Here is a question a friend of mine would like some feedback on…
Would you have club at a fast food place?
- Would you have it there once?
- Would you have it there for an entire semester?
- What would be the pros/cons?
- If you’ve done it, any recommendations?
- Any funny stories?
Here is my experience… I’ve done club several times at Taco Bell, at a local kids pizza place (Peter Piper Pizza), and maybe somewhere else. I’ve found that these places are very open to having an event on a Monday night if it brings people in. I’ve also been very upfront with them about the songs, the talk, etc. Nothing has phased them. On the plus side I’ve seen people who are just eating there really interested in who we are. On the challenging side, I have at times been worried that a stranger or two was being a little too interested in some of the teenage girls. It is a hard place for proclamation, but I like the oddity of it… Something feels right to me to be at a public place in our community talking openly about Christ to our friends. I’ve never tried more than one meeting a semester doing this.
I’m very eager to hear your input, and I know some of my friends are too… Can you help us by proving some comments?
3 thoughts on “Club at McDonalds? Wendys? Taco Bell? Chick-fil-a?”
We’ve done it once at a local pizza shop. It brought in several new kids, probably because of the free pizza, so that was one of the upsides. But people looked at us very strangely when we did skits/walk-ons. Some people in the community were wondering what the heck was going on, and some we very entertained by it. Also, I think some of the students felt awkward singing and dancing and such, in public. Ultimately I think it’s great to do once or twice a year, but any more than that and it gets expensive and doesn’t really capture the essence of YL club. Kids need to feel comfortable letting go and being themselves, and they couldn’t do that as easily in public.
We once had Club on a Wednesday night at a local BBQ restaurant. We were really pumped about it because we had a local leader who is a country singer agree to do the music (all country). It was going to be great. The owner said that it was perfect timing because he had no booking for that night and we would probably have the place to ourselves. I showed up about 1/2 an hour prior to club and the owner asked if we could move our time to 8:30 because he realized he had doublebooked. When I said there was no way bc we have students that don’t drive and rely on parents to pick them up and that it would put us late on a school night, he said we could use the outdoor patio. Well, this could be cool bc people in town would be exposed to a YL Club. Only, there was one problem, it was 27 degrees outside.
Luckily, there was a tent set up that blocked some wind and there were outdoor heaters (they would provide a little warmth for about 10 people…haha. I began to make calls and have leaders bring blankets and sleeping bags. Everyone was hudled up together and we had a great time…the singing was even good – and that is not the strong suit of our kids.
The ironic thing about the band that was inside where it was warm is that they only had 3 fans – they were the only patrons that night.
I have Campaigners at restaurants due to the makeup of my guys – only a couple are Christians. This aspect makes our time more of an outreach.
I like it. It reminds me of how Jesus was preaching in public places. And he also liked to preach with people being fed. I say we go for it.