Super Bowl Party on a Shoe String Budget

Last night we had our first Super Bowl party in our new youth room. Turn out was good and we had some guests which is always fantastic. The main purpose of the event was to share the good news of Jesus Christ during the half time. I took about ten minutes and talked about Jesus our Mediator from 1 Timothy 2:3,4. No students made a decision that we are aware of but the seed was planted and we pray our guests had a good time and will return again this coming week.

With a 30% cut in our budget from last year and basically a spending freeze in effect we had to pull this event off on a shoe string budget. Here is the run down on how we accomplished that:

Stream the game via Internet - FREE! The quality of the video was great. We missed the big commercials but that's OK since a person can go back and watch them on the Internet. This saved the church about $1200 since we didn't have to install cable or satellite.
Hot Wings and Queso Dip - $65 A few from our team showed up early and cooked the hot wings and made the queso and got things set up and ready to roll.

Snacks and Drinks - FREE! We had the boys bring a sweet snack and the girls bring a salty snack and they all brought a 2 liter of soda.

Meat and Cheese Stadium - FREE!! Because of the donations of our local Boar's Head distributor and the donations of some parents of youth we were able to feast on the most incredible party platter I have ever seen.

So for a little more than a buck a person we hosted a fun Super Bowl Party where the love of Jesus Christ was shared.

When we share the love of Christ in practical ways these are the things students remember about their "church experience" long after high school. They don't remember all the lessons or sermons we teach, they remember the fact that some adults loved them and cared for them enough to spend an evening hosting a fun party with an incredible meat stadium and time spent playing foosball and bananagrams. That is what they will remember when they are 21. This act of sharing the love of Christ in a fun and practical way is what will stick with them.

Thanks to the best youth ministry team in the world! I appreciate the time you give to God serving students and I know the students appreciate it too. Thanks to the parents who kicked in the snacks!