Finding the Right Evangelist
Finding a speaker is one the most important elements of planning a successful kids’ camp. The children’s evangelist is one who has dedicated his life to ministering to kids in crusade evangelism. The next type of speaker is a children’s pastor from outside your district. Another natural choice for speakers is children’s pastors within your own district. Missionaries to children make excellent camp speakers as well. You must find when they are on furlough in order to schedule them. Children’s ministries specialists at our colleges provide excellent ministry to children at kids’ camp. We have compiled a list of names and addresses of camp speakers at our web site. Our list is made up of evangelists referred by camp directors. With any speaker you should ask for references prior to asking him to minister at your camp.
Invite four different children’s pastors to speak at your camp. Plan for each pastor to minister in one service. This does a number of things for your camp. The leaders in your district will be more apt to attend if they are involved. By having a different leader each night, you can evaluate the strengths and weakness of these individuals for future reference. Variety may be appealing to your campers and will expose the children’s pastors to different ways of doing ministry.
The expense of bringing a children’s evangelist to your camp will be one of your largest financial investments. Consider communicating with districts near you to see if sharing the evangelist between the two districts is a possibility. If your camp does not coincide with the other districts’ camps, you can both invite the same evangelist and split the cost of travel. Churches in your district may want to invite the evangelist on a weekend between camps. They may be willing to assist you in paying some of the traveling expenses.
Summertime is the busiest time of the year for most children’s leaders. Scheduling speakers two or three summers in advance is a wise decision. Consider placing your most popular speakers on a three- or four-year rotation. When you book a speaker, immediately attempt to book him again for future camps.
Being a good host to the evangelist can increase the chances of him wanting to return. Make him feel welcome with a basket of “goodies” in his room when he arrives. Assign one camp staff person to assist him throughout the day. Ask if he needs anything from the store if someone is going into town. Commend him for a job well done at the end of each service. Allow him to have free snacks from the snack bar. Give him a camp T-shirt. Take him to lunch one day during the week. Send him a thank you note soon after he leaves. If you treat your evangelist well, he will probably want to return. He will also tell other evangelists to come to your camp. |
