My Experience as Youth Pastor

So I came into this position early in the year and I made the mistake of assuming the calendar that was already in place. The problem is this calendar isn't exactly on paper. As things "we've always done" come up I am asked what my plans are for the event, as if every church in the world does this and so I should already have plans. It turns out "what we've always done" is insidious because it doesn't just block you from new things it surprises you with things you never thought you would be doing. I can say now that I should have put together a calendar for the year as soon as possible. I should have submitted requests to all department leaders for things that the former Youth Pastors always did for them and when so I could work it into my schedule or let them know to make other plans in advance of their event.

I am working on my calendar now for next year. I know I won't get everything on it, but I'm trying to get the major events on there including planning guides. I need to be planning Christmas in July so to speak. I was asked a week ago what we were doing for Halloween. I know I should have seen this coming but since I didn't have a calendar in place I let all the other stuff keep me busy so that I didn't think about it until I was asked. Now I'm scrambling to do an event in less than a month. Sure this can happen but if I started planning back in August I could be focusing on Christmas right now (September is for Thanksgiving and November is for New Years). You have to get the planning in a couple months early so you have time to see the big picture then focus on the details as the event approaches.

So the question is what am I forgetting? I have down major holidays, graduation, some events we did this year and some smaller events for fun every couple of months, like paintball and canoeing.