Welcome to my Creative Youth Ideas Library,

The Olympic Games was a significant competitive sporting event in the life and times of Jesus, carrying right on through the life of the early church and the ministry of the apostles. It's no surprise then that the writers in the New Testamant make so many athletic references to "running races", "training", "prizes", "crowns", all of which were part of the tradition of the Games.

In a few months time, we'll be celebrating the 2012 Olympics in London. Although the location, scale, format, participating countries, events, and well, practically everything has changed over the years, one tradition has persisted through the ages -- the Olympic Torch Relay.

The traditional Lighting Ceremony recently took place on 10 May 2012 at the Temple of Hera, Olympia, home of the Ancient Olympic Games. The torch will travel around Greece, and will arrive in Athens in 2 days time and then arrive in the United Kingdom the next day.

The relay will last 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations, six Island Visits with about 8,000 people carrying the torch a total distance of about 8,000 miles (12,800 km), starting from Land's End in Cornwall.

This year, the Olympic Torch is perforated by 8,000 circles representing the inspirational stories of the 8,000 Torchbearers who will carry the Olympic Flame.

Our Christian journey of faith reminds me a lot of this relay. It's not the torch that bore the mark of their testimony, but the Bible. The writer of Hebrews in Chapter 11 talks about the many "inspirational heroes" of faith that came before us. Each of them with their own story about how God delivered them and how His promises were fulfilled in their lives through their faith in Him.

After they carried the "torch", pressing on in spite of their struggles to take hold of what God had in store for them, they passed their legacy on to the next generation of "torchbearers" who would stand as a lighthouse and witness to the world around them. Their names are familiar to us. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, and the prophets. The writer doesn't always tell each of their stories but the very mention of their names makes us recall their great exploits, their journeys, their stories, and sometimes, cautionary tales.

They weren't perfect people and the Bible did nothing to sugarcoat or hide their flaws. They were murderers, thieves, adulterers, and prostitutes. They were proud, greedy, lustful, and selfish. Yet there they are -- the ones we look up to. They were human in their failings but the one common thread running through their lives was that they looked to God in faith. And that's what set them apart from the rest. They weren't focused on their insignificant lives, they were focused on an all-powerful God.

They finished their part of the relay and God saw that their faith in Him was well placed. And now they pass their torch to us. The writer of Hebrews says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Heb 12:1)

They haven't disappeared, they're there in the stands cheering us on. Saying as it were, "This faith journey of yours is not going to be easy, it sure wasn't for me either. But I made it. So, don't let your sin hinder you. Keep on going. Don't give up. You can do it."

There's always going to be times when we want to just give up. To say it's too hard and drop the torch. But we're reminded that we're not alone in this journey of faith. All those who came before us, even God Himself is cheering us on. Our place in this journey of ours is just to keep running. To be faithful to what God has called us to do and be an example, not even a perfect one, but a very real and human hero to the next generation of believers and faithful followers of Christ!

What do you feel God has called you to do? It could be something that requires a lot of faith, something that you have to persevere through, it could be a struggle you have to overcome. Whatever it is, he intends to make your hopes, dreams and experiences help others find meaning through their own lives. Your big dream can ignite that same passion in others, your persistence can encourage others to find strength, and your experiences can inspire the world. God can make your story like he used the stories of the faith giants in the Bible - the good, the bad, and the ugly - to be a testimony of His grace working through our faith.

Looking for Bible Studies for your summer youth camp or to coincide with the Olympic Games?

Go for the Gold

Destined to Win
Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series on
"Running the Christian Race"?

The race as a metaphor for the Christian life is used in several places in the Bible. This series is a great follow up for new Christians or to re-emphasize the basics of our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This Bible Study / Camp Curriculum has a sports theme and is great for athletes as well as a tie in to the youth Olympic Games.
Learn More...

Title: The Olympic Torch Relay
Posted by Ken Sapp at 12:00 AM | Link | Comments (0)
Category: Creative Teaching Ideas
Average: 3.00 (4 votes) | Rate It: 1 2 3 4 5 | (5="Great", 1="Bad")
Keywords: race, 2012 London Olympics, Olympic Games, Sports, Testimony, Discipleship, Christian Faith, Heroes of the Christian Faith

 
 Found a great idea for youth at Creative Youth Ideas: The Olympic Torch Relay  

What is Spiritual Mentoring?

• "It is a dynamic relationship of trust in which one person enables another to maximize the grace of God in his/her life and service." -- John Mallison (Mallison, p. 34)
  
• A mentor "is not someone who can give you all the answers. He or she is someone who can cry with you when there is no answer, someone who can weep with you when you are wounded and there is no healing. A mentor is simply a companion in your situation." - James Houston (Rabey, Side by Side, 190)
  
• Mentoring is a brain to pick, a shoulder to cry on, and a kick in the pants.
  
• "Mentoring is a relationship through which one person empowers another by sharing God-given resources." -- Robert Clinton, Connecting. The God-given resources include wisdom, experience, patterns, habits of obedience and principles.
  
• “Mentoring is a process involving people. Sometimes it’s a whole series of individuals that God brings into your life at various stages and for various purposes. In every case, those people are committed to helping you grow and perpetuate the learning process. If you stop learning and growing today, you stop ministering tomorrow.” (Hendricks, p. 51).
  

Counseling is a two-way relationship of counselor and client; whereas, mentoring involves a three-way relationship: the Lord, the mentoree, and the mentor. The Lord is the most important person in the relationship; the mentoree the second most important person and the mentor-the least important of all. The mentor is merely a facilitator of the deepening relationship between the mentoree and the Lord Jesus Christ.

A mentor is a person who helps a protégé move ahead in life. He is usually older and more experienced and therefore able to help the protégé get where he or she wants to be. The mentor clears the way, gives some travel tips and smooths the bumps. Occasionally the mentor helps the protégé develop the necessary skills to navigate an especially difficult turn in the road. The mentor is not so much interested in fixing the road as in helping the protégé to become a competent traveller. Here the mentor is a trusted guide rather than a tour director. Anderson and Reese identify 6 distinctives of spiritual mentoring (Anderson and Reese, 12)

1. a means to enhance intimacy with God, ultimate identity and unique voice
2. a way to recognize the already present action of God in the protégé's life
3. an effective model for personal development in character formation
4. an effective way to discern God's direction in decision-making
5. a historically proven diet for the journey of faith
6. an effective safeguard during boundary and transitional times in ministry
   

Sources:
Biehl, Bobb Mentoring : Confidence in Finding a Mentor & Becoming One (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1997.)

Stanley,Paul D. & Clinton, J. Robert. , Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1992).

Title: What is spiritual mentoring of Youth?
Posted by Ken Sapp at 01:25 PM | Link | Comments (0)
Category: Mentoring Youth
Average: 4.60 (5 votes) | Rate It: 1 2 3 4 5 | (5="Great", 1="Bad")
Keywords: mentoring youth

 
 Found a great idea for youth at Creative Youth Ideas: What is spiritual mentoring of Youth?  

Attributed to Paul Harvey?

Anna May Jarvis, quote: "Mother's Day has nothing to do with candy. Candy is junk. You give your mother a box of candy and then go home and eat most of it yourself...."

Anna May Jarvis, quote:
"A maudlin, insincere printed card or a ready-made telegram means nothing except that you're too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world. You ought to go home and see your mother on Mother's Day. You ought to take her out and paint the town red...."

Anna May Jarvis, still quoting now:
"You ought to give her something useful, something permanent. A lot of mothers are sleeping on mattresses that are as hard as rocks. Maybe she needs new eyeglasses, comfortable shoes, a pair of slippers, or better lighting fixtures. Is she sleeping warm at night? Could she use an eiderdown? Maybe the stairs in her home need fixing. . . ."

What about flowers, Anna May?
"Flowers are about half dead by the time they're delivered."

And Anna May goes on to say that she won't rest "until Mother's Day becomes the personal family Memorial Day it was intended to be."

If anyone had the right to speak out against the commercialization of Mother's Day, it was Anna May Jarvis. That second Sunday of thoughtfulness each and every May was Anna's idea in the first place. Anna May Jarvis was the Mother of Mother's Day. Anna May Jarvis, born May 1, 1864.

She was a minister's daughter, described as a quiet, studious girl in school who liked everyone and whom everyone liked. Anna was just two weeks forty-two, working for a life insurance company in Philadelphia, when her mother died on the second Sunday of May, 1906. Friends noticed a change in Anna in the months following that unhappy occasion. No longer the gentle, easygoing woman they knew, Anna became obsessed with but one desire: to see her mother and motherhood honored annually throughout the world. After more than a year of careful planning, Anna arranged the first Mother's Day church service-May 10, 1908-at St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna's mother had taught Sunday school. Anna worked hard to promote her idea. A year after that first memorial service in West Virginia, Philadelphia became the first city to proclaim an official Mother's Day. Three years passed. West Virginia made Mother's Day a statewide observance. One year later, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation from Congress-a document recorded as Public Resolution 25-to establish the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day forevermore.

And it had all begun with Anna. But Anna, now fifty years old, was not content with her victory. She retired from her job at the insurance company to spend her remaining thirty-four years, and her entire fortune of over a hundred thousand dollars, campaigning against the commercialization of the day she had founded in honor of motherhood. She interrupted florists' conventions to express her remorse at their "profiteering"; wherever there was a forum for her cause, she spoke out. Then one day, when she was too old and too tired to speak out, she was placed penniless, deaf and blind in a West Chester, Pennsylvania, sanitarium. She died there in November of 1948; she was eightyfour.

And if the story of the woman who invented Mother's Day is made even more poignant, it is by the fact that she, Anna, would never benefit from that time of remembrance. For Anna May Jarvis-the Mother of Mother's Day, who devoted her life and her fortune to its reverent observance-was never married and was never a mother.

Title: The Mother of Mother's Day
Posted by Ken Sapp at 11:58 PM | Link | Comments (0)
Category: Teaching Illustrations
Average: 3.40 (10 votes) | Rate It: 1 2 3 4 5 | (5="Great", 1="Bad")
Keywords: Mother's Day

 
 Found a great idea for youth at Creative Youth Ideas: The Mother of Mother's Day  

With the Olympics in London later this year, a lot of youth leaders have been downloading "Go for the Gold" and "Destined to Win." Sports have been part of civilization even in the 1st century so it is not surprising that sports are alluded to in the Bible.

Here are some of the characteristics of athletes mentioned in the Bible and help up as illustrations of how we should live as Christians:

• Endurance - Galatians 6:9
• Lose - Luke 9:25
• Perseverance - James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 10:36
• Physical Training - 1 Timothy 4:8
• Pursuit of the Goal - Philippians 3:14
• Spur others on - Hebrews 10:24
• Strength - Philippians 4:13, Job 17:9
• Training - Ephesians 6:4

Title: Traits of an Olympic Athlete or Traits of a Christian
Posted by Ken Sapp at 11:30 PM | Link | Comments (0)
Category: Announcements
Average: 3.70 (10 votes) | Rate It: 1 2 3 4 5 | (5="Great", 1="Bad")
Keywords: Sports, Olympics 2012, London Olympics, athletes, training

 
 Found a great idea for youth at Creative Youth Ideas: Traits of an Olympic Athlete or Traits of a Christian