Staff Retreats are great opportunities to take a look back, plan for the future and continue growth in an organization as well as create a stronger team.

Organizing a retreat is a big responsibility. Here are some ideas to make your retreat a success.

• Select your site with care. The best way to reduce distractions is to host your retreat away from your organization.
• Distribute your vision for the organization with a list of objectives and issues for the retreat ahead of time to give your team plenty of time to prepare and get their creativity flowing.
• For larger organizations, involving others in the planning process is a great way to develop future leaders.
• Don’t do all the talking, encourage everyone to participate.
• Include some fun activities to encourage bonding as a team and a celebration at the end.
• Allow enough time between activities for discussion.

Staff Retreats can give a powerful boost to the spirit and effectiveness of any group.

Recently I read a great article online dealing with the new wave of creativity in faith-based  conferences. The article highlighted 2 very creative conferences and what they were doing to set themselves apart from traditional annual conferences.

The first conference mentioned was the Story conference, an annual event held in Chicago for self-described artists and creators (mostly Christian) who are trying to communicate their stories. Their focus is on making the event an experience, not just another conference. The intent is to inspire people and help them see what’s possible by pushing their imaginations to new heights.

The second one was the Echo Conference, an educational event for the artists, geeks and storytellers that roam behind the scenes at their churches and organizations. Can you imagine the pressure these guys deal with when planning an event for creative types? Has to be tough, but they must pull it off as the conference is very popular.

In both cases, the planners talked about how they wanted to push the envelope and develop a conference that would not be the same old thing.  I believe that’s something all planners can aspire to, creating an environment where people can be inspired and their creativity and passion unleashed.

For a little encouragement, please take the time to read the entire article here. While reading it, try to focus on 1 or 2 things you can take and use to make your next event more successful.

What are some outside the planner box ideas you’ve added to your event?

Hard to believe, but the first 3 months of 2012 are in the books! Time really does fly when you’re having fun and it’s been a busy, fun last 3 months here at MinistryServingMinistry. Traffic on the site is up. Hopefully this means you are finding articles helpful to you in your work or personal life.

We know many of you are relatively new to our blog. With that in mind, here is a list of 10 most read posts this past quarter:

4 Ways We Promise To Show A Little Love – At Ridgecrest we recognize how challenging and stressful it can be for the person planning their group’s meeting or retreat. Therefore we want to do everything we can to make planning an event with us a great, positive experience. To help make this happen, here are 4 ways we promise to show our event planners a little love.

What’s A Hollow Square? – As in any industry, hotels and conference centers sometimes have a language all their own. Here’s a little help in translating…

3 Steps To More Productive Brainstorming – Brainstorming with your planning team is a great way to ensure you provide an event your attendees will find engaging and worthwhile.  Here are 3 steps to take that will go a long way to making your next session more productive.

8 Ideas For Promoting Your Church Retreat -  If you don’t also spend time on strategically promoting your retreat, you may end up with a great retreat that no one attends. With that in mind, here are 8 ideas for helping to promote your upcoming church retreat.

5 Things To Do AFTER Your Meeting Is Over -  As many veteran planners can attest, the end of the meeting means you still have some work to do. Work that will definitely help you in planning future meetings and/or retreats.

Ridgecrest Recipies – Rutland Chicken – Enjoy and then let us know what you think!

Creating A Standout Women’s Retreat – A podcast interview with Chris Adams and Betsy Langmade, 2 of LifeWay’s long-time women’s leaders sharing what they’ve learned about planning women’s events.

Meeting Planner Survival Kit – Many planners need to be prepared to address last minute needs and emergencies. Here is a starter list of items you need to have in your meeting planner survival kit to be prepared at your next event.

5 Tips For Programming Effective Youth Camps – Brian Mills serves as student pastor Long Hollow Baptist Church and is passionate about reaching young people for Christ. Here are his thoughts on how to program your youth camp for maximum spiritual impact.

5 Tips For Relieving Meeting Planner Stress – Since stress is inevitable when you’re the planner, the key to handling it is to take a positive approach. Here are 5 tips that can help you deal with the stress associated with planning and running your event.

As always, thanks for checking out our blog!

How many of you have come home from a staff retreat thinking it was pretty much a waste of time? I know I have, even a time or two when it was my staff retreat!

Staff retreats can be a strategic part of building a highly productive team. However, the difference between a mediocre staff retreat and a great one is having a good game plan. To help with planning your next staff retreat, here are 5 keys you want to make sure  are part of your plan:

• Pray - You would think we would never forget to make this a key part of a staff retreat, but that’s not always the case. Don’t take this one for granted. Spend time in prayer both before and during your retreat.
• Evaluate - A key to any strategic plan is an honest evaluation of your current situation. Take the time to evaluate as a staff and make notes of what you’re doing well and what you want to improve.
• Plan - Staff retreats are a great time to dream and plan your future direction. Be sure your plan has well defined action steps and responsibilities so everyone knows what’s expected when you get back to the office.
• Learn - A well balanced team has a wealth of knowledge. Don’t forget to tap into that knowledge and learn from each other.
• Laugh - Nothing like laughter to draw a staff closer together. Relax, laugh and enjoy the time together.

If you’re going to invest time and money into having a staff retreat, doesn’t it make sense to  do everything possible to make it a great one?

One of the numerous advantages Christian conference centers have over hotels is the natural setting that surrounds them. Not only does the natural setting provide your group the opportunity to get away from the distractions of the world, but it also provides your group with the opportunity to get out of the traditional meeting room setting.

Recently I read a blog post entitled “What I Learned About Leadership From A Low Ropes Course”. It was written by Michael Hyatt and in the post Hyatt talks about how beneficial he found going through an adventure learning experience to be. Here’s a quote: “I love reading books on leadership and attending seminars. But as helpful as these are, they are not the same as doing something together with a team. There are some things in life that are best learned by doing.” (Read full post)

I loved reading this post! See, I’m a big believer in adventure or experiential learning. As Hyatt points out, it’s one thing to read about a subject or sit in a classroom listening to a lecture, but it’s another thing all together to actually get out and learn by doing.

I think this is especially true in dealing with leadership and team-building. Getting a group out into an adventure setting helps to break down barriers and level playing fields. If facilitated well, this type of learning can have a huge positive influence on growing leaders and building teams.

When was the last time you incorporated adventure learning into one of your retreats? How did it work for your group? If you haven’t done this yet, why not? As you think about these questions, I’ll leave you with one last quote from Hyatt’s post…“Find a retreat center with a low (or even high) ropes course. It is well-worth the investment.”

Interested in learning more about adventure learning? If so, here’s a link to the Ridgecrest website where you can get more information (click here). Also, feel free to call 828-669-4844 and speak to one of adventure learning professionals.

When most people think of food service at Ridgecrest, they only think of the dining hall. This is not real surprising since that’s where the great majority of folks have their meals while on campus. And while the food in the dining hall is quite good, sometimes needing to serve 2,000 in 90 minutes prevents our food service team from showing off their more creative side.

This is where our catering department comes in. Unfortunately they are one of the best kept secrets at Ridgecrest. These guys do an awesome job with banquets, breaks, receptions and just about any other catering request a group may have and we want folks to get a taste of what they do.

So…this is the first of a new series of posts called “Ridgecrest Recipes”, in which we will highlight some of our most popular catering offerings. Of course we realize that most of you are not cooking for 50 or more friends so we’re giving you the home version. Hopefully making it easier for all of you to try them out.

Rutland Chicken

• 8, 4-6 oz. boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing
• 1 pkg. Pioneer beef gravy mix (or make 2 cups of your own recipe)
• orange juice
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

 Marinate chicken in dressing for 4 hours.  Prepare beef gravy, substituting half the water with orange juice. Heat heavy cream with nutmeg, on low heat, until thickened, being careful not to scorch.   Char-grill chicken and top with orange-brown sauce.  Drizzle with white sauce and serve. Serves eight

Enjoy and then let us know what you think!

For the past 10 years my family and I have attended Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, TN. During this time we’ve watched God do amazing things through the church and in particular, the youth ministry. Our daughter grew up in this ministry (check out the LHSM FB page), so we’ve seen first hand how God used this ministry to positively impact her life.

Brian Mills is Long Hollow’s student pastor and he is passionate about reaching young people for Christ. In a previous post, I covered Brian’s 5 keys to selecting a location for your church youth camp (read here). In today’s post I’m going to share his thoughts on how to program your youth camp for maximum spiritual impact.

1. Build around evangelism – It all starts with the speaker. They should be good communicators and passionate about sharing the Gospel. It’s also important to remember the kids (and adults) need a fresh face, a fresh voice. Not one they’ve heard on Wednesday night for the past year.
2. Worship – Select a worship band that’s humble and willing to do what is asked of them. Their focus should be solely on leading kids in worship.
3. Keep the program fresh – Don’t fall into a rut each day. Interject games, videos, laughter and other ideas to get the kids relaxed and more open to the Gospel when your speaker takes the stage.
4. Be intentional creating groups – Camp is a great opportunity for students to play together and get to know each other. This can make a huge difference when they get back to school in the fall.
5. Keep them busy – Students don’t like to get bored. Keep the schedule moving and engaging. The more free time you give them, the more opportunity for them to get into trouble.

Remember, camp is day one in the youth ministry year. It sets the stage for all that will happen the next school year. As a result, don’t procrastinate when it comes to planning camp. The longer you wait, the more you run the risk of camp being haphazard and not as powerful as it could be.

For camp to be successful, students need to have fun, enjoy fellowship and be impacted by the Gospel. What are you going to do today to help make it happen?

In just a couple of weeks, churches all over the country will begin taking their students to camp. Whether that camp is run by Centrifuge, Student Life, etc., or the church does its own camp, this time at camp is critically important to the spiritual growth of the students who attend. Many will make first time decisions to follow Christ or rededicate their life to Him, while others will surrender to the call of ministry.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk camp with Brian Mills, youth pastor at Long Hollow Baptist Church. Brian is a pro when it comes to taking students to camp. This summer he and his Long Hollow Student Ministry team are hoping to take 1,500 students and adults to camp!

Sure, that’s a lot of folks. But, whether you’re taking 15 or 1,500 to camp, the success of your time at camp really boils down to just 2 things…location and program. Choose a great location, but have a weak program, or the other way around, and the spiritual impact of camp will be negatively impacted.

So, in this first of a two part post, I asked Brian to talk about what he believed to be the key factors when selecting a location/facility to take his students to camp each summer. Here are the 5 keys he listed:

1. Remoteness – Doesn’t really matter if the camp is actually out in the middle of nowhere, just so long as it feels that way. The more remote it feels, the easier it is for students to let go and engage.
2. Spiritual atmosphere – This one’s a little tougher to quantify. Really comes to down to why the facility exists. You’re much more likely to create a spiritual atmosphere at a Christian camp or conference center than you are at hotel or condos on the beach.
3. Ability to control the environment – You can have a great program, but if you don’t have any control over what else may be happening at the same location you could be in trouble. This can be a very significant issue if the facility you’re using is public and not private, such as Christian camp or conference center.
4. Easy to keep the boys and girls apart – Do I really need to explain this one?
5. Varied recreation options – Don’t forget, most kids go to camp because they want to have fun. Make sure the location you choose has enough options to keep ‘em busy having fun!

Definitely some good helps from Brian. Any other keys you’d like to add to the list?

A recent post from Seth Godin really hit home for me. The post was entitled “Where do ideas come from?” (read here) and in it, Godin simply listed 20 origination points for ideas.

Some of the idea starters were no-brainers. Others were what you would expect from Seth and some were thought-provoking for me. Here are four in particular I identified with:

• Ideas often come from reading a book - This is definitely true for me. Whether it’s a book, a blog or an article, reading has always helped to stimulate my creative side. I’ve started using the Kindle app on my iPad for reading most books and I will highlight passages, then go back to review all my highlights for ideas. With blogs and articles I will make notes so I can follow up on the ideas later.
• Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom – How many times have you found yourself in a brainstorming meeting with folks who love to criticize and tell you why a particular idea won’t work? That one drives my crazy and really tests my patience, especially if I’m leading the meeting. (May want to check out previous post on how to get the most out of your brainstorming meetings. Read here.)
• Useful ideas come from being awake, alert enough to actually notice – There have been times when I’ll be driving down the road, kind of zoned out, and an idea will come and go before I realize it. Does that ever happen to you?
• Ideas come out of the corner of the eye, or in the shower, when we’re not trying – As I said above, that tends to be in the car for me. When does this tend to happen for you?

In addition to these four, there were two more that just sort of hit me right between the eyes…

• Ideas don’t come from watching television - OUCH!
• Mediocre ideas enjoy copying what happens to be working right this minute – Too often the temptation is jump on the popular bandwagon and try to tweak it to make it yours. I think there are times when it does make sense to do this, but just know it probably won’t be a breakout idea…just an average/mediocre one.

I’ll end with his final point: An idea must come from somewhere, because if it merely stays where it is and doesn’t join us here, it’s hidden. And hidden ideas don’t ship, have no influence, no intersection with the market. They die. Alone.

So, what about you? Where do your ideas come from?

Personally, I love participating in a good brainstorming session. There’s something about being in a meeting with a group of people who are focused on creating new ideas that just gets me fired up. On the flip side, I can get very frustrated when a brainstorming session just can’t seem to get off the ground.

Brainstorming with your planning team is a great way to ensure you provide an event your attendees will find engaging and worthwhile. However, if you’re the person leading the brainstorming session, what you say and do determines just how productive the session will be. Do the right things and you should have an exciting, productive meeting. Do the wrong things, shut people down, and you’ll be wishing for the clock to hurry up so you can end everyone’s misery.

So, what are the right things to do? How can you get the most out of your next brainstorming session? Here are 3 steps to take that will go a long way to making your next session more productive:

• Create rather than criticize –  One of the quickest ways to shut people down is to criticize their ideas. This is especially true if you’re the leader and the one criticizing. Instead, enhance creativity by affirming and protecting everyone’s participation.
• Stir curiosity and engage - Help stimulate discussion by asking probing, open-ended questions. Make a point of getting everyone involved in the discussion. Sometimes the best ideas come from the person who won’t say anything until engaged personally.
• Capitalize on differences - I find brainstorming sessions are more productive when you have team members that don’t all share the same perspective. Different points of view help to get more well-rounded solutions. Don’t be afraid of the differences. Instead, capitalize on them.

These are 3 that have worked for me. What about you? How do you get the most out of your brainstorming meetings?