Everyone is jumping on the World Cup wagon. Some people are mad about it because we are fakes and don’t care about soccer for 3 years until the world cup comes back. That’s true, and I’m okay with it. So when I was over at a students house for his graduation party, almost everyone at the party was watching the USA game. People from the age of 5 to 75, they were watching it and were all in. Cheering, groaning, yelling, celebrating.

I asked one of the students there if they were really into soccer and this is how the conversation went:

Me: Do you follow soccer besides the World Cup?

Student: Not at all. I just watch the World Cup? I thought it was boring.

Me: Why are you so into it?

Student: I was not at first, but all the adults in the family got into it and I started to watch it and I just couldn’t stop. I think it’s exciting now and I can’t get enough.

It got me thinking about anything we do in ministry. If the leaders and staff are “all in” in something, students will naturally follow.

Want students to go crazy in dressing up for rec. games at camp? Have your leaders go all in and lead the way.

Want students to be excited about going to summer camp? Have your leadership go all in promoting it like crazy in everything you do. Facebook, Instagram, service announcements, leaders personally asking if they are going. Make it impossible to not know about it.

Want students to want to be in small groups? Talk about, get excited about how amazing and life changing small groups are. Have leaders talk about them, have student testimonies about how small groups helped them through life and how God changed them through small groups.

Want students to go to events? You have to be excited about it yourself.

This conversation is a great reminder of how students tend to work. They want to go to exciting things. I can be pretty sure if the adults in the room at the party were not watching soccer and not passionate about it, the students in the room would not have been as excited. But they feed off the energy and excitement and see it so they in turn want to be a part of it.

Now it works for soccer, but imagine what could happen if we were able to point that excitement and passion towards Jesus. If they see your staff and leaders excited, passionate, vocal and visually exited about what god is doing in their lives, students will follow and then they won’t be able to get enough.

We can’t just say something is exciting and life changing…we need to show it and be “all in” and the leader’s passion will rub off on the students and you will see them start to follow.