If your local congregation participates in Lads to Leaders, you probably already know what an incredible program it can be for helping young people grow in their knowledge of Scripture, develop leadership skills, and discover how they can use their God-given talents in service to the kingdom of God.
Lads to Leaders offers so many opportunities for young men, young ladies, young boys, and young girls to become more comfortable studying and sharing the Word of God. From year-round events completed at your home congregation to events associated with the annual convention, there really is something for almost everyone.
But that can also create a challenge:
How do you help families understand everything Lads to Leaders has to offer?
There are so many different types of events that the program can feel overwhelming to a family participating for the first year.
Parents may know about Bible Bowl or song leading but have no idea what Centurion of Scripture, Sower, Good Samaritan, Defender, Mass Media, Keepers, Providers, or Wilderness Challenge involve.
Some families may not even realize how many opportunities are available for school-age children, even from a young age all the way through high school.
And sometimes you simply don’t know which activity will help develop a child’s overall leadership potential until he or she gets a chance to see it!
That was the idea behind our Lads to Leaders Fair.
We wanted to create an event that was informative enough for parents, group leaders, coordinators, and potential volunteers, but FUN enough that our children would be excited to walk through the doors.
Our solution was to turn our Lads to Leaders informational meeting into an old-fashioned carnival-style fair!
Instead of sitting through a long informational meeting explaining event after event, families could walk around the room, visit tables, talk directly with coordinators, see examples from each event, enjoy treats, and discover ways they could become involved.
It turned an ordinary information night into something our children could look forward to.
Here is how we organized it—and how you can host a Lads to Leaders Fair at your local church, too!
What Is a Lads to Leaders Fair?
Think of it as a combination of an information fair, involvement fair, and carnival.
Lads to Leaders provides congregations with year-round leadership training tools that can help children develop Bible knowledge, communication skills, service-mindedness, and confidence using their abilities for God.
The purpose of our fair was to put those opportunities in front of families in a way they could actually see and experience.
We set up tables around the room representing the different Lads to Leaders events offered by our congregation.
Families traveled from table to table to learn about each opportunity.
At a table, they might:
- Look through a scrapbook.
- See artwork created by previous participants.
- Look through a Defender book.
- Pick up a puppet.
- See Leaders Bible Bowl study materials.
- Look at awards earned by previous participants.
- Learn about song leading and opportunities for young men to develop skills that can eventually be used during a worship service.
- See supplies used for Wilderness Challenge.
- Learn about service-oriented events and volunteer work.
- Talk directly with the coordinator or group leaders who lead that particular event.
The carnival theme simply made the informational event feel like something special.
Our goal wasn’t to create an elaborate carnival requiring dozens of games and expensive decorations.
The Lads to Leaders events themselves were the attractions.
The carnival theme was there to create excitement and encourage families to explore.
Start With the Purpose
Before planning decorations, tickets, food, or prizes, determine what you want your fair to accomplish.
For us, the goal was to help both children AND adults discover ways they could become involved in Lads to Leaders.
We wanted children to leave saying:
“I want to try that!”
But we also wanted adults to leave thinking:
“I could help with that.”
Lads to Leaders isn’t successful simply because children sign up. It takes the help of parents, coordinators, church leaders, teachers, coaches, and other Christians who are willing to invest their time in the next generation.
A strong program at the local congregation gives children opportunities to practice skills throughout the year—not simply during Easter weekend when many families attend a Lads to Leaders convention.
And those skills can go a long way beyond a convention event.
The child learning to give a speech is learning to communicate.
The student studying Bible Bowl is developing Bible knowledge.
The child participating in Good Samaritan is learning to serve.
The young man practicing song leading may one day use that skill regularly in a worship service.
The child memorizing Scripture is hiding God’s Word in his or her heart.
Our ultimate goal isn’t trophies.
It’s helping develop Christian leaders who know and love God’s Word and are prepared to use their abilities in His service.
Your fair should make it easy for someone who knows absolutely nothing about Lads to Leaders to walk into the room and begin discovering where they fit.
Choose a Simple Carnival Theme
I wanted our fair to feel fun without requiring an overwhelming amount of decorating.
We chose a traditional carnival/fair look with reds, blues, yellows, stars, tickets, stripes, and vintage-inspired signs.
Think:
STEP RIGHT UP!
LADS TO LEADERS FAIR
TICKET BOOTH
GRAB YOUR PRIZE!
A few coordinated decorations can transform an ordinary fellowship room without covering every wall.
Some simple decorations you might use include:
- Pennant banners
- Carnival signs
- Balloon clusters
- Paper fans
- Directional arrows
- Red, white, yellow and blue decorations
- Carnival-style ticket graphics
- A large welcome sign
- A designated ticket booth
- A snack or prize area
- A decorated bulletin board advertising Lads to Leaders or displaying photographs
One of the things I loved about this approach was that we didn’t have to decorate every individual table ourselves.
Instead, each event coordinator decorated his or her own table.
This allowed the individual displays to reflect our individual congregational needs and the events our congregation actually offers.
Set Up Event Tables Around the Room
We had 30 different Lads to Leaders events represented at our fair.
Rather than having 30 individual tables, we combined related events and used 13 tables, with most tables sharing two events, but some with more.
Our table groupings were:
- Centurion of Scripture & Oral Bible Reading
- Know the Books & Read the Word
- Defenders & Debate
- Puppet & Wilderness Challenge
- Year-Round Bible Bowl/Pearls & Convention Bible Bowl
- Convention Art Says it & Scrapbooks & Banners
- Sower & Good Samaritan
- Keepers & Providers
- Year-Round Powerpoint & Mass Communications
- Teach Me to Pray, Gifts, Guard, Headed to the Office (we offer 1 of these each year on a 4 year rotation)
- Year-Round Song leading & Convention Song Leading
- Year-Round Speech & Convention Speech (boys & girls)
- Year-Round Songs of Praise & Convention Songs of Praise
Of course, your congregation may offer different events, and that’s perfectly fine!
One of the strengths of Lads to Leaders is the variety. There are opportunities for children who enjoy studying, creating, speaking, serving, performing, technology, memorization, and much more.
Not every child is going to love the same thing.
A child who has no interest in one of the more performative events may thrive in service, art, technology, or intensive Bible study.
The idea is simply to group events in a way that makes sense for your congregation and the space you have available.
Long rectangle tables worked especially well for us because it was easily divided. Families could easily gather around a display and talk with the coordinator without creating a formal Bible class or meeting atmosphere.
Give Every Table Coordinator a Job
This may be one of the most important parts of making the fair successful.
Don’t make your fair a room full of signs.
The signs are helpful, but the people are what make it work.
We have event coordinators for each event and they were expected to not only decorate their table, but to be there to talk to people during the fair. They understand their particular event and can answer specific questions.
Your coordinators and group leaders don’t need to give a ten-minute presentation every time someone approaches.
Instead, they should be prepared to quickly explain:
What is this event?
Who can participate?
Is it a year-round or convention event?
What does participation actually look like?
How much preparation is involved?
Why might a child enjoy or benefit from it?
What will the child learn?
How can someone get started?
This is especially helpful for parents who may be interested but hesitant because they simply don’t know what is involved.
Let Coordinators Decorate Their Own Tables
We provided the basic setup, including the tablecloth and a coordinating carnival-style sign describing the event.
Then we encouraged coordinators to decorate their tables with items related specifically to what they were representing.
This kept the decorating workload manageable while making every table different and interesting.
Some ideas include:
Song Leading/Songs of Praise
Display songbooks, a pitch pipe, past convention awards, or photos of students leading songs.
Puppet
Bring puppets, scripts, photos, props, or photos of your puppet stage.
Know the Books
Lay out books of the Bible flash cards, study ideas, event rule page, and ribbons from previous students.
Art Says It/Scrapbooks/Banners
Display actual artwork created by students in previous years. Set out completed scrapbooks that families can flip through.
Read the Word
Different Bibles, chronological Bible, Bible reading plans.
Debate/Defender
Display Defender books, study materials, Bibles, notebooks, or examples of what students have studied.
Good Samaritan
Display simple signs with ideas of ways to serve others, lay out some of the medals of previous students, a basket of encouragement cards, small globe and other decorations can help give people ideas.
Keepers
Show completed sewing projects, craft supplies, cooking projects, or other examples of skills students have learned.
Providers
Display different types of tools, motors, work gloves, and photos of work projects completed in the past.
Wilderness Challenge
A backpack, hiking boots, compass, outdoor supplies, maps, or photographs can immediately communicate what the event is about.
Bible Bowl
Display Bibles, study books, practice questions, awards, team photographs, or other study materials.
Mass Media and PowerPoint
Set up a laptop or tablet to show examples of projects created by students. This is a great way to help children who are interested in technology see that there may be a place for their talents within Lads to Leaders, too.
The goal is to make the event visual.
Someone should be able to look at the table and immediately become curious about what’s happening there.
Use Real Examples Whenever Possible
One of the best things you can put on these tables is evidence of what your own students have already done.
Use:
- Photos from previous leaders conventions
- Student projects
- Artwork
- Scrapbooks
- Awards
- Ribbons
- Trophies
- Study books
- Practice materials
- Videos
- Finished projects
These items communicate something that a description on a piece of paper simply can’t.
A younger child may see a picture of a young boy or young girl from their own congregation participating and think:
“I could do that!”
Parents can see what participation actually looks like instead of trying to imagine it from an event description.
If you have older high school students who have participated for several years, consider asking them to help at the tables as well. Younger children often love seeing what the “big kids” are doing.
Use One Ticket as a Checklist
Our ticket system worked a little differently than a traditional carnival where children earn individual tickets to spend.
Instead, each child received one large carnival-style ticket when they entered the room at the Ticket Booth.
The ticket listed all of the Lads to Leaders events represented at the fair, with a small circle beside each one.
Children could visit the tables in any order they wanted, which kept the fair relaxed and allowed families to move naturally around the room instead of following a set route.
Each event table had its own stamp marker.
When a child stopped at the table, listened to the coordinator explain the event, looked through the display, or participated in the activity, the coordinator stamped the circle beside that event on the child’s ticket.
The goal was to encourage children to visit every table and learn about all of the opportunities available—not just the events they already knew about.
I especially liked this system because it gave the children a reason to explore the entire room without turning the evening into a competition.
They could move at their own pace, stop longer at something that interested them, and could go back to a table if they wanted another look.
And parents had plenty of opportunity to ask questions along the way.
Visit Every Table, Then Claim Your Prize
Once a child had collected all of the required stamps, the completed ticket became their “admission” to obtain their prize
The right side of our ticket included a “tear-off” stub (we actually cut it off)that said:
“You Did It! Claim Your Prize!”
After visiting all of the tables, the child turned in that ticket stub and got to use our claw machine to grab a rubber duck prize.
This ended up being one of the favorite parts of the fair.
The prize itself was simple, but getting to use the claw grabber made it feel like a real carnival game.
And because children had to complete their ticket before playing, the prize gave them an extra incentive to visit every table and learn about all of the different types of events available through Lads to Leaders.
You could easily adapt this idea to fit your own congregation.
Instead of a claw machine, children could turn in their completed ticket for:
- A small prize
- A rubber duck
- A treat bag
- A spin on a prize wheel
- A special Lads to Leaders sticker
- A piece of candy
- A small Bible-themed prize
The prize does not have to be expensive.
The fun is in having something waiting for them at the finish line.
Why the Stamp System Worked So Well
One thing I especially liked about the stamp system was that it kept the focus on learning about the events rather than simply collecting loose carnival tickets.
To receive a stamp, the child had to actually stop at the table and interact with the coordinator.
That gave our group leaders and event coordinators a natural opportunity to explain what their event involved and answer questions from both children and parents.
It also helped make sure families didn’t accidentally miss an event.
At any point, they could simply look at their ticket and see which circles were still empty.
For younger children, the act of collecting stamps added another little element of excitement.
For parents, it created a simple checklist of the opportunities their children had explored.
And for coordinators, it gave them a clear moment to connect with each family.
Simple, inexpensive, and very effective.
Create a Clear Starting Point
When families enter, they should immediately know what to do.
A designated Ticket Booth or welcome table works perfectly.
This can be one of your more heavily decorated areas because everyone will see it.
At the entrance, explain the process:
- Start here.
- Visit the event tables.
- Learn about the opportunities.
- Get your ticket stamped.
- Collect your prize at the end.
- Sign up for the events that interest you!
A simple printed instruction sign can also eliminate a lot of confusion, expecially if they want to come back and refer to the “instructions” throughout the fair.
Don’t Forget the Adults!
Even though there is a lot of emphasis on the kids, remember that this event is also an incredible opportunity to recruit adult volunteers.
Successful leaders programs require people.
As parents travel around the room with their children, they’re naturally meeting the people who coordinate different areas of Lads to Leaders.
This gives you an opportunity to say:
“We’d love for your child to participate—and we’d love for you to be involved, too.”
Have information available about ways adults can help.
Some people may not be ready to coordinate an entire event, but they may be perfectly willing to:
- Help students practice
- Listen to speeches
- Help with costumes or props
- Assist with crafts
- Study Bible Bowl material with students
- Help with technology
- Take photographs
- Assist at practices
- Help organize materials
- Participate in volunteer work
- Encourage students
The help of parents and other adults in the congregation can make a tremendous difference.
Sometimes people don’t volunteer simply because no one has shown them where they’re needed.
The fair gives you a natural opportunity to do that.
Make Signing Up Easy
Excitement is wonderful—but you want to turn that excitement into participation.
Don’t let a family leave saying:
“We should probably do that sometime.”
Give them an obvious next step.
Each table can have a sign-up sheet, QR code, interest form, or whatever system works best for your congregation. We had a QR code sign up table near the entrance/exit.
You might collect:
- Student’s name
- Parent’s name
- Age/grade
- Event of interest
- Parent volunteer interest
- Contact information
Depending on how your congregation organizes Lads to Leaders, you may also want to provide information about the online registration system, important dates, the registration deadline, pre-convention events, and which convention sites your congregation attends. We attend the Nashville convention at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.
Then—and this part is important—follow up after the fair.
If someone indicated interest in Bible Bowl, the Bible Bowl coordinator should contact them.
If a parent said she would like to help with Keepers, someone should follow up with her.
The fair creates enthusiasm. Good follow-up turns that enthusiasm into involvement.
Keep the Decorating Manageable
You absolutely could turn this into an enormous carnival production.
You don’t have to.
In fact, one of my goals was to create something special without creating an unreasonable amount of work.
A few larger decorations throughout the room combined with individually decorated tables can create plenty of atmosphere.
Focus your decorating efforts on:
- The entrance
- Ticket booth
- Main Lads to Leaders Fair sign
- Prize/snack area
- Directional signs
- Pennant banners
- A few balloon clusters
- Coordinated table signs
Then let the actual Lads to Leaders events materials fill the room.
The tables don’t need to look like professionally styled party displays.
They need to make people want to stop, ask questions, and get involved.
Free Lads to Leaders Fair Printables
Because I know how much easier an event like this is when you don’t have to design everything from scratch, I’ve created several coordinating printables that you can use for your own Lads to Leaders Fair!
These are designed around the vintage carnival/fair theme we used for our event.
Print them at home, through your church office, or have larger signs printed at a local print shop.
A Few Tips Before You Host Your Own Lads to Leaders Fair
After planning our Lads to Leaders Fair, these are the things I would keep at the top of the list:
1. Focus on involvement—not decorations.
The cute carnival theme gets people through the door and makes the night memorable.
The conversations at the tables are what matter.
2. Show instead of simply telling.
A scrapbook is better than describing scrapbooking.
A puppet is better than describing puppets.
A child’s artwork is better than explaining Art Says It.
Whenever possible, put the real thing out for them to see.
3. Get current participants involved.
Children love hearing from other children.
If you have students who already participate in an event, let them help demonstrate it!
This gives experienced participants another opportunity to practice their own leadership skills while encouraging younger students.
4. Remember the parents.
Parents need to understand what they’re committing to, how practices work, and who will be helping their child.
5. Give people a next step.
Every table should make it obvious on what to do to get involved.
6. Make it fun.
This is an informational event—but there’s absolutely no reason an informational meeting has to feel like an informational meeting.
Add tickets.
Pop some popcorn.
Hang the pennants.
Let the kids explore.
Create an atmosphere that says:
“There are so many good things you can learn, so many ways you can grow, and so many ways you can use your talents for God. We can’t wait to help you find yours!”
More Than a Carnival
At the end of the day, the purpose of a Lads to Leaders Fair isn’t the tickets, popcorn, signs, decorations, prizes—or even preparing for an annual convention.
Those are simply tools.
The real purpose is helping children develop abilities they can use in service to God.
A child may walk up to the Song Leading table because he wants another carnival ticket stamp.
But while he’s there, he may discover that he wants to learn how to lead a song.
Another child may pick up a puppet and discover something she loves.
A family may flip through a Leaders Bible Bowl study book and decide they’re ready to join the team.
A parent may walk into the room thinking Lads to Leaders is simply something their children do and leave realizing there is a place for them to serve, too.
That’s the point of the fair.
Whether your congregation has been participating for years or this is your first year, a Lads to Leaders Fair can be a great way to introduce families to the program, strengthen participation in year-round events, recruit volunteers, and get children excited about developing their God-given talents.
We want our young people to know that studying God’s Word, serving others, developing their talents, and preparing themselves to become faithful Christian leaders are things worth getting excited about.
The ribbons and trophies are fun.
The convention memories are special.
But those aren’t the ultimate goal.
We are investing in children who we pray will grow up loving God, knowing His Word, serving His church, and using what He has given them for the kingdom of God.
And if a carnival ticket and a bag of popcorn help introduce a child to an opportunity that strengthens his faith and prepares him for a lifetime of service?
I’d call that a pretty great night at the fair!!
You might also enjoy checking out my free printables for hosting a back to school bash church event!
