the lark news has a hilarious (fake) news story about youth groups who can’t remember what their name means:
Trend: Youth groups forget meaning of names
SYRACUSE — When Rhett Wilson became youth pastor at LifeWay Church, he inherited a youth group name nobody could explain: GetReady 7:35. The youth group had been using it for five years, but almost the entire pastoral staff had changed and nobody could remember what it meant.
“We know the youth used to have prayer early Saturday morning,” says Wilson. “Maybe it means 7:35 a.m.”
Others surmise the 7:35 refers to a Bible verse, or to the time on Wednesday nights when the group used to meet. Wilson tasked youth group members with looking up all chapter 7 and verse 35s in the Bible. They didn’t come up with anything that fits.
Youth groups across the country are finding themselves in the same predicament: sometimes their names outlast their leaders and memories.
Get Wi’dit 4:11 in Ft. Lauderdale doesn’t know if their name refers to 411, as in where to get critical information, or a Bible verse.
“I think it’s Ecclesiastes 4:11,” cracks the associate youth pastor. That passage reads, “And on a cold night, two under the same blanket can gain warmth from each other. But how can one be warm alone?”
Two youth groups — The Call 5:16 and Higher 37 — have posted online requests asking former youth group members what their names mean, so they can retire them with dignity.
At Youth Group 720 in Seattle, the current youth pastor confesses he doesn’t know what exactly it means.
“The previous guy explained it to me one time, but I forgot it,” he says. “It may mean two full revolutions, or maybe it’s a Bible verse. Maybe it was his membership goal.”
He laughs.
“We still use it because it sounds skateboard-y,” he says. •
i once inherited a program (the youth group didn’t actually have a name at the time) called 710. the best we could all figure out was that it was a cute starting time (7:10pm), and really didn’t refer to anything else. (actually, now that i think of it, it may have been some other close-to-that 7-ish time reference. i’m sure eric can clarify, as i hear they’ve gone back to this lame name in recent years.)
the lousy junior high group name i left on someone else: the powerpack
the once ok, but became awkward after 911, name i left on someone else: ground zero
not-so-bad names i left on someone else: the herd, and wildlife
(ht to mikey via email)
i think that the ultimate youth group name would have to have “xtreme” “edge” and some numbers in it….i would say those are the critical elements of a lame youth group name.
I’ve avoided the name thing, but was in a youth group called DV8; I liked it because I could call us all Deviants and have a youth group named to back me up.
Was the Jr. High: The Powerpack named after the comic book Power Pack?
One of my students wanted to name our Sr. High “The X-men” because of the whole X (chi) thing (something she learned from my chi-ro patches). I informed her that having Spider-man and Daredevil posters, Fantastic Four, X-men and Avengers action figures on my desk was more then enough notice the youth director was a comic book fan, I didn’t need to give any more proof.
yeah, i tried youth group names and the kids were like..
no the names are lame
lets just call it Community Church youth group
I’ve given up on names … I used to think it was all cool and stuff, but after years of trying and being the only one using them, I’ve bailed. Oh well!
I did succeed in naming my college dorm floor “the Nutthouse,” that took off a little too well. We got quite a reputation across the whole school … yikes …
I had a youth house in my student ministry in Alabama. We were going for a bluesy feel to the place, so we called it Buddy’s Muddy Soulshack. It had very deep theological ties.
I didn’t notice this post until today, but yes we still call it 701. It’s not the youth group name, but just the name of our JH Wednesday night program which starts at…you guessed it…7:01pm. I dislike most names, but the kids actually say this one so we keep it.