1) Church horror movie. In my first year on staff at a church, our church building was being renovated. We had a pretty small group of high school students, and they thought that the under-construction church would make a really cool setting for a horror movie. So we filmed it over a couple of weeks, with one of the students doing the producing. It was a lot of fun, although looking back, I'm not sure that the ending scene was the most respectful thing we could have done in the sanctuary.
2) Arrived at church with a van full of kids at 12:30am. Only dumb when you consider the event was supposed to be over at 10:00pm. Another special moment during my first year on staff at a church. I'm glad that our students had some very forgiving parents.
3) Riding with lots of kids in the back of a pick-up truck. Yep, dumb move. And illegal in the state of Colorado. Especially considering a student was driving it. I'm not sure why Peter continued to believe in me as a volunteer way back in college.
4) Showed Footloose (the 1984 version, since a new one will be out next year) at a youth group movie night. My first lesson that "PG" means "Screen each and every movie before you show it to students, even if you remember watching it countless times as a kid."
5) Sent a group of adult leaders on a youth mission trip to Mexico unprepared and ill-equipped. Because I was part-time and had to work a full-time job during the summers (I was in seminary at the time), we planned the trip knowing full well I would not be able to go. I made sure the details of the trip were taken care of, but I did not make sure the leadership team going was prepared for the task, and they had a terrible time on the trip. Really bad leadership on my part.
Now that this humbling trip down memory lane is over, I think I still have a copy of that horror movie around somewhere.
Feel free to add your own!
