Lock-ins are all about fun and kids developing deeper relationships with each other and
with God. This past weekend we held our Valentine's Day Lock-in. We had 30 kids ranging in age from 4 years old up to 5th grade. We played a ton of games including hide and go seek, sardines, musical chairs, Simon says and the list goes on.
And what's a lock-in without a late night snack? Cupcakes, juice boxes, chips, and cookies...
In the midst of all this fun and food, we took about 45 minutes and did praise and worship. It was such a cool sight to see all the kids completely involved in the worship, singing, doing motions along with some of the songs, raising their hands and focused on giving God glory!
Around 11:30, we settled into our sleeping bags. The way I have always done lock-ins is to run movies almost all night. This lets the kids have a little extra time to talk and makes it special for them. It also gives the little ones something to distract and keep their attention until they fall asleep. (This cuts down on them sitting in a dark room missing mom and dad or feeling afraid because they are in a strange place.)
Sometimes I have people who ask me why I schedule all my lock-ins on Saturday Nights.
The answer is so that we can retain the kids for Church on Sunday mornings. We feed the kids breakfast and they go straight to our first hour LIFE Groups. It's just another way we get to minister to kids.
If you have a child who is between the ages of 4 years old and 5th grade, we'd love for them to come join us for the next lock-in scheduled for March 14th. If your kids are regular attendees of our lock-ins I encourage you to invite friends. We'd love to see 40 or 50 (or a 100) kids at our next event. Please be sure to register online so we know how many kids to plan for by hovering over the calendar tab and selecting Upcoming Children's Events.