How to Keep the 30 Hour Famine Fresh

The first year I did the 30 Hour Famine, I was super excited about it. It was a new event to me – one I’d never participated in when I was in high school. It sounded fun, engaging, and impactful. And it was!

The second year I did the 30 Hour Famine, I was still super excited about it. Since last participating in the Famine I’d begun ministry at a new church. So even though the Famine was no longer new to me, it was new to my students, who were super excited (and also a little intimidated) by it.

The third year I did the 30 Hour Famine, I was a little less excited about it. It was still hugely impactful for my teens but it felt a little old to me.

The fourth year I did the 30 Hour Famine, I was even less excited about it. By then, I knew how to run a Famine. The problem is, it just felt tired to me. I feared that after multiple years of doing it, my students were also growing tired of it. How, I wondered, do you keep the same event – especially one as important as the Famine – from feeling stale?

Over the years, here are 7 strategies I’ve used to keep the 30 Hour Famine fresh each time.

Read the rest of this article here. 

Jen Bradbury on Youth Ministry

Jen serves as the Minister of Youth and Family at Atonement Lutheran Church in Barrington, Illinois. A veteran youth worker, Jen holds an MA in Youth Ministry Leadership from Huntington University. Jen is the author of The Jesus Gap: What Teens Actually Believe about Jesus (The Youth Cartel), The Real Jesus (The Youth Cartel), Unleashing the Hidden Potential of Your Student Leaders (Abingdon), and A Mission That Matters (Abingdon). Her writing has also appeared in YouthWorker Journal, Immerse, and The Christian Century. Jen is also the Assistant Director of Arbor Research Group where she has led many national studies. When not doing ministry or research, she and her husband, Doug, and daughter, Hope, can be found traveling and enjoying life together.

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A Mission That Matters: How To Do Short-Term Missions Without Long-Term Harm

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Unleashing the Hidden Potential of your Student Leaders

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The Real Jesus

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The Jesus Gap

What Teens Actually Believe About Jesus

Based on National Research

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