WyldLife Wednesday: How To Maximize 'The Raffle'

November 11, 2015, 4:30 am

≫ Next: Rain for Roots: 'Waiting Songs' for Advent

≪ Previous: A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: Learning to Listen

Written by Neal Eckerlin, WyldLife Representative of the Southwestern Division

Sometimes we continue do things at club because we’ve always done them but we often forget the purpose and how to make certain club components effective. One example – the raffle! The raffle is fun and kids seem to like it, so we keep doing it. But it’s important to regularly ask ourselves why we do what we do. Is this a good club component for middle school kids? Yes! The raffle has the potential to be one of the more meaningful and key components to your WyldLife club.

The Raffle’s Purpose

Highlight kids just for showing up! The raffle gives us an opportunity to notice kids who are not the most outgoing or great at games or activities.
Middle school kids LOVE it! When a middle school kid wins a raffle prize there often is genuine joy and excitement. Many kids have never won anything before.
You can use it to motivate kids to listen. Middle school kids are excitable and “squirrely” when they get over-stimulated at club. The raffle can help with crowd control.

If kids are listening when you need their attention, you can give those kids extra tickets
Use the raffle to give kids boundaries. If they can’t listen when they’re asked, the raffle can be cancelled or they aren’t eligible to win.

The Raffle’s Effectiveness

Simple prizes work great!

Candy
99-cent store toys

It can help you do contact work.

Raffle off Jamba Juice with a leader
Raffle off lunch with a leader for a kid and two of their friends
Raffle off an item to be used with a leader

Frisbee - set up a time to play
Homework help
Nail polish to paint nails with kids

Have a lot of items so more kids can win.
Hand out tickets during club not before because kids tend to lose them.

The raffle can end up being the highlight of club for some kids. Utilize it to impact your relationships with kids and their club experience.

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Rain for Roots: 'Waiting Songs' for Advent

November 14, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Running on Empty: What's True About God & You (Part 4)

≪ Previous: WyldLife Wednesday: How To Maximize 'The Raffle'

Rain for Roots is a group of Nashville musicians made up of Sandra McCracken, Katy Bowser, and Flo Paris. They make wonderful music for children and partner with their local chapter of YoungLives. Rain for Roots gives music and Baby's Hug-A-Bibles to each new mom to be. They also raised money for YoungLives campership at their last Nashville concert.

This week they released 'Waiting Songs,' a brand new album for the upcoming season of Advent. If you're serving with YoungLives, this could be a great gift idea for the young mothers you know. Our family loves these tunes!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Running on Empty: What's True About God & You (Part 4)

November 15, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Hoedown Club Ideas

≪ Previous: Rain for Roots: 'Waiting Songs' for Advent

Walk into any Young Life club and you’re bound to find people who look happy, confident, and secure. But, inwardly, some are confused, frustrated, frightened, guilty and ashamed to reveal themselves to others—secretly crying out for someone to love them as they are.

I suspect the same is true with any group of Young Life volunteer leaders and staff. Yet, seldom does a person have the courage to expose his or her deep needs with a seemingly self-sufficient gathering of competent people. And that’s a crying shame!

Why is this sort of pretending so common among followers of Jesus? Are we so blind that we can’t see how pretending drains every ounce of our integrity? When will we finally acknowledge that Jesus insists on meeting us where we are, not where we pretend to be?

Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the starting point of authentically living in Christ, not because our life in Christ immediately mends all of our brokenness, but because we can then stop seeking perfection. Instead, we seek Jesus, the One who is present in the brokenness of our lives. It’s not until we reveal our desperate neediness that we discover who Jesus really is: a loving, accepting, kind, and forgiving Savior, Redeemer, and Friend.

Acknowledging the fragmentation of my life is the single most painful and difficult admission I’ve ever made. It’s also the most freeing and hopeful thing I’ve ever spoken about myself. Discovering the need for authenticity has led me to develop trusting relationships with friends who invite the real me to come out of hiding.

Today I’m convinced that God loves everyone unconditionally and with unimaginable depth, persistence, and intensity. His love overflows and stretches beyond any limitations we might try to place on it. God’s love, in a nutshell, is like none other in the world.

It’s for this reason that we can affirm with unrivaled certainty that God loves us as we are and not as we should be, since none of us will ever be who we should be. Do you believe this? Can you say with conviction what the apostle John wrote: “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love”? (1 John 4:16). God’s love is the substance of our faith and a fantastic summary of all that we must believe about our true identity.

Jesus offers to be a constant companion--a friend who’s patient, kind, gracious, quick to forgive, and whose love doesn’t keep score. He says, “I’m no longer calling you servants…No, I’ve named you friends” (John 15:15). St. Augustine says, "A friend is someone who knows everything about you and still accepts you." Jesus loves us with our ideals and disappointments, our heartaches and our joys, our successes and our failures.

Authentic discipleship requires knowing three things:

Our self as deeply loved
Our self as deeply sinful
Our self engaged in a lifelong process of being restored.

Confronting these essential truths makes it possible for us to know ourselves as we are known and accepted by God.

Do you believe that God loves you as you are?
What are you doing or refraining from doing in order to grow in your friendship with Jesus?
Spend a few minutes each day this week reflecting on this paraphrase of Romans 8:35-39:

I may fall flat on my face; I may fail until I feel old and beaten and done in. Yet Your goodness and love is changeless. All the music may go out of my life; my private world may shatter to dust. Even so, You hold me in the palm of Your steady hand. No turn in the affairs of my fractured life can baffle You. Satan with all his braggadocio cannot distract You. Nothing can separate me from Your measureless love-pain can’t, disappointment can’t, anguish can’t. Yesterday, today, tomorrow can’t. The loss of my dearest love can’t. Death can’t, life can’t. Riots, wars, insanity, non-identity, hunger, neurosis, disease—none of these things, nor all of them heaped together can budge the fact that I am dearly loved, completely forgiven and forever free through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son.

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Hoedown Club Ideas

November 16, 2015, 8:48 am

≫ Next: A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: Along the Way

≪ Previous: Running on Empty: What's True About God & You (Part 4)

The fall is a perfect time of year to pull off a Young Life hoedown club!

LOCATION

Borrow a barn!
If you can't find a barn, find a field. It's better to do the field party earlier in October so it's not dark as early or as cold. If you use a field, make sure to circle up cars and use headlights. Bring jumper cables in case you drain a car battery! You'll also want to make sure a bathroom is close by. You can rent port-a-potties for $150, maybe even get a parent to sponsor it. Who doesn't want their business logo on a sign taped to a portable bathroom?
If you can't find a barn or a field, you can do it anywhere, just make sure to decorate!

DECORATIONS

Christmas lights are a must.
Hay bales are great- try and get them donated, but if not, you can probably get 30 for $100.
Checkered table cloths
Tons of ideas on Pinterest

GAMES/MIXERS

Finger Countin'

Use your skit characters to do a funny game sell about how their mama taught them to count and add. Stand back to back, each person holding out one hand. On that hand they can hold out no fingers, 1, 2,3,4, or all 5. When they turn around (on the count of 3) they add the fingers together with their opponents. First one to yell the correct sum moves on to the next round.

Seed Spittin'

Kids race to cut open a pumpkin, pull out the seeds and spit them towards their partners who are holding a plastic jack-o-lantern. The one with the most seeds after 90 seconds (with loud music playing in the background) is the winner.

You can also spit sunflower seeds into a cowboy hat.

Plunger Olympics

If you're going for more of a red neck theme instead of a barn party, you can make up all kinds of games using plungers.

Ring toss on the plunger
Unrolling toilet paper race with the toilet paper roll on the plunger
Using the plungers as gloves to catch balls being tossed
Get creative

Cricket Spitting

Go to PetSmart to get crickets. Buy 30 medium sized. Buy them an hour or so before club so they stay alive. You don't need a cage, you can keep them in the bag, just make sure they get some air.
Set the game up by getting 6 brave volunteers, 3 guys and 3 gals. Do a spit-off and see who can spit a cricket the farthest. Mark the spot the cricket lands. Have a gal go, then a guy, then a gal, etc... Take the top 2 and have them do a championship round.
After you crown a winner, have the skit character hosting the game stick 10 crickets in their mouth and do a 'machine gun style' spit!

Pie-Eating Contest

Few things are as redneck as eating contests. You can go many different directions with this one. Just call 3-5 folks up front and pick one of the options below or create your own.

Fill pie tins with gummy worms and whipped cream and have a race to see who can get all the worms out first without using their hands. Start a rumor in the crowd that real worms are mixed in with the gummy worms.
Fill pie tins with M&Ms and flour and have a race to get the M&Ms out using no hands. Make sure to have water for them to drink after getting a mouth full of flour. Take pictures!

Turkey Head

Just a slight twist on the ol' surgical glove on the head game, because it does look like a turkey and it's November so it works. Get three volunteers to pull the glove over their head, just below their nose. When the music starts, they race to blow it up as big as they can. It can get huge! Take pics.

EXTRAS

Make a good country music playlist to have going as kids arrive. Ask a kid to help make it (but make sure it's clean.) Here's a Spotify playlist a friend made for a hoe-down club, but it's 2 years old.
Use eyeliner to draw freckles on girls, like we do at camp.
Considering getting 2 skit characters to host the whole night. They can learn some redneck jokes and do a little routine throughout club.
Get someone to come call a square dance!

SONGS
Download PowerPoint Slides for all the songs below here.

Wagon Wheel
High FLyin Lord
Let my light shine bright
Barefoot Bluejean night
Chicken Fried
Banana Song
Springsteen
Let there be light
I could Run Away
I am Yours

What other Hoedown ideas do you have? Email us here and we'll add them to the post.

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A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: Along the Way

November 17, 2015, 4:30 am

≫ Next: Hello by Adele: Chords and Slides

≪ Previous: Hoedown Club Ideas

On Tuesdays this semester we're running a series of posts on discipleship by Justin McRoberts. If you've missed the first 6 posts, click the links below to catch up.

Mission, part 2

Last week I wrote about the story of Phillip in Acts 8. There’s another part of that same story I really like. Once God sends Phillip south, the writer of Acts says that “on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch.”

Your “mission,” the thing you do to serve God and people in your life, will likely happen “along the way.” In other words, It can sometimes seem that serving Jesus will mean going to Bible college or Seminary or getting some other kind of special religious training. And that might be true for you; I’ve got some really good friends who are pastors or on Young Life staff. But I also have a lot of friends working in medicine or law or athletics. And each of them, according to their gifts and calling, are right where they are supposed to be.

Here’s what I’m after: Don’t worry that you'll have to give up the things you’re best at or the things you most enjoy in order to “do something for Jesus.” He just may have given you those gifts and passions so that you could serve Him in joy and with skill.

Perhaps, instead of asking a question like “What am I supposed to do to serve God?” start asking and imagining “What are the things I am best at and love to do most? How might I serve God and love people with these gifts and passions?” The answer to that line of questioning might change over time because you will change over time. And as you do, may you serve God and love people with joy and skill.

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Hello by Adele: Chords and Slides

November 17, 2015, 12:45 pm

≫ Next: WyldLife Wednesday: Tips for Building Relationships With Parents

≪ Previous: A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: Along the Way

The population of the United States is 320 million. In less than one month, Adele's "Hello" has 400 million views on YouTube. Her new album comes out this week. If you're looking for a 'hot' new song to sing in club, you found it.

Odds are that someone in your club plays keys. Ask around, have someone learn to play the song and bring a keyboard. If not, you can play it on guitar and it will still work. Playing an MP3 isn't a bad option either. Just make sure whoever is leading the song goes all out on the chorus, the crowd will follow suit.

It would be sweet to have Adele come and lead the song at your club. Why not tweet at her and ask? She only has 24 million followers so she'll probably get back to you right away. Stranger things have happened.

You could also do a skit with your run-on characters that leads into everyone singing the song. Make sure to use flip phones in the skit.

Download PowerPoint Slides
Download Keynote Slides
Download PDF of guitar chords

*Special thanks to Keith Baker for emailing in the slides for the song. If you have chords/slides to other club songs, email them to us here and we'll post them up on the Club Music section of the site.

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WyldLife Wednesday: Tips for Building Relationships With Parents

November 18, 2015, 4:30 am

≫ Next: Watch & Wait: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Jim Branch

≪ Previous: Hello by Adele: Chords and Slides

Written by Steph Raubenheimer, WyldLife Representative in the Greater New York Division

When a parent drops a kid off at WyldLife club, do you ever wonder “Does this parent know I’m ____________.” Fill in your blank: Trained to be doing this. A full-time student. Grieving. A working professional. Out of a job. Volunteering my time to do this. Passionate about this. Enjoy this. Consider this more than orchestrating entertainment for kids. Fill in your blank…

Part of you wishes the very people entrusting you with their kids could know the depth of your heart and commitment to what you are doing. You also want them to know that as a WyldLife leader, you are a whole person, and that there is more to you than the games they see you lead in club.

What if we take away the mystery of who we are, as whole people, and also invite the parents of our middle school friends to de-mystify who they are, too? They aren’t just a PTA mom, a traveling dad, an absent parent, a busy couple, a broken family, a well-respected parent. There’s more to your story, and there’s more to theirs. In the same way we want parents to know we are deeper than the cotton on the Q-tips we throw at club, we can get to know them that way, too!

Here’s the beauty of removing the mystery by way of friendships: You will enjoy these friendships, and you will learn from them. You will find your heart shifting toward compassion, understanding and mutual edification. You will find God working in your heart here, as He also draws these dear friends closer to Him. This is energizing!

So a practical application is this: Enjoy life with the parents of your WL kids!

Below are 6 ways you might enjoy spending time with a WyldLife parent: Try one this school year!

Go for a walk/walks with a WL parent. A person who loves to walk will love to walk with you. Yes, it’s really that simple.
Call a WL parent when you need help with something unrelated to WL (Where should I fix my car? What’s the best Tex-Mex in town?)
Attend a community event with a WL parent (holiday bazaar, street fair, whatever your community offers)
Call a WL parent. “Just wanted to hear how your mom is doing… how the new job is going.” Ask about something significant in their lives.
Learn how to do something with a parent you enjoy spending time with.
Tell them about things happening in your whole life, because remember, you’re a whole person, and so are they. They may enjoy showing up for you.

May the Lord anoint, bless and continue to orchestrate friendships you’ll have with parents in your community. It’s amazing that we would find favor with adults; we know God’s hand is in this. May we be energized by getting to know people as whole people---not just parents, and not just as WyldLife leaders.

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Watch & Wait: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Jim Branch

November 19, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Turkey Club: 10 Ideas for a YL Thanksgiving Celebration

≪ Previous: WyldLife Wednesday: Tips for Building Relationships With Parents

Many of you are familiar with 'The Blue Book' and have loved reading Jim Branch's writings. Jim was on staff with YL for almost twenty years and now directs a ministry of spiritual nurture in Knoxville, TN. Last year we gave away copies of Jim's book, "Being with Jesus." He recently released a new book, "Watch and Wait," specifically written for the season of Advent. This year Advent begins on Nov. 30th.

Purchase a copy here: Watch and Wait: A Guide for Advent and Christmas

We're also giving away 5 copies. You can be entered to win by filling out this 60 second survey.

“For most of my Christian life I was unaware of the beautiful way the story of faith retells itself each year through the church liturgical calendar. How each and every year through its feasts and fasts, its celebrations and remembrances, the incredible story of God's extravagant love for his people is lived out again and anew by the community of faith. It is an ancient dance that has been done by fellow pilgrims throughout the centuries, offering an invitation to us all to journey with Christ, and the people of God, into a more intimate and vibrant relationship with the One who made us for himself. It is an invitation for each of us to enter into his story; to live each season in a way that gives us a deeper love for, and a stronger faith in, the God who dreamt us into being. The first step in this journey is the season of Advent, the season of watching and waiting for Christ to be born among us and within us. It is the season where we get in touch with our deep longing for God to show up in our lives and in our word. After all, he is, and has always been, the God who comes. Ours is just to pay careful attention to the how and the where and the when of that coming.” - Jim Branch

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Turkey Club: 10 Ideas for a YL Thanksgiving Celebration

November 20, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Running on Empty: Frustrated Desires

≪ Previous: Watch & Wait: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Jim Branch

Thanksgiving is next week! If you're squeezing club in before the break, below are some ideas for Turkey Club.

Serve
Have kids bring canned goods to club to donate to needy families. You could also ask them to bring supplies for Operation Christmas Child and put together Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.

Secret Tweets
Have everyone at club send a DM to your YL Twitter or Instagram account with something they're thankful for. Tell them you're going to anonymously read them out loud. This will make sure everyone is following the Twitter/Instagram accounts and also be a fun way to share thankfulness. Thanks to Sean McGever at YLHelp.com for sharing this and other helpful thoughts about creating a YL tradition of thankfulness.

Turkey Bowl

Lots of clubs around the country have a tradition of holding an annual 'YL Turkey Bowl' football game. Go the extra mile and make shirts, because who doesn't need another YL shirt, especially one with a picture of a turkey playing football. You can create competition between classes, kind of a Jr vs Sr powderpuff feel.

Turkey Stuffing (from YLHelp .com)
Divide into teams. Give each person a balloon (the stuffing) and one large shirt or sweatshirt. Give them one minute to “prep” their turkey by blowing up the balloon and stuffing them in the shirt of one person on their team. When the time is up, have a sumo match. The last one standing wins.

Turkey Head

Just a slight twist on the ol' surgical glove on the head game, because it does look like a turkey. Get three volunteers to pull the glove over their head, just below their nose. When the music starts, they race to blow it up as big as they can. It can get huge! Take pics.

Pumpkin Long Snapper Game

Items needed:

Small pumpkins or gourds (hand sized)
2 baskets

Instructions:

You will need two teams of two
Set the basket 15 feet from one player and have the player's teammate stand with basket.
In this challenge, one player will hike pumpkins between their legs like a long snapper in football. The teammate holding the basket will toss back any pumpkins or gourds.
Team with the most pumpkins at the end of 60 seconds wins the challenge.

Pie Face Game

Items needed:

Plate
Pumpkin pie with whipped topping

Instructions:

Instruct players they must keep their hands behind their backs.
The first player to devour the pie - crust, filing, whipped cream, and all in 60 seconds or less wins the challenge.

Turkey Bowling

Items Needed:

Frozen Turkey

You can leave the plastic and netting on the turkey and throw it holding the netting OR
Get a drill and drill 3 finger holes into the turkey and throw it like an actual bowling ball.

12 Bowling pins or 2-liter bottles filled with sand

You can often get donations of old broken pins from a local alley.

Plastic tarp (long enough to serve as your "lane")
Oil or water (to spread on tarp so turkey slides more easily)
Sturdy, stable backboard for end of lane - a table on its side would work well. Nail or tape securely to the ground or floor
Person to set up pins after each bowl

How to Play:

Each team has three participants.
Game consists of three rounds. First student from each team bowls in the first round, second student in the second round, third student in the third round.
Scoring is just like regular bowling except there are only three frames. The third frame is the equivalent of the tenth frame in regular bowling with the potential for an extra bowl if the participant scores a strike or spare.
Each participant gets two bowls with the exception of the third participant who will have the opportunity for an extra bowl if he/she scores a strike or spare.
Play the 'Chicken Dance' in the background or have a kid who hunts blow his turkey call every time pins are knocked down.

Turkey Trophy
Make a turkey out of an old bowling ball (body) and pin (as the head). Use feathers and a red sock as a goblet and paint the ball with winners names.

Turkey Man
Have a Senior Campaigner dress up as a turkey to welcome kids as they enter club. You can also have the turkey emcee club or just be a cheerleader for the teams.

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Running on Empty: Frustrated Desires

November 22, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant...and other Christmas Club Ideas

≪ Previous: Turkey Club: 10 Ideas for a YL Thanksgiving Celebration

This is the 5th week in our Sunday series, "Running on Empty," by Fil Anderson. If you missed the first four, catch up here:

Part 5: Frustrated Desires

Week after week, people come to me with unfulfilled desires and a question: “Why does following Jesus have no effect on my life? What am I doing wrong?”

An enthusiastic, yet overextended Young Life volunteer asks, “How can I escape always being busy and feeling spiritually numb?” A student asks, “How can I trust that God is with me when I feel so lonely and afraid?” A physically exhausted and spiritually demoralized Area Director anxiously sits in my office and asks, “What do I have to do to know that God loves me as I am?”

The volunteer leader, the student, and the Area Director have something in common. In the midst of harried, hurried, and hurting lives they desperately long to experience the love of God. Desire for God’s presence to be more recognizable gnaws at their aching, hungry souls.

I understand their desperate and anxious longing. After nearly fifty years of trying to follow Jesus, I am nowhere near becoming the person I once thought I’d be by now. When I was younger I believed my failure and inconsistency was due to my youth. I believed that when I was older I would have learned what I needed to know and mastered the art of Christian living.

However, I’m no longer embarrassed or afraid to admit that I’m an unfinished, incomplete, and imperfect, under construction, work in progress. Neither is God surprised or disappointed with my lack of progress. God’s work in my life will never be finished until I meet Jesus face to face. Desiring to follow Jesus isn’t about being finished and perfect; it’s about doing my best and trusting God to finish what he began.

I believe my desire to please God (regardless how much or how little), does please him. Despite my stumbling, bumbling, clumsy, and erratic efforts to follow Jesus, any measure of desire is irrefutable proof that God is at work in my life. I would never yearn to follow Jesus if the Holy Spirit was not first pursuing me.

The most encouraging thing I can say about my life these days is that I really, really desire to live in close relationship to Jesus and I know for certain that Jesus responds to desire. He never attempted to restrict or ignore any expression of desire to be in relationship with him. Jesus answered people who interrupted him, yelled at him, touched him, screamed obscenities at him, barged in on him, crashed through ceilings to get a friend to him. Jesus cares deeply about our desire. Just walk with Jesus and watch how he welcomes people who want something more:

“A man with leprosy…begged [Jesus]…’If you are willing, you can make me clean’” (Mark 1:40).
“They pleaded with [Jesus] to leave their region” (Matthew 8:34).
“Save us! We’re going to drown!” (Matthew 8:25).
“Grant that one of these two sons of mind may sit at your right and the other at your left” (Matthew 20:21).
“Sir, give me this water” (John 4:15).
“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us” (Mark 9:22).
“The man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with [Jesus]” (Mark 9:22).
“Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

A Testament of Devotion is one of the most impactful books I’ve read. Its author, Thomas Kelly asserts that we can live with “remarkable power and peace and serenity, of integration and confidence” is truly possible on the condition that we must really, really want to. Living the life God designed us to live and that Jesus died and rose again to make possible, hinges on the level of our desire.

So, the pivotal question we all must answer is “How strong, really, is my desire?”

Fil Anderson is a spiritual director, conference speaker, writer and retreat leader. He served on the Young Life staff for 25 years. Fil and his wife Lucie live in Greensboro, NC and are parents of 3 adult children. He is the author of Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers and Breaking the Rules: Trading Performance for Intimacy with God.

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Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant...and other Christmas Club Ideas

November 23, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: The World Is Not Ours To Save

≪ Previous: Running on Empty: Frustrated Desires

Below are tons of ideas to help make your Christmas Club a merry ol time. If you have other ideas to share, email us here and we'll add them to the post.

Christmas Club Sample Schedule

We usually start club at 7:37, but for this particular event we start earlier to allow more time for the pageant.

6:50-7:20- Pics with Santa/ Awkward Christmas Cards

7:20- Seniors form entry tunnel

7:22- Tonight, Yes, Tonight- Buddy the elf (host)

7:23- Christmas Medley (band)

7:26- 12 days of Christmas (mixer & song)

7:30- Mr. Christmas Tree Training Video

7:35- Mr. Tree group dance

7:40- Buddy the elf spaghetti game

7:44- Judges Panel introduced

7:45- Talent Competition

7:59- JibJab Elf head video

8:02- Announcements

8:04- Parade of Trees (Runway Script)

8:12- Contestant Interviews

8:16- Text Message Voting

8:19- Joy To The World

8:23- What Child Is This?

8:26- Intro Drew

8:28- Drew's Talk

8:43- Crown Mr. Christmas Tree

8:48-exit music

Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant

Brian Summerall started doing 'Mr. Christmas Tree' at Pearce High School in Texas many years ago. You can read more about his vision for the pageant on his website. Since then, the idea has spread all over the country. Many YL clubs have each grade nominate one guy to represent their class in the pageant.

When we started doing it 6 years ago, we decided to make it a senior guys competition. It's created momentum and gave the underclassmen something to look forward to when they became seniors. This year's senior guys will compete, many remembering their first ever MCTP they watched when they were freshmen. The last few years we've had around 15-20 senior guys compete. Each of them brings friends to club to 'vote' for them, so it typically is our highest attended club of the year. Because of the energy surrounding the event, we also make it the first night folks can sign up for Crooked Creek, our summer camp trip.

*We also do a similar event, 'The Ms. Valentines Pageant' for the senior ladies in February.

Talent Competition

A fun way to get teachers, coaches, YL committee, and former YL leaders involved is to ask them to serve on the Judges Panel.

If you select one guy from each grade, or use 4-8 total guys, each guy could have time to perform an individual talent like dancing, singing, silly tricks, etc... In that case the judges panel could use this sheet from Brian Summerall to help keep score.

If you have more than 8 guys, I'd recommend putting the guys into 'talent groups.' Last year we had 4 groups of 4 guys.

You can decide if the panel determines the winner, or if you vote by applause, text message, or by the audience each circling a name on a ballot you pass out towards the end of the competition.

12 Days of Christmas Skit
Here's a funny skit idea for 2 of the contestants to do together while the rest of the contestants sing the 12 Days of Christmas. It feels a little long so I might just do it once starting on the 12th day.

Parade of Trees

Summerall duct tapes actual trees to guys, which is hilarious. We encourage guys to dress as tree, open to their own interpretation. Some use actual tree branches taped to their body, some wear ornaments, tinsel, star hats, popcorn strings, some dress in green and brown, but every one of them is covered in strands of Christmas lights. After they walk down the runway onto the stage, we have a couple of power strips where they each can plug in their lights. (Some use battery packs)

During their runway walk we have an announcer reading a funny 'runway script.' Each guy submits personal stats they would put on a resume and we work together on making it funny. Here's the script we used from a previous year. In the past I have asked the PA announcer at our high school football games to come in and read the script in his awesome football announcer voice.

Host/MC

We typically have someone dress up as 'Buddy The Elf' and host the entire evening as sort of a Ryan Seacrest/Will Ferrell combo character. It helps the flow of the evening if one person is directing stage traffic.

Trophy

If possible, get last year's Mr. Christmas Tree to return home for this club to crown the new winner. Create an elaborate 'sash and star crown' for the presentation. We're doing this after the talk in order to give time to tally the votes during the talk, and it's a fun way to conclude the evening.

Video

If you have a handful of contestants, each guy should make their own 'entry video' or 'training video.' They could be practicing singing, doing pushups, running bleachers, visiting a Christmas tree lot, painting themselves green, duct taping branches on their bodies, drinking lots of egg nog, etc...

If you're using a lot of contestants, make one training video together. Here's the video we made a previous year:

Here are some examples of videos from other clubs:

Pearce Young Life
Pearce Young Life 2012

Wichata Falls Young Life

Amarillo Young Life

Delta County Young Life

Decorations

Ask friends for BIG inflatables and borrow Christmas lights. Click here for more details.

Songs

Rudolph, Feliz Navidad, and Jingle Bells are good fast ones.
'What Child is this?' and 'Silent Night' are good slow ones.
Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you" is good background music for fillers and games.
"Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by N'Sync is a must.

Games/Skits/Mixers/Extras

12 Days Of Christmas Song & Mixer

As a mixer, use the song "12 days of Christmas" and divide your club into 6 groups. Group 1 will have "the 1st day of Christmas and the 7th day of Christmas, Group 2 will have day 2 and day 8, etc... Personalize the song to fit your club. Ex: If you took kids to Crooked Creek and the program team used Skippy the fish, then you could change the lyrics to: "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Skippy in a Crooked Creek." Get creative.

Carol-Off

If you need a large group game you can play "Encore" or "Sing-off" and have each class compete (team of freshmen, team of sophs, etc...) to sing Christmas carols. If they repeat one that has already been sung, they are out. This works pretty well if you have team captains for each group.

Little Nemo Elf

The traditional "Little Nemo" skit works great with Elves. It's explained here.

Christmas Carols with Helium

Name that Christmas Carol

Buddy The Elf Spaghetti Contest

Start it off by showing the clip from the movie Elf whereWill Ferrell eats spaghetti with maple syrup, marshmallows, m&ms, & skittles. Then have a character come on stage dressed as an Elf. You can buy an "elf shirt" lots of places like Walmart/Target or online at Elf Shirt Purchase. Have "Buddy the Elf" come out with all the ingredients mentioned above. You also need a tarp, towels for the kids to clean up with afterwards, theme music to play in the background, and bowls. Have the kids race to eat with their hands. Give out decent sized portions where a kid can actually eat it all in a minute. If you put too much in there, it will take too long and be a dud.

JibJab

Create a JibJab video of your YL leaders heads on the bodies of elves. You have to pay to download it, or you can just show it if you have internet where you have club.

Awkward Family Christmas Cards

Pics With Santa

Invite a committee member or parent to dress up as Santa and have kids get their pics taken with him. Invite another adult to take the pics in order to free up leaders to be with kids. Lighting is key for good photos. Chances are you have a parent or friend of YL in the community who loves photography, has a sweet camera, and would love to do it for free.

Candy Canes

Pass them out before club. They're cheap and festive.

Ugly Sweaters

Encourage kids to dress up in their ugliest Christmas sweaters. Odds are, their moms probably have some sweet ones in the attic. If not, a Goodwill trip is always great contact work.

Talk

Here are a few ideas thanks to Sean McGever and YLHelp.com.

Merry Christmas! -Drew Hill & The YLLB team

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A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: The World Is Not Ours To Save

November 24, 2015, 4:30 am

≫ Next: WyldLife Wednesday: Christmas Tree Scavenger Hunt

≪ Previous: Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant...and other Christmas Club Ideas

On Tuesdays this semester we've been running a series of posts on discipleship by Justin McRoberts. If you've missed the first 7 posts, click the links below to catch up. Today is the last one in this series. Special thanks to Justin for sharing such great insights with us throughout the fall!

Mission, part 3

A few years ago, my friend Tyler wrote a book called “The World Is Not Ours To Save: Finding the Freedom to Do Good.” I love the book’s content and think it’s definitely worth a read. But right now, it’s enough to pause and let that title sink in. It’s a doozy. And it might save your life. At least, it did mine.

Throughout my twenties and thirties, I felt a bit overwhelmed with the burden of changing the world. After all, I was told that I am a “world changer!” I kept hearing that my generation would be the generation to ...

end extreme poverty
end slavery
provide clean water for the billion people who lack it
clean up Washington, DC and change the political landscape
maybe even see an Oakland Athletics World Championship.. and on and on.

Truth is, I was initially energized by those beautiful dreams. Chasing them meant learning that these things mattered deeply. But over time, the weight of some of the work to make it all right took a toll.

I was visiting India with some friends from Compassion International who work to rescue children from poverty in the name of Jesus. We were there for ten days and I saw a lot of poverty. We’d visit churches and see hundreds of happy, healthy kids who, because of Compassion’s work, now have access to clean water, good food, medicine and education. And on the drive home, we’d see thousands of people who still lacked those same things. On the last bus-ride to our hotel, I kinda lost it and couldn’t stop crying. How was all this going to get fixed?

I talked for a while with friends with Compassion who have seen and felt far more than I have of the world’s poverty. I asked how they kept it together. And, aside from telling the that they don’t always, they shared that they had to take care of the pieces right in front of them. Sure, there was more to make right, but that was all they could responsibly do. I was carrying Tyler’s book with me and just stared at the title for a while: “The World Is Not Ours To Save.”

Then I wrote something down I would like to pass along to you: “God gives us glimpses into the enormity of His work, not to increase our capacity to do larger work or to do more work, but to make the work before us more vital and more optional. We are compelled to do the work we can do because we cannot do all we want.”

Diving into the Mission of Jesus means diving headlong into a world chock-full of broken pieces. Too many for you to pick up. But the world is not yours to save. It is God’s. And he has promised to do it. You and I get to be part of it, but we’ll never be responsible for all of it; only for the pieces right in front of us. So, do your part and do it with joy and skill, knowing that God has promised to do His.

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WyldLife Wednesday: Christmas Tree Scavenger Hunt

November 25, 2015, 4:30 am

≫ Next: Running on Empty: Greenhousing Your Life With God

≪ Previous: A Discipleship Series By Justin McRoberts: The World Is Not Ours To Save

Looking for a fun Christmas club with your WyldLife friends? The Human Christmas Tree Scavenger Hunt gives kids and leaders an opportunity to laugh and play – and also allows parents to get involved.

The Big Picture
Teams visit houses in the neighborhood looking for items to “hang” on their human Christmas tree – one of their team members. They’re not asking for actual ornaments – just something red or something with lights or something reindeer-y that will not be returned to its owner. (Feel free to use/adapt this list for your own scavenger hunt.) These items are taped all over the human Christmas tree. All teams meet back at club for a Christmas tree presentation, judging, awards and a club talk.

The Details
Kids, leaders and parent drivers meet at your club location. Explain the scavenger hunt rules and then divide kids into teams with one parent driver or leader per team. Tell them that this scavenger hunt isn’t a race – it’s more about creativity. Give each team the ending time and a point list, and send them on their way.

If your club location is in a neighborhood, you may not even need drivers - teams can walk to nearby houses instead. But you might consider assigning streets so three teams don’t hit up the same houses over and over again.

Whether you’re driving or walking, you can also assign one house for each team to do all of their “ornament shopping”. Talk to parents/homeowners the week before so they are ready for a team of middle school kids to invade their house.

At the end of the scavenger hunt, gather kids back at your club location. Let each team present their “tree” to the judges – your parent drivers or other parents you’ve invited. One of your leaders can give a short Christmas club talk followed by an announcement of the winners. You can give awards for the highest point total, but also for the most creative, tiniest or funniest “ornaments."

Consider ending the night with a hot chocolate bar: parent baristas serving hot chocolate with toppings like whipped cream, candy canes, sprinkles, chocolate chips and more.
If you’ve got other ideas for a WyldLife Christmas club, let us know!

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Running on Empty: Greenhousing Your Life With God

November 29, 2015, 3:00 am

≫ Next: The 12 Days Of Spikeball Giveaway

≪ Previous: WyldLife Wednesday: Christmas Tree Scavenger Hunt

This is the 6th week in our Sunday series, "Running on Empty," by Fil Anderson. If you've missed the first 5, catch up here:

Part 6: Greenhousing Your Life With God

Living In A Toxic World

When I was in college, I spent several weeks traveling throughout Japan. I vividly recall the polluted, cloudlike darkness that seemed to hang over the larger cities and the constant struggle involved in breathing the smog-filled air. Glass-lined booths lined Tokyo’s streets, available to pedestrians should they want to pop in for a few breaths of fresh air. I remember coming out of one, hoping I’d make it to the next booth without choking on the bitter air. However, as my pace quickened, some pedestrians appeared so accustomed to the smell that they made their way without ever stopping for a breath of fresh air.

The memory of my ducking into those human-size fishbowls to escape the toxic world for a breath of fresh air is a metaphor for the kind of world we live in and how we can choose to live. Without recognizing what’s happening, the toxic environment we live in will kill our soul as surely as the toxic air in Japan would have eventually killed my body. We must be attentive to the way we’re living or we’re doomed for trouble.

A Thriving Relationship With God

For many years my father-in-law had a greenhouse where any plant would’ve been honored to grow. Walking down the rows, it was apparent that he knew just what his plants need in order to thrive. Providing what they required was a source of delight and satisfaction. Many of the plants that lived in his greenhouse were not native to the area where he lived, yet he lovingly took the time to create just the right environment, and then the plants took over and did what they did best. They grew. He had a lot of knowledge of and respect for the way they grew best.

A healthy, thriving relationship with God is not native to our world. You and I are not native to this world. Therefore, for our relationships with God to flourish, we must take seriously the greenhousing of our soul’s relationships with God. We must learn to pay attention and yield to the provision God makes for us as he provides the best environment in which we will grow in this toxic world. Our soul’s relationship with God will thrive only if we allow God to protect and nurture us. The thriving life we yearn for is the life to which we have been called. It is precisely the life Jesus is referring to when he says, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10). It’s a life of unhurried contentment, peace, and power. It’s concrete, simple, authentic, and compelling.

However, such a life doesn’t simply fall from the sky and land in our laps. There’s no earning it, however, it does require sincere desire and focused intent. Although it might sometimes seem inconvenient, it is not complicated. There is a God-ordained means to becoming the kind of persons that can experience rich and satisfying living. And these “means” involve us in a process of intentionally “train[ing]…in godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). This is the purpose of the disciplines of the spiritual life that are designed to bring us more and more completely into the life for which we were made.

Exploring Spiritual Disciplines

In the remaining weeks of this series we’ll explore several spiritual disciplines. These habits or practices are the ways we go about training in our life as followers of Jesus. By means of this process we become, with time and experience, the kinds of persons who naturally and freely express “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Which ones of the many and varied spiritual disciplines are you currently practicing?
How have you seen your life change as a result of your spiritual habits?

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The 12 Days Of Spikeball Giveaway

November 30, 2015, 4:00 am

≫ Next: Holiday Contact Work Ideas

≪ Previous: Running on Empty: Greenhousing Your Life With God

Get pumped! In the giving spirit of Christmas, Spikeball has donated 12 sets for us to give away over the next 12 days.

What Is Spikeball?
A super fun game we love to play at our Young Life club, inside or out! We also play at Campaigners, camp, and family vacations! It's sort of a combo between 4-Square and Volleyball. Watch this video to see Spikeball in action.

How To Win

We'll feature a different way to win every day for the next 12 days. Make sure to check Twitter and Instagram to find out the contest of the day.

For today, everyone can be entered to win just by signing up for The Young Life Leader Blog email list. It only takes 10 seconds to sign up and we won't send you more than one email each month.

The Spikeball Story
Written by Chris Ruder, CEO of Spikeball, Inc.

In 1989, I was 14 years old and living in my hometown of Kankakee, IL. One of my older brother's friends purchased a Spikeball set from Toys-R-Us and we fell in love with the game. We played it on and off for 20+ years with strangers constantly asking us, "What's that game? How do you play? Where can I get one?" After realizing the original company abandoned the game, we wanted to bring it back to life. A few of my family and friends all chipped in some money to launch the business and crossed our fingers. We were pretty confident we'd lose all of our money since we had zero experience launching a business, let alone manufacturing a product. Thankfully, we were wrong.

I've been running Spikeball Inc by myself for about 7 years now. Until a couple years ago, I would go to my 'day job', come home around 6pm, hang out with my wife and 3 young kids until 8 or 9, put them to bed, and then work on Spikeball every night until midnight or 1am. I'd do Facebook and Twitter posts, customer service, print shipping labels, and drive to the late night post office at midnight to ship sets for a few years. Each year the business grew and grew and we learned that a lot of Young Life groups were getting Spikeball sets. We reached out to a few groups and have been doing what we can to get more sets in more Young Lifer's hands. Nashville, TN seems to be the epicenter of the Young Life-Spikeball relationship.

I'm happy to announce that I was able to quit my day job 2 years ago and now we have a team of us working full time for Spikeball. Part of my 'job', if you want to call it that, is flying all over the country visiting tournaments, schools, and other groups that are making Spikeball a part of their community. It's been a dream come true to do what I love for work. I thank Young Life for playing a role in making that happen.

We've partnered with The Young Life Leader Blog to give sets away to 12 different Young Lifers in what we're calling "The 12 Days of Spikeball Giveaway". Over the next two weeks, both on the blog and on social media, you'll see a new contest where you can enter to win a Spikeball set.

Thank you for your support and good luck!
Chris Ruder, CEO, Spikeball Inc.

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Holiday Contact Work Ideas

December 1, 2015, 4:00 am

≫ Next: WyldLife Wednesday: How To Lead Campaigners for Middle Schoolers

≪ Previous: The 12 Days Of Spikeball Giveaway

Guest post written by Demi Nicolle, volunteer leader in Indiana, PA.

With Christmas fast approaching, your YL team may be scrambling for some last-minute ideas before the holiday break. Here are some fun and festive suggestions, from our area to yours:

Christmas shopping
Need to grab presents for loved ones? Don't go alone - bring your high school friends. Great opportunity to hang one-on-one and ask them about what they do for the holidays, what Christmas means to them, etc. Bonus: treat them to coffee or dinner afterwards to thank them for their assistance.

Wrapping presents
Why stop at shopping? Ask kids to come over and help you wrap your presents. Make a competition out of it.

Movie night
Rent some classic Christmas flicks such as, The Santa Clause, It's A Wonderful Life, The Grinch, Elf, etc.) Pop some popcorn, make hot cocoa, and settle in for a good time.

Christmas-themed Campaigners
Talk about the birth of Jesus and why we celebrate Christmas today.

Christmas-themed club OR party
SO. MANY. IDEAS. Ask kids to wear an ugly sweater. Have a gingerbread house making contest. Do skits involving marshmallows, or have kids wrap each other in wrapping paper. Do a low-key gift exchange. Sing Christmas songs. Write a hilarious run on involving reindeer or elves or something. Again, talk about the birth of Jesus.

Baking
Invite kids over to bake cookies/brownies/etc. A fun and yummy way to chill in a small group setting. Bonus: your house will smell amazing.

Pay it forward
Grab one or two kids to do something nice for strangers. Maybe that's helping out at your local soup kitchen, baking cookies for your local fire department/nursing home/police station/etc., or dropping off clothes at the Goodwill. Make Christmas cards and deliver them. Do something good for your neighborhood!

Candy cane drop-off
Bring candy canes to lunch/dismissal and pass them out to kids you don't know.

There you have it! All easy and affordable ways to bond with kids you have relationships with, or those you don't. Happy holidays!

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WyldLife Wednesday: How To Lead Campaigners for Middle Schoolers

December 2, 2015, 4:30 am

≫ Next: A Game Changing Post-It-Note for An Area Director in Texas

≪ Previous: Holiday Contact Work Ideas

Guest post written by Emily Johnson, WyldLife staff in Bradenton, FL.

Think of Campaigners like cabin time. It’s a great opportunity to get your middle school friends to sit down together to talk about real life and what God has to do with it. The goal is for them to share, be heard and have a chance to ask their own questions.

A Leader's Guide To Campaigners
Group Dynamics

Sit on the floor together or all in chairs (on the same level).
Sit in a circle.
Keep things talked about within the group confidential.
Avoid “put downs” or sarcasm.
Be careful not to allow a gossip session. (Don’t use other people’s names.)
Let it be a safe place.

More Pointers for Middle School Small Groups

Ask OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS. Avoid questions that can be answered “yes” or “no”. Always include a question that everyone can answer. Sharing questions facilitate community. (Example: “Tell about a time when you experienced forgiveness.”)
Start questions with “what do you think…” instead of “why”. (Example: “What do you think Jesus meant when he said…”) It can give kids confidence to answer if you’re asking for their thoughts rather than the “right” answer.
Don’t lecture, give lots of advice or preach a sermon. This is time for kids to share. Let them do the talking!
Seek involvement from all of the people in the group. Sometimes a quiet kid needs to be asked directly to share, but be sensitive.
ENCOURAGE kids and thank them for sharing a thought, an answer or a question. (Example: “That is a great question”, or “That was really insightful, I have never really thought of that.”)
Let it be FUN! Let them laugh, tell stories, etc.
It’s okay to not know an answer. Sometimes you may want to research a question later and get back to kids with an answer.
Be yourself. Be real, be honest, and be vulnerable.
Make the lesson applicable to their lives.
Encourage kids to use their Bibles. (Have extras for them). Let them look up verses and read them aloud. Remind them that it’s okay not to know where things are or how to pronounce certain words.
Make sure you get to at least one verse or section of Scripture during the lesson. This may seem obvious, but we want kids to know that the teaching isn’t from us but from the Bible.
Be okay with not finishing the lesson. If they really get on a tangent, but it’s a good one, it’s fine to stay there.
Don’t be bound by the lesson but go where God is leading.
Know that you may have to ask an individual kid to talk to you later about something significant. Be careful not to allow one kid to dominate the conversation or to “over share” with the entire group

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A Game Changing Post-It-Note for An Area Director in Texas

December 3, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: The Flamingo Mixer

≪ Previous: WyldLife Wednesday: How To Lead Campaigners for Middle Schoolers

It's fun to be able to share such reminders of God's provision. May the story below from Chris Trevathan be an encouragement to you!

In September I was at lunch with a man who asked how fundraising was going for Allen Area Younglife. I told him this past year has been a tough one, but God has once again miraculously provided for YL to be here in this community for the 12th year in a row. But the life of a non-profit is once you finish a year, it starts all over again.

I told him about the North Texas Giving Day that was coming up on Sept 17 and how it has been a huge day for us over the past 2 years. He told me that he is in the investment industry and how much he believes the investment we are making in the next generation matters. He went on to say, "I've been wanting to help out for a couple years now, but business has not been good, but things have recently turned around." He then reached into his pocket and placed a post-it note on the table and said, "I'll match whatever you guys raise on Sept. 17th up to this amount. The post-it-note read: $65,644." WHAT!?!?

-Chris Trevathan, YL Area Director in Allen, Texas

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The Flamingo Mixer

December 5, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Running on Empty: Going Into Arabia

≪ Previous: A Game Changing Post-It-Note for An Area Director in Texas

A friend of mine recently sent me this video and thought it would make a fun mixer for club. I completely agree!

The Flamingo Mixer
Show this clip in club, then have everyone pretend to be a flamingo. Last one standing wins. You might want to have a few different rounds so the big kids and the little kids aren't going at the same time. Encourage folks to follow the spirit of the video and 'play nice.' Consider having refs with whistles and throwing people out if they get too rough. Anytime you can use whistles, do it.

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Running on Empty: Going Into Arabia

December 6, 2015, 3:30 am

≫ Next: Run-On Skit: YouTube Vloggers

≪ Previous: The Flamingo Mixer

This is the 7th week in our Sunday series, "Running on Empty," by Fil Anderson. If you've missed the first 6, catch up here:

Part 7: Making Space In our Life For God

Going into Arabia…

Last week I said that a healthy, thriving relationship with God is not native to our toxic world. Therefore, for our relationship with God to flourish, it’s essential that we take seriously the greenhousing of our soul and its relationship with God. That means we must learn to pay attention and yield to the provision God makes for us as he provides the best environment in which we will grow in this foreign land. Our soul’s relationship with God will thrive only if we allow God to cherish and nourish us.

Thus, I’ve learned, my desperate need, from time to time, is “to go into Arabia.” The expression is found in a letter Paul wrote to one of the early churches (see Galatians 1:13, 15-17). There Paul points out that after his life-altering encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he took some time to get away and sort through the issues in his life, to find what mattered most. He “went away into Arabia” so he could think about the ultimate questions of who God was, who he was, and what their relationship meant.

Wholehearted listening…

As I ponder this particular season of solitude and silence in Paul’s life, I imagine him sitting alone in the desert, listening for the sound that’s far more subtle than the whining of the desert wind, quietly and wholeheartedly listening for the whispering voice of God. When I reflect on those occasions when I’ve sensed that God was speaking to me, I’ve always found God’s voice to be a quiet, non-demanding voice. God doesn’t insist that I listen. God never speaks with raised voice. A friend of mine, a biblical scholar, translates the reference to God speaking to Elijah in 1 Kings 19 as “a thin silence.” God’s voice wasn’t heard in the noise of the powerful earthquake, the wind, or the fire; God’s voice was heard in the thin silence.

With my mind’s eye I can see Paul sitting in Arabia some nights until very late, accompanied only by the desert stars. And there, not writing, not planning, not traveling about, not preaching…not doing any of the things he’s most known for today…he quietly carved out the deep convictions of his soul. In solitude he hammered out the beliefs on which he would build the rest of his life. Paul wrestled with the things of God until God possessed him and he possessed God.

Most important & difficult

“Going into Arabia” and communing with God is the single most important, most difficult thing I’ve ever chosen to do. Yet I know of no other antidote for the plague that threatens all of us. The “barrenness of busyness,” more than anything else has robbed my days of meaning and a sense of God’s presence. An endless round of appointments and responsibilities and assignments and details wears me down. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to hard work. But I am opposed to running on empty.

For that reason, I’ve learned to recognize that when there’s no time for solitude and silence, my activity ceases to be effective. Without listing for God’s quiet voice, my ministry lacks power and authenticity. Without silence, my words lose meaning. When solitude and silence are absent from my life, the best of my intentions warp badly.

Going into Arabia is about being alone, quiet, and entering into the place of focused, concentrated prayer. It’s when the deepest part of me reaches out for the deepest part of God. Taking solitude and silence seriously is one of the surest ways I know to put some worth on my soul, a worth that, perhaps, is the dimension of our life we ignore most often.