Don't take unnecessary risks that could endanger your teens! I've heard the stories prior to becoming a youth pastor. "A teen standing in front of a youth pastor's car, so he hits the gas..." "Running tiki oil down the hallway of the church and lighting it on fire..." Story after story!
I was fortunate not to have many stories, because I am a low-risk taker; but with that said you can't be perfect. My first youth ministry gig was a summer youth pastor job for a church that didn't have a youth pastor. It was a win-win situation; they got a youth pastor and I had a summer ministry. One Wednesday night I was preparing my message and I was stoked to have this perfect object lesson for my message. As a college student, I had seen my share of milk chugging contests on my college dorm. It seemed like a great illustration of how something good going in could become something bad coming out. My thought was that is how sin is; it seems great and even fun, but then what it becomes is ugly and tears a person apart. This was going to be an epic night!
That night, I asked for a volunteer to chug a gallon of whole milk. I explained that according to doctors this was an impossible feat and no person could finish a gallon. I had a trash can around, knowing that there was about to be a teen tossing his insides into it. This illustration was about to get real. The teen that volunteered was a good sport and a really nice kid. Well, to say the object lesson worked perfectly, would be an understatement. It worked well up to the moment I realized that the teen was real sick. I had everyone's attention with the object lesson; but I think the teens were thinking I'm never trusting him, my leaders were about to be talking to the the senior pastor and I was most likely going to be fired in the next few days.
The teen went to the bathroom and we had a leader stay with him to make sure that he would be okay. I ended up teaching the message and was really relieved by the end of the message to see the teen walk back in. I earned the teens and leaders trust back eventually; and I never lost my job, but it was an experience that taught me a lot.
Object lessons, games, ice-breakers, lock-ins, events, etc. I tend to plan with the thought process, "What is the worst thing that can happen?" If there is a chance that someone could get sick, hurt or end up in the ER; I pass or set up a lot of safeguards! It is better to be safe that sorry. It better to have a job than no job. It is better to have the trust of your teens and leaders than an angry mob about to tar and feather you.
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