Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

I recently spoke at a YL weekend camp. One of the best pieces of YL camp speaking advice I ever received was to plan your cabin time questions before you plan your talk. Obviously you tweak them after you study the scripture and the rest of the talk planning process, but you really want to begin with the end in mind.

Even as a speaker, I feel the most critical part of the gospel proclamation and formation is in the cabin time discussion. I’m sure you have seen miracles happen in front of your eyes in the midst of cabin time, I know I have.

I have posted cabin time questions before here, and below are the ones I recently used. If you are interested in more cabin time type questions you can also look here.

Here is the seventh installment of Sync through Mark…

Last Spring, we began an ambitious project to write a club talk and corresponding campaigner lesson for each chapter of the Gospel of Mark. We got through 5 chapters and then needed to pause. Over the summer we received lots of positive feedback. In fact, just yesterday Vince, a leader from Indiana, left this comment, “Thanks so much for the advice…I did this talk tonight at All-City club and it went well.”

My friend Tanita has stepped up on this project and thanks to her and others, I am excited to announce…

Here is the sixth installment of Sync through Mark…

I know an amazing senior leader who has organized his team in a new way this semester. (Go Alex!) He decided to form three teams with his leaders. While everyone participates in the activities of each team, those on the team have specific responsibilities. It is all outlined below.

What I like about this is that is spreads out the planning and puts a few people in place who are always thinking about their specific area. Ideally it should add accountability and make it easier to not forget about a key area of the club team. This is also a way to place leaders who are more gifted with certain things in charge of their specialty.

In case you think this is impossible with your team because it is too small… on their team there is one, or two, “adult” leaders on each team and then about 2 leaders who are still in high school. So this approach could work for a team that only has three leaders.

Disciple Team

As leaders we are not called to make converts to Christianity but Disciples. Our goal is to teach kids more about Christ, help them on their walk with Christ, and train them to be the light to their friends and family.

Responsibilities for the semester

1. Determine teaching plan for the semester (topical, expository)
2. Organize readings for each campaigner meeting (Lesson, Book/Chapter)
3. Give the team a outline of Campaigner lessons/readings for the semester (needed by 9.21.09)
4. Make bookmarks for Campaigner kids
5. Recruit Work Crew Kids for Work Crew Weekend (10.2.09-10.04.09)

Responsibilities for the week

1. Lead campaigner discussions each week
2. Remind kids of the readings each week

Outreach Team

Outreach is going where kids are. Outreach is our opportunity as leaders to show Christ in the world no matter where we are, or what we are doing. Outreach is meeting kids at school, at sporting events, hanging out with kid and inviting them to see who Christ is through our interactions with them.

Responsibilities for the semester

1. Plan out of club outreach events (needed by 9.21.09)
2. Once a month, movie night, In N Out night, Post Homecoming Party, etc.
3. Gather Sports schedules, Plays schedules, and distribute to the team (needed by 9.21.09)

Responsibilities for the week

1. Set up, and organize Ultimate Frisbee each week
2. Be on campus every week

Club Team

Club is the an opportunity to invite kids to be themselves, meet new people, meet leaders, and hear about how Christ has impacted the lives of the leaders that serve in Young Life.

Responsibilities for the semester

1. Organize the themes, games, at club events, and skits for club
2. Create a Camp Sell Skit
3. Give the team leader a summary of what is needed and how games work for each game/mixer at club (needed by 9.21.09)

Responsibilities for the week

1. Print out club line up from the team leader and bring it to club prep
2. Make PowerPoint slides for the songs at club each week

Team Leader

1. Organize and distribute club line up via email each week
2. Support and assist each team, Disciple, Outreach and Club
3. Provide needs and supplies for each team
4. Set an example for other leaders to follow

Here is an idea passed along by my friend Drew from Colorado. His friend Zach came up with an idea for follow-up from camp. Instead of putting a book into kids hands and asking them to read it. Zach is sending out an abbreviated version of a quiet time for kids to do a few times a week as a Facebook message to individual kids who started following Christ at camp. We’ve found this to be successful as kids are more apt to read things on the computer written as messages to them then a book.

Great idea Zach!

A good friend of mine sent out an email about camp follow-up with ideas he has collected over the years. I thought they were excellent and wanted to pass them along.

What do you do for camp follow-up?

Read the rest of this entry »

You may have noticed that the updates of the Sync through Mark have slowed down. There are a couple of reasons, but I want to let you know that we hope to continue them in the Fall. In the mean time, we will shirt our focus to summer camping, follow-up and some insights from the year-in-review. BTW… If you have any insights from the year or have something to pass along, let me know.

One of my favorite tools is the Navigator TMS Topical Memory System. I recently had a need for some quick-hit verses and questions. I came up with these and I thought I’d share them with you. Just print them and cut them out. I have included 40 verses with a question or two for each.

It is in Word format so you can edit as needed for your group.

Here is the fifth installment of Sync through Mark…

I’ve received a lot of positive feedback on these in email and conversations. Any feedback you’d like to post in the comments? Anything that has really helped or could be added to make it more useful?

Here is the fourth installment of Sync through Mark…