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!

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.

For instance, here are some translation translations of the phrase, “Please stay seated until the ride comes to a complete stop.”

Italian – It remains I pray put till that the turn does not come to a complete arrest.

Spanish – He remains based please until the stroll comes to a complete shutdown.

Hungarian – Please stick seated whilst the she’s riding comes yield one supplements stops.

Korean – Burning, when this is complete stopping until, seat and stay.

How about the phrase, “Earn the right to be heard.” Some of these are downright insightful.

Italian – Gain the right to be felt.

Welsh – Gain ‘ group right to be heard.

Japanese – Profit do the right to be heard.

Filipino – Earn the right toward possible hear.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdcJSsRfL8s]

What does a Geisha Guy do?

To quote one of my favorite speakers on relationships, Tommy Nelson – they are “pimping tenderness”.

Highly successful women in Japan still seem to find an emptiness inside, something they are willing to pay big bucks to fill.

The woman, a successful executive, has joined a growing number of professional women in Japan in forking out from $1,000 to $50,000 a night for male companionship.

They meet their “hosts” in hundreds of clubs that have sprung up around Tokyo – the industry says only compliments are exchanged. The women pay for a man to lavish them with undivided attention.

This would be an excellent article to use for a need talk or in a campaigner setting.  It might be worth it to use this in a discussion with guys about how to treat girls right.  The article says nothing about intimacy, only attention.

Walters, 78, interviews experts in such fields as cloning, cryonics, stem-cell research and drug therapies, but she also presents the stories of everyday people who have reached 100 and beyond. One is a retired college professor working on his autobiography at 102; another man of that age still performs as a trumpeter at an Arizona resort.

The question I have for Walters is, “Why?”

What would be the purpose in living twice as long as most people do?

I’m reminded that the world sees death as the end and that Jesus promised life to the fullest.

The premise of this show might fit into a need talk well or into a discussion about what “real” life is.

I’m not sure where these all came from.  I know that I’ve heard some of them from other people and just adopted them and others I think I made up just from experience.  A couple I just made up last night.

1. Jesus! – He has to always be the primary focus of every club talk.  That’s what we are all about.  Sometimes it’s easy & sometimes, like need & sin talks, it’s a little more challenging to keep Jesus in the center.

2. Talk to the furthest kid out. – Last night, the leader I was talking to said she thought kids might get bored with the same stories all the time.  That’s a valid point.  There are tons of stories about Jesus we can share, but ultimately, I’m not concerned about the kids who come week in and week out for 4 years and hear the same stories 2 or 3 or 10 times before the graduate.  I’m concerned about the kid who comes for the first time.  That’s the kid I’m talking to.  If all my camp kids & campaigner kids know the answers, that doesn’t matter.  I’m talking to the kid who doesn’t know anything about Jesus.  The other kids can go deeper at campaigners.  The other thing with this is words to steer clear from: Church, Christianity, Sin (unless it’s the sin talk or later), Disciples, any other word the furthest kid out might not understand or might have a negative view of.

3. No notes. – Write out every club talk word for word.  Practice it over and over.  Then, throw the paper away.  I’m talking to my teenage friends about something I believe.  I’m sharing a story about my life & I’m sharing a story about Jesus (that I can read from the Bible).  I don’t need to have something to read about my life or what I believe.  In fact, looking at notes makes the conversation seem less personal.  Can you imagine doing a one on one at camp with notes?  (Actually, I think I did that once.)  Anyway, a club talk should be a conversation, not a speech.

4. It’s about Jesus not me.  I might have a really cool thing that happened to me the other day, but if it doesn’t really relate to what I’m talking about then, it’s not a good idea to use it.  Start with the topic, figure out what Bible verses I’m going to use, then think about something in my life the relates to that.  And…it doesn’t have to be a funny or crazy story.  It’s great if I have one, but it’s not necessary.

5. Simple Talk Structure.  This isn’t always true for me, but it’s usually where I end up & how I don’t use notes.  I think about how I’m going to begin my talk and whatever I’m going to talk about from my life.  Next, I think about how I’ll transition to the Bible story and the Bible story itself.  Finally, I think about my closing.  That’s really only 3 things I have to remember, because the rest is just talking to my friends.

During the closing session of the Conference, Dr. Dash describes an unpolished & spontaneous presentation by Earl Creps.  Do you think you present a Jesus that is too small?  I know I do.  Here’s some of what Dr. Dash had to say.

Creps talked about our tendency to shrink spirituality, offering Jesus as a set of self-improvement techniques. “We present a Jesus so small that he can be tucked into our lives,” he said.

The alternative, Creps said, is John 15: abiding in Christ. We need to stop holding up answers, and start holding up Jesus. Our pragmatism essentially says that Jesus is not enough by himself. We are offering our people too little. Jesus did not come to improve our lives, but to be our life. He did not come to make bad people good or good people better; he came to make dead people live.

The enemy of faith is not so much doubt, Creps explained. It is reductionism. The world is waiting for a spirituality that is big, much bigger than the one we’re offering with our self-help spirituality. Instead of looking for turbo versions of ourselves, maybe we need to spend more time looking at the transcendent God who is much bigger than our puny lives and organizations.

For the first time in the conference, I found myself taking pages of notes. What I need most, I realized, was not more techniques, as good as they are. I am hungry for Jesus. The same is true of my church. A bigger church and a better life are alright, but not nearly important as my connection to the one who said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsPBVNecOMo]

He shares 7 Sins of Speaking to Kids & it is some good stuff.  Here are the sins he lists, but take some time to listen to it.  And, all this stuff is in his book, Speaking to Teenagers: How to Think About, Create, & Deliver Effective Messages.

1. Assuming that all I need to do is think about the message without thinking about your own heart
2. Not giving any thought to who your audience is
3. Not giving special thought to how you construct the talk
4. Not taking seriously the power of words
5. Not practicing your talk out loud
6. Underestimating the power of the human voice
7. Disregarding the power of the visual

One of the most shocking things for me was that Duffy writes out every single word of every talk he does and that he reads through it 8 times.  Wow!  That’s convicting, considering I put together most of my club talks in the car, in my head, on the way to club planning.