I tell ya…I get more fun game ideas from watching Ellen than from anything else - except the Source of course.

Make a bunch of jello & sink gumballs in it.  The jello doesn’t have to be all that firm (or firm at all), but the more firm it is the more the gum balls will stay midway between the to & bottom of the container.  Have kids bob for the gum balls in the jello and then blow a bubble.  The first one to blow a bubble wins.  You have to have tons of gum or it takes forever for them to blow a bubble.  The best part is watching them chew as fast as they can with red all over their faces.  We got some great pictures.

Have a camera taking shots the whole time and make sure to have plenty of towls & plastic.  Goggles wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Join Mix It Up Mondays and get your posts linked right here.  It’s quick & easy.  Here are the instructions if you’ve never taken part in a Blog Carnival before.

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. “Which road do I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” was his response. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”- Lewis Carroll

Just so you know, Devil Went Down To Georgia bombed this week.  What were we thinking?  That kid said he could play the fiddle.

1. Are we running so fast & being so cool that our kids don’t grasp the idea that we can be alive - truly alive - and just enjoy downtime in God’s creation?  Rethinking Youth Ministry asks that question…

More than your ability to be a “cool” youth pastor or to entertain a crowd, Mark argues that what youth really want to know is if you know how to be truly alive in this culture, to maintain your passion, and to enjoy life in God’s creation.

2. There’s a new blogger out there blogging about Young Life.  Only a few posts up now, but there’s some good stuff.

3. Remember to check out Help For Young Life Leaders NOW.  There’s just some amazingly helpful stuff there, including help for talks specific to different chapters of the Bible.

4. Here’s a fun one.  Create fake newspaper clippings.  They say to not use real names, but what fun is that.  I did this story from a story we shared on our last podcast.

Every youth leader worth his salt has to occassionally fix something he broke before anyone finds out or needs to know how to connect a PVC pipe to a life-size rubber duck so it won’t fall apart when you set it on fire.

I think this website was designed specifically for my friend Scott Berry, but they are letting us all use it.  Called ThisToThat.com, it is simple really.  You just look at the two things you want to glue together, fingure out what each is made of, and the website tells you what kind of glue to use.

Welcome to the first official Mix It Up Monday post.  It’s a blog carnival - wooo hoooo - where we all get a chance to share all kinds of great stuff.  If you’re not familiar with how that works, check out my post from last week with all the details.

You’re welcome to just come and take, take, take.  Every monday I’ll have a post with one game, skit, talk illustration, or something else useful for all us procrastinators.  But, why take & not give back.  You can create your own Mix It Up Monday post on your blog and link it up to this post by filling out the info in the Mr. Linky box at the bottom.  Again, the instructions are here, so without further to do…today’s Mix It Up Monday.

Alka Seltzer Poem Reading

We did it for Valentine’s club last week, but it could be used whenever.  Set it up by telling everyone that there are a couple guys in the crowd who’ve been asking if they could have a chance to do something romantic for their girl-friend at Club.  Or, you can do what we did and tell everyone that a guy wanted to do something romantic for a particular girl who wasn’t his girlfriend - both were pretty embarrassed.

Take the guys out of the room.  Sit the girls in the front of the group with a chair in front of them.  While the guys out of the room, give them a poem and put 2 - 4 Alka Seltzer in their mouth.  They aren’t allowed to tell the group about the Alka Seltzer, but have to come in, sit in the chair and read the poem passionately to the girl who will be sitting at his feet.  The first guy worked great - foaming and spitting all over - including on the girl.  The second guy had no saliva.  Get a guy who can spit.