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.