Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

Even though I’m not a big country fan, I came across this video and thought it would be a great discussion starter for a girls campaigners meeting.

Maybe I’m just a sucker because I have two daughters and they like to dress up at ballerinas.

How would you use this video?

Our area does a lot of Work Crew weekend trips. We have a YL camp two hours away, so not only do we help at YL camps, we sometimes do Work Crew at non-YL camps also.

The typical tension I’ve seen on Work Crew is work vs. spiritual experience. There is often a lot of work to do on Work Crew (I’m Captain Obvious). The challenge is that the work needs to get done. If it doesn’t get done, camp doesn’t work. So typically all the work gets done. The part that can easily be minimized is the spiritual experience. It is a bummer when occasionally I hear a kid say, "All I did was work my butt off, we never had a meeting, prayed, or did anything like that". It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.

I have a couple suggestions:

1. Train the Work Crew bosses well - help them understand both priorities work and spiritual growth.
2. Know when to draw the line on work. Every once in a while tell the camp or the program or whoever is running it, "no, we can’t do that". Explain that you need time to have a meeting or a worship time.
3. Work hard so you have more time for other things.
4. Make the most of when the Work Crew eats. Have a Work Crew boss share their testimony or have "table questions".
5. Have a good meeting plan with a game, worship and small group teaching.

I have put together a basic Bible study for Weekend Camp Work Crew that includes four different sessions or quiet times. Hope it helps!

We have had such a hard time with campaigners over the years. With the busyness of kids and leaders it is so hard to get another night out of them. I know lots of clubs fight through this and win (even the club right down the street from us). Yet, we have lost over and over.

This year we moved to having club at a local restaurant that offers half-price appetizers and has a cool atmosphere. We spend $10-20 per week and the kids chip in too. This has allowed us to keep a consistent meeting time and the cool atmosphere helps. We even built a positive relationship with many of the people who work there.

The downsides are the lack of depth that is hindered by the environment, also no worship and then Mondays are crazy for everyone. It also makes it hard to pick up kids and really be ready for club.

So in review, we knew the downsides to our campaigner plan, but at least it was a consistent place to meet and do a Bible study.

Any ideas on how to add another night or morning (tried that too) successfully?

Every year when I get back from camp I have club kids who want to keep cabin time going. So I sit down and pull together the best follow-up camp and campaigner resources I can find. This year I put a considerable amount of work into developing the best 10 camp follow-up Bible studies I could come up with. I decided to call these “Cabin Time Continued”.

Here are the 10 topics included in the study:

First 5 Camp Review

1. Christ at Camp and at Home
2. Person of Christ
3. Sin
4. Cross
5. Resurrection

Second 5 Foundational Topics

6. Christ in You: Identity in Christ
7. Christ as Lord: Deity and Ruler of my life
8. Christ Forgives: When we go our own way
9. Christ Communicates: Word
10. Christ Communicates: Prayer

It is a 48 page booklet that has worked well with my club kids. I printed 100 copies and ran out within a week of being back from camp. I’m going to print more. If you are interested in getting some for your camp follow-up, email me at smcgever@yahoo.com.

It can be used in a group or individually. The format is centered on interacting with scripture through questions and creative learning.

In case you are interested, here is a sample… It is all set to print on both sides, fold and hand out.

Cabin Time Continued - Lesson 8 Christ Forgives: When we go our own way

Recently I have had some requests to order these, I’m trying this link to handle it, let me know if you have any trouble with it.

Here is a simple game you can use as an icebreaker for Campaigners or any other get together.

Print out the link below and get a pair of dice. Take turns rolling the dice and answering the question with that number.

It is a simple game, it is fun because there is an element of a "game" and also you can get the same question in a row but in a fun way. Also people are anticipating what what someone might say if they roll a certain number. It keeps them focused.

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)

Here is a simple handout you can use for Campaigners. It is basically the section on love in 1 Corinthians broken down for reflection. I used it and it provoked some interesting questions, especially the “not” statements.

Here it is: campaigners-lesson-gods-love-for-us-1-cor-13.pdf

Sometimes you need to mix it up for campaigners. Here’s an idea:

Use the attached “faces” handout (one of those sheets with different emotions on faces…) and ask your campaigners any of these questions:

Personally

1. How do you feel today?
2. How does your relationship with your parents feel right now?
3. How do you hope to feel next week?
4. Close your eyes and point at one face, describe a time when you felt that way…

With God

1. How do you feel about Jesus right now?
2. How do you think Jesus feels about you right now?

Vision for Club

1. How do most people at your school feel about God?
2. How do most people feel about Young Life
3. Which face seems least likey to become a Christian? Name a person at your school who is like that. Pray for them.

Fun

1. Which one looks most like your YL leader?
2. Have a contest to see who can make the best imitation faces on the sheet.

Obviously there are thousands of ways to tweak this. This can be especially helpful for getting guys to talk or to talk about their feelings.

Faces Campaigner Handout (click here for file)