Testing the response

I don't think it's too much of an overstatement to say that if you've never played a game of real-life Angry Birds then you're not dong youth ministry correctly.

All it requires is a few different coloured cushions (to be the different birds), some targets to be the pigs (we used cheap cartoon skull-caps) and a HEAP of cardboard boxes.

This term I've played the game twice.

And I've used A LOT of boxes.

So, like anyone in youth ministry, I asked my church for help when in need of ridiculous amounts of a generic item.

And I got a lot of boxes. Some extremely useful. Some... appreciated... but not exactly what I was asking for.

In fact, I had too many boxes. Way too many.

But I didn't withdraw the request for cardboard cubes because I wanted to catch the vibe of my new church.

For this was the first time I'd really requested help of this kind.

Not a request for money.
Not a request which would cost time.
Just a simple request for accessible items.

Now I have a much better idea who is willing to help out.
Now I know who will, some surprisingly, drop off a stack of boxes "because they want to help out."

And, even though I now have a couple of dozen of boxes which I didn't use, I now have a greater awareness of what the response might be the next time I ask for assistance.