Seems as though it’s time for another tribute to my awesome husband.
Neil was a youth pastor for 12 years. He’s a creative-experience-designer kind of guy. Here are two favorite things he dreamed up.
A giant interactive mystery game based on the Mission: Impossible movie. Held during a senior high lock-in. Students were in teams of 4, were given basic instructions about their ‘mission’ and the ‘agents’ they would encounter, and then were sent into a giant interactive set of experiences including complicated codes to break, clues to find, riddles to solve, physical feats to accomplish, all while journeying through various ‘sets’… MI soundtrack, dark, foggy… surprises around every corner. Highlight: students rappelling off the balcony to dangle in mid-air while punching a code into a computer. And a frightening simulation of being chased by the-helicopter-in-the-tunnel, involving a tight hallway, an earth ball, strobe light, and sound fx. It was pee-your-pants scary, according to some students. At the end, each group had the chance to present what they thought were the ‘answers’ to questions based on clues & codes. Only 2 groups out of about 20 completed everything correctly. Amazing night. And probably the only time I was so tired after a youth event that I was actually crawling on the floor during clean-up at 7am.
The ‘Senior Hideout’ is an annual summer event where all the graduated seniors are invited to go on a trip (to an undisclosed location) with a few leaders… purpose: have fun AND talk about issues of faith and life after high school. A few years ago, the group stopped at Taco Bell in a small town for lunch on their way home. Neil took the opportunity to do something he’s always wanted to do: order one of everything on the menu. Everything. And 20 medium drinks. The Taco Bell worker at the counter was a bit stunned, but then caught the ‘vision’. They ended up with every variation of everything on the menu (supreme, Baja, etc) Cost: just over $200. Fairly certain they made the manager’s day.
Dream big or go home.
I’m pretty proud to have been involved in both these events and can say, yes, your hubby is AMAZINGLY creative! And being the “man” behind the computer while kids were just hanging there was SO fun! ESPECIALLY with Brett on the other side!!!
Christy… I couldn’t figure out how to concisely describe the whole ‘man behind the computer thing’. that was a classic, memorable bit of perfection… engineering that, and then having YOU do it! ESPECIALLY with Brett on the other side. :)
Love the Neil. <3
Very vivid memories of sending somebody up to punch in the code, very vivid memories of the large ball coming down the hallway.
Great, great memories, plus many more that aren’t mentioned. You both were a big part of a lot of growth for a lot of people. And you were perfect in that role. Thank you for everything.
Jilly… thanks for the comment… you are, as always, truly awesome.
Christian… good to hear from you! Those ARE great memories, not just because of the events, but because of people like you making them extra hilariously fun.