The least of these

Last night at youth group we focused on the sheep and the goats, emphasizing the difference between sheep and goats is their behavior - to flock together, or to be independent. Though I don't particularly enjoy this reading of Matthew 25 - it was such a great message about looking out for the least of these.

6:30-6:40 Gathering/Snacks (Youth Room)
Yummy snacks provided by a volunteer - and we had some extras leftover from a church event earlier in the day.

6:40-6:50 Opening game (Youth Room)
Choose 4 students, one from each grade and a handful of students each to be their helpers.
Give each student  a giant sweatshirt and a stack of balloons.
Each team will have one minute to inflate balloons, and then stuff their team mate with as many balloons as possible. All balloons must be inflated to proper size (5-8 inches) and must stay inside the sweatshirt to count at the end of the minute.
Then have a second contest to see who can pop their balloons fastest

This was great - very energetic - lots of fun - competitive without having to have prizes. The sweatshirts will be reused over and over again.

6:50-7:00 Joys and Concerns (Youth Room)

7:00-7:15 Ice Breaker – Human Bocce Ball (Fellowship Hall)
Student volunteers divide into two teams, blind fold participants. Send them into the middle of the room by instructing them to take a certain number of steps, in a particular direction, trying to get closest to a center point. Students pass on the number of steps when they bump into someone else.

There were two problems with this game: 1. not everyone could be involved. it would have been perfect if we had a smaller group, but with 40+ students there was a lot of watching. 2. it was too slow. we needed music to be blasting, and leaders who were energizing their teams. I let students be in control because there were so many students, but they wanted to win - not just have fun.

7:15-7:30 DEVOTION
Paraphrase Matt 25
Can you tell a sheep from a goat
Matt 25:40 - Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me
Looking out for Bobby
1 Corinthians 12:23, 26

I loved this talk. I loved the message and I loved the visuals. the students were all over this one, hanging by my words and often referenced in small groups.

7:30 Small Group
1. Introduce yourself and tell the group a little about who you are and what you like to do. (something that might surprise the rest of the group)
2. Go around the circle and talk about a time or space where you feel like you might be considered an outsider.
3. Go around the circle again and talk about times and spaces where you do have a lot of confidence and comfort.
4. What kinds of factors affect your comfort and confidence?
5. Who are some people in your life that might be considered the ‘least of these’? Who are the needy people around you?
6. What kind of resources have you been blessed with that you could share?
7. Has anyone ever shown you special honor (great mercy or kindness) when you needed it?
8. Jesus encourages us to consider the people who others forget about. Why is this message so important? Do you think it's particular to Jesus?
9. Do you think Jesus comments here to his disciples were surprising? Why or why not?

we had some great stories and affirmations in my group. we didn't talk as much about the challenges of looking out for the least of these as much as I would have liked. I think we could have left it a little more encouraging and convicting.

8:05-8:30 Prayer and Praise
I will call upon the Lord
I just wanna be a sheep
I have changed your name
Ritual - you are a child of God - holy and dearly loved, jesus loves you and so do I
You’re beautiful
Baby
Messiah

Why Am I Here?

Last night at youth group was our first night back of the year. It's strange that school started a few weeks ago, but it was our first night of youth group: one of the prayer requests was for midterms? seriously? anyway, this was the schedule with some notes about what worked and what didn't work.

6:15 Leaders arrive

Mostly okay. there was a handful of eager students who arrived at 6:00, the rest showed up between 6:30-

6:40 leaving those eager freshmen in suspense if anyone else was coming. a handful of leaders did show up early and helped greet upstairs - which was great!

6:30-6:40 Gathering/Snacks

Provided by a student and parent - delicious if not a little later than we would have wanted. one of the problems using volunteers is that you're not in control. I would have preferred the snacks arrive much earlier, but that's the way it goes.

6:40-6:50 Opening game and Introduction of Leaders (Youth Room)

We played a power point quiz which was a total flop... total flop, but it somehow achieved the goal of making the entire group gel together in a unanimous  - WAY TO HARD attitude. We tried to have kids guess mom's of celebrity families. whew! 

6:50-7:00 Joys and Concerns (Youth Room)

This is always a special moment of sharing when kids have the opportunity to be excited about each others lives and stand together with difficult problems. We did pray for our pastor's wife who recently had a stroke, and for a student who is receiving brain scans back this week.

7:00-7:15 Ice Breaker – Chicken on a Hill (Fellowship Hall)

beginning the year with a classic game like this is critical. the kids groaned with excitement, but by the end of the game everyone was laughing!

7:15-7:30 Why am I here devotion (Youth Room)I wanted to model a faith story on the first night - so I didn't hold back and laid out a great story about stealing a street sign when I was in college. I coupled that message with the story of Joseph and his brothers concluding with Genesis 50:20 - God intended it for good. Then we challenged the kids to think about how much of our actions happen for a reason.

·          

7:30-8:05 Small Groups sorted by grade the first night

1.  Share your name and an experience or a story when you’ve thought:  ‘why  am I here’
2. Looking backward, in the last 12 months what are some events that you didn’t’ expect but had an impact on your life?
3. Looking forward into the next year what are some events that you hope or will possibly happen that will have an impact on your life?
4. Thinking about the story of Joseph, do you think God planned to have Joseph’s family betray him?
5. Are there any parts of Joseph’s story that you can relate to in your life?
6. What’s your current family situation like? Is it similar to others here in our group or to Joseph’s?
7. Do you think God had a hand in your family situation? Are you part of your family for a reason?
8. If you could look ahead in your life to know the result of your decisions (good or bad) and what your life would look like in 10 years, would you? Why or why not?
9. What kind of an effect would/could this youth group have on your life or this year?

8:05-8:30 Prayer and Praise

We invited the new youth choir director to join us for the evening. He brought his bass and added some depth to our singing - which was awesome. With our drummer on a box, a bass, and a couple of guitars we really rocked the campfire circle by singing Lean on me, Prince of Peace, Forever Reign, Hungry, and Light the Fire. 

I'm going to try to keep track of our song choices better this year so that we don't get too stuck in a rut.

Of course we ended with our typical ritual blessing - you are a child of God, holy and dearly loved, Jesus loves you and so do I.

Bonfire

Last night we closed our year of youth group with our annual cookout and bonfire. Great attendance and I think we honored our seniors and welcomed our incoming 8th graders well. It's hard to host the final event of the year on Mother's Day. We did have a good turn out though, it helps when it's a special event I think.

6:00 Dinner - was good we lit the charcoal grills at 4:45 and would have had time to grill everything with two grills going, if we didn't have a grill catastrophe. microwaved/boiled hotdogs instead... burgers worked though.

6:40 Cleanup and announcements - two leaders stayed inside to clean up

6:40 Ice Breaker – the Partner Gamble

Choose a partner and take a place in our circle.

Hold hands with partner so that you know who you belong too.

Round operates like this:

1. Learn their names, grade, school…
2. Share a random fact
3. Gamble on the question – the incumbent makes a guess and the challenger says higher or lower.
4. The winner stays, the loser leaves to find a new partner

Great game for our kids. lots of laughter and fun. Definitely a repeatable game.

7:10 Partner Ultimate Chicken in Vanderveer

You and your partner will be tied together in order to play, only using one arm a piece.

Can only hold the chicken for 10 seconds… leaders are judges

Fun, but a failed game. we only played for about 5 minutes. the legs were too frustrating and funny to be effective. I added a few extra chickens when I realized that it wasn't going to work. and then ended the game shortly afterwards.

7:30 gather at bonfire for drinks and devotion time

Senior Wisdom - we asked questions and the seniors, standing in a line answered one word at a time. was a great way to honor the seniors and have some laughter. 

Singing

Devotion about Josh 1:9 - choosing to look at your life transitions with confidence or fear. then transitioned into Pebble in the Pond where I invited kids to come forward adn mention the name of someone who has made a splash in their life, given them confidence.

the wilderness

Last night at youth group we had really wonderful conversation led by a very courageous faith story. This was our final senior faith story of the year and the young man sharing has been through a lot of dip and turns in his faith over the last few months. When we spoke a few weeks ago in a coffee shop we both came to the conclusion that if I had asked him to share in the beginning of the year his story would have been wholly different. As it is, with graduation looming, some disappointment realized, some difficult expectations laid on him by parents, and some deep reflection, my student found himself deep in the wilderness for this faith story. But after we talked several times and worked our way through his story and what wilderness looks like, I think he gave a very authentic talk about having doubts about faith that propelled our students into a very engaged discussions.

6:30 Gathering

during our gathering I pump the room full of music from spotify and we provide snacks. This week the music was good, but a litttle loud.

6:40 Ice Breaker guess the identity

Using powerpoint images of celebrities I animated the slide show so that celebrities appeared through the disolve feature. I then adjusted the timing to be 30-60 seconds per image. It makes a pixilating reveal of the photo perfect for students to guess. It's always surprising to see how quickly some students are to recognize faces. (I even included one of our senior pastor, which was guessed surprisingly quickly)

6:45 Joys and Concerns

My favorite was "there are few concerns tonight". In actuality I struggle with the pastor care part of this. Often I know about things that the students don't know yet and keep myself from mentioning them. There are always many more concerns than are listed.

6:55 Large Group

We played a short game of charades, divided into three teams, each team had one minute to get through as many words as possible. simple, fun, lots of laughs.

7:10 Bible Story

I shared the story of the Road to Emmaeus with the students. it fit perfectly with the faith story and set up a nice framework to wonder about how God is near us when we don't realize it.

7:15 Faith Story

Was really well done. my senior was funny and serious. He is well respected in our group even if he doesn' come all that regularly. it was a powerful story because he really chose his words wisely and made them count.

7:30 Small Groups

Kind of our last small group of the year, I made one small group all seniors, one all freshman and the other two were mixed. The freshman small group I also added two Juniors who were seniors which really helped keep the conversation on track.

8:10 Worship

In chains

Last night at youth group we talked about being in bondage.

6:30 Gather outdoors with Music

Our church has a beautiful front yard, flat enough to play in, with an outlet nearby. So we can play some games, gather with music and greet everyone as they arrive. It was nice to begin outdoors on such a beautiful night.

6:35 Capture the Flag with Spies

The game worked well. I used a pack of cards and distributed people into teams based on red and black cards. There were two queens in the stack of numbered cards that I used which represented a 'spy'. Once during the game the spy could switch teams. it meant that the defenders of the flag were also a little wary of each other not knowing who was the spy and who was really defending. Game one was great, a spy took the flag and scored. then we redistributed cards and played again. one spy was caught, the other never appeared. we ended the game when it got rowdy. definitely a good twist to a good game. don't forget the jails next time. I forgot to explain them (and they were critical for the night... whoops)

6:50 Snacks and Acolyte Video

on a beautiful night, we bought ice cream and frozen popscicles. when we came inside the snacks were available. it was a good decision. I liked the format. though the game was not as inclusive if someone came late, it was a good opportunity it worked fine.

6:55 Joys and Concerns

lots of good prayer requests. I think students really look forward to the chance to share with each other. the challenge is keeping everyone together and listening in the midst of sad stories that invoke further questions from friends and laughter when we rejoice. it's a good ritual for our group though.

7:05 Dan’s Talk about Prison

Pastor Dan spent a week in a maximum security prison in Louisiana a few weeks ago. He shared what it was  like to enter and engage in that community for a week. He did a great job explaining what normal looked like for them and how life was felt in prison.

7:30 Small Group – as people we often feel imprisoned in different ways. Whether that’s at school, or in life, because of our friends, pressure from parents, or how much money we have. Tonight in small groups we’re going to reflect on Dan’s story about prison and think about how to find hope in our own lives of captivity.

I think the small group conversations were well received. They were serious and interesting. I only caught glimpses, but small group leaders seemed pleased at the end.

8:10 Closing Worship

We closed with a few songs about being in captivity to different things: Blind Man, Messiah, Baby, and In Christ Alone. We always close our evening saying "you are a child of God, holy and dearly loved, Jesus loves you and so do i". It's another ritualistic action and always fits with the theme of the evening. I introduce the ritual each night with different words, last nights was the easiest. I reminded everyone that they are in captivity. we are all enslaved to one thing or another. we're broken, but God calls us to claim one another in love. claimed as God's children, not rejected, but accepted by God and by us.