Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

For those of you on Twitter, like me, there is a fantastic resource for YL ideas. I’ve been following it for a few months. It was quiet for a little while but has recently been posting some great ideas. I recommend you check it out!

https://twitter.com/younglifeideas

My friend Matt Golley, an amazing artist who I’ve mentioned him before, is pioneering YL in Puerto Rico. There has never been YL in Puerto Rico! How can that be?!? This is a really well-done video about the need of the kids there, one-third of the population is under the age 18, and there is tremendous local church support for YL. If it sparks you interest, get in touch with Matt mgolleyyl (at) gmail (dot) com.

Plain. Simple. Yellow Club. Kids wore yellow to school and to club that day. Bang! Yellow Club.

I had the privilege to be with all of the camp speakers this summer. As part of this time they compiled their best talk illustrations. Many of them are time-tested ones many are familiar with. There were dozens of these. There were five that really stood out to me and I want to share them with you in this series of posts. I am also trying them in my club so I know how they work. I’ve used two so far, I’ll be using more soon.

THE LADDER

In this illustration you use a ladder to illustrate how people try to climb to the top in life or in Christianity or really anywhere. You have a ladder in your club talk. This is how I used it last Monday…

I told a story about how my dad has been absent and has a lot to make up in my life. I then transitioned into Zaccheus (Luke 19). It worked great because he was short and had to climb the tree. When I read that part I climbed the ladder and talked about how all of Zaccheus’ stealing left him with a lot work on in his life.

Then I told them how a lot of us feel like being a Christian has to do with going up and down based on our actions. I went to church this week (climb two steps up), but I cheated on my test (climb two steps down). I went on Work Crew (climb three steps up), but this weekend I was out of control (climb three steps down), and so-on, you get the point.

I then continued the story and highlighted that when Jesus wanted to eat at his house, what Jesus wanted was a relationship. I noted that Jesus didn’t immediately ask him to stop stealing. An ongoing relationship with Christ is more important than how high or low you are on the ladder.

I also took a brief moment to say that the ladder only counted when Jesus went up high on a cross (I climbed to the top) and gave up his life for ours (I spread out my arms like being on a cross).

It had the potential to be an A+ talk but for some reason I felt like I didn’t do a very good job, maybe a C+.

Let me know what you think about this…

Yes, we did Thug club Monday. The kids came dressed krunk and all. We played lots of hip-hop music. Ironically it was the first week we had Rock Band out to play before club so there was a little contrast between the two. It was funny to see a thug-ed out kid playing the Rock Band drums to Nirvana.

The funniest part was "pimp my ride". Foil was everywhere. The skit is a tricky one, it can come off rude way too easily. The rap challenge was fun. I’ve included the rhyming words sheet below.

We decided to celebrate everyone’s birthday this week at club. We convinced everyone that Monday was their birthday. I was on campus and kids were saying, "Happy Birthday Sean!" I even heard kids saying it to each other. It definitely created some hype around campus.

You can see the attached club for the details. The highlight was probably the leader piñata. Here is a picture to give you an idea…

Last Monday we did Toilet Paper Club. It was a shorter club, then we Tee-pee-ed our rival high school.

We asked each student to come with one or two rolls of toilet paper and camo gear.

The other club let us get them for a few minutes and then ran out with pillows and squirt guns. Pretty fun. Make sure you have rides all lined-up and parents in the loop.

Check the target

Did you hit your mark? Ask for feedback. Ask key kids too.

It is wise before your talk to to ask an experienced leader to listen carefully, and time the talk also. Ask for constructive feedback. You will get a bunch of "great job" and "way to go". Those help and are nice to hear. But it really helps to hear from one or two people:

What should I do again?

What should I tweak next time?

My senior leader always gave me a letter grade (It was always B-, B, B+, A- or A+), one thing to change and 3 things that I did well.

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Plato’s order of perception

1. Credibility (who are you?)
2. Compassion (do you care about me?)
3. Content (what do you have to say?)

Use at least 2 of these: Something…

1. Personal
2. Visual
3. Interactive
4. Surprising
5. Tangible

Review your notes and write at least two or three key “feelings” that should be obvious (anger, excitement, frustration).

Give them the “real deal” not what it is “supposed” to be like, but how real is this for you?

Ask: Why should they listen to you?

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• Jesus is the answer. Find scripture from the gospels that show what Christ has to say about this topic. Ask for help if this is hard.
• Apply it to your life and theirs. Give them a challenge.
• How does this fit everyday life?
• What does this look like when it is implemented?
• Get their attention. Find a personal or interesting story to illustrate the target issue. Most spend too much time on this part.
• Plan your last sentence, what is the last thing you want to say?

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