The question is why?  Why would someone do this?  Why would God allow it to happen?  The answer is simple and not always satisfying.  We as humans have a sense of right and wrong, justice, and purpose built into the fiber of our very being.  The simple answer is that we live in a fallen world where people do terrible and bad things.  It is a result of the fall.  Intuitively we know this is not the way things are suppose to be and so we find it unsatisfying.

Things are suppose to be good, we are supposed to live in a world wear peace reigns and love for God and others is the ultimate good.  We weren’t created for this world, but the previous (the Garden of Eden) and the next (The new heavens and the new earth).  There are no answers that are satisfactory because there shouldn’t be.  As we go through life tragedies happen.  Most of the time they are somewhere far removed from us.  We watch the news and learn about natural disasters in Haiti or some other part of the world and we may feel sad or upset, but we get over it quickly.  When it hits home our emotions run high.  We aren’t just sad, but sometimes angry.  We are angry because deep in the fiber of our being we know we were created for something better.

There may not be any words that can make all these feelings go away, but there is hope.  The hope of redemption found in Christ.  The hope of a world where peace and love reign will one day be realized when Christ returns.

Yes, we live in a fallen world, but that is only part of the answer.  Without hope, without Jesus, that answer isn’t enough.

At the time I am writing this it appears both of the students who were shot will recover.  Still let’s be in prayer for the students and families who were connected in some way.  The only real answers for this kind of event are found in Jesus.

• I actually have fun.

If I have fun, and look forward to it, it seems like the students will do the same.

• Extended, concentrated time with students.

There aren’t a lot of events that give you time to just sit and hang with some of your students for a longer period of time.  I can move from student to student and actually have full conversations.  I don’t have to fit 15 conversations into 20 minutes.

• All the fun of a retreat packed into one night.

The way we do all nighters is pretty high energy and we do some pretty sweet stuff.  We have all the fun of a retreat, but we do it all in one night.  Sure there is some recovery time, but it ends up being shorter than actually going on a retreat.

• It’s cost effective compared to many events with the same amount of impact.

Retreats cost 4 or 5 times what an all nighter costs, and if you do it right you can get the same amount of impact especially from an outreach perspective.  Since the cost is lower, we usually get more students at our all night party than we do for a retreat.

• An opportunity to recruit new staff.

I know it is an all nighter, and you might think it will be hard to find help.  If you are looking for all your staff to participate by staying all night, you would be right (but not as right as you might think).   I ask for help with specific areas.  For instance, I asked for help with breakfast, a bunch of drivers for a couple hours on new year’s eve for “The Amazing Race”, set up help, clean up help, program help, etc…  When it was all said and done we had a ton of people helping.  Some of these people (if they had a positive experience) will continue to help and may even become staff.

• It’s an attractive alternative for both students and parents.

We often have students come to our New Year’s Party because they know it is a better environment than where they would have gone.  The same can be said for the parents, they will often encourage their students to attend something like this because they know it is a better environment.

• It’s a good way to get a couple “recovery days”.

It may not be the best way to get time off, but I usually lay low for at least a day, sometimes two after one of these events.

Just like any event or program, you figure a few things out after you do them a couple times.  Here are some of the things I have learned over the years about doing all nighters:

• Don’t do them often.

The more you do them the harder it will be to find help and make them great.  Once a year is enough.

• Do it on a night where the next day is an off day for most people.

This also makes it easier to find help.  You will also get more students this way.

• Go big or go home

More than anything I do not want to stay up all night and not have it be beneficial.  We go big, we charge money for students to come and we spend all that money and sometimes more.  We want students to be talking about it all year.  If you have a budget to supplement the event, use it.

• Find help for specific parts of the event or for certain shifts.

Most of my help is only there for a certain shift or to help with a certain task for that night.  Because I do it this way I am almost never concerned about finding enough help.  If I wanted to, I could have sneaked in a couple hours of sleep because I had enough help.

• Share the Gospel

We always have several students who do not know Jesus at these events.  I make sure someone shares the gospel.  I know some of them might continue to come to our ministry, but a lot of them won’t.  Take advantage of the opportunity.  We had two of our students share Christ this year and two students accepted Christ.

• Try to wear the students out by two or three in the morning.

If they are worn out by that time, the rest of the night is a piece of cake.

I know you are probably sitting there thinking, “I’m too old for this and I’m not staying up all night!!”  That’s fine, all nighters aren’t for everyone, but I bet if you were going fishing or leaving for some trip you wouldn’t have a problem getting little or no sleep.  Aren’t your students worth it?  Maybe you have other events that you do better, but next time someone bring up the idea of doing an all nighter, instead of saying, “I don’t do those anymore” say, “I heard those can be a very effective outreach”.