Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

For the past few years our club has split up guys and girls campaigners. This year some details changed and our leadership team decided to do campaigners co-ed. When I put together all of my ideas I simply had too many components that I wanted to include. So I came up with a plan, with some feedback from other leaders, that is sort of a plug-and-play plan to include different parts each week.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

Do you like YLHelp? Spread the word: email | twitter | facebook

Last Saturday we planned out our Fall 2011 clubs. I’ve mentioned it before but here is how we do it:

1. I ask each leader to come with three new fully planned themed clubs (mixer, game, skit, additional fun things to spice it up)
2. I write all of their ideas on a board with minimal explanation (do this part quick)
3. We review the list to see if there are any obvious clubs that are basically the same, and then combine them
4. I have everyone take a piece of paper and write down their top 5 (you could do as many as works for you obviously)
5. This part may sound lame, but… I have them close their eyes and raise their hands as I say each club and I write down how many people voted for it (I don’t want people to think their idea was bad or know who did or did not vote for their ideas)
6. When we are done I circle the top ideas. This semester we needed nine new clubs.
7. Since I am the senior leader, I make some executive decisions about some of the clubs, but usually 95% of it is what we vote for.
8. We then break up into teams and plan the clubs in detail.
9. We finally come back together, explain our plans, tweak the ideas as a group and write them down.

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the summer I normally try to post a couple things that I learned over the previous school year. If you have anything you learned from last year that you would like to tell me about, send it my way smcgever (at) pv dot younglife dot org

Our talk sequence for club is pretty traditional. Normally we do an intro talk, an incarnation talk, a bunch of “person of Christ” talks, then sin, cross, resurrection, coming to Christ, living for Christ… that sort of thing.

All of those topics lend themselves to pretty obvious scriptures, Bible stories, main points, etc… except one. The “person of Christ” talks are the bread and butter of YL talks. It allows us to talk about the most amazing person in the history of the world. I love these talks. The challenge is that it is a rather broad topic. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a leader who has been through leader training and talk training ask me for the n’th time, “what exactly am I supposed to be talking about?” And I don’t have the stats to back it up, but I almost never get the dreaded Monday afternoon “I’m not ready for my talk” call about the incarnation, sin, cross, resurrection, etc… but I do get that call about the “person of Christ” talk more than the rest. I think the problem again lies in that the topic is very open-ended and broad.

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the summer I normally try to post a couple things that I learned over the previous school year. If you have anything you learned from last year that you would like to tell me about, send it my way smcgever (at) pv dot younglife dot org

One of my favorite traditions in YL is the 15 (or so) minutes of silence at camp. Think about it (and stay with me here…), we have spent countless hours getting to know kids, we got them to sign up for camp, we helped them fundraise, we navigated them dropping off the list because their work “really needs them” the week of camp, the camp has spent millions of dollars to make it an unbelievable place, the work crew are sick because they have been working too many hours, the summer staff are still trying to figure out how they can make up for the money they won’t be making during the summer, the speaker has prepared, prayed, the program is on totally spent in every way imaginable, leaders have been leading cabin times, doing one-on-ones and then all of sudden… IT ALL STOPS. No one is working. No ride at camp is happening. No leader is leading. No one is doing anything, except sitting still, looking at creation (Ps 19:1) and maybe for the first time actually listening for God’s voice in their life. It is a great irony and great victory for the kingdom that historically our most powerful moment at camp is when we don’t add anything to the process. We stop.

Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Doug from YL Vancouver Island has contributed to YLHelp in the past and has sent me even more great stuff to share.

Below are his club plans from last semester and the coming semester. He said that the plans are based around a G6-8 (WyldLife) club with notes on the side for the high school club.  The talks have the same content for both clubs. Read the rest of this entry »

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

OK, I got lots of support and prayer for this conversation. Thank you so much!

Just so you know, when I have spoke at camps I look at the big picture and try to integrate a lot of the themes and keep to one primary analogy. I also start with the last talk and work backward, among other things. I learned a lot of this from Marty, Rick and Larry, some of my good friends.

This summer I am thinking of moving up the talk sequence one day so that I can add a little more about a part of the gospel I think we could talk about more, that is Jesus Christ in you and the call to follow him.

Here is the traditional 7 day camp speaking topics (in general) breakdown…

1. It gives one more day to process the cross.
2. It gives one more day to have one-on-ones that include the cross.
3. Many resurrection talks are mostly about the “response”, this gives the resurrection more emphasis.
4. I really want to give a picture of what it means to follow Jesus while we still have them at camp.

Here are the challenges in my mind:

1. It makes the first two person of Christ talks very important because sin is moved up a day.
2. Some leaders will not like changing the sequence just because it is different.
3. Others I’m sure too…

I have a lot more I can share. If this generates comments/conversation I’ll keep the posts coming.

PS God bless you in your camps and fundraising this summer! It is a battle for me too, we are all in this together! We leave for Woodleaf in 4 days!

Chance are, you are having a team meeting very soon to catch up and plan a ton of stuff. I’ve attached what we did last week with our team.

What do you do at your team meetings? What works? What doesn’t?

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this blog has been a huge encouragement to me and others. I’ve been able to connect with other leaders, and also develop friendships with people all over the world. Some YL people, some friends of YL, some that are not involved in YL. If you don’t read blogs or even know what RSS is, you should find out. I look at it like a free customized magazine subscription that I can read everyday on my favorite topics. Think of ESPN the magazine + Christianity Today + Relevant Magazine + Theology Nerdy Stuff + Business Magazines all together and better.

YLHelp.com started in February 2008, and I hope the first full school year of it will enable it to be a useful resource for others. I also hope that you will write posts and contribute ideas through comments too. It is OUR tool.