Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

In our YL region we do a lot of weekend camps. I remember back in the day I used to haul up a few sound systems in a truck way early, talk the rental property people into the insane plans that we had, pushed play on the cassette or one of those new-fangled CD players (and you had to buy a CD with each song you wanted because “burning” CDs was years away), and there were no sound techs, you just did it yourself. All kinds of stuff. I can hear “You were LUCKY” lines beginning to be said from all the real program vets out there.

Anyway, though I’m in my third decade of doing program, we still do the same event almost every Saturday at weekend camps… Messy Games! It is a great event, I LOVE it. But there has to be some other awesome alternatives out there. I’ve seen a lot of things tried: scavenger hunts, amazing races, photo contests, tournaments of various kinds… But is there any great alternative or creative twist on messy games that anyone has seen?

If you have any comments, they would be greatly appreciated. A group of people are working together to try something new over the 5 or so weekend camps we have in the several weeks. We would love your input.

Here are two fun video videos my friends made. One is to promote weekend camp, the other was for a YL College camp.

The people who do program at camp put a ton of preparation, creativity and experience into planning a great week.

I have an idea… why don’t we list in the comment section of this post some of the best themes, skits, games, etc. we saw at camp. My guess is they could be pretty useful for the upcoming school year and possibly for those planning camps in the future.

Here is an example:

While I was at Woodleaf, they had a Diva, a Rocked Out Scottish guy and a World of Warcraft Nerd as the main program characters, it worked great!

Honestly, it is hard to think of all the details because it was over a month ago, so put down your ideas before you forget them!

Assignment teams were just updated for the summer. There have been several changes, especially due to financial challenges. Staff who previously were slated  for summer assignments have requested to stay in their communities over the summer to work on fundraising. One of the surprises is that the second assistant program director slot for second session at Lost Canyon, located in Williams, Arizona, will be filled by Young Life president Denny Rydberg. Denny received a lot of insider support for the second assistant program role after his skit at the All Staff Conference went better then expected. The bit with Jack Hannah likely locked it up. 

An upcoming edition of the monthly YL Insider newsletter will feature coverage of this move and why Rydberg was willing to fill the spot. What I heard was that he really wanted to reconnect with the world of kids that come to our camps. The housing situation will be tricky since Denny will be there with his wife, but Josh Smiley from Lost Canyon told me they will be happy to host him in Cliff’s Gulley or Mastodon Lodge. I say hats-off to Denny for this move. You can read more about it here.

Here is Wild N’Out club we are doing tomorrow. We just went to weekend camp and the program had a Wild N’Out theme, our kids loved it. It is our last club before finals so it will be student led.

Wild N’Out Club.pdf