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.