miss?
What wasn't just right?
Did you fail anywhere?
We did. And we want to learn from it.
Take a look at the answers to these questions and you'll find changes that can be made and lessons that can be learned. What are the results of good question asking and answer implementing? Always a better youth ministry. A wiser approach. A safer way to have fun.