How to Plan a Christian Youth Conference (8 Steps)

Determine the budget for your Christian Youth Conference. Look at the money you have in order to determine how much you can afford to spend on the conference. Raise any additional funds ahead of planning your budget so that you are not spending any money that you do not have in hand.
Decide on the date and location for the Christian youth conference. Consider planning it for a long weekend when the kids have some time off of school. Look for locations that are within your budget. If you are short on money, you may need to hold it at your church. If you have money to spend, you might investigate booking a hotel or conference center.
Pick a theme for your Christian youth conference. You might coordinate it with a series of sermons covering love, forgiveness, healing or another such topic. Themes such as relationships, peer pressure, sex and substance abuse are also relevant topics for teenagers, provided that they are approached within the context of God's Word. Attending college and excelling in school can be ideal themes for youth conferences intended to build up and encourage the youth.
Plan the food for the conference, deciding on whether you will have the conference catered or ask participants to bring their own food.
Decide on the activities for the youth conference, guest speakers and being sure to allow for large group and small group time. A large-group speaker event might be followed by smaller breakout sessions to allow for processing. Time for recreation should also be included. Consider showing movies relevant to the conference theme, giving the kids time for physical activity or hosting a pizza party.
Print fliers advertising the upcoming Christian Youth Conference and display them in prominent places within your church and community. Include information on the conference in the church bulletin, mention it in youth Sunday school and Bible study classes and call the teenagers in the church to personally invite them.
Collect any registration fees or donations as applicable and purchase any materials needed for the conference. Store everything in labeled boxes so that it is ready to go when the time comes.
Create lists of duties for all involved in facilitating the youth conference so that everyone knows what his or her responsibilities are. Pray together in advance of the event, asking God to direct the activities of the weekend and show you how to best lead the youth.
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How to Host a Private File Server

Download the HFS File Server installer (see Resources).
Open the file to begin installing HFS. Use the default options.
Run HFS once setup is finished.
Click on the button that reads 'Server is currently OFF.' This will activate HFS.
Read the series of numbers next to the 'Open in Browser' button. This is the IP address of the server.
Open your favorite web browser and enter the IP address given by HFS. If you see text indicating you are in HFS, you have properly set up your server.
Enable files to be shared over the file server by dragging folders into the program's window. Be sure to specify 'Real Folder' when confirming its usage.
Go to the 'Menu' option on the server, and click 'Save File System.' This will make your changes permanent.
Browse to the IP address used in Step 6. You should be able to download any file located in the public folders.
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How to Download Video Links (10 Steps)

Locate the video that you want to download. If the video is hosted from YouTube on another website, go directly to the YouTube website link by clicking the YouTube icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. If you try to get the video from a website hosting the video, it will not work properly.
Copy the video link from Youtube or other video hosting website. If the video is part of a multi-part series, copy and paste each link into a word processing document to keep track of them.
Go to Clipnabber.com. On the main main look for the pasting box at the top of the screen. Paste the Youtube link into the box and click 'Nab'. Wait a few seconds for the website to analyze the video link and find the file.
Click on the 'Download' link that appears underneath the box. Choose a location to save the file and press 'OK'. If it is a multi-part video, save the video as 'Part_1' or 'Part_2' so that you can keep track of the video a lot easier.
Repeat this process for the remaining videos. The videos are usually downloaded as an FLV file, so they will play in applications like the VLC Media Player, but not much else. You need to convert the videos to make them compatible with other programs like iTunes, DVD burning applications and Windows Media Player.
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How to Host a Foreign Exchange Student

Know what you are getting into. Realize that hosting an exchange student is like adopting him or her for the time they are in this country. These students have financial resources and are almost always covered with medical insurance policies, but their housing, supervision and emotional support come directly from the host family. It is also true that because of cultural differences, exchange students sometimes have difficulty integrating into the hectic and competitive society that exists in American high schools and junior high schools.
Go through a rigorous placement process. Prior to 2006, background checks were optional and at the discretion of the entity responsible for the exchange student's placement. Following a series of articles from all over the world that documented apparent abuse of students during their stay in the United States, legislation was initiated to establish oversight of the placement process. At that time, many if not most exchange student agencies voluntarily began requiring criminal background checks on the adult members of prospective host families.
Decide which organization you want to use for placement. There are a large number of entities that handle placement of exchange students. Some of these organizations work with designated countries, some with designated religious affiliations, some with specific educational organizations and others without a defined population of any kind. The Council for Standards on International Educational Travel (CSIET) is such an organization. CSIET has a list of vetted programs throughout America.
Check the websites of three of the oldest exchange student organizations: the American Field Service, The Rotary Youth Exchange and The Youth for Understanding Foundation. These organizations have long standing reputations. They place a large number of students.
Check smaller organizations, and organizations that serve specific populations of students. AYUSA, The Center for Cultural Exchange and The World Heritage Student Exchange Programs are examples of such programs.
Apply with one of the organizations after considering the responsibilities inherent in the program and the type student you would like to host.
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