Road Rules: Things You Should Know Before You Get In the Van (part 3 of 6)

The road trip is one of the greatest things about student ministry.  Adventure.  Memories.  Laughs…God-awful smells from the back of the van.  This is the third post in a 6 part series on the things you should know before you get in the van with a bunch of students and go somewhere.  You can find the first post HERE and the second post HERE.

These are insights that I have picked up mostly from getting my tail kicked by experience.  The better prepared you are to handle life on the road, the better chance you have to provide an experience that your students will never forget!

Things you should know before you get in the van continued…

1.  Keep your leaders in the know

This is key to your event running smoothly!

Prepare them ahead of time! Give them a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished.  Give them a basic schedule so they know what to expect when it comes to places, times and logistics.

Prepare them each morning! Have brief meetings – even if its just 5 min during the group breakfast or as everyone is loading up – give a rundownn of the day so everyone is on the same page. There’s nothing worse than confusion with a group because different leaders are giving conflicting directions.

Prepare them each evening! If something is going to go haywire during a trip its probably going to be at night.  Remind your leaders about curfew times, how to act in the hotel (or where ever), how NOT to act in the hotel, when everyone needs to be up the next morning, etc…

And remember – if it seems like overkill, its not!