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• Decision Cards

• Leader Code of Conduct

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Promotional Materials

• T-Shirt Design

• Promo Video

• Promo Logo

• Promo Poster

• Promo Slide/Loop

• Share Squares

D O N ’ T F O R G E T Y O U R A D D I T I O N A L R E S O U R C E S !

Found in your “Promotional Materials” Folder

Found in your “Editable Documents” Folder

Found in your “Worship Service” Folder

Worship Service

• Sermon Slide Background

• Sermon Bumper Video

• Countdown Video

Editable Documents

• Registration Spreadsheet

• Small Group Rosters

Set the date of your student event on your

church calendar.

Set the location. This may be at the church,

at a retreat or camp, or it may involve using

host homes.

Book a speaker who will be preaching the large

group sessions.

Book a band that will be leading worship for the

large group sessions.

Create a budget and set a price for your event.

Here are some costs you should consider when

creating a budget and setting a price:

Speaker fee, along with their lodging, meals

and transportation

Band fee, along with their lodging, meals

and transportation

Meals and snacks for students and leaders

Lodging for students and leaders

Transportation, as needed

T-shirts

Fees/Supplies for planned activities or

mission projects

Small group supplies

Marketing and printing, as desired

6 -1 2 M O N T H S I N A D VA N C E

Create a schedule for your event.

• Check out the for three

customizable schedules that you can choose

from or use as a guide to create your own

event schedule.

Recruit your small group leaders.

• What is a small group leader? This is the person

that will lead a small group of students during

the small group sessions. You will want someone

that loves the Lord, loves students, and enjoys

teaching the Bible. Often times, this may look

like Sunday morning teachers, student parents,

or young adults in the church.

3 M O N T H S I N A D VA N C E

QUICK LINKS•

•

•

•

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• Promotional Materials folder

» Promo Logo » Slide/Loop

» Poster » Promo Video

» Share Squares

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L A U N C H G U I D E 4

• How does someone sign up to be a small

group leader? This is completely up to the

ministry leader. You can have a sign-up

sheet, an online registration, or you can

keep track of the list yourself. Each leader

should be able to share a clear testimony of

their salvation and be background checked

before serving.

If applicable, secure the Host Homes for your event.

• What is a host home?

» Host homes are the locations that students

will stay the nights of the event, as well

as have small group sessions and possibly

eat meals. These homes need to be

spacious enough to host the number of

desired students per small group. There

will be one host home per group.

» Host homes are often the homes of

students that are in that small group.

However, there may be some leaders or

retired adults in the church that would be

willing to host a group in their home.

• How does someone sign up to be a host home?

» This is completely up to the ministry

leader. You can have a sign-up sheet, an

online registration, or you can keep track

of the list yourself. Each adult living in

the home should be able to share a clear

testimony of his or her salvation and be

background checked before serving.

Prepare Registration Forms

• There are easy-to-use

already created for you to print and cut.

Begin Promotion / Marketing

• In the Promotional Materials folder, included

with your download, there are some great

resources you can use to promote your event

including a promo logo, slide/loop, poster,

and video.

• Take advantage of the

and Share Squares also found inside the

Promotional Materials folder to reach your

students and their parents through Instagram

and Facebook.

» Think about creating a hashtag to use on

social media as well and encourage your

students to start sharing the event with

their friends.

• Check out the , which is a

letter template you can mail or email to your

students’ parents about your upcoming event

and registration meeting.

P L A N N I N G T I M E L I N E

L A U N C H G U I D E 5

Open your event registration! A great way to get

people to register is to open an online registration,

as well as have the available to

fill out in person.

Don’t forget to let the parents know that

registration has opened. We have provided

the for you to use.

You will want to begin tracking your event

registrations using a spreadsheet. Located

in the Editable Documents folder included

with your download, there is a Registration

Spreadsheet we’ve already created.

Host a registration meeting for students and

their parents.

• This meeting should be a short and

informative meeting for parents to hear about

your event and for students to get excited to

sign up.

• You will cover the purpose of the event and

what to expect for the event. At the end,

allow students to register in person for

the event.

• Make sure to be advertising this meeting

to parents and students along with your

promotion 2-3 weeks before.

Place the order for your event T-shirts so they will

arrive 1-2 weeks ahead of your event.

• When ordering T-shirts, base it on a previous event

T-shirt order and add a few to each size based

on your estimation of how many will attend.

• Either use your own design or the T-shirt

design we’ve created, which is located in the

Promotional Materials folder.

Confirm the Small Group Leaders for your event.

• You should have already found your leaders

by this point, but it’s a great time to check in

and remind them of what’s coming up (like

the leader training). Give them a call or send

a text or email 4-6 weeks before the event.

Make the arrangements for your event speaker

and band.

• Look in to arranging the flights, lodging

and rental cars as necessary for your speaker

and band.

Print your .

• A Student Book is what your student will

use during the small group sessions, as well

as a place for them to take notes during the

sermons. These books even include devotions

for your students to do during your event or at

home once the event is over!

2 M O N T H S I N A D VA N C E

QUICK LINKS•

•

•

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• Editable Documents folder

» Registration Spreadsheet• Promotional Materials folder

» T-Shirt Design

P L A N N I N G T I M E L I N E

L A U N C H G U I D E 6

Recruit additional volunteers to help with Set-up,

Clean-up, Check-in and meals as needed.

Create a meal plan for your event.

• If you are following one of the

provided, you should be

responsible for making sure students have

two breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner.

• Check out the for some

ideas on how to do meals for your event.

Remember to background check all leaders and

volunteers for the event, including all adults that

live in the host homes.

In preparation for your parent meeting, customize

and finalize your . Print and paper

clip together (Paper clipping allows parents to

turn in the release forms without having to mess

with staples).

• Here are some things you may want to include

in a Parent Packet:

1 M O N T H I N A D VA N C E

QUICK LINKS• • •

P L A N N I N G T I M E L I N E

L A U N C H G U I D E 7

Print the and place it in a binder

or folder.

Print any final forms the Small Group Leader will

need. You should paper clip the forms together

and place them in the binder or folder with the

Leader Guide. This will need to be

ready for your Small Group Leader Meeting.

Print all final forms that Host Homes will need.

You should paper clip the forms together and

place them in a binder or folder. This will need

to be ready for your Host Home Meeting. Here is

what you want to include:

Send final meeting emails to ,

, and about

their upcoming meetings.

3 W E E KS I N A D VA N C E

QUICK LINKS•

•

•

•

•

P L A N N I N G T I M E L I N E

L A U N C H G U I D E 8

Host your Parent, Host Home and Small Group

Leader Meetings. Check out the

to help you know what to go over during

these meetings.

Prepare for parents to pick up at

Check-in. You will need to fill out the information

for each group, then print and cut the cards.

These cards give parents information on where

their students will be and how to get in touch

with them. There are customizable Contact Cards

located in the Editable Documents folder, which

was included with your download.

Remember to submit all check requests for

anyone who will need to be paid for your event

(speaker, band, and so on).

Prepare a Worship Service Outline and prepare

all material for sermon slides, lyrics and videos.

• We have created a Sermon Background Slide,

a Countdown Video and an Opening Sermon

Bumper for your event. You can access all of

this material in the Worship Service folder,

which was included with your download.

• There are four basic

provided for you to customize and use for your

worship services.

• You will want to develop a worship setlist

for each service. We have created a

playlist on Spotify that you can use as a

reference to help you decide what songs

to choose for your services. The playlist is

called .

We also created a Spotify playlist called

if you need

some ideas for creating walk-in music for

your services.

2 W E E KS I N A D VA N C E

QUICK LINKS•

•

•

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• Worship Service folder

» Sermon Background Slide » Countdown Video » Opening Sermon Bumper

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Send a to your parents

with any last minute reminders and to clarify the

Check-in process.

Update and finalize the Registration Spreadsheet.

If you desire, you can create Small Group Rosters

that can be given to your Small Group Leaders

and Host Homes. We have already created a

Small Group Rosters spreadsheet for you to

customize in the Editable Documents folder.

• It is helpful to email these rosters to leaders

ahead of time so they can plan accordingly.

However, you will also want to print a copy

for leaders and host homes.

Make sure you have received your T-shirts and

organize them by each group.

Create folders for your host homes and include

the following:

• Small Group Roster

• Copies of Students’

• Copies of Students’

Create a bag or box for each of your small group

leaders and include the following:

• Small Group Roster

• T-shirts for group leaders and their students

• for students

• Pens for students

• Pro Tip: Use Brown Paper Bags from a

Grocery Store!

Create Decision Packets for leaders. Include

the following:

•

•

• Pen

• Clipboard

Shop for meals and event supplies.

• Event supplies would include things you would

need for leaders or additional activities.

Create a green room space for your speaker and band.

• Include some snacks and drinks, as well as a

schedule of the event and contact list for the

staff. If you use , which is an online

tool for creating Worship Services, the service

schedules would be a great bonus to provide!

Place any final catering and meal orders for

the event.

Print the final Registration Spreadsheet for Check-in.

Set Up the Check-in area and a Luggage Drop-off area.

• There is a with tips on creating

a smooth Check-in process for both your

students and leaders.

W E E K O F E V E N T

QUICK LINKS•

•

•

•

•

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• Editable Documents folder

» Registration Spreadsheet » Small Group Rosters Spreadsheet

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