Recruiting :

The process of promoting conferences and retreats, enlisting students to attend by showing them how it could meet specific needs in their spiritual growth. Recruiting also involves helping students overcome barriers, real or imaginary, which would prevent them from attending a conference or retreat.

How do conferences and retreats benefit students?

List several benefits you think students experience as a result of attending a Cru conference of retreat?

Some benefits we thought of were:

• Spiritual growth for the student – God seems to speak in dynamic ways when we get alone to focus on Him
• The opportunity to grow deeper in knowledge and love with Jesus Christ
• It’s a chance to deal with some deep life issues in a loving environment
• The unity of your group can be built
• Students are trained in ministry and the Christian walk
• The student has the opportunity to really learn God’s Word in a deeper way
• It builds momentum for your movement
• ·It gives you as a leader a much greater platform from which to speak into student’s lives
• What a student gets from a conference is often equal to 6 months of personal discipleship time.

Top 10 Ways to Encourage Students to Attend a Conference

1. Know the Purpose of the Conference Clearly – is it an evangelistic retreat, a leadership conference, a conference for growth and training?
2. Sow Broadly with Students – Promote the Conference Widely. Get your leadership students involved early. Train them how to explain the conference and keep track of those you challenge. Have the students write down 5-10 friends they want to invite. Use creative skits, announcements at meetings, mailings, registration give aways, testimonies of those who have attended before. Early registration deadlines are often a help to get a core of students registered early.
3. List Possible Students to Challenge and Determine Their Needs – Brainstorm a list of students you want to ask. Think through the benefit to each student and communicate that benefit to them.
4. Pray for the Students – The Lord desires students’ growth more than they do or we do. Ask Him to show the students their need for Him, give them the desire, etc.
5. Challenge Each Student Individually – Already knowing the needs that will be met by the conference for each student, approach the student with a heart for them to “discover” it themselves. Ask them some questions about their desire for spiritual growth. You may want to mention conversations you have had where they expressed the need to grow spiritually or mention the hunger for God you have seen in them. Begin with your leadership students and proceed the students in your ministry. Be ready to mention any of their friends you know are going. Don’t be afraid to ask the student to work through barriers – i.e. asking a coach for time off, asking an employer for time off, asking a parent for permission, going without friends, etc. Your invitation may be the opportunity for them to trust God in a deeper way.
6. Get the Student’s Feedback – What are their questions, their initial response? Tell them how to register, when registration deadlines are, about fundraisers, etc. Have them verbalize any hesitations they may have so you can talk them through.
7. Deal with Barriers – Validate their concerns for any of the barriers, which they feel exist. Discuss the practical solutions to each problem. Be aware that sometimes students have issues that block them from going but may be afraid to tell you because they do not want to disappoint you. Let them know that you will think no less of them if they do not go, but that you want their best. Also be prepared to work through the solutions to their problems in going.
8. Talk to Parents, Teachers, Coaches – As an adult, you can offer some credibility and influence for the student as they speak with parents, bosses, and coaches. Demonstrate a true servant’s heart by respectfully, yet confidently, speaking to these people. Be ready to communicate how crucial you believe this conference is to the student. As a leader, you can often clarify miscommunications the parent/coach/teacher and student have had – i.e. the parent who thinks this is just an unsupervised wild time at the beach, or the coach who thinks the student is just going with their friends for a vacation, or the boss who does not understand the potential benefit for the student.
9. Raise Funds – You should already have scheduled or have in mind, several fund-raisers. Money has to be raised for most students and we can help by being creative in our fundraising techniques. Fundraising also deepens the students’ commitment to the conference because it will “cost” them something.
10. Communicate Other Details and Follow Through – As the event approaches, make sure that everyone is being informed of specific details (departure, arrival, phone number, what to bring, etc. Put yourself in the role of a parent – what would you want to know if your child were going away for several days? Don’t assume people will just figure it out.