How To Be A Great Emcee & Host For Christian Youth Events
Britt Kitchen
A great host & master of ceremonies (MC) can make all the difference in your student ministry.
They can make a room come alive with energy, get everyone excited about what’s about to happen, and lead the way to good conversations in small groups. For the time they’re on stage, your host has the reigns of your student ministry, and a great host can turn it into an incredible experience for your kids.
How do they do it? How do great hosts turn a room around just like that? Well, while some people are born to be great hosts, most of us have to learn how to be great. Take a look at his three ways to enhance your hosting time in student ministry.
1. Make students the stars.
At its core, hosting for students is a servant role. We are serving them by welcoming them, giving them information they need, and creating a fun environment. Remember, the host isn’t the attraction; the students are. You’re there to serve them! Keep that in mind as you choose your games or stage interactions with students. A great host knows how to celebrate students, make them feel cool, and avoid embarrassing them (even when they’re asked to do something silly). The goal is to highlight your students and have a little fun with them while they’re on stage.
2. Incorporate their group.
This is huge for a small group driven student ministry. It’s important to always find ways to point your students back to their groups. The sooner you can get students interacting with their groups, the better their conversations will be. As the host, introduce opportunities for that interaction at the top of the program. Choose games where students have to work together as a group or encourage them to stand with their group before the music starts. Guiding them towards connection during hosting will help students feel more connected to each other once small groups actually begin.
3. Pick the right song.
Part of your job as a host is to bring energy to the room and focus your students’ attention for the rest of the program. A key ingredient to accomplishing that is playing the right music. You should constantly be searching for songs with great walk up intros for your host to take the stage. You also need to think about the right songs to play under a game. Are students shooting nerf guns? Then crank up “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” Are they eating something gross? We should be hearing something like “Eat It.” Adding the right music to your hosting will help the top of the day go from just a bland announcement time to a memorable experience for everyone.
The above article, “How To Be A Great Emcee & Host For Christian Youth Events” was written by Britt Kitchen. The article was excerpted from www.bigstuf.com web site. November 2017.
The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.
This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”
