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 […]
A couple of days ago I finished reading John Walton’s book: “The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate” His view of Genesis 1 is that it concerns functional origins, not material origins. Walton contends that the ancient author isn’t concerned with the stuff of creation (matter), but how the matter […]
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 […]
Here are some developmental changes we could be be aware of as parents and mentors of high school students: (This is going to seem like a lot of information… and it is… just go to the grade that you work with as a parent or mentor and focus on that section first for a bit… […]
Here are some developmental changes that would be nice to be aware of as parents and mentors of middle school students: Grade 6 Physically Needs lots of food and 9-11 hours of sleep each night Continues losing molars (9-12 years) Girls outpacing guys in development Guys experience changes in height and weight, an increase in […]
There are fundamental relational questions kids need to answer as they grow and develop: In preschool the relational questions surround “Am I?” (impressions about themselves and the world): Am I safe? Am I able? Am I okay? In elementary the relational questions surround “Do I have?” (related to skills and competencies that equip their future): Do […]
There are fundamental relational questions kids need to answer as they grow and develop: In preschool the relational questions surround “Am I?” (impressions about themselves and the world): Am I safe? Am I able? Am I okay? In elementary the relational questions surround “Do I have?” (related to skills and competencies that equip their future): Do […]
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 […]
Hayward Wesleyan Church has graciously given me a gift of sabbatical starting November 1 through the end of December. I will pause pastoral duties for two months and resume them on January 2, 2018. Every seven years, HWC offers their pastors this wonderful opportunity to step back from the often frenetic pace of ministry and […]
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, […]
This school year I decided to split up the kick-off events for youth ministry at Hayward Wesleyan to focus exclusively on the two different groups: middle school and high school. So the Middle School Youth (msy) Kick-off was on Wednesday, September 6, 2017 from 6:30-8:30p for grades 6-8 only, and the High School Youth (hsy) […]
History Being a children’s pastor came out of left field for me. I wasn’t looking, aiming, or intending to be in children’s ministry. It came while I was interning for Hayward Wesleyan Church (HWC) in the summers of 2001 and 2002. During those years, Pastor Mark Wilson was looking to hire a children’s pastor. After […]
Amanda and I and our two girls, Sari and Macie, are going to Hungary to visit for a couple of weeks at the end of April and the beginning of May. I have been involved with a youth ministry movement in the country of Hungary with our high school students and the partnership is continuing […]
Got this from some Barna research on youth ministry: “Millennials are leaving the church. Nearly six in ten (59%) young people who grow up in Christian churches end up walking away, and the unchurched segment among Millennials has increased in the last decade from 44% to 52%, mirroring a larger cultural trend away from churchgoing […]