Confirmation Packet The information you need for a great week at Challenge 2018!
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 2: Pages 4-7: Pages 8-10: Pages 11: Pages 12: Challenge Checklist Prior to Challenge Complete Registration Housing Registration Transportation Prayer Base Week of Challenge On-Site Registration Youth Worker Update Meals Gatherings Huddles Prayer Moves Afternoon Options Evening Options Apex Experience Emergency Information Guidelines Agreement 2
CHALLENGE CHECKLIST January - April May February 1: Last day to register for Early-Bird Rate ($299/person) Saves you $80/person! March 15: Last day to register for Regular Rate ($329/person) Saves you $50/person! Read this Confirmation Packet carefully Prayer: Ask students, parents and your church to pray for your group Leaders: Confirm your adult leaders coming to Challenge Deposits: Collect deposits from your students (due at registration) Fundraising: If raising funds, begin fundraising now! Transportation: Consider partnering with a nearby church for travel to and from Challenge o If you re flying, register for the Challenge shuttle that will take you from the Kansas City airport to your hotel (see page 6) Housing: Reserve the correct number of rooms for your group through passkey and begin your rooming assignments Outreach: Register online for Outreach opportunities Students/Parents: Have students and parents submit the online permission/waiver form Drop Rooms by May 19. If rooms are not dropped by this date, there will be a $150 charge/room you drop after this date. May 19: o Register: Last day to register/add students for Challenge o Outreach: Last day to register for outreach afternoon options o Permission/Waiver Form: Double check that all students have submitted the online form o Housing: Room Assignment lists are due Final Payments: Collect payments from students (due June 1) Transportation: Confirm your transportation arrangements, including airport shuttle if necessary Prayer: Consider planning a "Day of Prayer and Fasting" for your youth group and/or church June/July June 1: o Final payment is due (must be postmarked by June 1) o Registration for airport shuttle is due o Complete Missouri Tax Exemption form if your church has a tax-exemption number Leaders/Students/Parents: Review Challenge guidelines (page 11), schedule, hotel etiquette, your travel plans, etc. with parents, students and leaders Offering: Encourage students to bring cash for the offering Prayer: Update your prayer base before you leave July 2-6, 2018: See you at CHALLENGE in Kansas City! 3
PRIOR TO CHALLENGE finalize registration Registration closes May 19 Update the registration site by May 19 Confirm student and leader information on the registration site before registration closes. You can register additional people until May 19. If changes are necessary after May 19, email challenge@efca.org. Early-Bird Rate Register by Feb 1 $299/person Regular Rate Register by Mar 15 $329/person Last-Minute Rate Register by May 19 $379/person Notes: A 10:1 student to leader ratio, per gender is required. For example, if you have 4 girls and 6 guys attending Challenge, you would need one leader of each gender. ALL ATTENDEES MUST BE REGISTERED. Seating assignments will be made based on your total attendance, so do not show up with extra attendees (students or leaders). Challenge is open to students entering grade 7 through students exiting grade 12 and their accompanying adult leaders. Deposit & final payments Your registration deposits are non-refundable and should be mailed in as soon as you register. The remaining balance of your registration must be postmarked by June 1. Deposits can be transferred to a previously unregistered participant from your church if necessary. Make check payable to EFCA and write Challenge in the memo Mail to: Challenge 901 East 78th St Minneapolis MN 55420 4
while on-site housing registration Housing registration closes May 19 Housing Registration 1. Immediately after registering for Challenge: Reserve your hotel rooms through Passkey Housing Services. a. If you are reserving more than 10 hotel rooms, do not use the Passkey website. Complete the room assignment form found here and email to housing@ihs-housingteam.com. 2. May 19: Your rooms must be updated with student/leader names in Passkey. There is a $150/room fee for extra rooms that are not dropped prior to this date. 3. Prior to June: If your church has a tax-exempt number, fill out the Missouri exemption form found here to submit to your hotel in June so you don t have to pay state taxes on your lodging. 4. June 8: If you need to make room adjustments after this date, please contact your hotel directly. Housing information All our hotels are fantastic properties. The map on the following page shows their location in relation to the convention center. Handicapped accessible rooms are available. Check the Accessible box and note it in the additional requests section when booking your reservation. Please release any unneeded rooms as soon as possible by following your hotel confirmation email link. You will not be allowed to change rooming assignments once rooms are assigned. Students must stay in the rooms you assign them. If another church is providing a youth worker for part of your group, you must indicate that in the note section of the website registration and register for the same hotel (if you neglected to do this, please contact the Challenge office). Hotel check-in will not begin until after 3 p.m. Each hotel will have a ballroom set aside for luggage if you arrive before your rooms are ready. Plan accordingly. Check out time is Saturday morning by 10 a.m. Each hotel will be staffed with Challenge housing, security and medical personnel. Any hotel room damage will be charged to your church. 5
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arrange transportation Airport shuttle Challenge offers a $15/person round trip shuttle service from the Kansas City International Airport. You must complete this form before June 1 to register. Bus/Van Rental US Coachways, Inc. is offering special pricing plus a 5% discount with promo code EFCA for any church going to Challenge. They are nationwide and offer van and bus rentals. For a quote on your trip, contact Davie Ingram at dingram@uscoachwaysinc.com or 800-359-5991 ext. 373. Bus driver housing If you need housing for bus drivers in a separate, quiet hotel, we have arranged for rooms at a separate hotel Hotel: Fairfield Inn Kansas City Downtown/Union Hill 3001 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64108 Rate: $99/night (available July 1 7, 2018) Book by: 6/1/18 Link: Fairfield EFCA Block Rate Parking Free Challenge parking for your vehicle or bus is available in the Liberty Lot on the corner of 16 th Street and Liberty Street, just 4 minutes from the convention center 1550 W 16th St, Kansas City, MO 64102 organize prayer base Transformation is a supernatural, God-dependent process. When we pray, we know God moves. At Challenge, students will be stretched in their faith and challenged to make a Bold Move that sets them apart from today s culture. We encourage you to develop a prayer base back home to be praying for your group while you are at Challenge. Some ideas for communicating prayer requests and praises: email, texting group, Facebook page. 7
WEEK OF CHALLENGE on-site registration Where: Convention Center Lobby 2200 When: 1-5 p.m. on Monday, July 2 (Note: Hotel check-in begins at 3 p.m.) Who: Send 1-2 adults to register and enough people to carry your group s lanyards and handbooks Bring: An up-to-date list of everyone in your group. We will verify that everyone on your list has a permission form submitted online. There will be no admittance to Challenge without this form. Verification of any outreach events for which you have pre-registered. Additional Registration Details Recreation sign up is available at registration. You will receive your seating assignments for the Gatherings sessions. There will be 3 seating rotations throughout the week. If you will arrive after 5 p.m., please email challenge@efca.org in advance. Monday dinner Dinner is on your own Monday night. 8
challenge elements Youth Worker Update Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m., all youth workers will gather for 30 minutes at the convention center. We encourage your whole adult team to be in attendance for these two meetings as we ll discuss important safety and schedule information. Meals All meals will be served in the convention center. You can come and go during the open meal times. There are no scheduled time slots, just be sure your students don t wait till the very end of the serving time to eat! Lunch will be served in boxes to allow flexibility for your group to do ministry, recreation or offsite activities. Gatherings & Assigned Seating All morning and evening Gatherings will take place in the Municipal Auditorium Arena. This is the time we will gather for worship and teaching. Your group will be assigned seating that will rotate three times during the week. You ll be given a seating chart based on the number of attendees in your group. You ll be handed this at registration on Sunday. A Challenge staff member will help you find your section in the arena. Groups are expected to sit together during this time. Huddles Immediately following each Gathering there will be a time for your group to get together. Huddle is a great chance to help your group apply the lessons & develop a response to the challenges you will hear during the week. Suggested Huddle questions have been created by each speaker and will be provided to the leaders onsite. This Huddle time allows you to pass along necessary information to your group, plan your options for the rest of the day, and spend some time in prayer with your group. Prayer Moves Prayer is an integral part of Challenge. Everyone is invited and encouraged to be involved daily onsite. Prayer Moves will intercede before each evening session from 5:30 6:30 p.m. at the convention center. Bookstore We will be selling Challenge t-shirts as well as speaker and artist resources. Cash and credit cards accepted. 9
Afternoon Options Equipping Labs: Your group will be able to take advantage of an expanded selection of Equipping Labs. These options are available on our website & will be available onsite as well. Outreach: Outreach is the only option that you must pre-register for as a group. Options include: Prayer, Service Projects and Sharing. Transportation will be provided for these opportunities. Recreation: There will be organized tournaments in volleyball, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee and basketball. Registration for daily tournaments will happen on-site when you arrive on Monday and, if available, each day. Pick-up archery tag, gaga ball, and 9-square will also be available. All recreation will be held from 1 5 p.m. each day Apex Experience - Apex Experience, formerly known as Love Moves, is a hands-on 60-minute experience you won t want to miss. This year, the focus is the Middle East. We encourage you to set aside time one afternoon or evening during the week to go through the Apex Experience as a group. On your own - feel free to take an afternoon to pull your group away for some intentional time together by enjoying area attractions. Go to www.visitkc.com for more visitors info. Worlds of Fun Amusement Park: Enter promo code 2018EFCAChallenge for a special ticket price of $35/person, plus tax. Schlitterbahn Waterpark: Promo code is still TBD. Check back for promo code to receive discounted tickets of $33.99/person. Sea Life: Order Tickets through this website to get tickets for $16/person. Arabia Steamboat Museum: Show your Challenge nametag to receive tickets for $12.50/person. WWI Museum: Show your Challenge nametag to receive tickets for $14/person. Evening options After each evening gathering & huddle time, students have options for spending their time. From 9:45 11 p.m. students will have the option to participate in recreation and evening options. 10
medical/ emergencies Permission Form Please have all your leaders and students complete this form prior to leaving for Challenge. Don t forget to fill one out for yourself! Challenge Office The Challenge Office will be in the Convention Center. Office hours are: Monday: Tuesday Friday: Saturday: 10 a.m. 11 p.m. 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. 7:30 a.m. 10 a.m. This office will be able to find the answers to most of your questions and will answer the hotline number 24/7. You can leave this number with your parents and church office for emergency use. Challenge 2018 Hotline: (816) 513-5501 Available July 1 July 7, 2018 Emergencies from Home The fastest way for parents to reach students in an emergency is to call their lead youth worker s cell phone. The second fastest option will be to call the Challenge 2018 office and leave a message for their child. Phones will be answered 24 hours a day. Security Awareness Student safety is one of our highest priorities. Challenge provides a security team in addition to hotel and convention center security. Our Security Coordinator has interfaced directly with the Kansas City Police Department. Every participant lanyard is imprinted with the 24-hour security hotline number. Medical Needs If you have a medical emergency dial 911 first, then call the Challenge hotline so we can send someone from our team to help. If you have a medical need that is not an emergency, call the Challenge hotline. We have some medically trained volunteers that will be available at the convention center during the day and at each hotel in the evening. Office Hours will be posted in each hotel for non-emergency needs. Counseling We will have trained counselors available the week of Challenge. We value their presence to offer Biblical counsel and/or simply a listening ear. They will have a flexible schedule and semi-private location near the Challenge office. We encourage adult leaders to join their student(s) for this time, as they are the ones coming alongside the student after Challenge has ended. You can find out more information in the Challenge office. 11
2018 Trip Leader Guidelines Form Guidelines We do not have many rules, and we won t take our Gathering times to hound your students about them. We expect you will cover these items with your parents and students before you come and that you will work at compliance with your group during the week. 1. Respect: During your stay in Kansas City you represent Jesus Christ, Challenge and our local Kansas City churches. Look for ways to show respect, politeness, appreciation and courtesy to everyone including hotel staff, convention center staff, and the people of Kansas City. 2. Safety: We are in a city. Therefore, travel in groups of 4 or more and be sure to always let an adult know where you are going. 3. Attendance: Trip leaders are responsible to be sure all of their students are in attendance at each of the following three times: Gatherings, Meals and Huddles. Required" attendance is at your discretion. Know where your students are. We realize there are times you and your leaders may need to be counseling students, etc. after hours or during sessions. 4. Dress code: Modesty has been traditionally defined as adequate cover-up with little or no upper thigh, midriff, or chest area exposed for females, and males must have a shirt on at all times except when swimming. In an effort to maintain modesty, we are requiring all female swimsuits be a one piece or midriff covering bathing suit; males must wear trunk style bathing suits. Shoes are to be worn at all times for health and safety reasons. Youth workers and personnel are permitted to request a student to change into more modest attire. 5. Lanyards: It is imperative that you & your students wear your lanyards for security and admittance. Entry to all Gatherings, meals, housing and recreation will be by lanyard only. 6. Hotel: Hotel curfew time is 11:30 pm All students AND youth workers are to be in their hotels at 11:30 pm It is your responsibility to account for your students at 11:30 pm Students are to be in their own room and quiet at midnight. Participants are to stay in the hotels until 6 am unless accompanied by an adult. No student or youth worker may enter the hotel room of a member of the opposite sex for any reason. Violation of this rule may result in immediate removal from Challenge at the individual(s) own expense. Utilize the lobby, convention center, and outdoors for co-ed socializing. 7. Health: Drink lots of water. Dehydration and heat exhaustion could bring an early end to your time at Challenge. Be sure to drink lots of WATER, avoiding sodas and caffeinated drinks. 8. Technology: To help students be fully present for all that God has for them at Challenge and for their safety; all technology is to be left in hotel rooms. The exception to this is cell phones. Cell phones should be silenced and put away during Gatherings and Equipping Labs. 9. Prohibited materials: Illegal drugs, alcohol, fireworks, weapons, pornography and/or other illegal substances are prohibited at Challenge. Any Challenge participants found with these materials will be sent home at their own expense. Report any drug use, alcohol, or other prohibited behavior to staff. I have read the Challenge Guidelines listed above. I have communicated them to my group. My group and I will help to make Challenge a great week for all by seeking to uphold these guidelines. Name: Church: Signature: Date: 12