The Lock-in Live Blog (09-10)

7:29pm - Chris has been working for days to prepare for this and now the crowd is starting to arrive. He has a wonderfully organized army of volunteers and the whole schedule is carefully mapped out. Good job, Chris!

7:41pm - Here's the check-in staff. $10 per head; things start after 8:00. Thanks Jim & Pam, Paul & Claudia, and Vicki (and Dustin in the background).

8:03pm - Chris just gave basic rules and opening prayer. We're going to eat in a few minutes; the menu has barbecue pork, beef, ham, etc. It appears to be the best lock-in menu we've had yet. Thanks, Cherie!

8:07pm - The kids are funny; every year the first few hours they stand awkwardly in small clusters. It'll loosen up in a little while.

8:10pm - It looks like we have about 50 kids registered and about 20-25 adults helping.

8:24pm - The kids are eating now. It's good food! And more kids are trickling in. The worship team is getting ready; kids from camp are re-connecting. The adults look like they're having fun!

8:44pm - We're up to about 60 kids now, with a few more coming later. Generally at a lock-in, you want the kids the whole night, from start to finish. But at the same time, if we can only have your kids for part of the night, we'll take them!

8:57pm - The worship band is warming up. They've been working hard and now they have a guest bass guitarist, Phil.

9:40pm - Zach, the youth minister from Wallula, has everyone playing games. If you get everyone playing in one room, it gets crowded fast. Lots of fun, though!

10:16pm - Zach seems to have an endless supply of goofy games for these guys. There's been a lot of fun and laughing; this part reminds me especially of some of the fun stuff college camp teams do at church camp.

10:42pm - Worship began a few minutes ago. The band sounds great!

10:50pm - Our band tonight: Jessica and Dustin on vocals, with Dustin also on keyboard. Eric on lead guitar, Jason and David on rhythm guitar and Phil on bass guitar.

11:09pm - Our speaker tonight is Shane Wood from Ozark Christian College.

11:22pm - Wow. It's pretty much a rule that anybody from Ozark Christian College is an excellent public speaker. Shane is no exception; what a preacher!

11:55pm - Almost 2010! We finished worship and had an incredible message from Shane. The kids are milling about, talking and playing as we wait out the last few minutes.

12:01am - Happy New Year! Chris' shifts of volunteers are coming and going throughout the night. It's kind of neat as different church people keep showing up and joining in the fun. Now I'm off to play board games for awhile.

1:45am - So much for board games, most of us have been playing basketball and ultimate frisbee in the main room. Lots of kids are playing video games and ping pong as well. I'm a horrible sweaty mess, but hey, that's part of the fun of lock-in, right? Dodge ball is next!

3:39am - The faithful are still playing dodgeball. I can't believe I'm still hanging in there.

4:23am - After four hours of playing basketball and dodgeball, I have officially hit the wall. The kids are still doing well, scattered all over the building playing games and talking. I'll probably sign off here and get my things together and go home… I still have to work today.