With a desire to build some ministry memories for our fathers and sons, we offered a Thursday evening Big Guy-Little Guy Nerf Games event 7-8:30pm on a hot summer evening in our gym. I read every blog I could find about Nerf Games for ideas, cautions, must-haves, and lessons learned.  The little guy had to have completed K5-5th grade. The big guy could be a dad, uncle, grandfather, big brother, etc. We did not offer prizes, other than the container of red, white, and blue M&Ms for the one who came closest to guessing how many were in the container. Prizes were bragging rights. It was a hit!

Promotion: Big Guy-Little Guy Nerf Games
All little guys (completed K5-5th grade) are invited to bring a big guy. Bring your own Nerf artillery and we’ll provide the ammunition. Thursday, June 20, 7-8:30pm. This is not a drop-off event, but a shared big guy-little guy event in the gym. Register today at… $5 per big guy, $5 per little guy

Supplies:
o Bullets and Target stickers
o Blow up rocks
o Barricades – Big boxes; panels
o Bandanas & Goggles & Ammo
o Name tags
o Black half-aprons to keep and store ammo (we use these aprons all the time)
o Overturned green buckets to raise items on tables
o Face paint makeup sticks and hand mirrors
o barriers
o Turned over tables
o Signage
o Helium balloons red, white, and blue
o 5 Back-up guns from 5Below & Walmart

Setup outside the gym included a sign-in table for name tags, bandannas green or blue, safety glasses, ammo, and black half-aprons to store ammo. (We use these half-aprons for a lot of things).
Setup inside the gym included one wall of various target shooting stations, one wall with M&Ms and water stations with camo paper cups, and a corner with 30 chairs for water break and devotion. The rest of the gym was filled with barriers, balloons, random chairs, etc.

7-7:20pm Big Guy-Little Guy photo ops and target shooting
7:20-7:45pm Various games such as Protect The President, Last Little Guy Standing, Last Man Standing, Last Team Standing, Little Guys Guard Big Guys, Big Guys Guard Little Guys, Family Target Shooting Contest, etc.
7:45pm Water break with Butterfinger snack bars and devotion led by a McEachern Kids leader who used all kinds of animals calls, then spoke about Jesus calls (outstanding!)
7:50pm Various games (see above) After each game, a whistle would blow to reload and pickup ammo from the floor
8:20pm Hands-on prayer time and clean up.

Delights? Watching a grandmother and wives/mothers viewing from the upper balcony. The laughter and giggles from the boys and their big guys. This was a summer follow-up to VBS which made for the majority of attendees being new to the church. There were dads who came without guns and dads who came with duffel bags full of them. We will definitely do this again. A colleague is planning to borrow our goodies for Veterans Day with a Veteran from her church to offer the devotion.

“He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.” Genesis 10:9