By: Jordan Walda

The Lighthouse Church was proud to present in 2019 the second annual Tribal Wars competition for Blackford County youth. If you have ever seen the hit T.V. show “Survivor,” and are a fan, then you would love to see the fantastic challenges these teens accomplished over the course of the summer. Every Sunday starting from June 30^th to the end of July, Blackford County youth met at the Lighthouse Church for two hours to participate in Tribal Wars.

Teens were divided into four different tribes, and from the second they were split, they started earning points—by bringing new friends, wearing tribe colors, memorizing scripture, stealing flags, and of course, winning the challenges. 

The tribes had to work with their teammates to build a functional water balloon catapult out of 2 x 4 wood pieces and duct tape. After successfully building their catapult, tribes gained points by landing balloons in another tribe’s zone. Other activities these youth and volunteers enjoyed were pool-noodle jousting, messy relay races, and nerf-gun wars.

Kristin Stinnett, an active member of the Lighthouse Church was a volunteer during the first annual Tribal Wars experience in 2018 and said, “I think my favorite part was the connection you made with your tribe. It brought new kids out and volunteers were able to get to know the students even better through the competition.”  Kristin also said that even the quieter, reserved students joined in the competitive nature of the games. 

Colten Eakins, youth director of Living Water Student Ministries at the Lighthouse Church, pioneered Tribal Wars with the help, creativity and dedication of his volunteer staff. Tribal Wars started as a fun way to draw more teenagers in last summer. It was such a hit, they decided to make Tribal Wars an annual occurrence. The first Tribal Wars season was successful, but this was the first year of tracking attendance to see just how well the program was able to draw in students. A total of 38 students participated in Tribal Wars over the 5-week time span. Of those students, 21 students were not active in the youth group prior to Tribal Wars. 

Small communities like Blackford County can be challenged to provide stimulating, popular and meaningful activities for youth. Living Waters Student Ministries has found at least one activity that attracts students for fun-fueled competition, fellowship with their classmates, and a message about God each Sunday for five weeks in the summer. The growth trend and involvement has continued into the school year. 

Colten is excited to see what next year’s Tribal Wars will hold and looks forward to seeing even more growth moving forward. And for those of you wondering: the Blue Tribe brought home the victory and is going Laser Tagging as their prize.