We just completed our fall retreat and it was a blast! It’s hard to put into words what a retreat does for your ministry. We had 30% come who were visitors which is a testament to how great the youth group is in inviting people. Right now I am in T.M.A.R. mode which is The Monday After Retreat. What do you do after a retreat? I shared one thing in my post last Thursday (Click here) in that a mistake we youth ministers make is that we do not follow up like we should. Below is a list of things we can do the Monday after a retreat. This is not exhaustive nor is it meant for you to do everything on that list. But here are some ideas…
- Do nothing. Turn the phone off, leave the laptop at work and do nothing.
- Clean the bus.
- Donate the lost unclaimed clothes to Goodwill
- Jot down what went well and what failed miserably
- Fill the bus up with fuel
- Write thank-you notes to your staff
- Upload pictures to Facebook
- Blog about the retreat
- Write notes of encouragement to students who poured their hearts out.
- Write a note of encouragement to the student who made things miserable
- Start the planning for the next retreat while things are fresh on your heart
- Make sure everything is balanced and up-to-date on bookeeping
- Write a brief report for your leadership and present it to them.
- Write down a list of names for you and your leadership to pray over
- Follow up with parents by sending them a brief report
- Make a video with pictures from the retreat (iMovie is fast and easy for this)
- Write a list of people who you need to target for evangelistic opportunity
- See if you accomplished goals you set out and if you stuck with the vision for your overall ministry
- Share your experience with other youth ministers to network ideas
- Spend time with God thanking him for a great weekend.
Those are the ideas. Nothing major… nothing special.
