Watch the Calendar

Last weekend was Martin Luther King weekend.  I don't know how it was at your church but at ours we had several families out of town because it was a four and a half day weekend.  Some traveled out of town to go skiing, out of country for a mini-vacation.  So our team was short team members due to the holiday weekend as well as really, really low on the number of students in attendance.

Years ago we adjusted our December Student Church gatherings because the holiday season impacted attendance so much.  After last weekend we will step back and evaluate what we could do differently on MLK weekend to minister to our students. 

So I have put it down on the calendar for next year so when we get closer to the day we can promote what we will be doing.  Good thing is I have several months to think about it and come up with an alternate idea.  Could be an activity like going to the movies, progressive fast food dinner, bowling, laser tag, ice skating.

The point is when there is an obvious conflict with the calendar that could be a great time to do something totally different than your normal youth group meeting/fellowship.  A long time ago I learned to watch the calendar, track attendance around holidays and watch the school calendar when it comes to planning.

What do you do differently when a holiday or long weekend impacts your attendance greatly?