I recently spoke at a YL weekend camp. One of the best pieces of YL camp speaking advice I ever received was to plan your cabin time questions before you plan your talk.

That is outstanding advice, but reading the post gave me an idea.

At the end of nearly every regular Club talk our leaders will say something like “Hey, if you want to talk more about this stuff come and see one of the leaders.”  That’s always great, but hardly any kids actually do that.

Here’s the idea…what if leaders who were speaking came up with 2 or 3 questions (before they write their talks) that they’ll give to the other leaders at pre-Club for us to use in conversations with kids during the following week?  Not only would it help the speaker stay focused but it would help the rest of us have some creative ways to bring up the talks in our conversations with kids outside of Club.

Just an idea!

Mr. Tolson is knocking at the door on the door of Dr. Roberts, the in-house psychologist.

Dr. Roberts: Mr. Tolson

Mr. Tolson: Are you Dr. Roberts?

Dr. Roberts: Yes, come in. Please have a seat. Sorry to have to call you down here on such short notice, but your company asked me to give you a creativity test.

Mr. Tolson: I’ve never taken one of those before.

Dr. Roberts: Well, they’re pretty easy. Actually, they can be fun. Would you like a beverage?

Mr. Tolson: I work in the computer center on the 17th floor. We just got a new computer in, and they put it in the back of the center. And all I did, I told them that they should put it up in the front of the center, so more of the people could get to it, but they didn’t.

Dr. Roberts: Fascinating. OK, the first test that we’re going to do is called a word association test.

Mr. Tolson: I don’t know what that is.

Dr. Roberts: Well, it’s pretty simple. I’ll give you a word, and you say whatever you can think of.

Mr. Tolson: Well, that sounds easy.

Dr. Roberts: Great! OK, well let’s start. First word, “shoe.”

Mr. Tolson: Shoe

Dr. Roberts: “Rabbit”

Mr. Tolson: (long pause) Rabbit

Dr. Roberts: “Truck”

Mr. Tolson: Truck

Dr. Roberts: OK, you’re just saying the words that I’m saying.

Mr. Tolson: I know, but when you say the word, that’s the word that I think of.

Dr. Roberts: OK, it’s my fault then. Let’s try again, only this time I want you to change the word.

Mr. Tolson: OK, so not just the same word.

Dr. Roberts: Great. You’re catching on. OK? Next word “hat.”

Mr. Tolson: Hats.

Dr. Roberts: “Moose”

Mr. Tolson: Meese

Dr. Roberts: OK, now all you are doing is just pluralizing the words that I’m saying.

Mr. Tolson: Yeah, but they’re different.

Dr. Roberts: Yeah, they are different, but that’s not what I want. OK, let me give you an example. Why don’t you give me a word?

Mr. Tolson: I give you a word?

Dr. Roberts: Yeah, any word.

Mr. Tolson: Word

Dr. Roberts: Fine, uh, that makes me think of “constriction” (folds arms across chest in a constrictive manner). Don’t worry you’ll catch on. Let’s try it again. Okay, “trumpet.”

Mr. Tolson: Constriction (folding arms in same manner)

Dr. Roberts: “Scarf”

Mr. Tolson: Moose

Dr. Roberts: “Cat”

Mr. Tolson: Scarf

Dr. Roberts: All right, now you’re just using the words that I’ve already used.

Mr. Tolson: Well, you didn’t say that I could use them up.

Dr. Roberts: Well, you can’t. OK? Why don’t we just move on to another test?

Mr. Tolson: They got this new computer up in the computer center, and I just told them they should put it up front, but they put it in the back.

Dr. Roberts: That’s fascinating. OK? Look, uh, for this next test I’m going to start a sentence, and I want you to complete it, OK?

Mr. Tolson: So all I have to do is finish it. OK, all right. Well this one sounds easy.

Dr. Roberts: OK, great. Now here is the first sentence. “When we went to the park we were going to …”

Mr. Tolson: Period

Dr. Roberts: OK, look, you have to add some words to it. OK? Squeeze some words between the period and the other words all right. Let’s try it again. Let’s do another one. “Jerry had a wonderful red balloon, and he took it to …”

Mr. Tolson: His friend Jerry … who also had a red balloon … and liked to add words.

Dr. Roberts: Look, Mr. Tolson, I need you to come up with some answers on your own. OK?

Mr. Tolson: We got a computer, and they wouldn’t put it in the front and …

Dr. Roberts: Look, I heard you the first time.

Mr. Tolson: Are you angry with me?

Dr. Roberts: No, Mr. Tolson, I’m not angry with you. Let’s move to the next test all right. This is called a Rohrshach Test. What it is, is some people who took a piece of paper and put some ink on it and folded it. What I need you to do is look into these inkblots and tell me what you see. (Holding up ink blot) Now, what do you see here, Mr. Tolson?

Mr. Tolson: A black smear.

Dr. Roberts: Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. I need you to look into it and tell me what you see.

Mr. Tolson: (Looking at the doctor’s shoes) I see black shoes.

Dr. Roberts: That’s good. I could see that.

Mr. Tolson: (looking at the doctor’s tie) I see a brown tie.

Dr. Roberts: Um hum, good, good.

Mr. Tolson: (looking at the wall) I see a diploma from Grand Valley State University.

Dr. Roberts: That is enough, Mr. Tolson. You will not leave this office until you tell me what you see in this.

Mr. Tolson: I don’t want to, I don’t want to.

Dr. Roberts: Look, I’m going to make you use one creative bone in your body if it’s the last thing I do. Now look at this and tell me what you see. Tell me.

Mr. Tolson: I see a dog. (struggling)

Dr. Roberts: Good.

Mr. Tolson: And it’s on a log. (continuing to struggle)

Dr. Roberts: Good, go with that.

Mr. Tolson: And the dog is a terrier … and it’s rabid … and it shakes its head back and forth in meaningless anger.

Dr. Roberts: Good, good, good.

Mr. Tolson: And foam sprays from its mouth, and we follow this droplet of spit down to see where it lands on a symmetrical lawn, and the drop of spit slowly transforms, becoming a flaming brass eagle holding the Magna Carta in its claws. This eagle takes flight and soars over the (spit) gray convulsive Atlantic Ocean. (lowering voice) It flies low by the choppy waves, a massive shimmering sea bass leaps up, and it snatches the Magna Carta. But the sea bass is served to the family of Long John Silver’s restaurant. And as the family devours the fish, the father is transformed. His eyes glow wolf-yellow, he stares at his claws, and a massive crowd gathers around. He screams wildly into the night sky: “Where is the passion?” “Where … is … the … passion?”

Dr. Roberts: (stunned) I’ll see what I can do about getting those computers moved.

Mr. Tolson: Yeah, on the 17th floor, and they put it in the back.

Dr. Roberts: Sure, OK.

Resurgence posted some thoughts under the title “Gospel-Centered Discipleship: How It Looks” and I love this statement.

A gospel-centered church does not just preach the gospel. The gospel is not an addition to our ministry or even a beginning point; rather, the gospel must saturate every part of our church’s life.

I understand the value of topic-based discussions, especially in Campaigners.  Kids seem to always want to talk about topics that “apply to their lives”, and it’s a temptation as leaders to give in, plan for, & do an entire discussion on some topic but leave out the gospel, as if the gospel doesn’t “apply to their lives.” The gospel needs to be in and through everything we do.

So, how do we do that?

1. Rely on scripture. The gospel runs through scripture, so if we are using it Jesus will be central.
2. Most “topical” discussions that kids want to talk about are usually about their misguided responses to a longing for deep relationship with God.  Keep that in mind & steer discussions toward Jesus.

I would take the whole Gospel thing one step further & say we should not only apply it to church, but to our own lives. The gospel of Jesus Christ must saturate every part of our lives.

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.

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.

When it was time for announcements, Mike came back in the room holding the doll the same way he had been holding his son.  As he moved across the front of the room he purposely tripped over a girl’s legs and tossed the fake baby about 10 feet across the room, while simultaneously acting as any new dad would act had it been a real child.  The reaction of the crowd was hysterical, especially the girl he tripped over.

That’s why I loved it when I read this post by Chad Swanzy titled “I dropped a newborn baby last night” complete with pictures.  Good stuff if you’ve got a baby around.

He has an entire category of club plans in Word format along with the posts that describe the Club.  This is an excellent resource.

I’ve been looking over a bunch of them and these are a few of my favorites.

• Tick Tac Toe Club
• Mustache Club
• Turkey Club

And this post is about getting the most out of the blog.  Such good stuff.

The same thing happened back in May.  I got that feeling that something just wasn’t right.  I was doing everything I was “supposed” to do.  Quite times, worship, prayer, fellowship, but it was all just religion.  Then I went on assignment and wa la the real reality hit me in the face – God is real, He loves me, He wants to walk with me, He’s cool as crap, and He wants me to point others to him. 

So, I’m back.  Back to reality.  Time to let the world be the world with their kings & presidents & CEOs.  Time for me to focus on His kingdom and The King.

I just got done writing a weekly update for some of my friends & supporters and thought I’d share part of it with you.  I had the opportunity to chaperone my school’s homecoming dance Saturday night and wouldn’t you know God showed up in a strange, but very cool way.

To finish off the week, Sarah, Jesi, & I chaperoned the dance on Saturday night. Chaperoning a dance is always a surreal experience, because the kids are not experiencing fun at Young Life Club as we are used to seeing. They are at a dance with their friends experiencing the “fun” the world has to offer. It always makes me a little sad to see, but helps me know we are doing ministry exactly where we need to be doing it.

That’s how I went to the dance on Saturday night, a little down, just wanting the night to be over. I was assigned to the dance room from 10:00 – 11:00, walking around, being a presence, making eye contact with my Campaigner guys to hold them accountable. Little did I know God was about to give me a huge sign of encouragement.

Believe it or not, 80’s music is back. The DJ played Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and the kids just belted it out – I’m still not sure how you dance to that song (I’m thankful for songs they can’t dance to, btw), but they were definitely singing at the top of their lungs. A few of my friends came over to me as they yelled the lyrics, “Hey, Storms, this is a Club song. This is just like Young Life.” Yeah, I thought, just like Young Life.  I hoped not.

I smiled and sang along without moving my lips (not sure if Chaperones are supposed to sing or dance). Then, the very next song was Sweet Home Alabama, a song we literally do every other week at Club. As the song started playing, I couldn’t help but think how cool it was that 2 songs in a row were Young Life songs. I got my camera out and started walking among the kids, figuring there wouldn’t be much inappropriate dancing to Sweet Home Alabama.

So, there I was in the middle of about 300 kids all singing one of our favorite Club songs, snapping pictures, thinking how neat this was, and the chorus started. “Sweet Home Alabama” they sang. Then, I would say about 90% of the kids shouted out “Bama Bama Bama, Wooooo”. That’s a little thing we add to the song at Club to make it more fun and here all these kids were at their Homecoming Dance singing just like they were at Club – and it was almost all of them. Now that was surreal. What a blessing for me to hear.

I don’t want to sound like a pansy, but I almost started crying.  In my defense, I was tired and had endured watching Georgia almost get beat by Auburn earlier in the day, so I was emotionally spent.  But it was one of those things where you’re just like “Wow”.  I didn’t want the song to end, just to hear them keep singing.

One of the things we’ve always said is that we want to reach every kids at our school.  While that seems nearly impossible, one of those things we say but don’t really “really” believe, God showed me that it is possible and it is happening.  I’m so thankful for being able to witness what God is doing in the lives of kids.

More to come…

The one I’ve come to trust for lyrics is A-Z Lyrics Universe.  Just copy, paste in Word, resize the text, and make your transparency.  It’s that easy.

For chords I use the Ultimate Guitar website.  They even have an Auto Scroll feature so you can set the screen to scroll while you practice the songs.  And, if you’re like me and don’t know any chords except G, D, & C, you’ll love the mouse over feature on the chords.  Just put your mouse over the letter of the chord & a popup shows you how to play it.

If you’re not familiar with this game, it’s just like musical chairs, except participants try to have a hat on their head when the music stops.  The walk in a single file circle and take the hat off the person in front of them.  There is one less hat than their are people.  After each round, you take away one hat. 

Then, when there are only 2 people left, instead of walking around in a circle, have them start out facing each other.  One person has the hat on their head, the other does not.  When the music starts, the hatted person turns his back to the other person, who takes the hat off, puts it on her head, and then turns her back.  So basically, you’ve got two crazy dizzy people by the end of the game.  Make sure you play the music extra long for this round.  The winner is the one who has the hat when the music stops.

Usually we call up 8 to 10 kids, but tonight we’re going to play with everyone.  We’ll get the entire crowd in one big circle, and give out all the hats.  For the first round, there will be tons of people getting out, but that round will serve to pick our 8 to 10.  Then we’ll go from there.