Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

Check the target

Did you hit your mark? Ask for feedback. Ask key kids too.

It is wise before your talk to to ask an experienced leader to listen carefully, and time the talk also. Ask for constructive feedback. You will get a bunch of "great job" and "way to go". Those help and are nice to hear. But it really helps to hear from one or two people:

What should I do again?

What should I tweak next time?

My senior leader always gave me a letter grade (It was always B-, B, B+, A- or A+), one thing to change and 3 things that I did well.

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Plato’s order of perception

1. Credibility (who are you?)
2. Compassion (do you care about me?)
3. Content (what do you have to say?)

Use at least 2 of these: Something…

1. Personal
2. Visual
3. Interactive
4. Surprising
5. Tangible

Review your notes and write at least two or three key “feelings” that should be obvious (anger, excitement, frustration).

Give them the “real deal” not what it is “supposed” to be like, but how real is this for you?

Ask: Why should they listen to you?

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• Jesus is the answer. Find scripture from the gospels that show what Christ has to say about this topic. Ask for help if this is hard.
• Apply it to your life and theirs. Give them a challenge.
• How does this fit everyday life?
• What does this look like when it is implemented?
• Get their attention. Find a personal or interesting story to illustrate the target issue. Most spend too much time on this part.
• Plan your last sentence, what is the last thing you want to say?

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• Identify: Hurts, Needs, Interests. Current Events, Individual Events, What they value
• Address a problem they perceive
• Help them identify the meaning of life and the purpose of life
• Tools: Team brainstorm, ask kids, read some blogs, post a survey. Also use a series of talks. Bold and brash topics will gather interest.
• For a talk identify one person (ex: Jim)
• Aim for one main point.

Club Talk Project Part 1 of 4:

Situation: Jim’s parents don’t really know him and he came to club for the social scene.
Club Talk Title: What if your parents knew EVERYTHING you do?
Main Point: Jesus knows everything you do, and it doesn’t phase him. He cares for you.

Brain Freeze Race

Basically this is a race to see who can finish a 16 liter bucket of 7-11 Slurpee the fastest. You need 2 big buckets of Slurpee (7-11 will generally give you a good deal on the stuff) and however many straws you need for the team members. Two teams race against each other to drink their bucket first.

Car Stuff

Explain inside before going outside to driveway. Competition between sexes and classes. 30 seconds to get as many into, (not on) a small car. Then  pull them out and count. Remover rear-view mirror before. So fast it doesn’t hurt the car, honest!

Cow Milking Contest

Two guys sit facing the audience. Give each a pail to hold between their knees. Hold above them a broomstick to which you’ve tied two playtex rubber gloves filled with water. Punch a small hole in each finger tip. The guys milk the gloves.

  Frozen T Shirt Contest

A day before you meet, take several t-shirts, wet them, fold them and then stick them into a freezer overnight. Immediately before the contest, remove the t-shirts from the freezer. The object of this contest is to be the first person to unfold the frozen t-shirt and put it on. This will take a couple minutes because the frozen t-shirts will not open right away. This game is especially fun if done outside during the summer, but you can do it anytime and anywhere.

Girls Sign Guy’s Feet

Five guys have three minuets to see how many girls they can get to sign their bare feet.

It might be too late for this, but last night we did the dating game club. It went over great.

It helps it you blindfold the guy and put a divider between him and the girls. It also helps if the girls use fake voices to avoid being recognized.

Here is the plan and a sheet to help with the games.

Looking to spice-up music in club? Try using a Cajon. It is a drum type thing. You hit it in the middle and it makes a loud and strong bass sound. If you hit it near the top it make a snare sound, like a snare drum (it actually has snares in it, if you know what those are).

It’s pretty cool because it adds the feeling of drums and rhythm without a drum set. I’ve played drums for 20 years and I think it is a great substitute for the Monday night club environment. It is easy to use. You cold have a club kid play it. They cost about $100-200.

Many of you already know this, but Myspace is losing its grip on being the "in" thing for students. Facebook is all the rage.

I overhead a group of 17-20 year olds last night… "Braa, I never check Myspace anymore. I can’t remember the last time I did".

It seems like the younger the person, the more likely they are to be into Myspace, while the older they are the more they are into Facebook. This makes sense since Facebook was originally a college-based site.

I think we will see more and more high school students moving to Facebook, and soon Wyldlife kids too. If you use Myspace to connect with students, you might want to consider Facebook if you haven’t already.

Are you seeing this too?

Last Monday we did Pillow Fight and PJ Night Club. The key event was the pillow fight to start club. We bought about 25 pillows as extras from Savers/Goodwill just in case. Most kids brought their own.

We went outside on the street, broke into two teams and lined up about 30 yards from each other. Then when the music started (O Fortuna… this song) we went at it.

One kid sat out because he had a couple concussions due to football. You should check with your kids about safety.

The rest of the club was a blast.

Here is the plan if you are interested… pillow-fight-and-pj-club.doc

I just stumbled across these…

Looks like a beach ball that has questions on them. Might be useful for a campaigners meeting? Maybe an all-area leadership or even at camp in a leaders meeting?

I’m thinking about getting one. Has anyone ever used one? (Click the picture for the link)