But for smaller churches this might be a highlight of the year for the youth...and the churches best method to try to create some new relationships in there communities..."Come go to SDC with us" It's not really about them hearing the right song during the weekend....though it doesn't hurt....it's about possible planting a seed and hopefully creating some good relationships with kids who need them.
But in cases like that, then the groups, including the leaders, tend to stick together. They might break up into smaller groups, but because they are working on building relationships and planting seeds, they still keep them in groups and usually with some supervision. Those are not the groups that cause problems. As a youth pastor for years, that's what we did. But I also insisted on knowing the kids before they could come on a trip like that. We didn't allow kids that we didn't know to join us. They had to establish some sort of relationship with us first.
Those groups are NOT the problem at events like this. They ARE however also not typical of many of the groups that do go. And that's the sad thing.
Unfortunately I learned that the hard way as a youth pastor, lead pastor, and a theme park worker and having to deal with the large numbers of kids that were turned loose as soon as they walked in the gates to do whatever they please, and if you asked them what church or group they were with they couldn't even tell you because they had never done anything with them before. And those are the ones that cause the problems.