Many years ago there was a Catholic monk who needed olive oil, so he planted an olive tree sapling. After he finished planting it, he prayed, “Lord, my tree needs rain so it’s tender roots may drink and grow. Send gentle showers.” And the Lord sent gentle showers. Then the monk prayed, “Lord, my tree needs sun. Please send it
Materials
Form two teams to play
Activity
1. Each person one a team is given a chance to tell the opposing team something about his / herself. They may choose to say something that is true or something that is false. For example, someone could say, “My favorite food is my mom’s fried chicken” or “I went to the school …
Fear Imprisons, faith liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
and most of all
Fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices
in its God.
– Harry James Fosdick…
Materials
A trophy, a ribbon, a medal, a crown, and a certificate of achievement.
Activity
I have some objects with me today that people work really hard to get. They are awards for some great accomplishment. As you can see, these awards come in different shapes and sizes:
This one is a statue with some writing at the base. (Read.) …
One morning I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather across my back terrace. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour.
At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm wide. After brief contemplation the
Materials
Props for acting out the parables. These can extensive or minimalist depending on the creativity ad age of your participants. You might include biblical costumes, props mentioned in the parables, and objects that are focal to each parable. Alternatively, let youth find their own props for creative variations.
Activity
1. Assign groups of youth/ children / adults one of …
We may not all understand it, yet…
In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn’t trying to sell many papers. He walked up to a policeman and …
What you do
In a designated place, leave a lesson photocopied from your favorite resource with everything needed to teach the lesson. A small cloth bag with a draw string works great. Staple a label to the outside with the title of the lesson, the topic, and the scripture passage. (Large manilla envelopes or file folders can also be used …
Imagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord’s footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns. For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more …
Rudy Tomjanovich, the former basketball coach of the Houston Rockets and more recently the Los Angeles Lakers experienced an unusual event in 1973. As a robust twenty-five-year old, Rudy was playing for the Rockets.
In the middle of a close game, a fight broke out at center court. Rudy rushed over to the unfolding conflict, running at full speed, to …