Just wanted to share a few thoughts about our superbowl party.  Last year we had 2 venues for our superbowl party.  The middle schoolers were at one house (the family is still recovering from that) and the high schoolers were at another house (that house is still being renovated).  We did it because we wanted our students to enjoy chillin out together at a casa with their friends…and to have a homey environment to bring their unchurched friends to. 

We mixed it up this year to give it a little different flava.  We all met in our student building since the generosity of the NFL finally emerged to let us watch the game on the big screen.  So we set up for about 150 teens to come.  We had all you can eat hot dogs, snacks, desserts, drinks…the whole bit.  We only ended up with about 80 teens come out or so.  Many of our teens told us that their friends really wanted to watch the comercials…which we did not show.  We couldn’t show the comercial.  There’s no way.  Could you imagine a parent coming into the student room to pick up their student with the worst comercial on the screen?  It would totally leave a bad taste in their mouth for the church…and ultimately for Jesus.

We did play some games for prizes (iTunes gift cards of course) during the comercial breaks.  We did not share the gospel over the halftime.  I know that may be heretical to many…and now I’m considered to be in the Joel Osteen camp.  But my reasoning was for all of the first time visitors and the rest of the students to come back this Wednesday for our student worship service to hear the gospel!

How do we plan to get them back?  I’m so glad you asked.  We did a  superbowl quiz for all of the students to fill-out, and we’re announcing the grand prize winners this Wednesday…but they gotta be there to claim the prize.  So there ya go…all the students come back to see if they won either an ipod (guys) or a designer purse (girls).

Most interesting fact about our superbowl party…only 10% of the kids even watched the superbowl!

What will we do next year?  I’m really not sure yet.  I love having all the kids together in the student building…and I love having all the kids chillin at a casa.  We had a great time with the games and prizes, but the houses were much more personable and intimate.  For me, the goal of the superbowl is more outreach than fellowship.  A superbowl party will get more students to the church to feel more comfortable with us than they would any other time.  That’s right, our superbowl parties should be driven with the purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ!