The Holy Spirit

Last Night at youth group we honored yet another beautiful spring evening with some fun outside. Leading up to the evening I had created two separate but equal plans for the evenings. One plan incorporated some silly ice breaker, good teaching and extensive small group time all centered around the Holy Spirit. The second plan incorporated beautiful weather and about 45 minutes of play time outside followed by a very concise plan involving the Holy Spirit and some loosely formed small groups. And option number 2 worked out!

During our outside time we broke into two groups; there were 38 of us, so it was a few too many for one game anyway. On one field we played soccer, the other played ultimate Frisbee. Both are great games because you can add any number of people to play and there is little skill involved in order to have a good time. I felt especially good about empowering leaders to lead the game of ultimate and so I spent my evening with the soccer kids. The only basic rule for the evening was that everyone had to participate. So students who didn't feel especially athletic were required to find some way to be involved - picture taking, referee or cheering on the teams. Though it's a simple rule, it's necessary with students. 45 minutes flew by and everyone was sufficiently tired when we headed inside. Many times during the soccer game I had students tell me they wish we would do this every week. "it's good bonding" and "isn't this what God wants us to be doing" added fuel to their recommendations. They are right of course. even the two girls who were taking pictures jumped into the soccer game after a while. It was out of their comfort zone, and into deeper relationships.

The Holy Spirit talk used three basic examples to think about the Holy Spirit: Wind, Fire, and Animation. We began by thinking generally about the Holy Spirit and when it first appears in the Bible. Then I shared a few verses from Genesis 1 that helped students see the trinity as a concept that began with God in the beginning. Wind was the first illustration that we talked about wind and how we can see the affects of the Holy Spirit (when have you seen the Holy Spirit moving or felt God's presence in your life?). I used the Airzooka (a definite must-have in the youth ministry world) to share about the Holy Spirit and also talked about the hebrew word for Spirit (ruwach).
Fire was the second illustration. I used a string of Christmas lights to talk about plugging your life into God. (how do you fuel up on God? where do you plug in? how can you do it more?).
Animation was the third illustration, and I used a sweatshirt to talk about how God's spirit can fill us with action and life. Then we read from Galatians and talked about times in our own life when we felt like we were living fruitfully and being filled with the spirit.

We closed the evening with worship, and some great songs that fit the topic: every move I make and Light the Fire.

The only regrets that I have about the evening were about inclusion. I definitely noticed one of our more severely handicapped students not participating in the games time. but she as a willing watcher during the game, so I guess I can't really complain. Also in my haste to talk about the Holy Spirit I failed to distribute small group questions to leaders, so I was forced to keep repeating the questions even as small groups were going on. This was less than desirable...