Love Your Neighbor

May 9, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Get enough chairs to have one for each participant then remove one chair.

Icebreaker Description
In this icebreaker / crowdbreaker, youth will discover some common characteristics of others in the group.

Preparation
Arrange the chairs in a circle.

Icebreaker Activity

Sit the group in a circle.
Stand in the center of the circle, and ask one person in the group “Do you love your neighbor.”
The person you ask can give either of two possible responses: 1) “Yes” and then the youth on his/her right and left must switch seats. OR 2) They can say “no but I love everyone who…” has brown hair, is wearing blue, has been water skiing, name starts with K…
Everyone who meets the characteristic has to get up and change seats to a new seat.
While people are changing seats the person in the center of the circle tries to grab one of the empty chairs.
Whoever is left without a seat get to repeat the process of asking someone in the circle “Do You Love Your Neighbor?”

Optional Debrief

What types of people do you find it easy to love? Difficult to love?
What are some ways that people show their love toward others?

Conclusion
Scriptures tell us that others will know that we are Christians by our love. We are told to love not only those people we can get along with, but to also love our enemies.

Application
Commit to one way to show love for your neighbor this week.

Scripture
Matthew 5:43-46

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Resource Reviews

How Does One Become a Spiritual Leader?

May 9, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

The Lord seeks out men for spiritual leadership. When God finds a man who fits His spiritual requirements, and is willing to pay the full price of discipleship, He uses him to the limit despite his patent shortcomings.(18) “Service to which God calls must not be refused because of a sense of unworthiness or inadequacy.” (65)

“God is always at work, unpercieved by men, preparing those of his choice for leadership.” (211)

“No theological training or leadership course will automatically confer spiritual leadership…”You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you” (John 15:16)” (25)

“If a man possessing great gifts will not place them at the disposal of God…He will take a man of lesser gifts that are fully available to Him and suppliment them with His own mighty power.” (214)

The road to spiritual leadership. Samuel Logan Brendle stated:

“It is not won by promotion, but by many prayers and tears. It is attained by confessions of sin, and much heartsearching and humbling before God; by self-surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every idol, a bold, deathless, uncompromising and uncomplaining embracing of the cross, and by an eternal, unfaltering looking unto Jesus crucified. It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves, but…by counting those things that are gain to us as loss for Christ. This is a great price, but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would not be merely a nominal but a real spiritual leader of men, a leader whose power is both recognized and felt in heaven, on earth and in hell”(21)

Dr. A W. Tozer stated:

“A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position of leadership by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of external situation. …I believe it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing and altogether ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.”(36)

Source: J. Oswald Sanders “Spiritual Leadership”

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Icebreakers

Find the Leader

May 8, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Optional: Chairs for each participant arranged in a circle. (Participants may also simply sit on the ground.)

Icebreaker Description
Participants try to discover the leader who is initiating actions for the group.

Preparation
No preparation is needed.

Icebreaker Activity

Have the youth sit in a circle.
Chose someone to be “It” who must identify “the leader” who is initiating actions for the group.
Send the person you have chosen out of the room or have the person closes his eyes.
Silently point to the leader so that everyone else knows who the leader is.
The leader will initiate actions and change body positions.
Everyone must copy the body position and actions of the leader.
The person you have chosen as “it” stands in the center of the circle and tries to discover the identity of the leader.
When the leader is identified, choose a new leader and someone new to be “it” and repeat the game.

Optional Debrief

How do you recognise a leader in real life?
Name some of the leaders you know?
What leaders do you admire? Why?
What are the qualities of a good leader?

Alternative: Have you ever done anything in secret and hoped you would not get caught?

Conclusion
One of the most important qualities of an effective leader is that he sets an example for others to follow. A true leader doesn’t just tell others what to do, but also leads the way. A leader is only a leader to the extent that he/she inspires others to follow him/her.

Application
What are some of the areas of your life where you need to set an example for others to follow?

Scripture
1 Corinthians 11:1

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Teaching Illustrations

Waldorf Astor

May 8, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

One stormy night an elderly couple entered the lobby of a small hotel and asked for a room. The clerk said they were filled, as were all the hotels in town. “But I can’t send a fine couple like you out in the rain,” he said. “Would you be willing to sleep in my room?” The couple hesitated, but the clerk insisted.

The next morning when the man paid his bill, he said, “You’re the kind of man who should be managing the best hotel in the United States. Someday I’ll build you one.” The clerk smiled politely.

A few years later the clerk received a letter from the elderly man, recalling that stormy night and asking him to come to New York. A round-trip ticket was enclosed. When the clerk arrived, his host took him to the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street, where stood a magnificent new building. “That,” explained the man, “is the hotel I have built for you to manage.”

The man was William Waldorf Astor, and the hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria. The young clerk, George C. Boldt, became its first manager.

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Youth Ministry

Elements of Youth Ministry

May 7, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

Youth ministry is not a separate program, but works through and is channeled through church program organizations such as Christian education, worship, discipleship training, music, etc.
Youth Ministry is educational and evangelistic (teaching and reaching).
Youth ministry doesn’t put program areas against each other. As such it does not conflict with or replace other church activities.
Youth Ministry is concerned with every aspect of a youth’s life

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Icebreakers

Opossum

May 6, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
None

Icebreaker Description
In this icebreaker, team members must run around a person who is playing dead on the floor then join them playing opossum.

Preparation
No preparation is needed, but a clean floor or carpet helps. This can also be played outside in a grassy field.

Introduction
Opossum’s like to “play dead” when threatened. In this game you are to do your best imitation of a dead opossum.

Icebreaker Activity

Form two teams of equal number and line them up single file in a line.
The 1st person in line runs into the middle of your playing area and lies down and does his/her best imitation of a opossum playing dead.
The next person must then run into the middle of the area…run around the person who is already lying down 2 times and then lies down next to previous person and plays opossum.
This continues for each person in the team, each running around the opossums two times and then lying next to them.
The first team to have everyone lying down wins!

Variation
When the last person runs around the team, the entire team jumps up and runs back across a predefined goal line. The first team across the final goal line wins.

Optional Debrief

What is your usual response when you feel threatened? Is it to run away, get help, freeze, or play dead to the situation?
When was the last time you felt threatened? Why?

Conclusion
“Playing Opossum.” In scripture we are told to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ. Of course this doesn’t mean we are really dead but we act as if we are dead. Dead men don’t need to steal. Dead men don’t lust. Dead men do no wrong. Dead men are not attracted by the desires of the world. To be dead to sin is to consider ourselves unaffected by the desires of the flesh. But there is more. We must be alive to Christ! We must live the things of Christ. We must live for Christ. Christ must be our life, our breath, our reason for living. Everything we do must be actions of life and the words we speak must be words of life. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin and a live to Christ!

What are some of the areas of your life where you need to play opossum?
What are some areas of your live where you need to be more christlike?

Other Potential Application Points

Opossums like to play dead, but they are only faking it to avoid danger. Jesus did NOT play opossum. He was in fact dead in a tomb for three days. But he was resurrected!
Christians will face an afterlife. That life can be one of joy in the presence of God or a second death.

Scripture
Romans 6:1-11

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Resource Reviews

The Role of Talents and Gifts in Spiritual Leadership

May 5, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

“Spirit leadership is a blending of natural and spiritual qualities. Even the natural qualities are not self produced, but God-given, and therefore reach their highest effectiveness when employed in the service of God and for His glory.”(32)
“Leadership that can be fully explained in terms of the natural, although ever so attractive and competent, will result only in sterility and moral and spiritual bankruptcy”(19)
Natural endowments and traits of personality and scholastic attainments greatly enhance leadership, but they’re not the factors of paramount importance.(20)
“Each of us from birth possesses skills that either qualify or disqualify us from certain tasks. Those skills often lie dormant until some crisis calls forth their exercise. They can and should be developed.” (34)
“Because qualities of natural leadership are by no means unimportant in
spiritual leadership, there is value in seeking to discover leadership potential both in oneself and in others. Most people have latent and undeveloped traits that, through lack of self analysis and consequent lack of self knowledge, may long remain undiscovered” (43)
“It is the perogative of the Spirit to bestow spiritual gifts that greatly enhance the leadership potential of the recipient.” (35)
Some important differences between natural and spiritual leaders:

Natural Leader…………………………..Spiritual Leader
Self-confident…………………………………Confident in God
Knows men……………………………………Also knows God
Makes own decisions………………………..Seeks to find God’s will
Ambitious………………………………………Self-effacing
Originates own methods…………………….Finds and follows God’s methods
Enjoys commanding others…………………Delights to obey God
Motivated by personal considerations……Motivated by love for God & man
Independent………………………………….God-dependent

Source: J. Oswald Sanders “Spiritual Leadership”

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Humor

1 Dollar and 100 Dollar Bill

May 5, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

One day, a one dollar bill and a hundred dollar bill got folded together and began talking about their life experiences.

The hundred dollar bill began to brag:

“I’ve had a great life,” he said. “I’ve been to all the big hotels, Donald Trump himself used me at his casino, I’ve been in the wallets of Fortune 500 board members, I’ve flown from one end of the country to the other! I’ve even been in the wallet of two Presidents of the United States, and once when Princess Diana visited the US, she used me to buy a packet of gum.”

In awe, the dollar humbly responded, “Gee, nothing like that has ever happened to me, …but I have been to church a lot!”

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Music

Hymn Truths

May 5, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

We sing “Sweet Hour of Prayer” and are content with 5-10 minutes.
We sing “Onward Christian Soldier” and wait to be drafted into His service.
We sing “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and don’t use the one we have.
We sing “There Shall be Showers of Blessings” but do not come when it rains.
We sing “Blest Be The Tie That Binds” and let the least little offense sever it.
We sing “Serve the Lord With Gladness” and gripe about all we have to do.
We sing “The Whole Wide World For Jesus” and never invite our next door neighbor.
We sing “Cast Thy Burden on the Lord” and worry ourselves into nervous breakdowns.
We sing “We’re Marching to Zion” but fail to march to worship or Sunday School.
We sing “I Love to Tell the Story” and never mention it all.

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Icebreakers

I Never

May 4, 2006 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Enough sturdy chairs for all participants to sit in a circle

Icebreaker Description
In this high energy icebreaker, youth learn a lot of fun facts about each other pertaining to the things that they have never done.

Preparation
Place enough chairs in a circle to have one chair for each person then remove one chair.

Icebreaker Activity

Choose one person to be “it” and stand in the center of the circle.
The person in the middle of the circle names something they have never done. (e.g. “I have never… been water skiing.”)
Then, anyone who has done the thing that was mentioned has to get out of his/her chair and find another empty chair to sit in. They may NOT sit in the same seat. Whoever is “It” tries to grab one of the empty chairs during the chaos.
Whoever is left without a chair become “it” and must stand in the middle of the circle. They then state something they have never done and try to get a chair.
If a person has been in the center of the circle at least 3 times and can’t think of anything they’ve never done, they can “holler train wreck.” EVERYONE has to move on this one. Don’t let them call this out too many times or you loose all the fun of it.

Variation
If a person ends up in the center of the circle three times, they must perform a forfeit for the group. This forfeit could be to dance, to sing, to tell a clean joke, etc.

Caution
Be careful to not allow youth to name things that might be an embarrassment to others.

Optional Debrief

What are some of the things that Christians should do, but most never do? Why?
What are some things that you fail to do in your own Christian walk even though you know you should do them?
Have you ever found yourself doing something that you promised yourself you would never do?

Conclusion
Traditionally there are two types of sin: Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission. Sins of commission are the things that we do that are wrong. Whenever we break one of the commandments or do anything that the Bible forbids it is a sin of commission. Sins of Omission are those things we know we should do, but fail to do. Scripture puts it this way: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17).

Application Point
What is something you haven’t been doing in your Christian walk, that you will commit to start doing this week?

Scripture
James 4:17

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