I’ll never forget my first time seeing “Bus Program.”
A dark curtain hung from an extended shower rod across the back of the coach bus. The six seats closest to the bathroom were blocked off and something was going on back there, but I was honestly paying more attention to the ladies sitting around me. All of a sudden “Welcome To The Jungle” came blaring over the bus speakers and “Murf” stormed out of the curtains dressed head to toe in camo, dripping wet.
“I’m ‘Sergeant Pits,’ ‘Sweaty Pits’ that is, and I hope you campers are ready for a little bus ride workout.”
I don’t remember much else, just laughing a ton and beginning to think that this was a trip I for sure was going to remember.
Since then I’ve had the curse and privilege of some pretty long bus rides to camp, even a whopping 72 hours (round trip). I’m still not sure how those freshmen boys actually slept in the overhead compartments.
One way to make the long rides more bearable and memorable is to do Bus Program.What Is Bus-Program?It is essentially a run-on (walk-on) skit that happens just like it does in your club over the semester, except the whole story plays out during the bus ride. It’s a mini-version similar to the type of program your high school friends will see played out during the week of camp. It’s like a movie come to life, a story with good and evil. A plot with conflict and resolution. Staged silliness.Why Do Bus Program?It’s not necessary, but just another way we can show kids the extravagance of Christ’s love for them.
The humor will make the long bus ride seem shorter.
The laughter will begin to tear down those walls that certain kids have put up to “protect” their hearts.
It’s also an easy way to sell games/mixers on the bus to help kids get to know one another better.What Makes A Good Bus Program?Intentionally making it junkyard. This week my brother tweeted about a new show called “Commercial Kings.” He wrote, “#commercialkings with @linklamont & @rhettmc is the Instagram of TV. They deliberately lower the quality of something & it ends up better.Intentionally lowering the quality of Bus Program makes it funny.
Despite intentionally lowering the quality, you still need the three essential elements of a good run-on:
1. Good Intro Music For Each Character
2. Good Costumes
3. Good Repeater Lines
On Thursday I’ll post the details for the mixers and Bus Program we did on our bus trip to camp last week. Feel free to “steal” the ideas.Creativity is just forgetting where you stole it from.
