It seems many people have different definitions for “lock-in.” In fact my definition has changed quite a bit over the years. As a student a lock-in was a great event where I got to stay up all night having as much fun as I could get away with, and trust me I know how to get away with a lot. In college a lock-in was a great event where I could help students have more fun than they could possibly get away with. This was great because it added to my fun and they got busted for it, bonus. Having been through all of that I currently define a lock-in as that which must be avoided at all cost.
Now I have been very cautious to not use this phrase or anything to describe it. All of the youth pastors I work with are on the same page and we have a “no lock-in” pact. Despite all of that my students somehow came up with the idea. I don’t know if it was on their own or maybe a relative form out of the area mentioned it, but back in the fall some of them started asking about doing some kind of all night event at the church. It seemed like they were asking every week and eventually I gave them a mote of hope. I said we might do something like that for New Year’s Eve. Now I was hoping they would stop bugging me till it was too late to plan anything and then I would be able to brush it off till some later tomorrow that would never come.
Then God smiled on me with a New Year’s event that would meet my desire to avoid a lock-in and the students’ to have one. Some area churches planned a lock-in at a local multi-sport arena. It only cost $5 per person for the night and there was a lot to do so the students would be busy all night which equals less time to get in trouble. Well I jumped at it and the students got excited.
I expected about a dozen or so students so I didn’t really plan much for adult chaperons. It was just myself and one other adult. When I arrived to shuttle the students over I ad about what I was expecting and noticed a few students hadn’t shown up. I thought, great we’ll have 18 or so students, but then more and more came till we ended up with 26 total students. This is more than I could transport so we had a little logistical trouble, but I did some fancy youth pastor math and presto everyone fit in the allotted space for our short trip.
The events were great, we had soccer, basket ball, flag football, skating, dodge ball, volley ball, and a rock wall plus a bunch of other things going on. All together 240 people were there plus some event staff that didn’t have to sign in. My favorite was the rock wall. I climbed it a few times, but made the mistake of trying the hardest surface after I had climbed it a couple of times. I got to the inverted ledge and almost made it over but my feet slipped. I hung on with one hand and got my feet back on and my other hand onto the rock I was reaching for, but when I went for the next hand hold my feet slipped again and I completely lost my grip and fell. Still I feel I did good getting to the top on the second hardest run.
My students loved the trip and were all asking when the next one would be. I feel that it is well worth it so let me just say this, any youth pastors that read this, find something like this to do, your kids will love it and whoever cleans/repairs your church will love you for it.
By the way, I just want to say that at least one of my students was confused about the definition of lock-in. About 2 in the morning he asked me where everyone was sleeping. I’m pretty certain that I have never included sleep in with my definition and most people I know don’t either.
How would you define “lock-in?” Is it a good thing or bad and why?
Remix Dress Like a Youth Pastor 101
SYP and the Love Crazed Teen Zombies: The Aftermath
He Loves Me Anyway
The gift that keeps on giving: something dead
The hardest thing is letting go
Never been to a lock-in, but the thought of teenagers with raging hormones all together for long periods of time makes me twitchy…
It should make you very twitchy.
Last lock-in I was at was…(doing some math)…25 years ago. Yup they had those back in the day. I swear that was a product of the 80s. I recall being fueled by Jolt Cola (something me and my friends smuggled in), Dominos pizza (a staple in my high school days) and Pixie Sticks (the type in the large 3 foot long plastic tube).
Now? I’m not sure I would volunteer to do this, there are PLENTY of Highschool co-leaders that should, and usually do, help out for that type of pandemonium.
But Superhero Glow Blowing (which is next weekend and only last till midnight) I am all over that!
people assume that is what fuels me but at some point I must have ingested enough that I now produce it. I want to do a bowling event but I want to rent the entire alley and that will cost $1000.
When I was a kid, unless you had a 1-1 ratio of chaperones to attendees, a lock-in was a church-sponsored make-out event.
That said, we had an all-night Halo 3 party at church that went fairly smoothly despite the fact that my husband and I were the only adults with 18 kids aged 13-17. Apparently, teenage boys like Halo 3 more than they like youth group girls. 😉
OUCH. That would really hurt the girls feeling but to be honest the same is likely true here. That might be the solution.
I loved lock ins when I was in youth. Now, not so much. No matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up at 530am. And then I feel like crap that whole day. So I avoid all lock ins what so ever. I guess that’s what a two year old and a prego wife will do to you.
Keep up the good work man. I need to make a commitment to serve the youth some how. But, honestly I’m lazy.
Yeah it would suck always waking up at 5:30 in the morn. I wouldn’t survive being a YP. If you want to get involved with the youth then u should just do it. Seriously if your church is anything like mine the YP is looking for people that will just hang out in the regular youth services. The presence of adults tends to calm things down.
Ah, lockins. I hearted them when I was a kid. My youth pastor, Alan, was not only insane enough to lock a bunch of hormonal teens together in a building overnight, he took us on co-ed campouts too. He’s on a Thorozine drip in a “facility” last I heard. Who knows.
Then, God made me a youth worker. Lockins became the bane of that existence. What lunatic (no offense, Alan) is willing to put up with that? We were. I still have occassional tics and nightmares from it, but prayer helps alot.
You know the worst part, I have the students still asking ot do a lock-in at the church. What is wrong with them?