Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

Love it or hate it, the term “hipster” is everywhere. Who else could leverage the hype and still take a well-deserved shot at the silliness of it all than a Monday night YL club?

This is an easy one to ask kids to get into: scarves, beanies, flannel, thick-rimmed glasses, fixies, yes I know I am describing probably the majority of the people reading this blog right now so you won’t even have to dress up!

Here is a video for inspiration:

Here is the club plan:

Here is the video we pretty much copied for the skit:

Last, but not least:

http://hipsterorhomeless.com/

This semester had some incredible highs, and some incredible lows for me.

We already have our Pinnacle HS YL planning meeting for the Spring all set for later this week. But in the meantime, I thought I’d share the top ten posts of the last semester (based on views). Enjoy!

10. Limit the Choices for Talks

9. Christmas Club Again

Read the rest of this entry »

In the last year or so others really jumped into the mix online with all things YL. I was amazed as nearly every month another blog or associated Twitter account started posting really great YL stuff! Here are some of the ones I have been really impressed with!

YLPlaybook (@ylplaybook) – The best spot for games and skits!

Young Life Leaders (@YoungLifeLeader) –I pretty much steal all my good ideas from here.

Youth Leader Stash (@ylstash) – Great info for YL and Youth Ministry in general from great dude.

TotalYLmove (@totalYLmove) – Hilarious! If you’ve ever felt odd and alone in YL, you will find you are not alone here.

Official YL twitter (@YoungLife) – The mothership has landed on Twitter! Good info on here from the source!

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are ten links and apps that I have found helpful recently:

1. The Young Life Leader Blog – Wow! I can’t say enough good things about this blog. My friend Drew is posting great resources and ideas. Every YL leader should check it out.
2. YL Playbook – These guys keep updating the games, skits and club ideas. I’ve mentioned it before, but I use it often. I use the search feature a lot when I’m looking for an idea about a certain theme (i.e. balloons, or bananas), or for an explanation of a game I already know. Little known fact: one of the guys on this team can clean your teeth and fill a cavity on your teeth. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some sweet things worth checking out…

Matt Golley – A great artist who happens to be going on YL staff in Puerto Rico. I’m buying one right now for our dining room. I really like his use of pages from the book of Acts on this one.

YL Playbook – These guys are posting tons of games that you can use in club. Great “labels” on the side help narrow down what you are looking for.

YL Blog from SoCal – Some cool downloads, including a bookmark with mini quiet times on it for new believers. Very cool!

Leader Lounge – I’ve mentioned these guys (and gal… my wife hates being called “gal” sorry) before. I’ve started listening to their podcast, which is a great resource.

Chad Swanzy – Chad keeps on innovating. Check out the link to see how he is streaming his small group meetings. I am fascinated with the idea and the future of this. Also he has a ridiculously huge picture of himself on his page. He may have a cavity on a back tooth. (The one on his left).

Here are some resources that will jump-start your planning if you haven’t already…

My preliminary semester club plan:

Some plans from my friend Hugh in NC:

Also, a great resource for club games, mixers, run-ons, etc. is the YL Playbook. Aaron and his crew have done a great job with it. 

Here is a link to a pretty good site that my friend Russell told me about…

I scanned it quickly and it looked like some standards that have been around for a while but the ability to search and use certain criteria is nice (though similar to this site)

youthgroupgames.com.au

I can tell which search terms lead people to this blog. Here are a couple funny ones…

"hannah montana skit"

I get TONS of hits from this one. I guess it is because I suggested doing a Hannah Montana skit called Banana Montana. I actually know clubs across the country that did it. Pretty funny.

"2af475cc87a808f4530506779617002508a0e1eb4c917979"

Hmmm I guess a frustrated YL leader realized either

1) Had to do the club talk in like 5 minutes and starting hitting their head against the keyboard and ended up at ylhelp.com

2) They got diss’ed and stood-up by 7th graders who were "too busy to go see a movie" for the millionth time and so the leader pretended each key on the keyboard was like bubble wrap and started popping it to kill time

3) Now leaders who speak hexadecimal are looking for club help.

"bible verse about summer camp"

Seriously? Unless I missed something in Apocrypha, neither Moses nor Jesus or anyone else in the Bible went to summer camp. 

"does Brandon Heath have a girlfriend?"

I’m friends with Brandon, but I’m sorry to say that this blog has nothing to do with Brandon Heath or his girlfriend. Last I heard, he didn’t. For some reason girls just don’t like his music (?) Just kidding. On another note, you should buy his new CD. He’s a great guy. 

I’d like to highlight some good people out there in the YL world…

1. Leader Lounge (www.leaderlounge.com) This is a great site by people who understand and do YL. They have skit stuff, intelligent discussion about ‘dem youths, and other helpful links and all. This resource has been around a lot longer than ylhelp.com, if you can’t find what you are looking for here, they probably have it.
2. Chad Swanzy (chadswanzy.blogspot.com) Chad seems to know what is going on in the world of YL and youth ministry more than I do. He also highlights his family and personal adventures. You will find a combination of practical helps and odd and interesting tidbits. He also invented this Hawk-a-sausage game, pretty cool.
3. Retro Fashions (www.fashionablyretro.com) I’m not gonna lie, my buddy has a sweet t-shirt company that makes the coolest custom shirts for YL and elsewhere. He also has a sweet line of shirts I’m not gonna mention right now. If you need shirts, ask for a design and quote, you won’t be disappointed. He’s also prop’in ylhelp.com so that is nice of him.