When planning Disciple Now weekends there is a very important question you need to ask yourself throughout the process. This question is, "Is it necessary?" I do not mean ask whether or not the event itself is necessary. Disciple Now is one of the only events in student ministry that I still believe is beneficial and absolutely necessary. What I mean is that you should be asking yourself whether or not each component of your event is necessary. What happens far too often is that either due to tradition or trying to keep up with the student ministry down, we cram our event full of activities without even thinking. This leads us to being burned out, our kids being worn out, and the true message of the event being lost. But how can we decide whether or not something is necessary? In this article I will give you a few smaller questions that will help you answer the one big question. If you will consider these questions throughout the entire time you plan your weekend you will save yourself a lot of time and headaches.

Does it support the vision of your event? - Most events, at least the good ones, have a vision. You want to make sure that vision is clearly communicated and clearly seen. Too many activities can clutter your students' view of the vision. Therefore you want to carefully weigh each decision and decide whether it supports your vision or detracts from it. For example, let's say the vision for your event is that students' would learn to stop playing games when it comes to their faith and get serious. It might send mix signals then and confuse your students if you had three hours blocked out on Saturday to play games. This may not be the best example but I think you get the idea. By doing this you run the risk of your students missing out on the true message of the weekend and no one wants that. Keep the big idea in mind and go with that.

Is it worth your time? - Time is valuable when it comes to planning Disciple Now weekends and we only have so much of it. Some things need to be cut both for your sanity and so you can invest time in the things that matter. You have to prioritize and decide if the amount of your time that you will have to invest in something is worth the reward or fruit that will be produced by it. If it is not then you may want to consider scrapping the idea altogether.

Will your students really like it? - Students are not the best barometer for whether or not we should do something and should not be the one and only thing that helps us make our decisions. But we do need to consider their interests and needs. This is because our event is about them experiencing life change and we need to do everything in our power to make that happen. Also, many times we get trapped in this box of our own thinking and forget that just because something is funny or cool to us that it may not be for everyone else.

If you answer no to any of these questions you may want to scrap that piece of your event. Do not overwhelm yourself by trying to cram too much in. Weigh each component carefully in planning Disciple Now weekends and make wise decisions.