Please note - you are invited and encouraged to leave a comment of affirmation and blessing for the Co's who have been a part of your L.O.G. experience ...
L.O.G. CoLeaders do many things.
Some of them are pretty easy to imagine: planning team meetings; deciding who
should give talks, etc. Some of
them are less so: figuring out
what to do when they arrive at the church to find that the room they were
supposed to use is already set up for another activity and calling people to
find out why they missed a team meeting.
In the photo above (thanks, Cody!), Alex Jones (Coleader
with Bethany Van Alstine for L.O.G. #64) could be …
1 – beseeching God that the people who were supposed to
bring the snacks to the team meeting didn’t forget.
2 – posing while team members sketched his image onto the
banner.
3 – begging Seth Proctor for just a few more minutes of
project work time.
4 – playing a game of catch the M&M’s with your
mouth. (a game we NEVER play at
Agape, by the way!)
5 – crumpling over in laughter because the team member
behind him was lying on top of a cat.
L.O.G. is a peer-led program. Youth team members prepare for and then present a weekend
spiritual growth retreat for their friends. Of course there are adult advisors to inspire, guide and
support – but the whole program is built around youth leadership.
Our CoLeaders are called to lead the leaders – to plan and
direct the team process that includes 8-10 weekly meetings for 25-40 youth and
adult team members. Most of the
time, this is fun – sometimes it is quite frustrating. Usually it is time consuming and often
it’s tiring. Hopefully, it is
growth-producing. And always, it’s
a privilege.
Most years we have about 30-40 active 12th
graders in L.O.G. – and we can only call 12-14 of them to serve as Co’s. We look for youth who …
• live out their personal faith in God and are devoted to
Jesus as Lord and Savior
• demonstrate leadership and organizational skills
• have earned the respect of their peers and the L.O.G.
adult advisors
• are dedicated to the L.O.G. program and to the mission and
ministry of MYM
We all love our CoLeaders. We love them because their service has made it possible for
us to share in the love of God in this unique way we call L.O.G. and because
they are our friends.
I encourage you to leave a comment below that is an
affirmation and blessing for the CoLeaders who have been a part of your L.O.G.
experience. We’ve had 122
CoLeaders since 1997 – plus the six who are serving right now.
I hope there
is no limit on the number of comments that can be left on this blog!
I would definitley say that coleaders can make or break a LOG team experience. Though there is a set system for how a lot of things go and a set schedule for the weekend they have a lot of influence, which can be both good and bad. My favorite LOG team process and weekend (aside from my own co, of course) was #55. The Co's were Emily (Migs) Migliore and Jordynn Keultjes. They worked together amazingly and it was awesome to see how they became closer the further we progressed in the process. They were very loving and supporitve of our team, which was wonderful and quite small! And though the team was small they worked well with who and what they had to produce an amazing weekend for our small amount of participants. I also felt that they did a great job of making things unique and special throughout the team process/overnight. I don't think anyone on that team will ever forget the cardboard testimonials that we did...so powerful!!! Overall, it was an incredibly enjoyable experience and a job really well done by the two of them!
ReplyDeleteColeaders do make or break the LOG team experience. They need to work well together and still make things fun for the team. Its also fun to see the cycle from Co's to adult. I was a participant way back at LOG 27 and my Co's were Rebecca Jones and Mike Melton and when I was a Co with Sara at LOG 48, Rebecca was an adult on the team. I believe that the Co leaders need to work together and make decisions knowing that what they are doing might not make everyone happy but that they are doing what is best. There have been so many co's in my LOG life that I cant even remember them all, but I know I learned and grew from each one of them. Co's need to be supportive of their team, understand that everyone is there cause they want to be there and are helping to produce an amazing weekend. The big teams are fun but the small teams make the memories. And everyone can get a laugh when Terry learns your theme song and teaches it wrong and then has to reteach it. Overall, LOG has been an incredible experience and still amazes me.
ReplyDeleteMy co's were Michelle Schmidt and Jake Story. LOG 8 FTW!
ReplyDeleteI was a junior with no driver's license and several siblings with demands on the family car, so when it came time for my first team meeting, my mom suggested calling Jake for a ride. I was super intimidated! But Mooom.. He's a SENIOR. And a COLEADER. That is mega big stuff! Turns out Jake was just as friendly and down-to-earth as you'd expect from anyone in the LOG program!
As a parent, it was wonderful to see how much Brandon and Christopher always looked forward to finding out who the new co-leaders were for the upcoming LOG weekends. There was the anticipation leading up to the announcement, then the process of deciding which team to serve on based on the various combinations of co-leaders. Each co-leader pair usually had someone they knew well and someone they didn't know well, but wanted to get to know. That made the choice of which team to serve on even harder. Sometimes they chose the weekend based on the co-leaders, but often they chose the weekend based on ride-sharing or which evening the team was meeting. That meant they got to know lots of new people on team including getting to know the co-leaders in ways they had never interacted with them before. It was always interesting to hear them talk about the LOG weekend when they returned home. Usually they said something like "This was the BEST LOG weekend ever!"
ReplyDeleteThe skills that co-leaders learn during the process of serving on a team are very valuable and will serve them well the rest of their lives. I know it helps make a difference with the college interview process and potential scholarships based on leadership abilities. Thanks to the adult advisors who are there behind the co-leaders ... those who support them, encourage them, challenge them and pray for them. And thanks to Terry for his wisdom in choosing each pair of co-leaders very prayerfully.