The Young Life Leader Blog

By Tim Branch

You may have noticed it before…

The round table your cabin sat around as you ate a meal at camp.

That perfectly hospital-cornered bed you nestled into after the carnival and square dance.

The slow song during club that calmed everybody down and got kids thinking…right before you got up there to talk.

Young Life does all these “little things” on purpose. Why? Because we don’t want to waste a single opportunity to pull back the curtain on the Gospel.

How often has there been a time where we just wish Jesus could be a little clearer to a hurting high school kid?

How often have we told ourselves that we’d do whatever it takes, if that’d only help them to get it?

Everything matters. And as leaders, we want to do everything we can to give kids a clearer view of Jesus.

So here’s a question we have to ask ourselves:

Are we giving kids a clearer picture of Jesus by intentionally choosing the songs we sing at club?

The sad truth is we can unwisely choose songs that may fog that picture.

But EVEN if a questionable song doesn’t take away from the message of Young Life club… the question remains, are we still missing that chance to bolster the talk?

I know how annoying it is to have the perfect song in mind but then have someone come tell you that you “shouldn’t play it.”

And I’m really not trying to tell you what to do. All I’d like to do today is suggest 3 quick guidelines to help you choose songs that might give your kids the chance to see the gospel just a tiny bit clearer.

Here are three questions to ask before picking awesome songs to help kids catch a glimpse of the gospel during club:

Did I Avoid Suggestive Lyrics?

Let’s steer away from using music that will encourage kids to do things that will just lead them into more brokenness. Chances are a number of kids in your club are struggling with sexual sin. So let’s instead point those kids to the place where they’ll finally be made whole—even in the nooks and crannies of Young Life club.

Does This Sound Like A Message From Jesus?

Most of us have gotten an “A-ha!” moment from hearing a song. We can help our kids experience these types of moments with God by carefully crafting the songs they hear at club. It doesn't always work, but sometimes we can pick a popular song that could even be reframed to sound as a message from Jesus?

Does This Song Mirror The Message Of The Talk?

If the talk is about salvation, why don’t you bring ‘em in to a little Hero by Enrique? If you’re talking about love, how about Unconditionally by Katy Perry? It doesn’t have to be super serious. You can get creative with it.

Honestly, It’s much harder to choose songs this way. It’s SO much easier to just pick the popular song you want and use that. Especially if it freaking rocks. And everyone knows the words. And it always starts a crazy dance party.

But even so, it’s worth it to consider selecting a song that would help the message of Young Life club. Choosing one song intentionally could be the nudge that finally pushes that lonely, broken kid over the edge and into the moment where they finally choose to embrace God’s endless love forever.

Our friend Sean McGever at YLHelp.com just put together this new booklet to help with WyldLife Campaigners.

You can download an excerpt and order one here.

Here is part of the introduction Sean wrote for Wyld Questions:

"I can remember the day when I was assigned to lead my first small group Bible study for my junior high guys, Wyldlife campaigners. I sat down to prepare, said a prayer, and then had no idea what to do. So I did what everyone should do, I called someone older and wiser. Before I knew it I was sitting down with my friend Marty and he showed me how to break down a Bible passage, (we were doing Philippians at that time), put it in chunks of thought, and create questions to help guide people through the text.

That was over twenty years ago and though I’ve spent lots of time all over the world studying in training groups, seminaries, and universities how to understand the Bible and communicate it to others… At the end of the day those same simple steps are at the foundation of any good Bible study.

This study is aimed at junior high school conversations. I’ve been a front-line leader for students the entire time I’ve been in leadership. Here are two truths and two lies about students of that age. Lie #1: Junior high students can’t go “deep”. Not true. Just read Luke 2:42-47. Lie #2: Wait until high school when the real issues start coming their way. Not true. You simply have not earned the right to talk to a junior high student to understand what is really going on in the life, heart, and mind. Enough of those, here are two truths. Truth #1: Junior high students don’t need God “watered-down” for their age. In my many years of working with students this age I’ve reviewed countless Bible studies and resources for junior high students. Nearly all of them expect so little of the student that the same lesson could be done with a 7 year old. Furthermore, nearly all of them, I should probably say “all” of them are concerned primarily with behavior modification (being a better person) rather than getting to know the character of the Lord. Truth #2: Junior high students thrive when the format is engaging, dynamic, visual, and it needs to keep moving. The Bible study portion of Wyld Questions could be done by people of any age, but the format, the dice, the visuals, and the object lessons have been intertwined in this study to engage junior higher students right where they are at.

I have fond memories of those first few WyldLife campaigners with Marty, Matt “the lab rat”, and the chocolate donut stained dress shirt Doug had to wear to his corporate job after our morning study got out of control. I hope Wyld Questions helps you create your own fun and meaningful memories with your junior high friends."

Next Wednesday, Feb. 18th, is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. I didn't start practicing Lent until college when our Regional Director taught on the spiritual practice at a YL leadership meeting. With each year, this Lenten season grows more personally significant and is consistently a time of deeper intimacy with the Lord.

The term 'Lent' comes from the English word Lenten (lengthen), referring to the season of the lengthening of the days, the spring. Ash Wednesday, the first day in the Lenten season, traditionally has been a day of repentance.

Ben Witherington writes "The remorse for sin is symbolized by the imposition of ashes (on the forehead), but in that imposition is the sign of hope, for the ashes are imposed in the sign of the cross—the means by which our sins were atoned for."

In our Campaigners group we have been preparing for the season Lent. Understanding a relationship with a God they can't see or touch often feels intangible to a high schooler. Yet, it seems the concept of Lent is something they can wrap their minds around, something they can actually do.

At Campaigners we discussed the concept of Lent through the metaphor of athletic training, one quite familiar to most the guys. In order for an athlete to excel, they must prepare. When you watch an Olympian break a record, you know they didn't just walk out there and get lucky. Their performance happened because of years of repetitive behavior.

Lent also involves preparation, prepping our hearts to grasp the power of the cross (Good Friday) and the hope of empty tomb (Easter). One way we can prepare is the same way athletes prepare, with repetitive behavior. We can set our mind to do almost anything for 40 days.

Suggestions I Gave To My Campaigners Group

A Nightly Time Of Written Confession
Create a 'locked' document on your laptops or phones, or in a hidden journal. Three sections of specific confession each night, "Thoughts,""Words," and "Deeds." (based on the Book of Common Prayer general confession)

Give Up A Bad Habit
Pick something hard, but doable. Some guys are giving up porn, alcohol, masturbation, sex, weed, etc... (things that should be given up anyways, but hopefully Lent will be a catalyst to developing some better life habits following these 40 days.)

Giving Up A Comfort
Some guys are giving up things that aren't necessarily "bad," but things they consistently run to for pleasure instead of God. Ex: desserts, fast-food, soda, Netflix, iPhone games, video games, Twitter, etc..

Taking On A New Habit Replacing An Old One
Instead of playing iPhone games or reading Twitter before bed, reading a chapter of the Bible on the YouVersion app on their phone.

So...is Lent just a behavior modification program?

Not at all, but it is still important to modify behavior because behavior often influences belief. By choosing to purposefully give up a comfort or habit of pleasure, we take our eyes off of ourselves, our needs and our wants. Before we can fix our eyes on Jesus, we must stop being so preoccupied with the idol of our own flesh.

"Lent...is an intentional season...where we’re challenged to arrange our lives in such a way as to be daily frustrated. As people addicted to comfort and convenience, we’re often unaware of how we live to feel good about ourselves, to gain a bit of affirmation, to exert influence, to maximize our own pleasure, to satisfy our immediate needs. Lent invites us to intentionally frustrate ourselves, to engage in a season of deprivation, which actually makes us more aware of the depth of our dependence on any number of things – a substance, our reputation, control, achievement, being right, being comfortable, being secure....Lent is not about going off chocolate or caffeine or alcohol. It’s about frustrating what Thomas Merton calls our 'false self'....Lent strips us of everything that is not us. In that sense, Lent is not a chore. It is an opportunity for profound grace by a God who longs to love us at our core, not in our false projected self which desire influence and accolades, but in our truest, most humble and dependent self, once lost but now found in the wilderness of Lent." Read the full post from Dr. DeGroat's here.

Below are two helpful resources that can help you get started.

Ty Saltzgiver's "40 Days of Lent"
Many of you have read Ty's book, "My First 30 Quiet Times.""40 Days of Lent" is the same small size that fits in many Bibles, easy to read in the daily format, and a helpful tool to hand to your Campaigners group. You can get it here for only $1.99 in hard copy or as an e-book.

Henri Nouwen's "Show Me The Way"
Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. You could really pick up any of his books to help prepare you for Easter during the Lenten season, but "Show Me The Way" is specifically designed for that purpose. If you haven't read Nouwen yet, be prepared to encounter Jesus in a fresh way.

Posted by Drew Hill.

Here's a new game we played at club a few weeks ago that went really well!

YL leaders Josh Shipman and Ryan Rainey sold the game as Wrestling Recruiter skit characters. They had other leaders in the back getting the contestants ready.

Each contestant first put on a painting sock mask. You can get them for $2/each at Home Depot. Then a leader helped each kid wrap their face in duct tape, sticky side out, so it looked like they were wearing wrastlin' masks.

They had prepped a tarp with a lot of random objects and ask the crowd to spread out so the tarp could be opened in the middle as a sort of wrestling ring. Kids were introduced, made their entrance, and then competed to see who could get the most items stuck on their head, using no hands. The prized trophy was the 'golden shoe' which was almost too heavy to stick to anyone's head but that didn't keep folks from fighting for it.

You can watch this video below to see how the game worked and use the pic above to come up with ideas for your objects and the different point values. Thanks to Josh and Ryan for sharing your creativity!

In many Young Life areas around the country it's the exciting time of year when new leaders are being placed. Our team is fired up because we get new leaders this week!

What are some good ways to welcome, 'initiate,' and introduce them at club?

A few leaders from around the country shared suggestions below via Twitter. If you have additional ideas, email me here and i'll add them to the post.

How To Welcome/Introduce/Initiate New Leaders

Creed Bratton (@BigDaddyDoel) shared this 'Bad Lip Reading' video they made to introduce their new leaders at club. It's quite hilarious!

Lucas Westblade (@LucasWestblade)
"Order pizza during club the "pizza guy/girl" shows up and decides to stay for club... and it's really your new leader."

Danny Ouelette (@Danny_Ouellette)
"Syrup or Ketchup chugging contest."

Elizabeth Cox (@Elizabethmcox)
"We did "Leaders Choice Awards" and it was great! Leader teams announced the "winners" - it was a hit!"

Brett Eckler (@Breckler23)
"When we got new leaders my first year we forgot to get them a gift, so we went to Walmart and got them 99 cent fish. On the way to the high school, we stopped by a bridge and threw the fish into a lake. We did that throughout the 3 years I was a leader."

Chris Schneider (@Truth101)
"Walk through a wall of leadership (pictures of previous leaders), pray over them, then surprise with a fun celebration."

Brad Schmitt (@BSchmitt4life)
"Go with the classic pie to the face. Always classic."

Other Ideas

Have kids roll their car during club.
Get baby pictures of them to show at club.
Stalk their Facebook profile and show any embarrassing pics of them.
Set them up to be heroes. Find out if they can do any stupid human tricks or cool skillz and set them up to show it off at club.
My personal favorite idea is The Random Bus Passenger. If you get a new leader at the right time to pull this off, ideally before weekend or summer camp. You could also tweak the idea and do it in town, taking kids to Mickey D's after club one night.

How do you 'welcome' new leaders in your area?

Our featured camp musician of the month is Justin McRoberts.

Justin first connected to Young Life in 1988, when he started going to club in junior high. He followed his YL leader into a relationship with Christ and spent 1993-1998 on staff. He met his wife on staff (unheard of, I know), while she was serving on Student Staff in Tacoma, WA. Since leaving staff and beginning a career as an artist, he has been honored to speak and perform at numerous banquets and fundraisers. He has also led retreats for leaders as a song-leader and speaker. Justin has served in every role on a YL Summer Assignment team but camp speaker (Head Leader, Program, Work Crew boss, Summer Staff boss, etc...). That loop finally closes this summer where he will speak first session at an Adventure Camp in Santa Cruz, CA.

Justin's website: http://justinmcroberts.com
Twitter: @justinmcroberts
Instagram: @justinmcroberts
Download music from Justin here.
Email Justin to play at your Young Life camp or banquet.

What YL staff are saying about Justin:

Justin’s heart beats for kids in Young Life, because he once was a Young Life kid. In middle school a Young Life leader pursued a friendship with him and God used it to change his life forever. He is a former YL staffer and so is his wife, Amy. He’s been all around the country (and the world) sharing his music and a lot of it has been at Young Life camps and events, and is closing in on two decades. Most recently his creativity has produced a couple of books that are also great resources for Young Life staff and leaders. Go deep with your relationships to others and God by spending some time with Justin, his music and his books.
-Chris Theule-VanDam, Great Lakes Regional Director

I don't think it is an overstatement to say that Justin McRoberts is perfectly wired to be a Young Life musician. He is a wildly talented songwriter, singer, and (perhaps most importantly in Young Life) song leader. He has served a number of camp assignments at Woodleaf, where kids from any background seem to connect to the depth of feeling and meaning in his music. His lyrics come from a place of deep honesty and rich experience, springing from equal parts beauty and brokenness. But Justin is also a gifted program person, and is always willing to share his sense of humor and do whatever it takes to prepare kids to hear the Gospel. Aside from camp settings, we have also partnered with Justin in more worshipful times of spiritual retreats for staff and leaders. Justin even speaks at banquets across my region, using music when it helps. I always trust him to know his audience well, to be as prepared as anyone I've ever seen, and to serve with a humility I rarely see. He is a treasure to my region, and to anyone with whom he works.
-Matt Walker, Golden Gate Regional Director

I have known Justin McRoberts for some 20 years. In fact, he married one of my old club kids so I have experienced his journey up close for a long time. Whenever I get tasked with building an assignment team, a call to Justin is one of the first things I do. My hope is to secure Justin's services as camp musician as soon as possible. Club is such an important part of camp and I know that if I can get Justin signed on, we are in great shape. Justin is a phenomenal musician. But more than that, he "gets it". A former YL staff guy understands the bigger picture with clarity. Justin also brings a flare for program and a unique brand of humor. It's a easy sell to get him to do some kind of walk on or something which is value added.This is what Justin does. He communicates through word and music. He is one of Young Life's finest camp musicians.
-Alan Smyth, Greater Los Angeles Regional Director

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."
~ R.W. Emerson.

An anonymous guest post by a college student who is currently wrestling with discouragement as a YL leader.

I’ve moved beyond the honeymoon phase of leading where everything is awesome. Don’t get me wrong—I love what I do, but I find that I am less-than-patiently waiting for the Lord to show me the fruits of some of the relationships I have been building at the high school. I can get discouraged when I don’t see my high school friends changing after a year of pouring into them.

And I can source my discouragement to some of my own doubt. Maybe you can relate. When we leaders focus on a perceived lack of fruit in our ministry rather than doing ministry, we often:

Doubt that the Lord has called us to ministry, and consequently
Doubt Christ’s desire to use us.

But listen to Jesus’ encouragement in John 14:12: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

This verse doesn’t even hint that God lacks a desire to use us, instead Jesus says that He WILL use us. If we believe in Him, we will do even greater things than He did. Is that not insane? Jesus who is truth, said that we will do greater things than Him and that He is waiting on us to petition to Him in prayer something that will glorify Him.

Trusting in the Lord to pull those close to us out of darkness is one thing that we can’t give up on. When I was in high school, even though I was involved with Young Life and had a good relationship with my leader, I didn’t change until my senior year.

Three years passed while my leader kept pursuing me, kept loving me, and kept believing that God was faithful. Now, as a leader myself, I can look back and see how well I was pursued. That pursuit is the reason I am leading today. Remember, disciples make disciples. Maybe, like me, you are wondering if leading is worth it. What if only one person comes to Christ after three years of pursuit? Listen to what Jesus has to say about it:

“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7

Can you begin every day as a leader confident that if, at the end of your ministry tenure, only one kid came home that it was completely worth it? Is one lost kid brought to Christ worth a year, or two, or three years of waiting? That one lost kid (like me and maybe you, too) could go on to produce three followers of Christ. Those three could go on to produce twelve, and in Acts 2 Peter preaches to a crowd and it says that three thousand came to Christ in a day.

You never know the extent of the change you can make in the pursuit of one person. With heartfelt thanks to my leader who poured into me, I can say—it’s worth the wait.

Looking for a fun alternative way to play dodgeball with your WyldLife and Capernaum friends?

Instead of using regulation dodgeballs, substitute something smaller like:

ping pong balls (you can buy in bulk here)
balled up newspapers
dinner rolls

The simple switch can make it more fun and less painful when you get drilled in the noggin.

Dodgeball Rules & Regulations

How to do an All-Area Dodgeball Tournament from YLHelp.com

We found this game on DownloadYouthMinistry.com.

You can buy pre-made slides from DYM here for only $3 or you can make up your own version of the game.

This can either be a mixer or an up front game.

If doing a mixer, have folks choose which hashtag they think has been used more times on Instagram. "If you think #YOLO has been used more than #SWAG, go to the right side of the room, if you think visa versa, head to the left." Then you reveal the answer. #YOLO has 4 million hashtags and #SWAG only has 2.7 million.

Here are some creative ways to divide into teams.

As an upfront game you could have 2 players or 2 teams compete to get the most answers correct from the stage.

A guest post by Jason Talley, volunteer leader in Garland, Texas.

As a fun way to launch the new semester we recently put on our 2nd annual '1,000 Wing Eating Contest.'

I've received several requests as to how we put this event on and what all went into it. So, here we go:

PROMOTION

Because of the name recognition of Young Life and our consistency within the school over the past three years, we've been blessed to be able to become an official club of the school. I'm pretty stoked because we will be in the yearbook for the first time this year! Because of this connection our team is able to post flyers around school and pass them out during lunch. We printed roughly 1,200 flyers and went to the school four times the week before and the week of our meeting to pass out the flyers and tape to the kids. They posted the flyers for us. Every bathroom was covered and almost all the walls and doors on campus. This obviously caused a lot of commotion. Additionally, while I was at the school I would carry around a stack of flyers and would just randomly start talking to kids about it. Many of them had already heard, but had questions - which I was able to answer.

Even if it's not 1,200 flyers taped to every wall in school, figure out some way to get the word out the event is happening. For a similar event we just gave 100 1/4 page flyers to kids to give to their friends, that worked amazing as well.

1,000 WINGS! Why 1,000 wings?

...Because it sounds awesome!

Since it's the beginning of the year, most places have a quota of donations that they are trying to meet. Why not jump on that opportunity and let them know you have a reason for them to give?! I called Buffalo Wild Wings and told them what we were doing. I point-blank asked them if they would be willing to donate 600 of the 1,000. That's roughly $550.00 worth of wings. Without hesitation, they agreed. We ended up paying $360.00 for the remaining 400 wings -and with us being a non-profit we were able to get them tax free, thanks America!

I asked them to make 800 Mild and 200 Hot - because we would be mixing them up so the kids never knew what they would be getting. (insert evil chuckle here)

Be sure to order at least two weeks in advance and call on the day of to make sure they have everything ready by the time you arrive. BWW is always amazing when it comes to this.

Additionally, they are typically willing to throw in some wing boats and napkins! Don't be afraid to ask!

KEEP THEM HOT!

Our biggest complaint our first year was the wings were cold. I picked them up around 3:30 and we didn't have our event until 7:30. This is because I had a TON of set-up and preparation to do beforehand and that was the only time I could get them. If this is not the case for you, get them as late as possible. Otherwise, be sure to have a warming station with some stands and warming candles to keep them hot!

If you ask BWW nicely, they will double line the pans for you so you can put water in the bottom pan to make sure you don't burn the wings.

GAMES

We did three major games.

1) The Cleanest Bone
2) The Most Wings
3) Team Wing Eating

The Cleanest Bone

Since we had so many kids, we lined up six six-foot tables and set up 20 places with wings, paper towels and water. Each boat had 5 wings in it. We started first with 20 guys then 20 girls. They were randomly selected by their birthday month.

At the end of the game we grabbed the two winners and brought them up to the front.

They won an awesome bib and a free Young Life t-shirt!

The Most Wings

This game was ran in the exact same way as the previous, except we put six wings in all the boats instead of five. There were also leaders running back and forth in front of the kids putting new wings in the kids' boats as they got down to only two left.

Our boy winner ate thirteen wings in two minutes. We had two girls tie at eleven and had a run off with the winner eating an additional four!

Team Eating Contest

By now, almost all the kids (at least 80) had participated in the games. But we want EVERYONE to be involved. So, this last game is by far the craziest!

We combined all the remaining wings into four pans. Making four "eating stations" (two six-foot tables side-by-side.) These stations were in the four corners of the building so there would be enough room for all the kids to gather around the entire table. Their challenge: Eat all the wings in your pan within a five minute time limit.

The team that won was sure to let us know... They din't actually "win" anything - except some sweet bragging rights.

Their job - make all the meat on all five of those bones completely disappear in two minutes.

We gave the kids an additional five minutes to eat as many wings as they could manage. By the end, they were all gone!

This is always one of our most memorable nights of the year. I hope you can steal a few of these ideas and use them the best way possible for your club. If you have any questions about anything or just want to chat, feel free to comment below.

Thanks Jason for sharing! You can find more ideas here on how to host a YL wing eating event in your area.

What are the keys to giving a great WyldLife club talk?

Knowing your audience. Middle school kids hear and process information differently from older adolescents so you need to be prepared. The Gospel is the same, but how you share it will be unique.

Shorter attention spans.
WyldLife club talks should be 8-10 minutes which means you’ll have to choose your words carefully. Select one Scripture, leave out some details, tighten up your introduction, and keep transitions to just one sentence. “Trust that what you have to say is enough and that the Holy Spirit will work,” says Emily Johnson, veteran WyldLife staff in Florida.

Concrete thinkers.
Middle school kids are concrete thinkers who are just learning how to think abstractly. Don’t assume they can draw an obvious conclusion. When middle schoolers hear about Jesus calming a storm, they might think about thunder and lightning rather than hard things they face in life. Help them connect the dots.

Active participants.
They aren’t great spectators, so consider how you can get kids involved in the talk. Bring them up front to “act out” Scripture or give the crowd an opportunity to respond. (Hint: Give specific directions. If you want the crowd to scream at Zacchaeus for stealing, tell them what to yell and when to stop.)

Easily distracted.
Anything can be a distraction to a middle school kid, but do your best to remove the obvious ones. Ask kids to turn off cell phones. If you’ve played a game with balloons, Q-tips or other items that can be thrown, get them picked up before the talk begins.

Broad spectrum of experience.
There’s a big difference between the maturity and experience of sixth graders and eighth graders. Some younger kids can’t handle topics like sex without giggling. Be real but careful as you talk about struggles.

Desperate for acceptance.
While all teenagers want to be accepted, that need is heightened with early adolescents. As you share stories of Jesus, emphasize that He is the One who accepts them as they are and says that they are valuable. In every talk, tell kids that Jesus loves them.

Open to spiritual input.
The good news is that middle school kids want to hear about their place in God’s story, especially from leaders they trust. You can be confident that your words are falling on fertile soil.

Written by our WyldLife champion, Julie Clapp. If you have WyldLife ideas to share, here's how you do it. We try to post helpful WyldLife thoughts most Wednesdays.

To help you up catch up on what you may have missed over the last 2 months, below are links to the most popular posts from January and February, organized by categories.

Leadership

10 Ways To Welcome New Young Life Leaders

I Stay Leadin' Music Video

Worth The Wait

Questions For Your Post Club Team Time

Casting Vision: Where Are We Leading Our High School Friends

New Instagram Account: @TonightYesTonight

Club Games

Hashtag Battle

Sticky Face Wrestling

Lip-Sync Battle

Alternative Dodgeball

Club Themes

How To Do 1,000 Wing Eating Contest

Love Club Ideas

Super Bowl Club Ideas

Club Music

3 Questions To Help You Choose Club Songs

Free Download Of 'The Go Bananas Re-Mix'

Club Ideas

How To Make Your Run-On The Talk Of The School

How To Make Hilarious Good Morning YL Videos

Everything You Need To Plan Club For Spring Semester

Run On Skit Characters

DJ Status, Foreign Exchange, Raffle Rhonda

Bob Nacho

Casey & Bar-Bra-A

Biggest Loser Sumo Wrestlers

The Buitoni Brothers

InstaGrandma & InstaGrandpa

Club Talks

25 Person of Christ Club Talk Ideas

10 Tips on Giving Club Talks From Francis Chan

Club Talk Progression With Scriptures

Campaigners

Practicing Lent With Your Campaigners Group

Wyld Questions

Creating A Campaigners Group In 5 Months

4 Ways To Build Momentum In Your Campaigners Group

Capernaum

Using An Alternative Club Order

Alternative Dodgeball

Camp Musician of The Month

Justin McRoberts

Judah & The Lion

WyldLife

7 Keys When Giving A WyldLife Talk

Electricity Game

How To Start WyldLife Campaigners

Alternative Dodgeball

Introducing Julie Clapp

Julie serves on our Young Life Leader Blog team as the WyldLife champion. She has worked for Young Life in the North Central Texas Region for 14 years. She oversees alumni relations, communications, events and prayer for the region. She also serves as the WyldLife coordinator for the Southern Division and has been a WyldLife leader in Lake Highlands for 25 years. She thinks junior high kids are awesome and is always happy to talk about WyldLife. Julie loves her nephew and four nieces, and is a huge fan of USC football (her alma mater in Los Angeles, not the one in Columbia). As you can see from the picture, most WyldLife kids are taller than her.

Read about other members of our team here.

Supplies

4 Roller boards
4 baskets (i.e. laundry baskets)
Long elastic or rope to tie around waist of kid
plastic balls

How To Play

Similar to the old age game Hungry Hippos, strap 4 kids belly down on the roller board and tie the long elastic or rope around their waist.
Their partner will be standing at the corner reeling them in and out to grab as many balls as possible.
You could set a time limit and or wait until all the plastic balls have been grabbed from the center.
Have the other kids make a square around the players and toss back any balls into the center if they get thrown out of the circle.

You can watch another version of this game here.

If you're looking for a free & tasty way to hang out with your middle and high school friends this week, here's the answer. This Tuesday, March 3rd, is FREE PANCAKE DAY at IHOPs nationwide!

Last year a few YL leaders in our area took kids for dinner after their practices and games. It's a fun time, but could be a long wait time, so call ahead. Find an IHOP near you here.

You have to dine-in to get the free pancakes and they do ask for a donation for the Children's Miracle Network.

This year, St. Patrick's Day falls on a Tuesday, March 17th.

1. Host a "Ms. Shamrock" competition for the ladies similar to the "Mr. Christmas Tree" for the fellas, just tweak things to be "shamrock-y" instead of "Christmas Tree-y."

2. Let your host for the evening be "Patty O'Furniture" Green tights, red wig, bow tie, shamrock shades (see #3 below), irish hat, beard, etc... A terrible Irish accent is a must. He should repeat Irish phrases like 'top o the mornin to ye' and 'let go of me lucky charms.'

3. Order some fun party favors to pass out at club. At Oriental Trading Post you can buy all kinds of novelties for cheap and they do have 2-3 day delivery. You can get shamrock shaped silly bands for ten cents/band; shamrock tattoos for a nickle/tat; etc... You can also buy some pretty sweet shamrock shades at this website for $3/pair if u buy 12 or more.

4. Download some Irish background music for free from this website

5. Game: Have a relay race where teams race to shoot marshmallows out of the noses into a bowl of lucky charms sitting on someone's head.

6. Have everyone dress in green. If they don't then pinch them. Not an original idea, but pinching people is fun. You could call it 'Green Club.'

7. Game: An Irish Jig dance competition doing dances like this one but probably funnier if you made a video ahead of time.

8. Mixer: "Feeling lucky?" Give one student $5 and tell him/her to give it to the 11th person that shakes their hand. Have everyone shake hands and meet someone new and tell them what's going on. Play some Irish Jig in the background.

9. Game: Have 3 teams of two come up and whoever finishes a two-liter of Mountain Dew and a small bag of Lucky Charms wins!!

10. Skit: If you haven't used the classic YL skit "Little Nemo" in a while, now's a good time to do it with Lil Nemo being a Leprechaun.

11. Irish Trivia (share by Wes Wilson)

Q: What is the name of the lead singer of Irish band U2?

A. Bono

Q: What are the colors of the flag of Ireland?

A: Orange, white, and green

Q: What university’s mascot is The Fighting Irish?

A. Notre Dame

Q: According to legend, Saint Patrick drove what creatures out of Ireland?

a. Snakes

b. Spiders

c. Banshees

d. French people

Q: The shamrock has been used over the centuries as a specific remedy for what?

a. Dehydration

b. Snake bites and scorpion stings

c. Urinary and kidney stones

d. Girl cooties

Q: According to legend, leprechauns all engage in what trade?

a. Tailoring

b. Shoe making

c. Blacksmithing

d. Mattress testing

Q: Some traditional Irish St. Patrick’s Day foods include what?

a. Corned beef and cabbage, soda bread

b. Sweet potato bread, soup

c. Mashed potatoes, carrots, rye bread

d. Mint pie, pretzels, curly fries and a large milk shake

Q: The most common hair color in Ireland is what?

A. Brown

Q: Which holiday’s origin traces back to Ireland?

A. Halloween

What is the most important crop grown in Ireland, both historically and now?

A. Potatoes

Tie Breaker:

Q. What is the cereal Lucky Charms’ tagline?

A. “They're magically delicious!”

Below are a ton of great YouTube tracks for Multicultural/Urban club camping, shared by John Jackson.

Let There Be Light - John Jackson Leading Music At Windy Gap -Multi-cultural track with lyrics

Let There Be Light - John Jackson Leading YoungLives Lyrics, track, words

Keep Our Eyes Open - Track and Instrumental with Words - Urban

Keep Our Eyes Open - Lower Key track, John Jackson leading with Lyrics

Keep Our Eyes Open - YoungLives - Higher Key - Track, John Jackson leading with lyrics

The World's Greatest - TRACK John Jackson Leading with Words & Motions

As I Am - John Jackson Leading With Lyrics

Beautiful Things - Track, John Jackson Leading with Words

Only A Mountain - Track John Jackson Leading, with Words

Only A Mountain - John's Youth Choir, lyrics - This is a good song by Jason Castro - John uses it in club and also at summer camp after the hikes.

-Adapted from Henrietta Mears

I'll never give up on a kid as 'unreachable.'
I won't think my job is done when a kid has made a decision to follow Christ. I'll help them realize how necessary it is:

To pray
To read God's Word daily
To read helpful books
To regularly unite with God's people
To serve others and do ministry

I'll help them find a place to serve and use the gifts God has given them.

I'll teach them how following Jesus looks in everyday life.

I'll show them practical ways to help meet the needs of the world – comfort for the stranger, food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty (Matthew 25).

I'll seek to help each one discover the will of God.

I'll try to see in them what God sees in them. Michelangelo saw the face of an angel in a discarded stone. Christ saw a writer in a tax collector, a preacher in a fisherman, a world evangelist in a murderer. He uses foolish things and the weak and the despised to work His purposes.

I'll instill a divine discontent into the mind of everyone, not by telling them the pettiness of their life, but by giving them a vision of the great things God has called us to do.

I'll make it easy for anyone to come to me with the deepest experiences of their inner life, not by urging but by sympathy and understanding. I will never let anyone think I am disappointed in them, remaining at all times accessible to them.

I'll keep the cross of Christ central in the Christian life.

I will pray as I have never prayed before for wisdom and power, believing God’s promise that “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask, and it shall be given to him” (James1:5)

I will spend and be spent in this battle. I will not seek ease. I will not think that freshness of face holds beauty in comparison with the glory of heaven. I will seek fellowship with the “man of sorrows…acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3) as He walks through this stricken world.

Download here.

Depending your club size you could have everyone create circles of 8-10 people and pass a spoon around as music plays. When the music stops, whoever is left holding the spoon must eat a spoonful of baby food. If you eat a bite, you're still in, if you refuse to eat, you're out of the game. It’s like hot potato but only tastes worse. Whoever lasts the longest wins!

Supplies
Baby Food. Get the grossest flavors you can find. My favorites are Vegetables & Beef, Prunes, and Turkey Dinner. Spoon(s). Depending on your club size, you could get enough for everyone that plays to have one. You don’t want to use the same spoon every round, that would be grosser than eating the baby food.

Game Play
You could play this game with everyone participating which means you'll have multiple circles all over the room playing at the same time. But if you just wanted to find 6-8 kids, and play as an upfront game, you could also do it that way. Once the circles are formed, start the music. You can either pass a spoon or pass different jars of baby food. To make folks get out faster, you could pass multiple jars of food. When the music stops, the person holding the spoon (or jar) must eat a spoonful of baby food or they are out of the game. Every round starts with music and spoon passing, and ends with the music stopping and baby food consumption. Whoever is the last person left wins!

*You could also pass a bag of doughnut holes with the jars of nasty baby food to give them a positive option.

**You could also make the game go faster by someone getting out after they've eaten the baby food.

This guest post was shared with us by Sarah Wright, YL leader at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, IN.

The idea behind Sibling club is to get high school kids to bring younger siblings that haven't been to a YL event before AND to get some of our WyldLife kids to convince their older siblings to come to a YL event if they haven't been before. When we decided to do Sibling Club, both of those things happened as well as some of our WyldLife kids getting other high school kids they knew to bring them if they didn't have a sibling.

We advertised the event by posting Instagram collages of siblings that are part of our YL group. I just found pictures from their own Instagram posts and then tagged all of the kids. We posted a few of these leading up to Club.

We tried to get pictures of every set of siblings that showed up. These pictures can be helpful for leaders trying to place names and faces and connections of all of these kids.

Games

Human Hungry, Hungry, Hippos

Four teams had a representative that laid down on two scooters, wore a bike helmet and held a laundry hamper out front. Their team pushed them to the middle of the gym to retrieve balls by trapping them under the hamper. The team pulled their Human Hippo back using the rope.
For more information on how to run this game, click here.

Sticky Siblings

Pairs of siblings came up front and were each given a few pieces of gum to start chewing and a deck of cards. They then had to find four queens to stick on one sibling's face and four kings to stick on the other sibling's face using the chewed up gum as adhesive.

Clothespin Relay
Kids were split up into four teams (Seniors + siblings, Juniors +siblings, Sophomores + siblings, Freshmen + siblings). Three representatives at a time were sent to the clothesline being held up across the gym. They had to bite off a clothespin from the line and then take it back to their team captain. The team with the most clothespins won.

Musical Shapes
We made giant shapes on the floor ahead of time with painters tape. While music played everyone scrambled around but when the music stopped they had to find a shape to squeeze inside. If you don't find a shape fast enough, you're out. Each round a couple leaders pulled up tape so there were fewer and fewer shapes.

We sang songs that referenced family or siblings and two leaders gave an awesome club talk about their families and the story of the Prodigal Son.

For more pictures and videos of how this club works, click this link here.

Another option instead of Sibling club, is Family Club! Thank you to Northern Weld County for sharing this club idea.

If you're a high school leader, make sure to schedule a club near the end of the semester where you invite 8th graders. It's a great way to get them excited for next year.

Some of your high school friends are beginning to ask dates to the prom. Pictured here are a few fun promposal ideas you can pass along.

One of my high school friends wrote a letter to Roy Williams, coach of the UNC Tarheels basketball team. He asked him to write a letter to the girl he wanted to ask to prom. Roy did it!

For tons of other ways to connect with and serve your high school friends during prom season check out the YL Leader Guide to Prom Season.

Below are a few ways we as Young Life leaders can serve our high school friends, parents, and school administrations.

PRE-PROM

Dress/Tux Shopping

Go shopping with them. Do you think your high school friend would rather go to Men's Warehouse with his YL leader or his mom? It's a toss up, but for the female YL leaders it's a no-brainer contact work opportunity.

Pimp That Ride

Offer to pimp out your Rav-4 and dress up as a limo driver to escort your high school friends and their dates to dinner and prom. Maybe even check with committee folks or adults at your church who have nice vehicles they'd be willing to let you borrow.

Chef-Boy-R-Prom

Offer to cook/serve an elegant candlelight dinner for your high school friends. Do it at your house, their house, the YL house, or outside at a park. It'll be much cheaper than a steakhouse and more memorable as well.

Post-A-Pic

Show up at the pre-dinner photo spot with a super-nice camera that you borrowed from your retired uncle. Take pics, edit them, post them on Instagram and tag your high school friends.

Pray

This is a night full of regrets for many of our friends. Let's beg God to protect them and to give them courage to make wise decisions.

Prep

Help your high school friends think through the evening ahead of time. Tell them you know the temptations they will face. Tell them Jesus knows those same temptations (Matthew 4). Tell them to look for a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13), because Jesus always provides one. Who else is having these important conversations with them? It's one of the reasons we work so hard to earn the right to be heard.

DURING-PROM

Volunteer
You might be surprised at how grateful the high school administration will be to hear an adult ask if they can help supervise the prom. It's not like a ton of adults are lining up to referee boogie-dance wrastlin'.

Prom Alternative
Some of your friends didn't get asked to the prom. They say it's not a big deal, but no one enjoys being left out. Imagine how excited they would be if you offered them another hangout option during prom. You could do something low-key or even create an event like "MORP" (Prom backwards.) Instead of the dance you could create an evening of a fancy meal followed by video scavenger hunts, rolling houses, ice blocking, movies, and even your own little dance party. That's the stuff memories are made of.

AFTER-PROM

If your high school puts on an After-Prom event, volunteer to help. Our YL team used to film music videos of kids during the event. We used the YL skit closet and had kids dress up and lip-sync the song of their choice. We got some construction lights and designed a lil stage. After we shot the music videos we uploaded them on the YL YouTube page for kids to view. It was a big hit. If your school doesn't offer an After-Prom consider offering your friends a late night alternative.

3 Questions To Help You Choose Club Songs

Wyld Life Wednesday: Wyld Questions For Campaigners

Practicing Lent With Your Campaigners Group

Club Game Of The Week: Sticky Face Wrestling

10 Ways To Welcome New Leaders

Camp Musician Of The Month: Justin McRoberts

Worth The Wait?

Alternative Dodgeball For WyldLife or Capernaum

Club Game Of The Week: Hashtag Battle

How To Host A 1000 Wing Eating Contest

7 Keys For Effective WyldLife Club Talks

The Top 40: Helpful Posts From Jan/Feb

Club Game Of The Week: Real Life Hungry Hippos

FREE Pancakes At IHOP Tomorrow

St. Patty's Day Club: 10 Ideas For A Sham-Rockin' Club

Music Tracks For Urban & Multicutural Young Life

12 Commitments Of A Young Life Leader

Club Game Of The Week: Baby Food Roulette

Sibling Club

Promposals: Creative Ways To Invite Her To The Prom