I came across an article about Disney World's Night of Joy. This is the after-hours event when Disney brings in the best of the best in Christian music for a festive night at the Disney parks for the Christians. This article uncovered the reason why the author had heard that a good number of Disney World's cast members (employees) refused to work the weekend of Night of Joy.

According to the author, Jeff Lange, "I couldn't figure out what it was about being assigned to work at the Magic Kingdom on an evening when Christian music is being presented that would cause WDW employees to frantically try and change their schedules. But now I get it.

"You see, it's not the music or even the performers that make these evenings unbearable for WDW employees. That aspect of this after-hours event is actually pretty nifty.

"Nor is it the adults who come to this Christian music celebration that cause any of the problems. They're typically good, well-mannered people who have come a long way at great personal expense to see some of their favorite performers in person. So they're not the reason that the Night of Joy has such a poisonous reputation among Disney World employees.

"'So what's the problem?,' you ask. It's the kids. To be specific, some of the church youth groups that come down to WDW just to attend Night of Joy. They're the ones who make this after-hours event seem hellish to WDW cast members as well as for some of the other guests.

"To explain: Busloads of kids from church youth groups from all around the U.S. descend on Disney World every year to attend Night of Joy. And given that this is a Christian music celebration that's being held at a family-friendly resort, parents typically don't have a problem with staying home while they send their son and/or daughter off to WDW to attend this after-hours event. Particularly since their church's youth group will usually send along a few chaperones to help supervise the kids while they're in the Magic Kingdom for the concert."

Then he goes on to describe some of the horrific behavior he saw that night. You can read the entire article here . Jim Hill Media is a travel website specifically for Disneyworld.

Oh dear.

I read something in a great small non-youth ministry book a couple of years ago. The book is The Essential 55 written by Ron Clark, who was the 2001 Disney Teacher of the Year. The book impressed me so much I wrote a Pair of Cleats about it and have included the book in the Wild Frontier Book Recommendations.

Ron Clark's secret to teaching success in Harlem was the 55 rules he came up with. Gasp! 55 rules sound an awful lot like legalism but he has had great success teaching math to Harlem students. The concept and many of the rules can apply to youth ministry as well so we can have success in teaching a proper Biblical worldview. This book is a great short read.

The author's view of youth groups from this article caused me to remember one of the rules. Rule #38 - "When we are on a field trip, there will be no talking as we enter a building. We will enter the building so quietly that no one will even notice that we are there. This rule applies to entering any place where people are gathered, whether it be the movies, a church, a theater, or any other venue."

That rule has stuck with me. I love being seen with my youth group or other youth groups when I am their guest. I think they are fabulous and want everyone else to know that. However the behavior I am used to from being with youth over so many years would cause fright to many adults. Groups of teens generally do cause fright anyway, whether they are being loud or not. Add regular adolescent playfulness and you've got fright. Add disrespectful behavior in all forms and you've got a bad reputation. I understand their behavior but the message to other adults is not the same. How impressive would a group of teens be if they did enter a building so quietly that no one would notice they were a group of teenagers. What a statement that would make. What a statement that would make about me. What could that little action do to help the stereotypes of teenagers.

Of course, some of this behavior is modeled after the youth workers. At all of the youth worker conventions I have attended, there are always groups of grown men (not so many women, really) acting bizarrely immature but thinking that they are cool. It is embarrassing. I remember one particular youth convention where a nationally recognized resource ministry dressed up volunteer youth workers in towels and plungers and dubbed them "Captain Youth Pastor" or whatever. These "superheroes" roamed the convention menacing one and all. They thought they were "cool" but I was embarrassed for them. It's bad enough when youth leaders do this behavior on their own. But when they are encouraged by a resource ministry, it gives our entire profession a bad reputation.

Our youth groups reflect the behavior of their leaders. Because of that, my days of Chinese fire drills are long over. What a stupid behavior I was modeling.

Being orderly and impressive may not sound like fun. But when did offending and scaring complete strangers become fun? And what about that fun represents the Christian faith?
This is a rule I implore all youth groups to consider. It's not a "heavy" one and the fruit can be so large.