Blog Posts - RACHEL FOX FRAZIER

Your Next Camp Schedule

6/15/2018

Camp schedules can be tricky. Here's a 5 day mockup of what your camp could look like.

Day 1
9:15 am // Leaders Check-In
9:30 am // Students Check In
11:00 am // Leave Church
12:30 pm // Arrive @ Camp
12:45 pm // Lunch
1:15 pm // Welcome
1:45 pm // Change for Rec
2:00 pm // Rec
4:00 pm// Unpack & Change for dinner
5:15 pm // Assembly 6:30 pm // Dinner
7:00 pm // Group Free Time
7:35 pm // Leader Meeting
8:00 pm // Worship
9:45 pm // Group Time
11:00 pm // Lights Out

Day 2 - Day 4
7:00 am // Wake up
7:30 am // QT / Groups
8:30 am // Skits
9:00 am // Breakfast
9:45 am // Leader Meeting
10:00 am // Worship
11:15 am // Group Time
12:00 pm // Lunch
12:50 pm // Rec Rally
1:00 pm // Rec 1
3:00 pm // Switch Rec
3:30 pm // Rec 2
5:30 pm // Get ready for dinner
6:30 pm // Dinner
7:00 pm // Group Free Time
7:35 pm // Leader Meeting
8:00 pm // Worship
9:45 pm // Group Time
11:00 pm // Lights Out

Day 5
7:00 am // Wake up
7:15 am // QT
8:00 am // Breakfast (luggage packed and out)
8:45 am // Leave Camp
10:30 am // Arrive back at church for 11 AM service

10 New Summer Reads

6/12/2018

Here's a quick list of good, Christian reads that have release within the past 1-2 years. There's fun and easy reads, biographies, inspirational stories, and more! I hope you'll enjoy some of them like I have!

1. Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography by Herman Selderhuis

2. 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke

3. A Reader’s Guide to the Major Writings of Jonathan Edwards edited by Nathan Finn and Jeremy Kimble

4. In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character by Jen Wilkin

5. God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs by Tim and Kathy Keller

6. Everybody, Always by Bob Goff

7. The Messiah Comes to Middle-Earth: Images of Christ’s Threefold Office in The Lord of the Rings by Philip Ryken

8. Into His Likeness: Be Transformed As a Disciple of Christ by Edward Sri

9. If Only You Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free by Jamie Ivey

10. Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture by John Piper

3 Mother-Daughter Event & Topic Ideas (that aren't for elementary schoolers)

5/7/2018

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I've put together a cute, little (alliterated!!) list of event ideas and girls only topics! If you are wanting to throw a Mother Daughter Event!

1. Brunching & Boys // Talking about boys is a cliche when it comes to girls events, but it's cliche for a reason! At some point, we need to have a conversation with our girls about boys, boundaries, dating, etc. And what better way to discuss such topics than over a nice brunch?! You don't need to go crazy expensive for a nice brunch! Get some donut holes and fruit, or ask some church members to bring casseroles.

2. Coffee & Conversation (about Comparison) // This is a slightly less expensive than brunching, yet equally as effective time for your girls and moms to come together. Try having fun toppings like whipped cream, sprinkles, cinnamon, and more! Comparison is an everyone thing, but it specifically resonates with girls! Take this time over hot chocolate, cider, and/or coffee and have an open, honest conversation with your girls about comparison!

3. Tea Party & Technology // There's few things I love more than technology, tea, and tiny food! When it comes to talking about tech, the lane wide, and has many lanes. Social media, stranger danger, highlight reels vs. reality, self control, boundaries, etc. -- the topics really are endless. And what better way to discuss these topics than over croissants! Grab some pink decor, pretty flowers, tea bags, mini sandwiches, and get ready to talk all things tech!

5 Events You Can Do this Upcoming Semester

1/31/2018

1. Discipleship Weekend

2. Girls and Guys Night

3. Missions Trip

4. Summer Camp

5. Transitioning Parent Meeting

1. AKA DNOW. This event is wonderful to help your students recharge and recommit this new year for Jesus!

2. These nights are intentional for your male and female students. Take this event to talk about topics you usually couldn't address if the other gender were in the room.

3. Whether it's a missions trip out of the country, or helping a local organization down the road from your church. Showing your students how to be the hands and feet of Jesus is vital.

4. "Camp time is the best time" is my motto for life. Take your students away on a 4 night, 5 day week with Jesus they'll never forget! Facilitate games, let them worship Jesus, have small groups, and watch them grow like never before!

5. This one is vital for your upcoming 6th and 9th graders (especially for 6th grade parents!). Invite your transitioning families for informational meeting. Tell them your philosophy of ministry, let them know your calendar, and let them get to know you! When it comes to transitioning, over communicate, you can't do it enough!

Don't Freak Out

11/15/2017

I usually don't like to share about individual series, but this fall we did an amazing series that I briefly wanted to share about! This fall we did a 4 week evangelism series called "Don't Freak Out". This series was partly adapted and inspired by the book "Sharing Jesus (without freaking out)" by Alvin Reid. In this series, we showed out students what it means to share your story and what that actually mean, how to share their story, and then encouraged our students to go out and share their story with their friends, and then invite them out for our "Freak Out Night" for the last week of the series. This is where we shared the gospel with a room full of first time guests and friends of our brave students who were able to bring their pals! We saw a 13% increase in attendance this night and saw 3 decisions made for Jesus! It was an incredible night and I am so proud of our middle schoolers for being bold in their faith!

Fall Girls Night

10/25/2017

This event was the most fun to follow up an awesome Girls Weekend! This girls night was focused on bringing the girls together and teaching them to bring what they already had to the Lord! Our lobby was filled with all things FALL! Fall-themed food, an adorable photo booth, fall-themed games, and more! This night was a blast, and again, a perfect follow up for what we spoke about to them at Girls Weekend!

Girls Weekend 2017 Recap

9/12/2017

There are not many things I love more than Girls Weekends! It's such a sweet time for our lady students to get together, learn, grow, and just feel special and loved on. I'm going to share what we did and some elements we had that really made our Girls Weekend super special!

FRIDAY NIGHT

- We arrived at our site and the HS & MS bunking was split (the HS definitely appreciated this!).
- We got our rooms set up and then had orientation!
- This weekend's theme was placed around knowing who you are in Christ. We had some amazing worship then I got to teach the first night!
- After finishing the service, we broke up into their small groups for the weekend. We then answered questions and talked over what we had just heard in our small groups.
- After the service and small groups, we had a slumber-party themed party!! Which consisted of all the girls getting together to bond over nachos, drinks, karaoke, games all over the place, and much more! It was such a fun way to start off the weekend! But Saturday was the day our schedule was chuck FULL.

SATURDAY

- We woke up and had our quiet times
- WORK OUT TIME! Everyone met on the basketball courts & 2 of our amazing leaders lead a quick stretch and mini work out for our girls to get their blood moving
- Breakfast was served along with a run-down of today's schedule, followed by an amazing worship service.
- After the worship service, we had an amazing time for small groups to prepare ourselves for that afternoon and evening.
- We then had two 30-45 minute slots for break outs. We strategically had 3 breakout for the girls to choose from for each 45 minute slots. These breakout ranged from prayer to comparison, and from Mean Girls to Secret Sins (high school only). We made sure to have key volunteers, wives, and staff members come to help us lead these! & they were AMAZING!!!
- After all that, the girls had free time while we set up for a fancy dinner the girls had no clue about!! We dedicated this dinner to them for them to feel loved on and cherished!!
- After dinner, they all got ready and went to service. Service was full of songs and an amazing message. Which all echoed the lesson we were trying to convey to the girls THEY WERE LOVED, WANTED, CHERISHED, & MADE WITH A DIVINE PURPOSE!!

- After Service, they went into small groups to process what they had heard.
- By the time everyone got done with small groups, it was time for bed!
- Our girls had to wake up early Sunday morning to eat breakfast, get their t-shirts, and get the busses loaded in time to be at church for Sunday AM small groups!

Even though this weekend was actually planned in 3 weeks, this weekend was an absolute blast! It was intentional and it exceeded every expectation our team set. Not gonna lie, God moved & I am so thankful to be a small part of His plan!

How to Talk to Middle Schoolers

6/18/2017

It's your first time serving in Middle School. Middle schoolers are smaller than you, but they are still kind of (somehow) intimidating. What to do now?! I got chu, boo! Here are some of my fool-proof ways to talk to middle schoolers, in a none-small-group setting.

1. Break the Ice // Go over to them first, compliment them or make them laugh (or both!)
2. Ask all the Questions // Middle Schoolers are people too! & every person loves to talk about themselves, so ask away.
3. "Me too!" // While you're doing the above and asking them questions, see if you can find a similarity or interest you share. You may even be able to thrown in a quick story!
4. Don't Ignore Them // Whether you're in middle school or an adult, talking to people you don't know can be awkward, especially younger kids! However, if you really want to make an impression, don't skulk back to the corner with your other adult leader friends you know better... actually stick it out, and talk to the students. Then when you've talked to all the students, start over and talk to them all over again! Again, it's human nature to migrate towards people you're comfortable with that are your own age, but stick it out with the middle schoolers! If you do they'll attach to you faster than you ever imagined!
5. Don't focus too long on them // This last one might shock you. With middle schoolers, there is this unspoken line of cool and creepy. They want you to pay attention to them so they know you care, BUT if you spend too much time only, solely focused on them when there are other girls around you don't know... you are walking a fine-line that you need to be aware of. So, once you've talked to a girl for a little bit, turn your attention to someone else! There will be plenty of time to get to know one another on a deeper level later.

TIPS: The Importance of Promo

5/10/2017

I'm not going to lie... this one hurts (my ego) just a little bit to write right now. But I think it's going to help in the future/long run, so I am going to suck it up & tell you the tips I learned from the mistakes I made when it comes to promoting an event for your ministry. (Yes, I have given myself grace... don't worry about me) Here are my tips to help with promotion.

-- Hit Them From All Sides // There's more than one form of communication when it comes to promoting an event. All forms of social media; church slides; video announcements; word of mouth (on stage and going classroom to classroom); emails; handouts; mailers; etc. HIT THEM ALL to ensure you've contacted everyone.
-- Communicate // This goes with the advice above. Let them know what you're about to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you told them. Then repeat that process about 4 more times. If you think you communicated, you didn't. If you think you might need to communicate more, do it. If you think you're being obnoxious with all the communication, you should probably send out one more email the day before... just in case. You can never over communicate when it comes to getting event information out there to students and their families.
-- Event Graphics Matter // I have always thought this was important, but it has been ingrained in me. If your graphic designer is not making you happy and you're *this* close (cue fingers very close together*) to just settling with a design you know is no good. Go. With. Your. Gut. & don't settle. Event Graphics can sometimes make or break your event. People say "don't judge a book by it's cover", but they don't follow their own advice... so just be sure the graphic is dope as heck!
-- *Eye Emoji Here* // Videos help build anticipation!! Whether it's a 15 second bumper or a 2 minute video explaining the event -- videos can be the visual push you need to get those students signed up!
-- School Promotion // If you live in a city/state where you are still able to go into school lunches & clubs to promote your event... take advantage of it! Bring registration forms to schools, put up posters, pitch the event to a class... do whatever it takes! If you do not have access to schools, it is vital to tap into your key students in leadership. Give them registration forms to hand out, invite cards to shove in lockers, posters to hang up, food items that have a stick with the event info to give to other students, etc.
-- SWAG // As Michael Scott would put it, "Stuff We All Get". Or, in this case, stuff we all get when we sign up for this event! Having a promo item with your logo on it to give away upon completion of registration is such a smart move, if you have money for it. Whether it's a t-shirt, pop-socket, or just a pen... people love free stuff! Use this fact to your advantage to promo your next big event!

Second Sunday

4/25/2017

Second Sunday's have been the most fun and they are definitely something I think other ministries might want to implement! Here's a little bit about it!

WHEN?

Second Sunday is an event we put on the second Sunday of every month. It happens right after our last service on Sunday afternoon (12:30) & goes until about mid-afternoon (2-3 PM).

WHY?

Second Sunday was created with Small Group Leaders and parents in mind. Even though the event is technically for students. We put on Second Sunday every month to provide a space where our volunteers can hang out with their students, and parents can get to know our staff, all while having the most fun!

WHAT
& WHERE?

The location for every Second Sunday changes. Our goal is to always have something fresh and fun so the students actually want to come! Some Second Sunday's include: roller skating, bowling, Christmas Party, ice skating, going to the local arcade, going to the movies, laser tag, and more!