Games and Ice-Breakers for Youth and Kids (from 1 to 92) - Episode 6

Sometimes when I’m trying to describe ice-breakers and games to you I struggle to describe exactly what’s going on. That becomes a problem if you take them back to your children’s ministry or teen group to try. Just like a joke with confused details, an ice-breaker with missing rules is no fun.

I do my best every episode to spell out exactly what to do, but sometimes it takes a lot of thought. To save on time and ensure clarity, the game this week is accompanied by a video. They do a pretty good job, but keep in mind that this game can work with an audience that is seated. Also, be creative with the items you ask for.

Pocket Treasure - This game is possibly the simplest I’ve shared with you so far. One person holds out their hand and announces an item that someone in the audience must bring them. The first person to do it either wins points for their team or (if there are no teams) a prize. For larger crowds, position two people at different points around the group to make it fair for all.

Item Suggestions: wallet, $20 bill, out of state license, hair-tie, dirty sock, fingernail clipping.

Prize Suggestions: candy bars, tee shirts, gift certificates, or something else that is cheap but will motivate people to come forward.

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate

When we think about sin, what first comes to mind are the ‘big sins’ like murder, adultery, and theft.  And we can pat ourselves on the back, because we aren’t committing crimes or publicly hurting other people, right? This may be true, but inwardly we often hide great sins as well, often time without even realizing it.

In this book, Jerry Bridges discusses what he calls the ‘respectable’ or ‘acceptable sins’. He talks about the behavior characteristics in our lives that we have learned to justify and excuse.

The first six chapters go into detail discussing how we’ve grown to tolerate sins, and the reality of their malignancy in our lives. He explains the power of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome sin in our lives and the steps for dealing with these sins. And this is all before we even talk about specific sins!

He then devotes the next 14 chapters to specific sins that we daily encounter in our own lives. And concludes with a chapter titled: Where do we go from here?

Hands down, this is the most convicting, challenging and practical book I have read in a long time. If you are stuck in rut in your spiritual life, or feel apathetic in your walk with God, this book will snap you out of it. It motivated me to see my sin for what it really is, and is helping me overcome, with the power of God, some sin struggles I encounter in my own life.

He communicates simply and clearly, and his personal writing style and illustrations will make you feel as if you are talking with a good friend about what God has been teaching you.

It’s a great book to read for group study, one-on-one with a friend, or simply on your own. To find out more about it, click here.

Two New Social Media Releases for Your Ministry

Social Media is changing the way that we do ministry, or at least it should be. There are thousands of potential delivery methods available to us in 2008 that were not available even as recently as 2000. Many of the advancements that have been made technologically have been in the area of social media.

What is Social Media?

I am so glad that you asked. There are several different ways to define social media. The simplest way is to say that it is the integration of media technology (pictures, video, digital music and electronic written word) and community. Thus, social + media.  It’s easiest to see this integration in things that we are familiar with. Take pictures for example. Not long ago, “taking a picture” meant buying film, using a whole roll, getting it developed, and carrying the prints to someone who cared about whatever you’re pictures are of. Not anymore. Social Media has impacted picture taking by making it almost entirely digital. Take a picture on a camera, move it to your computer, edit if you like, and then upload to the internet where anyone in the world can see it in a matter of seconds. Thus the media of pictures has become a part of our online community. People tend to congregate around media like pictures, video and music. As technology changes, it is getting easier and easier to share media with others. This can have a profound impact on our ministries, if we sieze the opportunity to create and distribute media quickly. There have been two major developments in the area of social media in recent months. I’d like to share them with you.

Eye-Fi has created an SD-card with wireless capabilities. What does that mean? Simple. It means that you could potentially take a picture with your camera and rather than have it store only on your camera, it could be uploaded directly to your computer or even right onto your favorite photo sharing website like Facebook, Flickr, Wal-Mart Photo Center, Photobucket, etc. This is huge for anyone involved in ministry. It is now possible to take pictures and have them instantly uploaded to your church’s website. If you have a wireless network in your church, think about taking pictures during the youth event and having them immediately available to the parents at home. This is unbelievably convenient for you as the photographer. It doesn’t really change what can be done with a camera, but it certainly changes how fast and conveniently it can be done.

The second development is in the area of video. Ustream.tv is a brand new video sharing site with a setup much like YouTube the only difference being, the video is live. It is now possible to stream live video over the internet for free. The streaming video part is not new, it’s the free part that is so earth shattering. Not long ago (like… six months or less) this capability was very exclusive. It took lots of money, time and technological knowhow for anyone to put live video on the internet. Ustream.tv makes live video possible for anyone with a webcam and a laptop. It requires no extra software or hardware (beyond a camera), and like YouTube there is html code for linking and embedding available. So, with a webcam, laptop & Ustream.tv you could live stream your church service or youth group event on the internet on your website. That is ground breaking. Here at MinistryLIVE, we will be taking full advantage of Ustream.tv, and I truly believe that you should too. I’d love to hear from you how you are using social media to further your ministry.

For more about social media, Ustream, eye-fi and more check out this post by Churchsmo. I actually watched that video live on Ustream.tv, and now you can watch the recorded version on Aaron Marshall’s website.

Dekker’s Adam is the best piece of Christian Fiction since Pilgrim’s Progress

In the last several years, it has been sadly true of Christians that our art work, literature, and music was sub-par. Believers were forced to choose between art that was high in quality or consistent with their moral and spiritual convictions. As recently as ten years ago it was nearly impossible to find high quality Christian art work, literature, music, theater or dance, but thanks to some changed thinking in some of the bravest among us, that is all starting to change. Christian art/music/drama is growing in quality and quantity. It is exciting for me to what true Christians who are true artists celebrate their beliefs in creative ways.

One of the front runners in this new trend toward the artistic is a novelist named Ted Dekker. Dekker is Christian through and through. He is not a Christian in name only, or a Christian who writes secular books. He grew up a missionary kid in the jungles of the south pacific, and he writes some of the most provocative explorations of the Christian worldview in print today. His flagship material is the circle trilogy: Black, Red & White. Three books that read like a modern day Chronicles of Narnia without talking animals… well… without many talking animals.

One of his more recent titles is Adam, a potent exploration of the devastating effects of evil on men and women. There is a scary reality that many of us in Christian circles have ignored our whole lives: Satan in alive and active in this world. Adam is a fictional exploration of what it means to be face to face with evil. The book is extremely well written, easy to read and thought provoking. Don’t take the laid back writing style for granted, it is packed with action and intensity. You should read this book, just not right before bed.

You can read more about Ted Dekker and all of his books on his website: www.teddekker.com, or check out this interview.

The Basics of Discipleship

Back to the Basics

Discipleship. What is it? How do I do it? Why should I do it? What does scripture have to say about discipling? I’d like to answer some of those questions for you today.

The true model of discipleship is found in none other than Jesus Christ. It was His original and perfect example of discipleship; through the teaching and training of the twelve disciples, that we clearly see the basis for discipleship today. 

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20: “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  

This command is not just a mandate for the disciples, but a call for every believer. It is our duty to take what we know of the Word of God and impart it to others. Jesus did this in many ways in His earthly ministry. He taught truth to His disciples, He instructed them in ministry, put them in positions to see Him at work and gave them ministry opportunities as well. These methods and more, are  found throughout the gospels, and practically show how Jesus went about developing these men into His disciples.

As we then look to the example of Paul, we see that his ministry was centered around the Word of God. Looking to his ministry to the Ephesians (noted in Acts 20) we see how He focused on their spiritual development. He had a deep care and concern for the people. This follows the words of the Lord  in John 13:34-35:  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The purpose of a discipleship relationship

A foundational verse for the motive of our discipleship today is found in 2 Timothy 2:2:”…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

 

The purpose of discipleship is for the spiritual development of believers, with the ultimate goal of pointing one to be more like Christ. Why do you say that?  Well, let’s take a look at  Colossians 1:28: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

In discipleship relationships, the purpose is to impart on a man or woman the truths of God’s word that I know and that I flesh out in my own life. We need to be setting an example, not only in our speech but also in our actions.  We want to take someone from where they are at and bring them closer to where God wants them to be. We need to use the compass of God’s Word to point them in the right direction.

Your role as a Discipler

Your  role in discipling is to be a godly example. Your actions and attitude should demonstrate a love and passion for God, that will be so evidenced in your  daily life, that  he or she will strive to achieve a greater intimacy in their relationship with God. It is not your  goal to point someone to yourself, but rather to Christ. However, you  must be living in such a way that you  can boldly says, as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 11:1: ‘Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. ‘

As a discipler, there is a fine balance between being a friend and confidant, and being a guide and admonisher.  One must build a relationship that is comfortable enough and where there is respect, so that the disciplee will be honest about their struggles and also listen to instruction.

The discipler must both encourage and admonish.  It is their duty to get to the heart of the matter, and to uncover the sinful habits that are hindering the disciplees’ relationship with God. Then, to address those issues using the Word of God, and formulate a plan to help the disciplee to ‘put off the old ways and ‘put on’ the new. (Colossians 3)

This can only be done effectively when the Bible is the basis.  The Word of God must be the foundation upon which your  discipleship is built, not your  own words, thoughts or ideas.  You  must believe and act upon  2 Timothy 3:16: ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.’

Prayer is an essential part of all discipleship relationships. You must be spend time in prayer, asking the Lord to really guide and lead your discipleship relationship and make it clear what steps need to be taken. 

As you do this, remember the goal of discipleship, as found in Colossians 1:28: “Him (Jesus) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

Sermon Series — Outline, Transcript & PowerPoint for Free Download

Many of you who have been faithful readers of MinistryLIVE have known for sometime now that we have several sermons available for free download on the Resources Page of MinistryLIVE. Our Resources Page has grown steadily over the last few months, as we have found new materials and used them, we post them and pass them along to you. There is a quite a bit of great stuff up there right now.

One fo the things that has been growing by leaps and bounds is the number of sermons that we have avialable. I have been speaking on a regular basis over the summer, and one of the things that I am doing is preaching through the bookof Philippians. The outlines, transcripts and PowerPoint presentations of from each of my eight messages will be avialable shortly. Already there are several of them up and available for download. The rest will be up once I put the finishing touches on them and preach them myself.

All of the sermons, PowerPoints, games, icebreakers, dramas and other resources avialable on MinistryLIVE are tried and true. None of them are theoretical. They are always tried and true, never theoretical. I truly hope that you can take advantage of these resouces. Enjoy!

23 Creative Ideas for Family Devotions

This is a tool that I hope will be used in you and your families lives, rather than in the lives of those in your formal ministry. It is vital that those in ministry not overlook our families while we are attending to what God has called us to. Let us not forget that He called us to them first and foremost. These ideas are from a Word of Life Local Church Ministries resource called “Quiet Time Connect.”

1. Draw a picture of the key thought in the passage.
2. Make a mosaic from different objects to illustrate the passage.
3. Role play the passage or key thought.
4. Make up a song to illustrate the passage.
5. Sing a song that goes with the passage or story.
6. Use a “Game Show” format for discussion.
7. Quiz each other about the passage.
8. Use rewards to encourage participation (especially for small children).
9. Print the verses on cards or poster paper and put them on the wall.
10. Print selected phrases on index cards and give them to family members to use for review.
11. Write an encouragement card to someone using a verse from the passage.
12. Send an encouraging text message to someone using a verse from the passage and tell them it is from your family.
13. Watch a video together on the topic of the devotion.
14. Have a friend come to your home and do the devotions for your family.
15. Take a family walk or hike and discuss the passage.
16. Use props (such as homemade costumes or puppets).
17. Have a missionary in your home to share their ministry.
18. Look through different sections of the newspaper to find illustrations of the conditions or situations you saw in the verses.
19. Identify prayer requests for each other from the passage.
20. Write a letter to God as a group.
21. Put on a puppet show to illustrate the passage or truth.
22. Share some praises related the topics in the verses.
23. If you or a family member is involved in an online community or blog, share some observations from your family time.

These ideas are to help you keep your family devotions fresh and creative. Most of them don’t take a lot of planning or work ahead of time. While many of these ideas are clearly geared to kids and children, there are definitely ways to adapt some toward teens. If you have a wide range of ages, try aiming toward your younger children, the older ones will usually play along and can still gain valuable insight.

Feel free to contribute ideas you have or have used in the past.

Why do Kids Fall Asleep in Church?

Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Twitter, Digg, WordPress, and even MinistryLIVE are changing the way that we communicate. All the old timers are using the, “When I was your age…” line. And it’s true. Even just 5 years ago, communication was totally different. It used to take hours to get ahold of someone, and today it usually only takes seconds. Phones dropped their wires and now they are even dropping antennae. Communication has migrated quickly from face to face>phone>email>text message– gradually from the extended and personal to trite and impersonal. The 160 character limit on most txt messages has caused us to do things… well, like leave the “e” out of the word txt. As a whole our:

- Vocabulary is shrinking

- Attention span is shortening

- Memory is crowdening (yep, just made that up)

As a whole, anything that demands our entire body of attention is getting squeezed out. Especially students are now managing to listen to an iPod, text on a phone, update a facebook, chat, and finish off their homework all at the same time. The question is:

Why are we surprised that they fall asleep during the sermon?

We can’t deny that technology has affected American (and world) communication, but sadly, we haven’t let it affect our communication. While the world changes, the American church clings to the mast of a sinking ship. In the name of stability, many churches are simply refusing to upgrade their delivery method; in an effort to protect against compromise they are rusting into irrelevancy.

Technology could be a wonderful tool in the church. With the internet we can reach more people with less financial demand than ever before, but we cannot do it in the same way as we did a decade ago. Our method must evolve. Some ideas:

- Interaction: Especially if you are ministering to young people (21 and younger), consider getting them involved in the lesson rather than just simply sitting still. The internet has links that require clicking, make them “click” on your lesson. Don’t go on until they ______ (answer the question, figure it out, complete the study, whatever!) Get them involved, and transform them into something more than just a hearer.

- Multimedia: The more senses that you engage, the more your audience will remember. I’ve talked about this before. Use video, music, drama, object lessons and visuals. Make your PowerPoint more than just a note-taking aid. Make it a communication tool.

- Allow Comments: Your audience is accustomed to commenting on what they are learning. Encourage comments, and don’t be afraid of questions. Many public speakers are afraid of the audience talking back to them, and as a result they create an environment that stifles questions and comments. Others create that kind of environment because they are dead-set committed to “old fashioned gospel preaching”… which consequently is different than the Word of God.

- Expect Youth to Multi-task: That’s just the way it is. I don’t want to tell you to expect less of them, but be reasonable. If Church is the only time all week that they only do one thing… Let me ask you this: how can you incorporate this factor (multi-media-tasking-ish-ness of students) into your teaching time or sermon? How can you capture their full attention? How can you give them more than one thing to interact with?

As always, I do not believe that the message of truth must be compromised. In fact, I believe that we would be greatly remiss if we did alter or augment our message. The truth of God’s Word will always be the same, but our method should be culturally sensitive. Think about this:

What you say doesn’t matter if no one is listening.

Book Review: Ministry Mutiny by Greg Stiers

If you’re looking for a youth ministry book that’s an easy read but still has quality content, Ministry Mutiny, by Greg Stiers is perfect. Greg is the founder of Dare 2 Share and is a great communicator. The thing I appreciate the most is that everything he teaches in this book is based in scripture.

It’s written in a “fable” format which shows great creativity. This makes it a smooth, quick read and helps the reader identify with what the character is learning.

“In Ministry Mutiny, we read the story of Ty-a veteran youth pastor who has had enough of shallow youth ministry with what seems to be little to no results. With resignation letter in hand Ty heads off to what will be his last youth network meeting where he meets Tony, a youth leader that will change his life forever. Tony reintroduces Ty to timeless youth ministry principles that are too often overlooked in today’s youth ministry. As the two meet throughout the week the reader is introduced (or reintroduced) to these Biblical principles that are still as relevant today as they were when they were modeled through Jesus’ ministry.”

While the book was biblically based, I didn’t totally agree with everything Greg was trying to say. There is one chapter that discusses “listening for the whisper of God.” He makes it clear that it is not an “audible voice or whisper,” but it seemed as if he was trying to say that God uses circumstances in our lives to communicate His will to us. This just didn’t sit well with me. I’d explain why, but I’ll leave that for another post…

Despite a few points of disagreement (and the fact that I can’t figure out for the life of me what the cover art is supposed to be), I think Ministry Mutiny is a great youth ministry book that contains biblical principles and ideas that we as youth leaders can implement in our churches and youth groups.

Here’s a quote I thought was fantastic:

“I believe that postmodern teens won’t tolerate anything else than real and unflinching honesty in our relationships.”

Why’s and How’s of Teaching Christian Worldview

It is a commonly highlighted problem: the majority young people never return to church after getting their driver’s license. We constantly ask why, and how can we stop it? Today we add to the discussion by publishing an article by Bayard Taylor. This is a very insightful article that examines both the why & the what to do about it. Enjoy!

From the top of Sarangkot hill in Pokhara, Nepal, it is possible to catch a 180-degree panorama of the dramatic snow-covered peaks of the Himalayan Mountains, including the stunning “fishtail” peak of Annapurna II. A guide took me there a few years ago. With the entire white-capped range stretched out across the valley before us, he exclaimed, “J—- C—–!” This kid, who probably believed in many spirits according to Tibetan Buddhism, learned from secularized English-speaking foreigners that the Lord’s name is an especially powerful swear word (or magic word!) you use when you see something amazing.

But you don’t have to go to Pokhara for that. Whether we like it or not, we’ve got plenty of spirits and gods, miscommunication about Christian faith, and power-word cussing right here in our increasingly pluralistic and postmodern culture. If our churches don’t effectively teach people how to recognize these different worldviews and how to communicate the Gospel “into” these worldviews, we’re abdicating our responsibility.

How we fall short – Here are five common ways the Church is coming up short in this task:

1. The subject of worldviews is barely even a blip on most churches’ radar screens. Meanwhile, church members are swamped by an insanely intense anti-biblical indoctrination from education, entertainment, arts, and the media. If the idea of “worldview” is considered at all, it often is viewed as an impractical, over-intellectual, esoteric head trip, too vague to be useful for discipleship or evangelism.

2. We opt for doing Christianity in an echo chamber. We like being with “our kind of people” and “talking Christian shop,” insulating ourselves from people who don’t think and talk like us. We haven’t bothered to develop a vocabulary for genuine engagement with people who don’t share our basic assumptions and therefore have difficulty engaging in and sustaining conversations. When we happen to come across people who have completely different worldviews from our own, we either have nothing to say or talk “at” them with Christian truths rather than first finding common ground with them as human beings. We come off as odd, isolated, and out of touch with real life. Unfortunately, much of our marginalization in the culture is self-inflicted.

3. We project Christian faith as small-minded and parochial, whereas the core biblical worldview is actually much more flexible than many Christians make it out to be. While some churches and other groups manage to recognize the importance of worldview and attempt to address the subject, too often the core biblical/Christian worldview gets hijacked by other agendas. Add-ons like Christian sub-group cultural practices, denominational special pleading, and assumptions about political, social, and even scientific issues get the whole process off track. As a result, the “biblical worldview” gets too tightly identified with “our sub-group’s interpretation.”

4. We expect a non-questioning, anti-intellectual, childish Sunday school faith to compete in the rough-and-tumble marketplace of ideas. We give platitudes like “stay committed,” “read your Bible,” “go to church,” and “stay away from anything illegal, immoral, and fattening” – reducing everything to a matter of one’s personal discipline and faithfulness. We make hardly any concessions to the tough worldview questions people might bring to the table. A full biblical understanding of who we are requires attention to our minds, too. Jesus said we are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.

5. We neglect to acknowledge that the deepest, most difficult questions people have about Christian faith are generally issues of worldview. If churches persist in answering preset questions that only people in their denomination care about, then they’re not adequately equipping the saints for the work of ministry in the world.

Benefits of teaching about worldviews
Instead of ignoring or avoiding the challenge of worldviews, let’s meet it head-on. The other worldviews aren’t going away anytime soon (unless the Lord returns), and it’s time we prepare our people for upcoming cross-worldview encounters. I’m not saying we need to turn everybody into world-class apologists – but at least let’s try to give our people a decent running start.

Knowing about worldviews is good for the whole church – from teenagers to the elderly. It’s especially important for young people just before college and in college who are being or will be exposed to all these “new” ideas (which are just warmed-over tweaks on the various worldviews) for the first time. Whether old or young, if you’re at the center of the intellectual and cultural storm, knowing worldview basics will be relevant.

Several weeks ago, I spoke to a campus minister at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo. He used to teach a worldview orientation course to first-year students at a well-known Christian college. His opinion was that the term “biblical worldview” had become a buzzword – it was generally assumed that if you taught Bible and Christian theology, automatically students were being taught the biblical worldview. He found, however, that when kids heard the word worldview, many just pushed the snooze button in their minds.

They were missing out on the many benefits of understanding worldviews, which include:

• Increased empathy: Knowing worldviews helps you to “walk in the other guy’s shoes.” It moves you out of the Christian echo chamber.
• Improved listening skills: Knowing worldviews helps you really hear what other people are saying.
• Better conversations: Knowing worldviews gives you the confidence and ability to talk with absolutely anyone, no matter where they’re coming from.
• Genuine tolerance: Knowing worldviews helps you appreciate our common life with people from all over the worldview map; you value people more as made in the image of God, even if they don’t believe in God.
• More effective communication: Knowing worldviews aids you in getting your ideas across better.
• Better friendships: Knowing worldviews improves your ability to draw people out and share yourself.

The greatest benefit of knowing worldviews is that it gets you more excited about Jesus! It’s not just a head trip. It’s a spiritual process of deepening your walk with Jesus, asking God for wisdom (James 1:5), allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide in your development of discernment, and in discovering afresh our supernatural, mountain-moving, freeing, healing, miracle-working God. Knowing how the biblical worldview compares and contrasts with the others will help you develop a much deeper appreciation for just how good the Good News is.