www.chrisstorms.com

Sock Wars

2010-03-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

It's a cross between pre-k story time at the library and WWW Smackdown, and the kids loved it.

Here are the rules.

Everyone has to start with at least 1 sock on. One of our leaders brought in his dirty laundry that kids without socks could dig through to find some. This was a great idea & pretty gross. Some of the socks were still wet from his sweaty feet.
Everyone must stay on their butts.
No kicking or hitting.
When the music starts, it's a free for all to get everyone else's socks of while your's stay on.
You can still pull other people's socks off even if both of your's are pulled off.

When we got to 4 or 5 people, we stopped the game and just put them in the middle to play by themselves. Everyone had a blast except the girl who got the black eye. But, then again, that's when you know you've got a winner of a game.

2 Nemos & Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-03-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

Nemo, the little guy/girl with one person being the face & legs and someone else being the hands has been a huge hit since I was in high school. Around Thanksgiving time we brought out 2 of them acting as children and had them eating Thanksgiving Dinner with their parents. We actually did it right at the beginning of Club since it had all the leaders participating and we didn't want to have excess set-up time during Club.

We prayed as a family & started eating. The 2 children were pretty obnoxious and woudn 't eat their food. Apparently it was too hard (even the stuffing). So the mom decided to chew it up for them and spit it in their mouths straight out of Ace Ventura. Right before she spit the stuff, the dad yells "No, that's disgusting. We're not from Oviedo. (our rival high school). I think I've got some old jars of baby food."

Dad pulls out the baby food (Thanksgiving stuff like sweet potatoes, turkey, etc.) and the kids go at it. To be honest with you, I didn't know how funny the skit would be, but the over-exagerated eating of the baby food was absolutely hysterical.

The skit ends when the two children get into a fight over who gets the one jar of dessert, prunes. The fight was a great ending, because food was flying everywhere.

Remembering Names

2010-03-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

I am terrible at remembering names. Actually, I think I'm probably pretty good at remembering names, its the faces I have a problem with. There are tons of names in my head, I just have a difficult time matching those names to each particular face, which is really the most important part of remembering the names.

I can't tell you how many times I've either called a kid the wrong name, forgotten that I've met the kid, or worse yet, been called out by a kid I call "Hey Dude" when he asks me if I know his name. That's a terrible feeling - for both of us.

Just came across a post by Donald Miller - Why it Hurts When Somebody Forgets Your Name. A Christian Perspective. He points out that the real reason it hurts when someone forgets our name is because it reminds us of our broken relationship with our creator.

You and I were designed to be friends with God, to be close to Him, to know Him and be known by Him. God gave mankind freedom to walk away, and man did. So now there is a separation. We are separated from the Deity we were supposed to be in relationship with. Without that love, we trade on each others live, which pales in comparison. When my friend saw that I called him by another name, he was reminded of the relationship he was supposed to be in, and reminded how impotent human love can be. He forgave me, but it’s a sad reminder. It’s even sadder because my friend is one of the most loving, other-person centered people I know, and as an introvert, I’m terrible in comparison.

My Club team uses Facebook as an extremely useful tool for many things, but one of the most helpful features is the picture tagging. There are tons of pictures posted of our Club & Camp trips and most of those pictures have been tagged by our kids. We encourage our leaders to take some time to use those pictures as a name quiz.

What do you do to help yourself remember names?

Happy Meals in a Blender with a Twist

2010-03-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

We've all blended up gross stuff and drank it (or made the new leaders drink it) at club. I've heard of skits/games where McDonald's Happy Meals are blended up and swallowed, but I just came across a post by Liz where she describes a game that's a little more detailed than that.

There was a nugget meal, cheese burger and the unfortunate fish filet. A student was assigned to each of us and if they correctly guessed the ingredients to the shake, the leader had to chug it. Oh, that Cindy!!! Why did she have to guess nuggets. The fact that the shake smelled exactly like chicken nuggets may have been a dead giveaway. After the successful guessing, we had to chug the contents of our glasses. In case you were wondering fries, chicken nuggets and Sprite don't taste nearly as good as one. It was sick. I was mainly grossed out by the chicken scent. Luckily I didn't have to chug it all. I think I won since the burger guy and fish guy weren't drinking near as much.

That got me thinking. What about doing food from different restaurants? Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King, Bob's Sushi Bar.

Successfully Leading Games & Mixers

2010-03-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

Jonathan McKee gives the 7 Deadly Sins of Game Leading over at the Source for Youth Ministry. They are extremely helpful reminders of how important the little things are when you're trying to be excellent.

I prefer to be a little more positive, sort of like Paula Abdul. I've translated these into an optimist's language.

Come up with some creative transitions to lead into games. Avoid telling the kids you're gonna play a game.
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Stop and think through exactly how the game will go. Anticipate problems.
Play along with the kids.
Explain how to play in less than 30 seconds. Practice doing this before hand. Try explaining it to the other leaders to see if it makes sense. Control the room. If the kids are talking, make them sit down so you only have to explain it once.
Split up teams quickly. Again, think through this ahead of time.
Have a personality & have fun. If you don't, get someone else to lead the game.
Make sure everyone can be involved either by playing or by seeing what's going on. If you're doing an up front game, try to elevate the people if they're doing something on the floor. Try using a table.

Something to Sign

2010-03-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I had the opportunity to shake nearly every hand in my school's 2007 graduating class, just before they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. I love that position. I'm the guy who tells them to watch their step and to not trip or puke on the principal, as they - many for the first time - get a chance to be the center of attention for one brief moment in time, in front of thousands of people.

I try to say something to each kid, shake hands, and occasionally give a hug to those kids I've come to know the best and know I will miss the most.

As the kids slowly moved past me, I noticed one of my campaigner guys inching his way closer. When he reached me, I threw my arm around his shoulder and told him I was going to miss him. That's when he told me he had decided to stay in town and go to our local university. Last thing I knew he was headed out of state, so I was pleasantly surprised and mentioned that I'd like to talk to him soon about getting into our new leader training.

The ceremony ended and I headed for the doors with the rest of our faculty. As I walked down the street back to my car, I ran into this kid again. I told him how excited I was he was going to be in town, and that I really wanted him to get involved in our new leader training in September.

Then, I saw an uncomfortable look come to his face and he said, "Uh, I don't know. I don't think I want to do that. Don't you have to sign something?"

"Sign something?" I said. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yeah. Don't you have to sign something that says you're not going to drink?"

"Are you serious?" I said. I couldn't believe it. Here he is walking away from his high school graduation, his Young Life leader is giving him an opportunity to stay involved and help others, and all he can think about is having to sign something that says he's not going to drink. How sad!

Wow, I thought. I respected him for being honest. The more I thought about it, I thought he was just articulating something that some of our young leaders might think. But, my gosh.

Part of me felt like such a failure. Had I not been an example of what it's like to live an exciting life with Christ? What would make this kid feel the need to, not even give in to temptation, but "plan ahead" to give in to temptation? It just struck me as so sad.

The Marriage Show

2010-03-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

I few months ago my wife & I attended "The Marriage Show" at Summit Church in Orlando with some friends. A mix between the Tonight Show & Dr. Phil, "The Marriage Show" uses music, a special guest, scripture, audience games, and a butt load of humor to give couples a night of fun in addition to tools to make their marriage more fulfilling. And, since it's at Summit, you get to eat & drink in the sanctuary. How cool is that?

The show is based upon 7 Fundamentals for a Healthy Marriage and the host of the show, James Raffenaud stresses them throughout.

God is in charge.
Make it a priority ("it" is your marriage).
Communication matters.
It's not about you.
Sex and romance, both are important.
Never quit.
Adapt to change.

How great is this show? I cry (for happy reasons) through most of it and when he issued the 7 Day Challenge - 7 straight day of having sex - I about wet my pants. Now I'm Pavlov's dog. I can't stop going to this deal.

The Original Marriage Show promo. from James Raffenaud on Vimeo.

Now the website is up. It includes some video, a blog, and rumor has it, a podcast soon will be available. In addition, you can follow James on Twitter and get marriage tips straight to your cell phone.

If you're in Orlando, you'll definitely want to check it out in person. For those of you elsewhere, bookmark the website & check back often.

Wordless Wednesday - Florida Snowball Fight

2010-03-10T05:32:00.000-08:00

We willed each napkin with 1/4 cup of flour, pulled the four corners together and twisted the top. After making about 500 of these, we were ready to throw them at people for a 70 degree snow ball fight.

Check out more Wordless Wednesday pictures at 5 Minutes of Mom, Sunny Day Today Mama, Seven Clown Circus, Experimental Mommy, & Mom Knows It All.

Throw A Baby If You Have One

2010-03-10T05:19:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, a married couple on my team had a baby boy. One week the dad, Mike, was holding his son in Club and walked out of the room. Once he got out, he removed the blankets from the baby and wrapped them around a doll.

When it was time for announcements, Mike came back in the room holding the doll the same way he had been holding his son. As he moved across the front of the room he purposely tripped over a girl's legs and tossed the fake baby about 10 feet across the room, while simultaneously acting as any new dad would act had it been a real child. The reaction of the crowd was hysterical, especially the girl he tripped over.

That's why I loved it when I read this post by Chad Swanzy titled "I dropped a newborn baby last night" complete with pictures. Good stuff if you've got a baby around.

My wife is pregnant, and I'm already getting excited about being able to do this again.

Gotta A Good Thing Going

2010-03-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Last night after Young Life Club, I remembered that I wasn't going to be able to be at Campaigners on Wednesday morning as usual. We have 8 - 15 guys who show up for a our weekly Campaigner Bible Study at 6:00am at a local coffee shop just around the corner from the high school. Anyway, I wasn't going to be able to lead on Wednesday and when I checked with the other leader who usually comes he told me he wasn't going to be able to be there either.

So, I started to walk around the room and let the guys know we wouldn't be having Campaigners this week.

That's when Mitch & Vinnie decided they didn't need no stinkin' leader.

Vinnie's voice boomed over the music on our sound system. "Hey everyone! Guys campaigners, Wednesday morning at Barnie's. Mitch & I will be leading it."

What a blessing for me to hear for 2 reasons. First, it's obvious these guys love coming to Campaigners. It amazes me that they all get up so early every week to hang out with us and read God's word. And, number 2, that these guys are willing to take the initiative to read scripture with their friends and discuss it on their own blows me away. That's just super cool.

I can't wait to hear how it goes.

You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it.

2010-03-09T05:09:00.000-08:00

So it can be done!

This is a refreshing story from the Chicago Tribune - Practicing abstinence, bride and groom have never kissed.

When the officiant tells Claudaniel Fabien he can kiss his bride at the altar Saturday, no one will fault the couple for a little "should I tilt my head this way, or that way?" awkwardness.

It will be the couple's very first kiss.

In his Song of Solomon series, Tommy Nelson answers the question, "How far can we go?" by using an analogy of a cliff. We don't want our kids to ask how close they can get to the edge. Let's just stay away from the edge.

Of course there are the folks who think this is crazy, those who ask how you know he/she's right for you unless you try her out, the live together before you get married just so you know crowd.

To them, Melody responds, "You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it."

Read the whole story.

Human Pinata

2010-03-08T05:40:00.000-08:00

Wrap a leader up in duct tape with the sicky side out. Stick candy all over the tape.

Then using ropes strung around his arms & legs (or a harness if you have one, which every good leader does) hang him from a tree.

One by one, let the kids beat the candy from the leader with a pool noodle.

If you want to do it inside a building, you could do something similar to this picture I got in an e-mail titled "Redneck Timeout".

Ellen & Me - We Have Something In Common

2010-03-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Check this out...Ellen & I are following 17 of the same people on Twitter. I thought for sure we wouldn't have anyone in common, but turns out we both like Dave Ramsey, Chick Fil A, & the Drudge Report. How 'bout that?

Where'd I get this info? From Twiangulate. It's a Twitter cross referencing tool that lets you compare your friends & followers with those of other Twitter users.

You can even use it to see connections between two or three other people. This might be useful if you use Twitter for professional learning community purposes. You know a few key players in your particular industry and want to know who they both follow commonly. Chances are, that'd be a good person for you to check out, too.

ABCya! - Interactive Educational Games

2010-03-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

My kids have used Starfall for years. It's one of the most simple & helpful reading websites we've found. I've just come across something comparable.

ABCya! is has what looks like hundreds of interactive educational games. It's split into grade level & categories. Here's the 2nd grade list.

Here's one game that helps kids with sequencing. It's a train track. The object is to add the next block in the sequence in order to build the track for the train to go. Finish one track and a new one appears.

My oldest daughter is still having a hard time with money. What's more confusing than a dime being worth more than a penny and a nickle less than a dime? This application gives kids a number of cents; (practicing my semicolon use - did I do it right?) they have to drag the right number of coins into the box and then check to see if they're right.

And what's more fun than Bingo? Am I the only one who spells that word out every time I read it? ABCya! has a math Bingo game that's simple, but effective. It times the player and for strategy purposes repeats several numbers on the same card, so you can decide which one you want to use to get Bingo as quickly as possible.

Follow ABCya! on Twitter, for the latest interactive games.

My Semicolon Confession

2010-03-05T06:16:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make. I'm 37 years old and I still don't quite grasp; when I'm supposed to; use a semicolon. Thankfully the folks at theoatmeal.com have a little cartoon to help; us all out.

Aloha Friday - Kidney Stone edition

2010-03-05T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's Aloha Friday & that means it's question time.

So I have kidney stones, but the pain hasn't set in yet. The anticipation is driving me nuts, but the time is giving me a chance to find something...anything...to make sure it doesn't happen. Last night a friend messaged me on Facebook with a post from eHow.com - How to Dissolve Kidney Stones With Coke. I Coke & I hate pain, so I figured I'd give it a shot. So far so good.

That got me thinking about home remedies. If something like that really works, why didn't my doctor tell me about it? Here's my Aloha Friday question for you.

What is a home remedy you swear by that a doctor would never prescribe?

John Stossel In The Classroom & More

2010-03-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

I just got my copy of John Stossel in the Classroom & viewed it. Good stuff. He addresses the following topics and more:

Should everyone really vote?
Should farmers really get subsidies?
Is it really impossible to achieve the American Dream?
Who can make better more efficient roads, government or private companies?
Why do so many people want to be famous?

In addition to the DVD, his website has all kinds of resources including teacher guides and a video of the month that you can stream straight from your computer.

This is a great tool for parents, too. Make sure your kids really understand capitalism, government, and their relationship to them both.

If you haven't got your copy yet, you can do so at his website, http://stosselintheclassroom.org/.

Candid Camera Club

2010-03-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine shared an awesome idea with me recently.

A few years ago, he got some administrators and a coach to help pull one over on some kids. He set up a camera in one of their offices and had them call a kid in and basically scare the crap out of them. You can use your imagination, but one kid was told that all of her college applications had been stolen and another kid was cut from the basketball team.

At just the right time, the administrator/coach points to the camera and says, "You're on Young Life Candid Camera".

Then you show the videos at club that night.

Note: All of it has to be done in one day, or word will spread & the kids will get suspicious.

Rindercella and the Prandsome Hince Skit

2010-03-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wanted to learn this, here it is. It's a great way to break the ice before a talk.

Once upon a time in a coreign fountry there was a geautiful birl, whose name was Rindercella. And Rindercella had a mugly other and two sigly usters. Also in this coreign fountry there was a prandsome hince, and the prandsome hince was going to have a bancy fall. Rindercella’s mugly other and her two sigly usters went out and bought dancy fresses for the bancy fall, but poor Rindercella couldn’t go because she had nothing but rirty dags. So on the night of the bancy fall, Rindercella’s mugly other and her two sigly usters put on their dancy fresses and went to the bancy fall. And since poor Rindercella couldn’t go, she cat down and sried. Suddenly, her gairy fodmother appeared before her and touched her with her wagic mond and turned her into a peautiful brincess. Her gairy fodmother gave her a kig boach and hix sorces so Rindercella could go to the bancy fall. So off went Rindercella. When she got to the bancy fall, the prandsome hince met her at the door. He had watched her come up in her kig boach and hix sorses from a widden hindow. Rindercella and the prandsome hince danced all night long, and the prandsome hince lell in fove with Rindercella. When the prandsome hince was just about to quop the prestion, Rindercella heard the moke of stridnight, so she turned, straced down the rairs and when she got to the stottom blep she slopped her dripper. The next day the prandsome hince went all over his coreign fountry looking for the geautiful birl who had slopped her dripper. When he got to Rindercella’s house, he tried it on her mugly other, but it fidn't dit! He tried it on her two sigly usters, but it fidn't dit. And he tried it on Rindercella, and it fid dit! So they were mappily harried and lived appily ever hafter. Ehe Thend!

Our Heart Toward Them Matters

2010-03-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

This cartoon is from the Naked Pastor.

Bear Wake-Up Video

2010-03-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

I posted this last year, but with the recent talk about skit ideas, I figured it'd make for some good inspiration. We showed up at 5:30am, put on our school mascot's bear suit, and whipped out a set of borrowed cymbals & our video camera.

Pardon the language, but you can't blame the kid.

All Alone

2010-03-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

I've been known to stay on the pot for quite a while. I'm not sure how God feels about it, but many of my best quiet times take place there. I'm an adult, though. I can get up whenever I want. Not so with my daughter.

Today after all my 11 little ones had gone home from school I left my classroom to go pick up my “real children”. One of Emily’s teachers met me in the hall and handed me Emily’s tote bag. I thanked her and said “Thanks for the bag but where is Emily?” She looked at me like I was crazy and said that the other teacher had dropped her off in my room. I went back to the room, no Emily. Her teacher checked her room, no Emily. We checked two more possible rooms and still, no Emily. By now there are 4 adults looking for her. About 5 minutes had passed and I was starting to get a little nervous and her teacher was frantic.

We finally looked in the bathroom of her classroom and there was Emily sitting on the potty. The substitute assistant had taken her to the bathroom about 15 minutes prior and got so busy with the other kids that she forgot about her. Emily was just waiting patiently for someone to come and help her. Her sweet teacher hugged her and started to cry a little while Emily was just smiling, as happy as ever.

She is just so sweet!

Focus, Focus, Check Facebook - I Need Help

2010-03-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, Donald Miller provides some good and simple advice for being able to focus...a kitchen timer.

I just make a list, then pick one, then set my little timer for an hour or twenty minutes or whatever amount of time that specific assignment will cost me. And then, while the timer is ticking away on my desk, I don’t let myself do anything else. I don’t answer the phone, I don’t work on other projects, I don’t bake cookies, I just focus on that specific writing assignment. When the timer goes off, I decide whether I want to keep working on it, or move on.

Pass The Spam

2010-03-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most simple mixers, but it went really great. We took spam out of 2 cans and split the room in 2. Each group formed a circle & got one of the spams (I have no idea what you call a block of spam. Probably a block of spam.)

This is just a game of hot potato but with spam. When the music stops, whoever has it has to take a bite.

Here are a few things that made is successful.

Everyone's touching it. That's gross on a few levels.
Demonstrate the size of a bite & explain the game while they were all sitting down before forming the circles.
Emphasize that the spam has to be passed from person to person and not thrown.
Challenge them to be big men & women about eating it rather than chuck it across the room or drop it on the floor when the music stopped.
Put a leader inside each circle to monitor the passing and judge who has it when the music stops.
Give that leader a camera. We got some great shots of kids passing it and of the kids taking a bite.
Don't overdo it. 4 - 5 times is good. You could announce that for the last one the person has to finish it off. Probably won't happen, but it ups the level of urgency to not get stuck with it.

A Kid's First Time At Club

2010-02-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

I came across this while looking around the internet & thought it was pretty encouraging. I won't link it, but here's the text.

Last night I went to this thing called Young Life. Basically, it was a big group of kids that got together at somebody's house to play games, sing, and talk about God a little bit. It was so much fun, and I'm really glad Morgan brought me with her. One of the games was dividing into two groups and putting as many clothes pins as possible on one person. Clothes pins on clothes were worth 1 point, and pins on skin were worth 2 points. We ended up winning, but I felt kind of bad for the girl with pins all over her, especially since there were so many on her face-ouch. Then they had 4 kids go up to the front (2 teams of 2) and one person had to chug a 2 liter bottle of Sprite zero while the other person was spinning in a circle. When the person got tired of chugging, they would switch. It was pretty funny to watch, but I'm glad I didn't have to do it. We also sang some old school songs- stuff like Backstreet Boys and Avril Leviegn (sp??). Of course, nobody is really a great singer, so the songs didn't sound so good, but everybody enjoyed it and ended up laughing. I hope that I can maybe go again, because it was so much fun. Everybody there was so nice too. (I wonder if this would be considered making my own excitement in life??)

Sounds like an awesome club (gonna use both those games), but what really stuck out to me was that this girl thought everyone was so nice. Talking to kids at camp, one of the things that always blows them away is how nice everyone is, how welcomed & loved they feel by the leaders, workcrew, & assigned team. It's great to see that we are creating that atmosphere back home in our clubs.

I think it's worth evaluating our clubs to see if we are creating atmospheres where everyone feels good to be there.

We Lied To Our Children! Now What?

2010-02-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

The lack of WMDs brought about cries of "Bush Lied!" from the American Left. With Climategate and now the admission by Professor Phil Jones that the earth has not gotten any warmer over the past 11 years, it seems that the Consensus about man-made ~~global warming~~ I mean climate change is evaporating.

Too many creators and guardians of the "consensus" desperately wanted to believe in it. As self-proclaimed defenders of science, they should have brushed up on their Enlightenment. "Doubt is not a pleasant mental state," said Voltaire, "but certainty is a ridiculous one."

It would seem, at least to those of us with a little common sense, that this whole global warming nonsense is just that - complete & utter nonsense. More than that, it is pretty transparent that the drive to "save the world" has more to do with politics than it does with actually living some lifestyle that will benefit our world. When those telling us to be green fly around on their private jets and attend huge impressive meetings, I can't believe it's taken as long as it has for ordinary Americans to let out a collective, sarcastic, "Wait a minute..." In fact, if we take the approach to this issue that liberals took toward the war in Iraq, we might as well say we've been lied to. And worse than that, we have lied to our children. I just had a high school senior tell me today that polar bears are going extinct. They aren't. The source? His textbook.

Now there are a few questions we have to take a look at.

Do we tell our children their teachers & politicians lied or do we tell them they were duped?
Do we have to spend money on new textbooks or should we give the kids Sharpies and help them draw big Xs across the pages that have all that junk in it?

Seriously, though, I do have some questions I think we need to honestly look at in an educational setting.

How can we make sure something like this doesn't happen again?
What does this mean for our children's & their parents' relationships with teachers? How trustworthy are teachers to present all sides of an argument or issue fairly?
Will teachers be honest & humble enough to use this as a teachable moment about not just trusting one source and not calling deniers, lunatics?
Will we use the fallacy of global warming to serve as an example for our approach to other scientific theories, like evolution?
What the heck are we going to say to people who still think there is man made climate change? Should we be nice or just laugh?

I'm proud to be one who never bought into the hysteria, not so much because it wasn't believable, but because of the messenger. I always had an issue with people (Al Gore, primarily) who thought so highly of human beings' ability to control something like the climate, and even more of an issue with the fact that they thought they were the ones who could formulate a plan to stop it. It's really silly. I mean, think about that for a minute. Thousands of years of human history and they honestly decided they were the ones who could save the world. It's even more silly when we find out our world doesn't need to be saved, at least not the earth itself. It's the people who need to be saved, but that's not politically correct.

You know, there used to be a day when people acknowledged God's complete control of the weather. Actually, there are still a bunch of us. My family in Indiana still prays that God would water their crops, or make the rains stop. It would serve our children well if we as adults provide an example of reliance upon God, not reliance upon our own lofty plans.

As educators & parents, what do you think we should do about this hoax?

What I Found From Twitter Today

2010-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

10 Tips For Teaching Your Daughter Relationship Smarts

Growing up in the 21st Century is whole different ball game from your turn in middle and high school. For one thing, social digital media keeps girls and guys plugged into the social drama of their lives 24/7. On top of that, pop culture is doing a number on childhood so that younger and younger girls feel the pressure to look "sexy" so they can "get" a boyfriend. --Read More--

Motivation May be More Important than Style

High standards require hard work. Finding and nurturing the ‘hook’ that will improve persistence of struggling students may be even more important than ‘learning style.’ --Read More--

3 Social Media Musts for Youth Ministry

Start to text your students immediately (SMS)
Encourage students to update Facebook about their church experiences/decisions (Facebook)
Don’t let your best stuff sit on a hard drive (YouTube) --Read More--

Not Evil Just Wrong

Global warming alarmists want Americans to believe that humans are killing the
planet. But Not Evil Just Wrong, a new documentary by Phelim McAleer and Ann
McElhinney, proves that the only threats to America (and the rest of the world) are the flawed science and sky-is-falling rhetoric of Al Gore and his allies in environmental extremism. --Read More--

How Winter Storms Bring Rain Ice & Snow - With animated examples.

Winter storms can bring ordinary rain, freezing rain, sleet as well as snow.

In parts of the storm, especially ahead of a warm front, warm air is flowing above cold air near the ground. The result is a "warm air sandwich," in which a wedge of air that's above 32 degrees is located between a layer of colder air at the surface and a layer of colder air higher up.

Picabo Street on Teaching Kids About Sports - Don't Quit!!!

2010-02-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

The Winter Olympics are right around the corner. Picabo Street will not be competing. She is now a mother of 3 and will be at the Olympics as a commentator for NBC's Today Show.

Parenting.com has posts an interview that covers her thoughts on motherhood, breastfeeding, permanent birth control, and her kids competing in the Olympics. But, it was her response to this question that I identified with most.

How do you talk to your kids about sports? What do you tell them is important?

I like to take everyday experiences to teach them things. Once Eli and I were playing Chutes and Ladders and he wanted to quit because he got the chute all the way to the bottom of the game. He said, "There's no use playing because I can't win." And I told him, "If you quit now, I'm never going to play with you ever." And he knew I was serious. Then he beat me. It was the humungous moment ever.

What a great response.

I play my 6-year old daughter in Wii and golf drives her crazy. She has trouble with her short game and putting, because she can't just haul off and whack it. She has to take practice swings and then hit it exactly right, and it frustrates the heck out of her to the point that she sometimes begins to whine and squirm around.

That's when I shut the game off and walk away. I used to try to calm her down, but it just got worse & worse. Now, she knows, if she's going to play she not going to be able to whine and cry when she doesn't do well. The fix is not to complain, but to practice harder and get better.

She beat me the other day for the first time, because she learned to not give up.

Leader Lounge Blog & Podcast

2010-02-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Too much spam has made the Leader Lounge an absolute mess, plus I'm paying for the server space. Why do that when blogspot is free?

So, I'm migrating the Leader Lounge over here along with the podcast. In addition to the usual ministry related items, I've decided to try to simplify my life a little bit and just blog about everything I have a hankering for on one site. The 3 of you who used to visit the Leader Lounge will still get everything you got before (which is at least a post a quarter).

I would encourage you to check out the podcast. I've only brought over a couple episodes, but the whole thing is available on iTunes. We will be doing more (hopefully) in the near future.

What's More Valuable - Your Cell Phone or Your Virginity?

2010-02-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Berg, a youth pastor from Minnesota, makes a bold statement during a conversation with a friend in a post at youthworker.com.

With these thoughts floating around in my head, I blurted out a provocative statement to my pastor friend across the table that struck us both as...well...something worth pondering. I said: "Many teens will give up their virginity easier than they'll give up their cell phone."

Huh, that's an interesting observation.

They both have to do with connectedness, with relationships. Giving up your cell phone takes away your connection with others while giving up your virginity has to do with drawing close to someone. It seems to me both illustrate the desire we have to be connected and know people intimately. It's a God-given desire.

I don't disagree with Jeremy. He makes a good point. It does make me think, however.

What can we be doing to help our teens feel connected better with those around them? Are we helping them connect both with and without technology?
What can we do to help them distinguish between appropriate levels of connection? How can we help them properly live within good, authentic, Godly relationships?

Ironically, I think the answer to both is good communication & connectedness. When we take kids to Young Life camp, we take their cell phones away. It is hardly a struggle anymore, because we do a good job of communicating the reasons and the benefits. More often than not, they are excited to have a week without being tied down to their mobile networks. Of course, we are providing them with tons of opportunities to be connected face-to-face throughout the week - modeling good community relationships.

Likewise, talking and talking and talking to them about the benefits of saving yourself (or re-saving yourself) for marriage is key. And, not just for the sake of saving yourself, but with the explanation that sin always impacts other people - drawing it back to connectedness. If we can help kids see how the choices they make affects others in the community they care about - even in the future - we will be helping them tremendously.

On a side note, but somewhat related. Did you catch the Newsweek piece called Unattainable Beauty? Good grief. It's no wonder our kids have such a messed up view of how we should look.

It's A Heart Issue

2010-02-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

My wife & I had a conversation just last night about our daughter's obedience. We wondered if she obeys because her heart compels her to or simply because she knows she needs to do what's right to stay out of trouble. That brings up some questions in my mind.

How do I evaluate that?
What do I do once I think I know the answer to that - especially if it's the latter?

My initial thoughts are that it is out of fear that our children obey, at first. But, then, through strong, healthy relationships with their parents they develop a genuine love which is what compels them to obedience.

Then my question becomes, how do we as parents develop those relationships & these answers came basically out of thin air, but seem right to me.

Prayer - Only the Holy Spirit can change hearts.
Conversations - Talking to them (not in the heat of the moment) about obedience being connected with love. Jesus said that if we love him we will follow his commands. It's that simple.
Live It Out - Be visibly obedient to God & talk to them about it.

I'm sure there are a lot of other ideas, but that's what popped in my head during my quick reflection on the topic. And, as fate (not really) would have it, I came across some similar posts at Raising Olives.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic of capturing your child's heart.

Using Cartoons To Teach

2010-02-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists has an entire portion of their website devoted to using cartoons in the classroom. It includes daily downloadable lesson plans & archives of those plans.

Right now there is also a contest going on for students to create their own captions for a blank cartoon. The deadline is February 15th, so get on it.

My favorite editorial cartoonist is Michael Ramirez. You can find his work at Townhall.com.

Picked Last For The Kickball Game?

2010-02-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a way to ensure you don't damage a kid for life by letting him get humiliated in front of all his friends just because he might be a little kickball challenged. It's called Team Maker & it's super simple.

I found this resource over at Makeuseof.com, where I find tons of outstanding free resources.

When You're Just Not Smart Enough To Help Your Kid With Math

2010-02-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

Enter Math A Tube. Created by parents for parents, they bill themselves as a website designed to help parents who just can't help their kids with their math work.

They cover many different math topics including fractions, geometry, and decimals.

If you are one of the few who could actually help the rest of us, they welcome contribution videos.

Small Group Help - CT Website

2010-02-09T20:07:00.000-08:00

Christianity Today has a website specifically for small group leaders. It's called smallgroups.com (can't believe that domain was available) and It's designed to meet the need many churches have as their small group ministries grow. I haven't had a chance to look at all of it, but there's some good stuff that I think I might either use outright or at least get some ideas from for my Campaigner group.

Christian Today launched the new site to equip small-group leaders with thousands of articles, ideas, and icebreakers for their meetings; over 50 downloadable training tools leaders can share and discuss or use for personal development; over 200 customizable and downloadable Bible Studies; and an expert panel of small-group leaders and authors that answer difficult questions pertaining to small-group ministry.

There are prices listed on most of the stuff, but right now that price is $0.00. Might want to take advantage of this before there is a charge. I don't know if that's in their plans or not.

Are You Too Fashionable?

2010-02-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

YOU MAY BE TOO FASHIONABLE IF . . .

You can look around at church and notice that everybody is basically the same age and they look and dress pretty much like you do.
You can’t stand singing a worship song that was “in” five years ago—much less singing a hymn from another century.
You believe social justice is more important than evangelism OR evangelism is more important than social justice.
The church you go to is so dimly lit during worship that you can’t see the person singing next to you, much less the person singing across the room.
You’ve attended a “leadership” conference where you learned more about organization and props than proclamation and prayer.
Your goal in spending time with non-Christians is to demonstrate that you’re really no different than they are and to prove this you curse like a sailor, drink like a fish, and smoke like a chimney.
You’ve concluded that everything new is better than anything old OR that everything old is better than anything new.
You think that the way Jesus lived is more important than what Jesus said–that his deeds were more important than his doctrine.
You believe that the best way to change our culture is to elect a certain kind of politician.
The church you’ve chosen is defined more by its reaction to “boring” churches than by its response to a needy world.
You’ve decided that everything done by the church you grew up in was way wrong and you’re now, thankfully, part of a missional “community” that does everything right.
The one verse you wish wasn’t in the Bible is John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” That’s way too narrow!

What is Back Channeling & How To Teach With It

2010-02-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia defines back channeling as "the practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks."

In a nutshell, the teacher is presenting information and the audience is fully engaged by listening AND typing notes and questions back & forth to one another. I know...it sounds crazy, but it works. Rather than just being passive listeners, students have to be fully engaged in the discussion taking place.

TodaysMeet is a free service that lets people set up private chatrooms. Set-up takes less than 30 seconds and students can be logged in and back channeling within a minute.

Notice there's even a way to integrate Twitter by using hashtags. Why would this be useful? Lets say you give your students a homework assignment to watch the State of the Union speech and back channel their questions & comments throughout. If you were to put the hashtag #sotu anyone on Twitter would have their comments automatically posted to your chatroom without them even knowing it. This might be helpful to give your students a different perspective on what they're watching.

Just provide your students with the website address, have they type in their name, and you're off & running.

Below are a couple good posts regarding back channeling in a classroom. It would also be useful for homeschooling networks to facilitate online live discussions about things just like the State of the Union speech.

Lost In Translation

2010-02-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun little website called BlahblahFish that takes a phrase, translates it into any of a number of languages, then translates that back into English. There's probably a good illustration about connecting or communication somewhere here.
For instance, here are some translation translations of the phrase, "Please stay seated until the ride comes to a complete stop."

Italian - It remains I pray put till that the turn does not come to a complete arrest.
Spanish - He remains based please until the stroll comes to a complete shutdown.
Hungarian - Please stick seated whilst the she's riding comes yield one supplements stops.
Korean - Burning, when this is complete stopping until, seat and stay.

How about the phrase, "Earn the right to be heard." Some of these are downright insightful.

Italian - Gain the right to be felt.
Welsh - Gain ' group right to be heard.
Japanese - Profit do the right to be heard.
Filipino - Earn the right toward possible hear.

Olympic Torch Map & More

2010-02-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

They Olympics starts in just 3 days and the torch is well on it's way to Vancouver. The Olympic website has an interactive map including stories & photos.

Have your kids research the history of the Olympics, starting at the official website.

And for more Olympics resources, head over to Kathi Mitchell's Virtual School.

You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it.

2010-02-08T06:39:00.000-08:00

So it can be done!

This is a refreshing story from the Chicago Tribune - Practicing abstinence, bride and groom have never kissed.

When the officiant tells Claudaniel Fabien he can kiss his bride at the altar Saturday, no one will fault the couple for a little "should I tilt my head this way, or that way?" awkwardness.

It will be the couple's very first kiss.

In his Song of Solomon series, Tommy Nelson answers the question, "How far can we go?" by using an analogy of a cliff. We don't want our kids to ask how close they can get to the edge. Let's just stay away from the edge.

Of course there are the folks who think this is crazy, those who ask how you know he/she's right for you unless you try her out, the live together before you get married just so you know crowd.

To them, Melody responds, "You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it."

Read the whole story.

Good Leaders Admit When They're Wrong

2010-02-06T05:23:00.000-08:00

From Leadership Unleashed...

A much-overlooked component of leadership is the willingness to be wrong.

Admitting we are wrong shows vulnerability and makes us more approachable. Other leaders and kids are less likely to be intimidated when we openly admit our mistakes.

Let's say you screw up, which is simply part of being human. When you admit it -- own it, and do so willingly (and not grudgingly), people see you are human, and, because they can identify with that, are more likely to allow themselves to be led by you.

Focus On One Among the Crowd

2010-02-05T05:21:00.000-08:00

Smart Christian (what a name for a website) posts this little reminder of how important (and biblical) it is for us to focus on one person among the crowd.

When we read the Gospels, we see Jesus’ love for individuals among the crowds. In fact, he often rejected the crowds to minister to a single person.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't focus on the crowds, too. There are plenty of examples of Jesus teacher the crowds, even distancing himself (in a boat) to be better heard by the crowd.

I know for me though, I get caught up by the crowds and realize I don't even know the names of some of the kids I'm talking to.

Podcast Episode 20

2010-01-31T05:54:00.000-08:00

Most entertaining L.L. Podcast yet.

Chris, Ame, Eddie, Jason, & Eddie discuss how to make new Campaigners/Bible Study Groups excellent from the get go. They also celebrate Jason's birthday by sharing some of their favorite Jason stories.

Direct Download: Episode20.mp3
Subscribe in iTunes: Click Here Then Click Subscribe
Podcast Feed: http://leaderlounge.libsyn.com/rss

Wordle for Comprehension & More

2010-01-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

Use Wordle to create visual representations of any text. Taking a look at a Wordle before or after reading will increase comprehension.

I used Wordle to create my header for this blog.

It's so easy. Just take a piece of text, paste it into the text box, and click the Go button. You can change everything form the layout to the colors to the font, and you can even rerun the process with a click to get a format more to your liking.

The possibilities are endless for Wordles. Use for shirts, recognition, memorization help, encouragement, etc. Interested in some more ideas? Here's a presentation at Slideshare with all kinds of ideas.

A Kid's First Time At Club

2010-01-19T06:16:00.000-08:00

I came across this while looking around the internet & thought it was pretty encouraging. I won't link it, but here's the text.

Last night I went to this thing called Young Life. Basically, it was a big group of kids that got together at somebody's house to play games, sing, and talk about God a little bit. It was so much fun, and I'm really glad Morgan brought me with her. One of the games was dividing into two groups and putting as many clothes pins as possible on one person. Clothes pins on clothes were worth 1 point, and pins on skin were worth 2 points. We ended up winning, but I felt kind of bad for the girl with pins all over her, especially since there were so many on her face-ouch. Then they had 4 kids go up to the front (2 teams of 2) and one person had to chug a 2 liter bottle of Sprite zero while the other person was spinning in a circle. When the person got tired of chugging, they would switch. It was pretty funny to watch, but I'm glad I didn't have to do it. We also sang some old school songs- stuff like Backstreet Boys and Avril Leviegn (sp??). Of course, nobody is really a great singer, so the songs didn't sound so good, but everybody enjoyed it and ended up laughing. I hope that I can maybe go again, because it was so much fun. Everybody there was so nice too. (I wonder if this would be considered making my own excitement in life??)

Sounds like an awesome club (gonna use both those games), but what really stuck out to me was that this girl thought everyone was so nice. Talking to kids at camp, one of the things that always blows them away is how nice everyone is, how welcomed & loved they feel by the leaders, workcrew, & assigned team. It's great to see that we are creating that atmosphere back home in our clubs.
I think it's worth evaluating our clubs to see if we are creating atmospheres where everyone feels good to be there.

Fun Things To Do At The Grocery Store

2010-01-18T06:12:00.000-08:00

We don't do flyers anymore. All our Young Life announcements are exclusively paperless. But, if I did flyers, I would definitely include this fun list.

While in a Grocery Store

Every time you turn the corner with your shopping cart, yell “Make Way!!!”
While scratching frantically, ask the manager if he or she has anything for body lice.
Bring your own buy one get one free tags and put them on random items.
Get tubes of Preparation H (or other embarrassing items) and as you go past other shoppers just secretly drop it in their cart. Stand near the checkout and watch what they all do.
Challenge other shoppers to cart races.
Set up your own little sample table, but just give out plain animal crackers. Be very enthusiastic about them. “YOU”VE gotta try these!”
When you see a worker pulling items to the front of the shelf, walk by and push some back. Just keep walking.
If you can find a freezer with room in it (or make your own room) get inside and look out at the shoppers through the glass doors.
Bring a fake mouse attached to fishing line (50 feet is good) and drag it around behind your cart.
Insist that the bagger only put one item in each bag.
When you stop to look at something, turn your cart sideways so nobody can get by.
Make up your own language and ask people questions in it. Make the questions sound important.
Wear headphones and sing out loud.

Podcast Episode 19

2010-01-18T05:58:00.000-08:00

Chris, Ame, Eddie, Jason, & Eddie talk about customer service & how to talk to kids about moral issues.

Direct Download: Episode19.mp3
Subscribe in iTunes: Click Here Then Click Subscribe
Podcast Feed: http://leaderlounge.libsyn.com/rss

Saturday Night Live – Female Skit Ideas

2010-01-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

We recently received an e-mail from Ashley, a Young Life Leader in Georgia asking about ideas for some good characters for females to do. My friend (and newest podcast team member) O.J. sent her an e-mail with some very good ideas. So good in fact that I thought it'd be good to post it here.

It might not be a bad idea to resurrect some old Saturday Night Live characters that are great for females. Most of them are old enough that kids will think you made them up.

Here are a couple of ideas..

1. Mary Catherine Gallagher - these aren't the best clips, but if you are not familiar with the character, it's a good start.

2. This is one that can be performed with all females or any mix of males and females. It's usually called "Master P Theater", sort of a take off on the old Masterpiece Theater that was on PBS. A person(s) comes in dressed all old and stuffy - think smoking jacket and pipe or any kind of golf clothes. The character then reads, in a serious manner, the lyrics to popular rap songs like "Soulja Boy". It's ridiculous to hear them in this setting. Even better is to do a few and then for the last one learn the dance and read the rap and then do the dance.

Hey Kid, Want Some Candy

2010-01-15T05:47:00.000-08:00

Today, I was walking through the cafeteria during lunch and saw 2 guys behind a table at the far end. I recognized them right away, because last week they were in the same spot, doing the same thing - standing behind the little table with an opened bag of candy, a few pieces falling out on the table and I went up and introduced myself. I found out they were from a Youth Mininstry organization (you'd know it if I told you), so I told them I was a YL leader. We talked about church a little bit, and then I went on my way.

Today, I didn't have time to talk, but I glanced over at their table from time to time. I gotta tell you, I felt sooooo sorry for them. What a picture of why "go to them" ministry works and "come to me" ministry isn't quite so effective. I think I saw a grand total of 2 kids talk to them in a 30 minute period.

I'm not coming down on them, because they're just getting started and I know all too well how difficult & intimidating it is to go into a room full of kids you don't know hoping someone talks to you. I remember feeling like that guy. Actually, I pray that I always feel a little bit like that guy just to keep me on my toes and make me remember who's really in control. But, part of me wanted to go over there and kick them in the butt until they engaged with some kids. I wanted to fold up their table, push them to the middle of the room, and tell them to just talk to someone.

Seriously, what's the worst that could happen? The kids might laugh at you. Maybe, but in most cases that won't happen until you walk away. Just don't look back.

I have to applaud their consistency. They came today, and they were here last week. Maybe they'll be here tomorrow. There's something to be said for presence. Sooner or later, maybe a kid will get dared to go to their table and talk to them, while his friends watch & giggle. But, I'd rather force the issue. You're there to meet kids, to have an impact on their lives, to show them who Jesus is. Jesus ain't sitting at a table with a big bag of Starbursts.

Jump in, fellas! It's a whole lot more exciting.

Developing Core Values

2010-01-11T05:29:00.000-08:00

Oregon - S.W. Washington Region has developed some core values they keep in mind while they do ministry. At first I thought this had to be something from National, but doing a google search on "young life" "8 core values" , only one site came up, and it was this region's. These are their core values, they've apparently developed on their own.

I'm interested to know if other regions/areas have developed their own and how that process works. Who's involved? Do you re-evaluate them from time to time to address changes in leadership or youth culture?

Cabin Time Questions For Ordinary Club Talks

2010-01-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

Help for Young Life Leaders NOW has some great advice for weekend camp speakers.

I recently spoke at a YL weekend camp. One of the best pieces of YL camp speaking advice I ever received was to plan your cabin time questions before you plan your talk.

That is outstanding advice, but reading the post gave me an idea.

At the end of nearly every regular Club talk our leaders will say something like "Hey, if you want to talk more about this stuff come and see one of the leaders." That's always great, but hardly any kids actually do that.

Here's the idea...what if leaders who were speaking came up with 2 or 3 questions (before they write their talks) that they'll give to the other leaders at pre-Club for us to use in conversations with kids during the following week? Not only would it help the speaker stay focused but it would help the rest of us have some creative ways to bring up the talks in our conversations with kids outside of Club.

Just an idea!

I Officially Love Twitter

2010-01-05T05:45:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you why...

I signed up and started getting tweets & making my own tweets (and getting made fun of by my friends for talking about tweets) thinking it was going to be a less complicated form of Facebook. Turns out, I've gotten so much more out of Twitter than I would have thought.

I just realized that when I came across some guys posting from the C309 Conference. Now, I didn't know what the heck that was until I clicked on the #C309 hashtag (there's a lot to learn, but don't worry). So, I get to the Twitter search for C309 (oh, it's the Creative Church Conference) and everyone is posting little quotes from, I'm assuming, the guy who's speaking. I literally felt like I was right there.

In addition to this type of thing, I've gotten so many great links. I'm primarily following folks in the educational technology & ministry fields, and every hour or so, I check out my tweetdeck (my friends laugh when I talk about that, too) and find some great links, pictures, and words of encouragement.

So, the bottom line is, I'm sticking with it. I'm not sure if it's even been a month yet, but I'm sold. Sign up and get in on the action. Join me here.

One warning. I have some friends (the podcast crew minus me & Ame) who thought it would be funny to create Mark the Youth Guy on Twitter and start following me. Turns out Mark was a real fan of the Leader Lounge. He was a huge fan. In fact, if I had taken the time to look at his Twitter page, I would have seen that that's all he talked about. He loved the Leader Lounge podcast so much, he recommended our podcast to everyone even in seminars he was teaching. Yeah. I got real excited about Mark and the rest of the guys got a real kick out of me getting real excited. We can all have a huge laugh about it on the next podcast. It was actually very funny.

Podcast Episode 18

2010-01-03T06:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since our last podcast and we had full house for Episode 18. Chris, Ame, Eddie, Jason, & OJ spend some time just sharing some fun stories. Don't worry, there was some useful information shared.

Jason's fun Cooper story.
O.J.'s fun bed bugs story.
Eddie's New Year's Resolutions.
Jason hates the mall.
Tech Resources

Links Mentioned in this Episode

http://www.go2web20.net/
Web Conferencing - http://www.dimdim.com/
docs.google.com
http://www.zoecarnate.com/
http://ylhelp.com/
http://www.autolyrix.com/

Direct Download: Episode18.mp3
Subscribe in iTunes: Click Here Then Click Subscribe
Podcast Feed: http://leaderlounge.libsyn.com/rss

There Is No Santa Claus. Now Go Tell All Your Friends.

2009-12-22T06:25:00.000-08:00

Here it is folks. The annual Santa is really just Satan spelled differently post. I wouldn't go that far, but I do have some serious misgivings about Santa. (WARNING - I'm feeling a little feisty this morning.)

We don't do Santa at my house. Actually, that's not completely true. We "pretend" there's a Santa Claus, but everyone knows it's just for fun. We treat the Santa issue the same way we treat any other fun, imaginary character like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, or Jesus. Hmmm. That's my point. I'm just not up to telling my kids something is true when it's not, because I can't help but wonder what they'll think about the other things I tell them are true, like Jesus. I'd rather be honest. Plus, I really believe at their ages, pretending there's a Santa Claus is just as much fun for them. Their imaginations are crazy.

I've gotten my share of "You're a terrible parent," "You're robbing your kids of fun," comments over the years. I've had people seriously get so angry with me about this - probably because when I say I don't want to lie to my kids, that implies that they want to (or do) lie to theirs. Oh well.

Okay, so that's my 2 cents worth on Santa, but honestly I know there are different & valid opinions on it and I'm willing to not judge those of you who want to lie to your kids :) (That's the first time I've ever made a smiley face like that. It literally took me 15 seconds to figure out how to do it, but I thought it was appropriate to put right after I pissed someone who doesn't have a sense of humor off.)

Contrary to the title, we don't let our kids tell other kids the truth. We've had several conversations with them where we explain that some kids actually believe there's a fat guy who flies all over the world in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, that he stops at every single house, and goes down all the chimneys to give kids toys, and he does it all in one night. We tell them they aren't allowed to tell those kids the truth if their parents don't want them to know the truth. But it's okay to laugh at them in your head, just not out loud.

Don't get me started on the destructive nature of the naughty & nice part of the Santa story when it comes to influences that has on our view of God.

I came across some posts at Blog Worship on this topic recently if you're still interested in the discussion. I'd love to hear what you think. Don't worry I won't laugh out loud if you disagree with me.

Where Has This Been?

2009-12-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

Every youth leader worth his salt has to occassionally fix something he broke before anyone finds out or needs to know how to connect a PVC pipe to a life-size rubber duck so it won't fall apart when you set it on fire.

I think this website was designed specifically for my friend Scott Berry, but they are letting us all use it. Called ThisToThat.com, it is simple really. You just look at the two things you want to glue together, fingure out what each is made of, and the website tells you what kind of glue to use.

A Few Tuesday Links

2009-12-15T05:42:00.000-08:00

1. Are we running so fast & being so cool that our kids don't grasp the idea that we can be alive - truly alive - and just enjoy downtime in God's creation? Rethinking Youth Ministry asks that question...

More than your ability to be a "cool" youth pastor or to entertain a crowd, Mark argues that what youth really want to know is if you know how to be truly alive in this culture, to maintain your passion, and to enjoy life in God's creation.

2. There's a new blogger out there blogging about Young Life. Only a few posts up now, but there's some good stuff.

3. Remember to check out Help For Young Life Leaders NOW. There's just some amazingly helpful stuff there, including help for talks specific to different chapters of the Bible.

4. Here's a fun one. Create fake newspaper clippings. They say to not use real names, but what fun is that. I did this story from a story we shared on our last podcast.

Gospel-Centered Everything...Even Topical Discussions

2009-12-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

I've had some great discussions over the past year or so about making Jesus central to every Young Life talk we do. That's easy most of the time, but challenging when it comes to particularly the Sin talk - telling kids about our separation from God due to our sinfulness. But still, Jesus is & should be central to everything we teach, even when it comes to specific topical teaching & discussions.

Resurgence posted some thoughts under the title "Gospel-Centered Discipleship: How It Looks" and I love this statement.

A gospel-centered church does not just preach the gospel. The gospel is not an addition to our ministry or even a beginning point; rather, the gospel must saturate every part of our church's life.

I understand the value of topic-based discussions, especially in Campaigners. Kids seem to always want to talk about topics that "apply to their lives", and it's a temptation as leaders to give in, plan for, & do an entire discussion on some topic but leave out the gospel, as if the gospel doesn't "apply to their lives." The gospel needs to be in and through everything we do.

So, how do we do that?

Rely on scripture. The gospel runs through scripture, so if we are using it Jesus will be central.
Most "topical" discussions that kids want to talk about are usually about their misguided responses to a longing for deep relationship with God. Keep that in mind & steer discussions toward Jesus.

I would take the whole Gospel thing one step further & say we should not only apply it to church, but to our own lives. The gospel of Jesus Christ must saturate every part of our lives.

8 Witnessing Tips

2009-12-12T05:33:00.000-08:00

Stand to Reason has an article titled "8 Witnessing Tips" by Greg Koukl. He was on a flight and overheard a Christian talking about his faith with another man.

Mr. Koukl uses this conversation to provide examples & non-examples of his 8 tips.

Look for opportunities.
Don't over complicate things.
Don't sound religious.
Focus on truth.
Give evidence.
Stay calm.
Let them walk away if they want to.
Give them something.

As YL leaders, we are doing all 8 of these things. Being where kids are gives us all kinds of opportunities. Reaching the furthest kid out makes us keep things simple. I think the only "religious" word I ever hear a Young Life leader say is "Sin", and then it's prefaced with "ok, ya'll this is a word you have probably heard before, but don't freak out on me."

We are always pointing to the truth found in scripture and using that as our evidence. But even more importantly, we are living out lives of evidence for our teenage friends to see.

Staying calm doesn't seem to be an issue for most of us, either. Unless it's 3:00 am and they're lighting their farts on fire. But, when it comes to the gospel, we are amazingly calm, level-headed, and loving but persistent. And, we never love kids because they come to Christ. We love them regardless!

Finally, giving them something. While we might not give them something physical like a Bible (actually most of us do), we are called to give them our lives and we do it everyday. Keep giving!

Read the entire article at Stand to Reason.

Human Christmas Trees

2009-12-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

This is an annual tradition for our club.

Have plenty of Christmas Tree decorations - lights, tinsle, whatever. Glass bulbs break when they fall on tile, so be careful.
Bring up 3 kids to be trees and 2 kids to decorate each of the trees (that's 9 all together).
Play upbeat Christmas music while they decorate.
Plug all the lights in when the decorating is finished. A surge protector & extension cord usually come in handy.
Have the rest of the group judge the trees by applause.
The winning tree has to stand there for at least 15 minutes, if not the remainder of club, as the Young Life Christmas Tree.
If you want to be really cruel, get the big colored lights that get really, really hot.

Model Quiet Times For Your Kids

2009-12-10T05:32:00.000-08:00

I began meeting one-on-one with one of my school's most committed Christians. He's been in Young Life for 4 years and is a Wyld Life Leader, too.

We started meeting before school every Thursday morning to do some mentoring/discipleship. About the third week into our meetings, we talked about quiet times. Turns out, he has a really difficult time knowing what to do when he sits down to spend some time with God. It actually has made him not make them a priority, because (these are my words) it almost seems like a waste of time to him.

That got me thinking about our other kids. How are we leading our Campaigner kids in the most basic Christian discipline, spending some alone time with God? They don't know how to pray, they don't know what to read, and I realized I haven't done a good job of leading them.

I decided to model quiet times for him, so that's what we did for the next few weeks. We sat at Denny's and had quiet times together. I also told him what I had done in my quiet time that morning, what I had read and what I had prayed about.

I think it's also important to give them some sort of structure for their quiet time. Let them know God is not interested in the structure, but that it gives them a starting place from which to build their own quiet time routine.

Think about how uncomfortable it is to just sit next to someone with nothing to say, especially if you just met that person. It's the same with our relationship with Christ. We need to have something to do together, at least at the beginning. There is of course something to be said of those who reach a point in a relationship where just being together is bliss, but for those in a new relationship, we need to teach them some structure.

Here's what I taught my friend.

Pray that God would teach you something while you read the Bible.
Pick a book of the Bible you will read consistently. I talked to my friend about books that appeal more to the heart and books that appeal more to the head. For instance, I love Proverbs, because I like thinking about wisdom and how to live. My friend is more sensitive and prefers to read Psalms. It would be a good idea to lead new Christians to one of the gospels, but don't shy away from the chance to explain different books of the Bible.
Read a chapter.
Ask. What is God trying to teach? Why did He put this passage in the Bible? How should this affect my relationship with God? How should it affect the way I live?
Pray the scripture back to God.
Spend time praying for others.
Pray for yourself.

Incidently, I know a lot of leaders don't have consistent quiet time, either. So let me encourage you to do that. It's impossible to lead our kids in their relationship if we are not spending time getting to know Christ better ourselves.

Resources...

Gocampus.org - Quiet Times
All About God - Quiet Times - An Appointment
Myquiettimes.com - Ideas for Your Devotional Times
Time With Jesus - A little corny (and centered), but an example of someone who really values their time with Christ.

My Utmost for His Highest: Orange Cover (My Utmost for His Highest)

All Alone On The Potty

2009-12-08T06:20:00.000-08:00

Today after all my 11 little ones had gone home from school I left my classroom to go pick up my “real children”. One of Emily’s teachers met me in the hall and handed me Emily’s tote bag. I thanked her and said “Thanks for the bag but where is Emily?” She looked at me like I was crazy and said that the other teacher had dropped her off in my room. I went back to the room, no Emily. Her teacher checked her room, no Emily. We checked two more possible rooms and still, no Emily. By now there are 4 adults looking for her. About 5 minutes had passed and I was starting to get a little nervous and her teacher was frantic.
We finally looked in the bathroom of her classroom and there was Emily sitting on the potty. The substitute assistant had taken her to the bathroom about 15 minutes prior and got so busy with the other kids that she forgot about her. Emily was just waiting patiently for someone to come and help her. Her sweet teacher hugged her and started to cry a little while Emily was just smiling, as happy as ever.

She is just so sweet!

Izzy Dizzy - New Club Character

2009-12-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago at club planning, we were filling in our semester spreadsheet and were thinking of mixers.
All the old ideas came out. Knight/Mount/Carry, Tape Shapes, etc. One of our leaders said we needed some new ideas, so we sat in silence and thought about it.
Then, it hit us. What if we just put a new spin on the old games. And Izzy Dizzy was born.
We've had her in club twice and she's a huge hit. Here's how it works.

2 Leaders introduce a mixer to the kids and get ready to play.
Just before we begin to play, one of the leaders says that we do this game every year and it's boring.
Then her music starts. We're using "You Spin Me Right Round" (I think that's what it's called).
Izzy comes out with tie dye shirt, propeller hat, and whatever else she can that spins.
She tells us her name is Izzy Dizzy and she comes to club to make games fun (something like that) and ends with "off the fashizzy".
She then tells us we need to put a new spin on things.
We ask her what kind of new thing we can do with this boring game & she looks at us like we're plain dumb.
"No." she says. "You just put a spin on it."
Then she demonstrates how to spin properly and we play the game.
Kids are required to spin until they have to do whatever they have to do for the game.

It's fun, because everyone bumps into each other and everyone's dizzy.

Fish Tug-o-War

2009-12-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

My area took kids to Southwind this weekend for our first annual Polar Bear weekend. A trip that has absolutely nothing to do with polar bears, but everything to do with a weekend.

The program characters were "unconventional" ~~fishermen~~ fisherpeople so some of the games included fish. One I hadn't seen before was Fish Tug-o-War.

Here's how it worked.

4 Guys & 4 Girls
4 Dead, Frozen Fish (Completely intact) - You could probably use 1 fish, although more adds to the effect and the smell.
Have 2 of the guys each hold on to one fish. When the music starts, they try to pull on it until one person pulls it out of the other person's hand. Kind of like a smelly wishbone type thing.
Then, have the other 2 girls or guys play and the do a championship round for each gender.

Note: The bigger the fish, the better.

More Than I Knew

2009-12-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

I've visited Help for YL Leaders NOW on several occasions, but I don't think I ever realized the value of what Sean has posted there.

He has an entire category of club plans in Word format along with the posts that describe the Club. This is an excellent resource.

I've been looking over a bunch of them and these are a few of my favorites.

And this post is about getting the most out of the blog. Such good stuff.

Turkey Bowling

2009-11-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

Our annual tradition for this week's club is Turkey Bowling.

I'm sure there are several variations and things that work better than how we do it, but here's how we set it up and play.

Do it before club starts.
Use a large frozen turkey.
Set up 10, half-full 2 liter bottles on a sidewalk.
If you have plactic to lay down, use it. We've done it without, but the turkey will fall apart after a while.
Just have kids go one after another, bowling the turkey.

8 Witnessing Tips

2009-11-12T05:06:00.000-08:00

Stand to Reason has an article titled “8 Witnessing Tips” by Greg Koukl. He was on a flight and overheard a Christian talking about his faith with another man.
Mr. Koukl uses this conversation to provide examples & non-examples of his 8 tips.

Look for opportunities.
Don’t over complicate things.
Don’t sound religious.
Focus on truth.
Give evidence.
Stay calm.
Let them walk away if they want to.
Give them something.

As YL leaders, we are doing all 8 of these things. Being where kids are gives us all kinds of opportunities. Reaching the furthest kid out makes us keep things simple. I think the only “religious” word I ever hear a Young Life leader say is “Sin”, and then it’s prefaced with “ok, ya’ll this is a word you have probably heard before, but don’t freak out on me.”

We are always pointing to the truth found in scripture and using that as our evidence. But even more importantly, we are living out lives of evidence for our teenage friends to see.

Staying calm doesn’t seem to be an issue for most of us, either. Unless it’s 3:00 am and they’re lighting their farts on fire. But, when it comes to the gospel, we are amazingly calm, level-headed, and loving but persistent. And, we never love kids because they come to Christ. We love them regardless!

Finally, giving them something. While we might not give them something physical like a Bible (actually most of us do), we are called to give them our lives and we do it everyday. Keep giving!

Read the entire article at Stand to Reason.

Arm Amputated By Text Message

2009-11-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

Technology to the rescue. A doctor in the DR Congo used text messages from another doctor to perform a procedure he had never performed before. How did the kid's arm get injured in the first place? Check out the last line of this quote from the article.

A British doctor volunteering in DR Congo used text message instructions from a colleague to perform a life-saving amputation on a boy.

Vascular surgeon David Nott helped the 16-year-old while working 24-hour shifts with medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Rutshuru.

The boy's left arm had been ripped off and was badly infected and gangrenous.
Mr Nott, 52, from London, had never performed the operation but followed instructions from a colleague who had.

The surgeon, who is based at Charing Cross Hospital in west London, said: "He was dying. He had about two or three days to live when I saw him."

It is not clear how the boy was injured. It was suggested that he had been bitten by a hippopotamus while fishing, but Mr Nott also heard that he had been caught in crossfire between government and rebel forces.

The Psychologist Skit

2009-11-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

We just did this skit on Monday. It is my favorite to do and had the kids cracking up.

Mr. Tolson is knocking at the door on the door of Dr. Roberts, the in-house psychologist.

Dr. Roberts: Mr. Tolson

Mr. Tolson: Are you Dr. Roberts?

Dr. Roberts: Yes, come in. Please have a seat. Sorry to have to call you down here on such short notice, but your company asked me to give you a creativity test.

Mr. Tolson: I’ve never taken one of those before.

Dr. Roberts: Well, they’re pretty easy. Actually, they can be fun. Would you like a beverage?

Mr. Tolson: I work in the computer center on the 17th floor. We just got a new computer in, and they put it in the back of the center. And all I did, I told them that they should put it up in the front of the center, so more of the people could get to it, but they didn’t.

Dr. Roberts: Fascinating. OK, the first test that we’re going to do is called a word association test.

Mr. Tolson: I don’t know what that is.

Dr. Roberts: Well, it’s pretty simple. I’ll give you a word, and you say whatever you can think of.

Mr. Tolson: Well, that sounds easy.

Dr. Roberts: Great! OK, well let’s start. First word, “shoe.”

Mr. Tolson: Shoe

Dr. Roberts: “Rabbit”

Mr. Tolson: (long pause) Rabbit

Dr. Roberts: "Truck"

Mr. Tolson: Truck

Dr. Roberts: OK, you’re just saying the words that I’m saying.

Mr. Tolson: I know, but when you say the word, that’s the word that I think of.

Dr. Roberts: OK, it’s my fault then. Let’s try again, only this time I want you to change the word.

Mr. Tolson: OK, so not just the same word.

Dr. Roberts: Great. You’re catching on. OK? Next word “hat.”

Mr. Tolson: Hats.

Dr. Roberts: “Moose”

Mr. Tolson: Meese

Dr. Roberts: OK, now all you are doing is just pluralizing the words that I’m saying.

Mr. Tolson: Yeah, but they’re different.

Dr. Roberts: Yeah, they are different, but that’s not what I want. OK, let me give you an example. Why don’t you give me a word?

Mr. Tolson: I give you a word?

Dr. Roberts: Yeah, any word.

Mr. Tolson: Word

Dr. Roberts: Fine, uh, that makes me think of “constriction” (folds arms across chest in a constrictive manner). Don’t worry you’ll catch on. Let’s try it again. Okay, “trumpet.”

Mr. Tolson: Constriction (folding arms in same manner)

Dr. Roberts: “Scarf”

Mr. Tolson: Moose

Dr. Roberts: “Cat”

Mr. Tolson: Scarf

Dr. Roberts: All right, now you’re just using the words that I’ve already used.

Mr. Tolson: Well, you didn’t say that I could use them up.

Dr. Roberts: Well, you can’t. OK? Why don’t we just move on to another test?

Mr. Tolson: They got this new computer up in the computer center, and I just told them they should put it up front, but they put it in the back.

Dr. Roberts: That’s fascinating. OK? Look, uh, for this next test I’m going to start a sentence, and I want you to complete it, OK?

Mr. Tolson: So all I have to do is finish it. OK, all right. Well this one sounds easy.

Dr. Roberts: OK, great. Now here is the first sentence. "When we went to the park we were going to ..."

Mr. Tolson: Period

Dr. Roberts: OK, look, you have to add some words to it. OK? Squeeze some words between the period and the other words all right. Let’s try it again. Let’s do another one. "Jerry had a wonderful red balloon, and he took it to ..."

Mr. Tolson: His friend Jerry ... who also had a red balloon ... and liked to add words.

Dr. Roberts: Look, Mr. Tolson, I need you to come up with some answers on your own. OK?

Mr. Tolson: We got a computer, and they wouldn’t put it in the front and ...

Dr. Roberts: Look, I heard you the first time.

Mr. Tolson: Are you angry with me?

Dr. Roberts: No, Mr. Tolson, I’m not angry with you. Let’s move to the next test all right. This is called a Rohrshach Test. What it is, is some people who took a piece of paper and put some ink on it and folded it. What I need you to do is look into these inkblots and tell me what you see. (Holding up ink blot) Now, what do you see here, Mr. Tolson?

Mr. Tolson: A black smear.

Dr. Roberts: Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. I need you to look into it and tell me what you see.

Mr. Tolson: (Looking at the doctor's shoes) I see black shoes.

Dr. Roberts: That’s good. I could see that.

Mr. Tolson: (looking at the doctor's tie) I see a brown tie.

Dr. Roberts: Um hum, good, good.

Mr. Tolson: (looking at the wall) I see a diploma from Grand Valley State University.

Dr. Roberts: That is enough, Mr. Tolson. You will not leave this office until you tell me what you see in this.

Mr. Tolson: I don’t want to, I don’t want to.

Dr. Roberts: Look, I’m going to make you use one creative bone in your body if it’s the last thing I do. Now look at this and tell me what you see. Tell me.

Mr. Tolson: I see a dog. (struggling)

Dr. Roberts: Good.

Mr. Tolson: And it’s on a log. (continuing to struggle)

Dr. Roberts: Good, go with that.

Mr. Tolson: And the dog is a terrier ... and it’s rabid ... and it shakes its head back and forth in meaningless anger.

Dr. Roberts: Good, good, good.

Mr. Tolson: And foam sprays from its mouth, and we follow this droplet of spit down to see where it lands on a symmetrical lawn, and the drop of spit slowly transforms, becoming a flaming brass eagle holding the Magna Carta in its claws. This eagle takes flight and soars over the (spit) gray convulsive Atlantic Ocean. (lowering voice) It flies low by the choppy waves, a massive shimmering sea bass leaps up, and it snatches the Magna Carta. But the sea bass is served to the family of Long John Silver’s restaurant. And as the family devours the fish, the father is transformed. His eyes glow wolf-yellow, he stares at his claws, and a massive crowd gathers around. He screams wildly into the night sky: “Where is the passion?” “Where ... is ... the ... passion?”

Dr. Roberts: (stunned) I’ll see what I can do about getting those computers moved.

Mr. Tolson: Yeah, on the 17th floor, and they put it in the back.

Dr. Roberts: Sure, OK.

Marshmallow Baseball

2009-10-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a great game for everyone to be involved in, especially during the play-offs.

What you need:

Marshmallows
Wiffleball Bat
2 Bases (we use pillows)

How to play:

Set up one base as a home plate and the other base straight ahead of home plate at the other end of the room.
Have the kids make an open area between the bases for the players to run.
Call up 3 girls to hit.
Have a leader pitch marshmallows underhand.
After the girl hits, she runs to the base and then back to home.
Guys try to throw the marshmallow to the catcher before the runner gets back home.
Girls in the crowd try to keep the guys from getting the marshmallow to the catcher.
After 3 girls have hit, call 3 guys up to do the same thing.
If they're having fun, keep playing.

Some extra fun: When the game was over, everyone was eating marshmallows. We tried to sing the entire next song with marshmallows in our mouths, without swallowing. We looked like a bunch of rabid dogs and sounded terrible.

Keep Mistakes In Perspective

2009-10-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Found this (at cyberetto) to be a good reminder and something we can share with leaders and kids as we sometimes feel overwhelmed by our failures.

Problems are not the problem.

Mistakes are never the mistake.

Mistakes only become mistakes if we respond badly to them.

A mistake can be the best thing that happens to us if we respond well.

Many of the greatest inventions have come from mistakes.

Many of the greatest advancements have emerged from problems.

Life is not without problems.

It is our lot to discover the blessing inside.

By Pastor Phil Pringle

Removing Mystery From Our Faith

2006-06-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Out of Ur has a post titled, "Is Jesus the Answer or the Question?: rediscovering the role of mystery in our faith". An excerpt of a new book by Ed Gungor - Religiously Transmitted Diseases : finding a cure when faith doesn't feel right (Nelson Ignite, 2006).

He says answering all the questions turns our faith into a dead religion.

I think Christianity is supposed to be the unreligion. That’s because the strictness and predictability of religion causes simple, pure faith to become diseased. If not stopped, religion can even kill living faith. And dead things just aren’t very interesting.

Religion may be attractive on one level, but it always strives to remove all the mystery that congests life. It has answers for everything, because questions are way too untidy. “Jesus is the answer.” Right? But what if Jesus isn’t the answer? What if He is the question?

Do we try to answer all the questions our teenage friends have, or do we let them see us dumbfounded by a faith that is so unbelievable?

Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?