Thomas Edison’s Mother

May 8, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

Who was greater, Thomas A. Edison or his mother?

When he was a young lad his teacher sent him home with a note which said, ‘Your child is dumb. We can’t do anything for him.’ Mrs. Edison wrote back, ‘You do not understand my boy. I will teach him myself’. And she did, with results that are well known.

Holiday Collection
Games 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.

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Teaching Illustrations

The Greatest Preacher

May 8, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan had 4 sons and they were all preachers. Someone once came into the drawing room when all the family was there. They thought they would see what Howard, one of the sons, was made of so they asked him this question: “Howard, who is the greatest preacher in your family?” Howard had a great admiration for his father and he looked straight across at him and then without a moments hesitation he answered, “Mother.”

A. Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, , Eerdmans, p. 139

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Icebreakers

Living Statues

May 7, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

Description
Have you ever tried to change someone? To shape someone into your idea of a perfect husband, a perfect child, a perfect parent? Do our expectations of others in the group help them or hinder them?

Resources
Camera (Optional)

Preparation
Divide the group into pairs. One person is the “Sculptor” and one is the “Statue”

What to Do

If participants already know each other, then without talking, the “Sculptor” must position the “statue” into a pose that best illustrates how he or she sees the other person or to illustrate that person’s place or contribution to the group. If participants don’t know each other well, have them pose the “statue” into a role or characteristic that is important to the growth and well being of the group.
Have each pair work in front of the entire group. Take photos of each “Statue” when the sculptor is finished.
After the statue has been positioned and a photo has been taken, the “statue” must try to explain to the group, what quality he or she thinks the sculptor is trying to illustrate and explain what they think it means to the rest of the group. Verify with the sculptor what was intended.
If you have time, ask the pair to switch roles and do it again.

Taking it to the Next Level
We usually have specific expectations of other people. We have an image in our mind of how they should act, the things they should do, and the characteristics they possess. We may even try to shape them according to our expectations of what they should be. But most of the time it simply doesn’t work. Very soon they go back to their old self, leaving both frustrated.

Debrief

How did you feel when your partner was trying to change you?
When you were a sculptor, how did you feel when your statue changed position from what you intended?
Did you understand what the person was trying to change in you? Why or why not?
What were some of your frustrations – from both sides of the situation?
How could you have been more effective?

Discussion

What are some of the positions or roles that we have in our group? Make a list.
What should a person in each role or position do? What characteristics should they possess?
Do you ever feel like others are trying to change you? What are some of the things you think other people are trying to change about you? How does this make you feel?
Have you ever tried to change another person? What were the results?
Would the results be different if you modeled for them what you would like them to become? What if you tried to inspire them rather than force them? What is the most effective means by which we can bring about change in another person’s life? Is force sometimes necessary? If so, how do you know how much force to apply? How do you insure that the change is lasting?

Application
Pick one trait that you would like to see in others in the group and choose to model that in YOUR OWN LIFE! The only person you can truly change is yourself.

Possible Scripture References
Paul Instructed Timothy to “be an example to the believers…” – 1 Timothy 4:12. The word for “example” that Paul used comes from the Greek word “tupos” and is used in the sense of being a pattern, an example, for others to follow. Its like a mold that you can press the clay into so that it takes that same shape. Its like a loom that guides the threads for the weaving. Its like the painter’s masterpiece that his students are inspired to imitate. It’s a physical or visual reference so that you know how something should look when it is completed and that can be used to guide progress. Each of these illustrates, with varying degrees of pressure, the importance of a pattern or an example for others to shape their lives. Christ is that same example for all of us. By God’s grace, one day we might all be able to say as Paul said, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ!” “Follow me to the extent that I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Icebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

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Humor

Mother’s Day Gifts

May 7, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

What NOT to Buy Your Wife
Although the only person a man usually shops for is his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one.

Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.
Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and she will be offended the other 6999 times. “Do I look like a size 16?” she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: “I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!”
Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any points.
Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.
Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.
Finally, don’t spend too much. “How do you think we’re going to afford that?” she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, “Is that all I’m worth?”

Herb Forst in Cross River, NY, Patent Trader, in Reader’s Digest, Page 69

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Teaching Illustrations

Mother’s Influence

May 7, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

When Robert Ingersoll, the notorious skeptic, was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture. As they walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other, “Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn’t he?” The other said, “No, I don’t think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my mother’s life, and until he can explain my mother’s life I will stand by my mother’s God.”

James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1972, p. 381

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Teaching Illustrations

A mother’s Sacrificial Love

May 7, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard.

She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well.

She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without doubt, one of England’s greatest statesman.

Source: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1972, p. 375

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Food for Thought

Godly Mothers

May 6, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

“No man is poor who has had a godly mother.”
-Abraham Lincoln

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Food for Thought

A Mother’s Creed

May 6, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

I will worry less about my children and trust God more.
I will commit them into the Lord’s care.
I will love my children unconditionally and let them know I do.
I will believe in them constantly and encourage them often.
I will pray for them daily.
I will teach them responsibility for their own actions.
I will try to be an example of godliness, but I will be unafraid to let them see my faults.
I will give them generous doses of laughter, interspersed with fun.
I will release them when they are grown but they will always be my own.

Her children arise up, and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28

Source Unknown

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Humor

A Mother’s Rest

May 6, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

A four-year-old and a six-year-old presented their Mom with a house plant. They had used their own money and she was thrilled. The older of them said with a sad face, “There was a bouquet that we wanted to give you at the flower shop. It was real pretty, but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said, ‘Rest In Peace,’ and we thought it would be just perfect since you are always asking for a little peace so that you can rest.”

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Object Lessons

Labeled

May 5, 2007 kensapp Leave a comment

Introduction
It’s not the clothes we wear, the house we live in, the cars we drive, or names and titles people give us that determine our identity or our value as a person. It’s what’s inside us that counts.

Description
We often identify things by labels. But are labels the best method for identification? Youth / children will learn that labels are not always correct.

Materials
Three similar sized canned food items but with different contents. Preferably, use two that youth or children would enjoy and another that they may not appreciate much (i.e. something like canned peaches, applesauce and dog food)

Preparation
Carefully remove the labels from the cans and swap the labels and glue them on. Trim the labels to fit if needed.

Demonstration
I brought something today I think you will enjoy – Do you like peaches? I love peaches! Is there anyone here who doesn’t like peaches? What happens if I don’t like peaches? Maybe I like applesauce instead. Take the applesauce label and put it onto the same can. Great! Now I can have applesauce. Anyone want some applesauce with me? What? You mean we can’t just change the label? Why not? It says applesauce. Oh, well… let’s have some peaches then…. anyone want some peaches. Open the can of dogfood. Oops… this is not peaches. This is dogfood…. Looks like sometimes labels can be wrong.

Discussion
It doesn’t matter what label we put on the can. It doesn’t change what is inside. It’s not the label that’s important, but what’s inside that counts.

Sometimes we think that if we wear certain clothes, live is a certain kind of house or go to school in a certain type of car that will change us into something that others like more. But its not the things on the outside that count.

Sometimes someone might label us as stupid, as a nerd, a loser or some other name. But those names don’t change our identity. We are still the same person on the inside.

I can use the can as a hammer, or a football, or as a paperweight. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is a can that was created with something unique inside.

In fact, to God, everyone of us is special. Everyone of us is beautiful. He loves everyone of us! It’s what’s in your heart that counts.

Closing Applications

Do you call others names, give them labels? Do you judge others by what is on the outside or do you look at who they really are?
Do you try to impress others with the clothes you wear, by the things you say, with the things you own? Instead of trying to impress others with things that are on the outside, why not impress them with what you are on the inside…. by being loving, kind, caring.
A peach is a fruit, but for us as Christians, God identifies us by different fruits that we have in our heart…. these are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Make a commitment to bless others this week with one of these fruits of the spirit.

Scripture Reference

“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7)
Galatians 5:22 (Fruits of the Spirit)

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