Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

At summer camp we get to hear from some great speakers who are gifted, experienced and who have put a lot of time, prayer and study into the messages. It would be great if we could list some of the best illustrations or examples that we heard in the club talks this summer. It could be really useful for our club talks during the school year.

While I was at camp, the speaker used “cardboard testimonies” near the end of the week to illustrate the change that can happen when Jesus comes into your life. A person would come out with a piece of cardboard and on one side it would say something from their past (ex: fatherless), and then they would flip it over and it would say what has happened since then (ex: heavenly father). I thought this was an excellent illustration for those who were considering starting a relationship with Jesus.

What did you see this summer that was good? Put it in the comments on this post.

A lot has happened since I wrote this post. There were some fantastic comments on the post that were very thought provoking for me. I also went to Woodleaf, where my friend Dave did an excellent job proclaiming the gospel. In fact, he did something very similar to what I was planning. He moved up the traditional talk sequence one day also. Honestly, I don’t think many leaders even noticed. It worked flawlessly. So that was good confirmation.

I also had been hitting a wall in the overall flow and analogy of my talks, so after a lot of through and prayer I pretty much stopped the 20+ pages of outlines and notes I had prepared and took a different approach, but I didn’t change the sequence.

I am now prepared and excited to speak in about a week. I have everything written and outlined. But I am working to fine-tune some details. In case you are interested, here is the general plan…

I have a drama, a cardboard testimony part (saw this at my church and at Woodleaf, which was awesome), and one main analogy. I am using a ring as an analogy that will carry over through several talks. I can go into that more later if anyone is interested, but I think it is a good one that is theologically sound and is easy to understand.

Also for the real life / role play type thing, I am going with the Best/Worst day thing from City Slickers (similar to this clip), I’ve done it before at summer camp and it was utilized really well by the Woodleaf team this year. I can tell you more if you are interested.

I’m not quite settled on doing a relationships/sex seminar. Does anyone have any good outlines, resources, details or comments about this? I have some, but I’d love to hear what you have to say.

If you have been following this, or enjoy ylhelp, I’d really appreciate your prayers as I begin speaking on July 11th.