Dear Parents, I was recently talking to a mother of a 7th grade student who was sharing with me that her son didn’t want to come to Sunday school and Youth group at church. “Every Sunday morning and every Wednesday evening is a battle,” this Mom shared. “I make him go, even when he doesn’t […]
Six years ago, I wanted to clearly define a path forward in the discussion at Hayward Wesleyan Church regarding family discipleship. In order to do this, I wrote up a one-page document which clearly outlined our initial three initiatives: Read the Bible @ home with your children (at least once a week, or more if […]
A few years ago, I reviewed “What in the Bible?” curriculum for Wesleyan Kids: I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the unfolding process of the What’s in the Bible? videos over the last few years. Each time a new video was released I would buy it and think through how I could use it. I was always […]
Remembering names can be tough, but it is SO IMPORTANT when you’re both working with and ministering to people especially children. When you remember a child’s name it communicates that they are known. You can’t fake “knowing” someone. Either you do, or you don’t. When you remember someone’s name it tells them that they are known, […]
Carpetball is a fun game to have in your children’s (or youth) ministry area. Kids just love playing this game. I’ve been asked, quite a few times over the years, if there are any design plans for carptball tables. I came across one a while back and it’s what we used to build our table […]
I’m sorry, but the Chuck Norris jokes out there just crack me up and kids love ’em… especially preteen and middle school boys! So here is my ever-expanding list of Chuck Norris jokes Chuck Norris gets bit by a cobra. After 5 days of agonizing pain, the cobra dies. Chuck Norris doesn’t mow his lawn. […]
How to Play the M&M Hold Game Supplies needed: M&Ms enough straws for each participant two destination holders (plate, bowl, etc) The object is to race against a competitor trying to get a couple of M&M’s from one table to another while suctioning it to the end of a straw the whole way. No using […]
How to Play the “Cotton Ball Transfer” Game Supplies needed: 2 bowls per participant (size is discretionary) cotton balls (a couple of bags or so, depending on the size of the bowls) 1 spoon per participant Choose the number of participants to go head-to-head. Have each participant hold one bowl full of cotton balls and […]
How to Play the “Stocking Face Tug O War” Game I got this idea from funninja.org (they have many more games on the site). The only supply you need is a handful of stocking pantyhose. I bought thigh high sheer (so it would be as long as possible and nearly invisible) stockings. You can do two […]
How to Play the “Cookie Face” Game This game was made popular on Minute to Win It. You’ll need some cookies and some willing participants. We played this game in our children’s ministry and instead of just having a head-to-head battle against two people, we had all the students come up and try to do […]
How to Play the “Ping-Pong Tic-Tac-Toe” Game You’ll need a bunch of ping-pong balls. The more you have the better, but if you’ve only got three per player, then you’ll have to have some students fetching the ping-pong balls and returning them to the participant. You’ll also need 18 plastic cups. In our case we […]
How to Play the “Cereal Box Puzzle” Game The front of several cereal boxes (as many as you want participants to be competing at one time). If you want 2 contestants, then just 2 cereal box fronts. If you want several participants playing this game, then cut out as many as you can. Make sure […]
Dale Carnegie offers a “graduate course” in human relations in his famous book: How to Win Friends and Influence People After one of our debriefs with our students at Youth Alpha, I shared a story from Carnegie’s book. I wanted to give them an example of what it looks like to be a good listener […]
I recently wrote an email to our High School Youth leaders who are currently “assisting” our students in running Youth Alpha. I sensed that because the adults don’t have a “defined” role that we might struggle with our function. And function is how we often try to define ourselves. Here is what I wrote: Adult […]
How to Play the “Leg Wrestling” Game No supplies or materials are needed, simply a little bit of open space for students to be flipped! Participants lay on the ground next to each other with their feet facing opposite directions. They match up their armpits and lock arms with one another. Either the participants or […]
How to play the “Chair Relay Race” Game Make two teams. In our case we had 2 teams of 10 each and we did boys versus girls. Line up the same amount of chairs for how many people are on each team (the two teams should be equal). Place the two lines of chairs an […]
How to play the “Sack Races” Game We found some burlap sacks for $3-4 each at our local hardware store, so you’ll need to pick up a few of these. And you’ll need some space, or a “lane” of sorts. At our Youth group we used people for the students to tag. At Followers (elementary […]
How to Play the “Lawn Twister” Game You’ll need: 4 different colors of spray paint Poster board Medium size bowl Scissors Pencil Bucket and paper Setup the Lawn Twister: The blog article has pictures of how to set this up Trace a circle off of a medium sized bowl (to the desired size of the […]
Back in October of 2015 I completed my master’s thesis @ Wesley Seminary. It’s one of those things that resides on my computer and sits in the stacks at Indiana Wesleyan University Library, but isn’t easily exposed to the light of day. So I thought I would post some of my thesis’ content. The full thesis […]
This school year (2017-2018) our High School Youth group is going to spend time with Jesus everyday by reading one chapter a day starting in the New Testament (NT). There are 260 chapters in the NT, so if we start on Thursday, September 14, 2017 with Matthew 1, we will end on Thursday, May 31, […]