Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.
Monthly Archives: November 2005
Grandma’s House for Thanksgiving
Little Logan and his family were having Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother’s house. Everyone was seated round the table as the food was being served. When little Logan received his plate, he started eating right away.
“Logan, wait until we say our prayer,” his mother reminded him.
“I don’t need to,” the little boy replied.
“Of course you do!” his mother insisted, “We say a prayer before eating at our house.”
“That’s at our house,” Logan explained, “but this is Grandma’s house, and she knows how to cook!”
Holiday CollectionGames and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.
Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection
Another Perspective
Often, well known scripture passages and events gain new life when told from a different perspective. Assign class members the roles of different people a passage. If we were to use Mark 14, then read the Mark 14, and have each person retell the story from the perspective of the person’s role they were assigned.
Possible roles are:
1. Jesus annointed with Perfume – Jesus, Chief priests and teachers of the law, people (crowd), Simon the Leper, Mary the sister of Martha (the woman with the jar of perfume), disciples, Judas Iscariot
2. The Lord’s Supper – man carrying the jar of the water, the owner of the house with the large upper room, the disciples, Judas, Peter, Jesus
3. Garden of Gethsemane – Peter-James-John, God the Father, Jesus
4. Jesus’ Arrest – The servant of the High Priest who had his ear cut off, the streaker who lost His garment, guards, Jesus, disciples
5. Jesus Before the Sanhedrin – Sanhedrin, High Priest, Jesus, guards, those who were asked to give false testimony
6. Peter denies Christ – the servant girl who questioned Peter, the crowd, Peter
Some more creative roles would be to tell the story from the following perspectives:
1. Annointed with Perfume – from the perfume’s perspective
2. The Lord’s Supper – the unleavened bread and wine, the table, the upper room
3. Garden of Gethsemane – the garden itself
4. Jesus’ Arrest – the streaker’s lost garment, the ear, the swords and clubs, the kiss
5. Before the Sanhedrin – The house of the high priest, the high priest’s torn robes, the hands which struck Jesus, the blindfold Jesus was made to wear
6. Peter denies Christ – the rooster, the fire by which Peter was warming himself, Peter’s tears
Application
1. Discuss the insights and lessons learned from this activity.
2. Do this same process for key Biblical events in both the Old and New Testaments
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Twas the Night of Thanksgiving
‘Twas the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn’t sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep
The leftovers beckoned — The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.
Tossing and turning with anticipation
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen, Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground !!
I crashed through the ceiling. Floating into the sky….
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie,
But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees …
HAPPY EATING TO ALL !!
PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE !!
Holiday CollectionGames and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.
Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection
Prayer Cards
Materials
1. 2 sets – 8 types of prayer (prepared by you)
2. 2 sets – 8 cards with examples from Daniel 9 or other passages ( 1 set prepared by each group)
3. 2 sets – 8 cards with real life examples of each aspect of prayer (1 set prepared by each group)
4. +4 – add 4 wild cards (prepared by you) and you will have a set of 52 cards…
This means there are 6 cards for each aspect of prayer..
Another option is to have youth collect and arrange cards in the correct order from various famous prayers. You can also Get 52 or more index cards. For larger groups create additional sets. On the cards, write portions of prayers. On other cards write the authors of each portion. You can then play various card games using the notecards you have prepared. Suits can be identified by four key authors such as David, Paul, Jesus, Jeremiah, etc . Phrases can be matched by similar sentiments or components. Throw in cards with each aspect of the prayer wheel for additional matches (Praise, Meditation, The Word, Listening, Singing, Confession, Intercession, Petition.)
You may have youth prepare the cards: add cards with real items to be lifted up in prayer. Add prayers for missionaries. Add other prayers for church activities. The possibilities are endless.
Activities
1. Relay: Divide the class into two groups. Give a set of cards to each group. Each group member gets a card and lines up against the opposite wall opposite you. Call out examples of each type of prayer. First group to get the corresponding prayer card to you gets a point. Members return to the wall. Go fish – try to complete as many sets as possible
2. Spoons – be the 1st to get a set of 1 type of prayer
3. Battle – divide the cards into two stacks, one for each team. Players turn over cards simultaneously. If two cards match the first player to slap the discard pile gets all the cards in it. A match in this case would be any two cards of the same type of prayer. The object is to collect all the cards. After a couple minutes change players on each team.
Application
As a closing activity, have youth each take a real life prayer from the stack and keep that in prayer for this week… using fresh cards, have youth put their name and a prayer request on a card. Shuffle all the cards. Distribute cards and encourage them to pray for the person they get this week.
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Bursting Bubbles
Materials
Two or three types of bubble making wands and bubble soap. Many different kitchen utensils like wire wisks make great bubble wands. You could also provide wire and wire cutters and allow older kids to design their own bubble wands.
Activity
Hold a bubble blowing contest. Have awards for verious categories:
* Biggest bubble
* longest lasting bubble
* Most unique bubble
* Greatest number of connected bubbles
* Most unique bubble wand
Discussion
1. What do all bubbles have in common?
Answer: Eventually they all burst!
2. What are some things that last forever?
3. What are some things that we strive for in life that are only temporary?
Application
Bubbles are Temporary
Bubbles come in all sizes and shapes, depending on the wand used to create them. Bubbles can be tiny or large, can be kept or set free, can be alone or connected. Regardless, all bubbles will eventually burst. The do not last forever.
Bubbles grab our attention / fascination
The world waves a wandful of fascinating temptations at us. Fun, romance, happiness, wealth, material possessions all hold our attention for a time, but they too are only temporary. When you think you have risen above the dangers, when yuo have been lifted above the frailties and difficulties of life, when you finally think you have something that will last a while, then suddenly the bubble bursts. What once seemed substantial is now only a memory. You reach out to grab what you always wanted and “POP!” its gone. You are left with nothing.
Scriptures
1 John 2:15-17; Mark 8:34-38 (especially v 35) See also Matthew 6:31-33; James 4:13-14 (especially in the version The Message)
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven
The Turkey shot out of the oven
and rocketed in to the air;
It knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.
It ricocheted into a corner
and burst with a deafening boom,
Then splattered all over the kitchen,
completely obscuring the room.
It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
There was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there had never been turkey before..
It blanketed every appliance,
it smeared every saucer and bowl;
There wasn’t a way I could stop it;
that turkey was out of control.
I scraped and I scraped with displeasure
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
That I would never again stuff a turkey
with popcorn that hadn’t been popped
Holiday CollectionGames and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.
Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection
Paper Airplane Competition
Materials
- Rubber bands, paper clips, paper, masking tape, a measuring tape, Bibles
- A large open area, preferable indoors to avoid issues with wind.
Preparation
- Divide the youth into groups of 2 to 3 persons and place the materials in a central location accessible to all
- Using the masking tape, mark off a starting position for youth to stand behind when launching their planes. Create a small cross (or X) some distance from the starting line as a target.
- The objective is the create a paper airplane for the Flying Challenge
- Announce that there will be several award categories:
• Plane that flies the farthest
• Longest time in the air
• Most accurate Flyer
• Most Creative
Activity
- Give youth 10-15 minutes to create the planes.
- Farthest: Have youth line up behind the line to launch their planes, on group at a time. You may wish to allow two throws or best of three, depending on time constraints
- Longest time in the air: use the stopwatch to measure the time each plane is aloft
- Accuracy: Have youth take turns trying to launch their planes so that they land inside the target area.
- Creative: Most creative design
Discussion
- Were you focused on trying to achieve a specific award or did you just create a general purpose plane? Why?
- What were the key characteristics of your design? Why?
- What were the keys to success for each award category?
- In what ways are the paper airplanes similar to people? Similar to Christians? Different? Which one is most like you?
- What are your goals in life? As a Christian?
- Do you have just one goal or many goals? Why? Which goal is most important to you? Why?
- What purpose do goals serve in life?
- What goals did Paul have in life? What were Christ’s goals?
- How are you similar / different in your goals as compared to Paul / Christ?
- What factors / keys to success make you a winner in the Christian life?
- What things can we people to be more successful? What do you need to change to be more successful as a Christian?
- What things have you spiritually grounded / prevent you from soaring as high as you can as a Christian? What things are weighing you down spiritually? How can you lighten your load?
Applications
- Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 2:3-10
- Soaring as eagles
- Laying down our burdens
This Creative Teaching Idea for children or youth combines an object lesson with a learning activity to stimulate discussion of our goals in the Christian life
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Learn More…
Thanksgiving Prayer
Little Logan and his family were having Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother’s house. Everyone was seated round the table as the food was being served. When little Logan received his plate, he started eating right away.
“Logan, wait until we say our prayer,” his mother reminded him.
“I don’t need to,” the little boy replied.
“Of course you do!” his mother insisted, “We say a prayer before eating at our house.”
“That’s at our house,” Logan explained, “but this is Grandma’s house, and she knows how to cook!”
Holiday CollectionGames and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.
Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.
=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection
Can They Hear?
“Some years ago at the opening of a disarmament conference, in the midst of a speech of King George of England, someone tripped over the wires of the Columbia Broadcasting Company, tearing them loose and interrupting service. The chief operator quickly grasped the loose wires in his bare hands, holding them in contact, and for 20 minutes the current passed through him while repairs were being made. His hands were slightly burned, but through them the words of the king passed on to millions of listeners, and were heard distinctly. Without his courage and endurance, the king’s message would have failed to reach its destination.
“Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, has chosen to send His message of salvation to a lost and dying world through human means. Whatever the cost, the message must reach those who have never heard. Every faithful Christian who is willing is a human instrument through whom the King’s voice is reaching the lost with a message of deliverance, freedom and peace (vastly more important than the message from London.)
Source: Bill Bright – “A Handbook for Christian Maturity”
(A Campus Crusade for Christ book)
Scripture: Daniel 12:3
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.