Youth Ministry Institute of Pacific Life Bible College

The Best Curriculum Package We've Ever Seen!!

The folks over at Simply Youth Ministry have packaged a 4 year curriculum that is reproducible!!  Downloads of it become available August 1st.  It is $499/first year plus $99/year after that (if you want the web resources/tools).  We've taken an in depth look at the site and the free demo and it looks good!  Check it out at http://live.simplyyouthministry.com/Home/tabid/73/Default.aspx

Outreach Idea - Ping Pong Club?

GrownUpThinking.com (a blog of Mr. Youth [youth culture marketing firm]) is picking up on a growing trend:

"With marketers continuing not to see the returns on high priced athlete endorsements and even more athletes caught amongst the scandals (Manny), marketers are asking what’s next. About a decade ago, Texas Hold-Em Poker emerged as the new hot sport (if a finger gesture and flick of the wrist can constitute a sport). ESPN and other networks jumped in on the action and marketers ante’d up.

So the new Poker? It might very well be Ping Pong, or some might say Table Tennis. Already the second largest participation sport in the world to only soccer, Ping Pong is gaining in popularity in the US and like Poker is spreading quickly on college campuses.

Now marketers are thinking it might be time to jump in. InBev’s Anheuser-Busch has..." [READ THE ENTIRE BLOG ENTRY]

Mr. T Teaches Youth to Respect their Mother -- Idea for Mother's Day?

Ideas & Resources from Today's Round Table

At today's round table we shared some ideas/resources that we've been up to in our ministries... here they are:

 

Together Nights – Bridge Events

If your ministry program is segmented (i.e. Preteens, Jr. High, Sr. High, Young Adults, etc.) make an effort to have regular bridge events that bridge all your groups or perhaps just a couple.  This will help a student’s jump from one program to another more seamless as well as bring about greater unity and purpose.  It takes more work, but it worth it.

 

Free Food

Don’t ever forget the power of “Free Food”.  Youth love free food.

 

Amoeba

Link arms in a circle and try to get the person next to you to touch something (like a chair or garbage can) in the centre of the circle.

 

Nibbler/Blob Tag

Have one person in the middle of the gym or field and the rest at one end.  The group has to run to the other side without getting tagged.  Those that get tagged need to join hands with the person in the middle… they now tag those running back and forth as a group (must be hand-in-hand).  As the game goes on the line in the middle grows wider and the people running back and forth become less.

 

Watermelon Football / Polo

Keep picking up the biggest piece and play until there is no watermelon left.

 

Gross Night

Do a night of crazy/messy activities (like a kid’s pool filled with popcorn covered in syrup and youth have to go in and find stuff).

 

Egg Tube – Be Careful

Get a 3-4’ clear 1” tube (available at hardware stores), crack and egg, poor the egg down the tube and have to contestants blow on either side of the tube.  The loser is the person that gets egg in the mouth.

 

Mt.

Seymour

Chalet

For those ministry based in the Lower Mainland,

Camp

Luther

manages a chalet on

Mt.

Seymour

that is very affordable (www.campluther.ca).

 

Narnia Curriculum

Mostly like better suited for Kid’s Ministry.  One student is helping with a program where young kids come, run around for a while, then listen to a chapter from a Narnia book, followed by questions.

 

Ellen – watch her show

Ellen’s show is very creative.  Watch it and look for ideas that you can adapt (i.e. elastic band and donut bobbing).

 

Ukranian Pool

Play with a smaller group on a pool table.  Use the cue ball to hit the 8 ball and each team takes a turn rolling the cue ball (with their hand) to hit the 8 ball.  The key is that black ball can’t stop rolling.  When a team lets it stop or the other team hits it into a pocket than the other team gets a point.

 

Animoto.com

Make custom slideshows with music and captions.

 

Mike McCardell Clip of the Week

Do your own human interest stories or simply play his (from Global TV).

 

Mission

Impossible Night

Night games: spot light / group hide-n-go seek / storm the building (leaders with nerf guns guarding hostages).

 

Bunny Bunny

Circle speed game.  One person does bunny ears and then the people on their left and right have to do one bunny ear (corresponding to the side that the person doing the bunny ears is).  The person doing the bunny ears then points to another person in the circle and they (as well as the person on their left and right) start doing bunny ears.  The games speeds up and then someone eventually loses focus and is slow to raise their hand(s) and do bunny ears… they lose and leave the circle.

 

Banana & Nylons on Face

Grab some nylons and bananas.  Have each person mush up a banana in their mouth and then throw a nylon over their face.  Have each person try to squeeze the banana through the nylon (it goes everywhere but out).

 

Bob for Apples integrated with Bob for Marshmallows in Flour… add fish heads for extra entertainment

 

Sundae eating contest (have one of them be frozen mayo)

 

Milk Chug or Egg Nog (with Goat’s Milk)

 

Busking at youth

Spice things up and do offering busker-style.

 

Sermonspice.com

 

Ignitemedia

 

“Will it blend?”

 

Crab Walk across tarp with peaches on the tarp (the youth thought they were gold fish)

Saran Wrap Ice Breaker - Very Funny

One of YMI's students shared about this up front ice breaker... we tried it in a few youth ministry settings and it had students whipping out their cell phones to take pics/video for its entirety.

Divide your group into teams of 4-5 people or just call for some volunteers.  Give one package of saran wrap to each group.  Have each group nominate one 'mummy'.  Once those mummies have been picked, get them to go to an enemy group to be 'mummified' (wrap the person from shoulder to ankle and with their arms by their side).  Then have each team carry their person to the front (preferably over carpet!) and lay them down on the ground.

Once all the students are lying down, explain to the mummies that they are not allowed to use any object to help them stand up.  Say 'go' and watch them squirm around like worms.  The first person to stand up wins.

Twister to the Max

Thanks to YoungLife for this great idea... or maybe not?

AmazingMoms.com

We just heard about a site that helps mom's plan parties and it has lots of great activities that could be used in a youth ministry setting for mixers, ice-breakers, and team building.  Check it out... www.amazingmoms.com.

M&M gets it!

Companies that are able to customize their product/service to their customer's personal specifications and deliver it promptly for a fair price will make mucho dollars (I think there is a homiletic principle in there too!).  Check out M&M's latest endeavour... you can now get your company logo printed, any photo printed, and packaged differently... all online!

Go to http://www.mymms.com/ to check it out.  You could use these for event promotion, thank you's, fundraisers, or just for fun!

Two new shows filled with inspirational ideas!

ABC has two new shows out this summer: Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show.  Both are filled with some crazy creativity and will be sure to inspire you for your next outreach event.  Keep it safe and cheque with your lawyer before doing any of this!

To watch the show go to:

http://abc.go.com/summer/isurvivedajapanesegame/index or http://abc.go.com/primetime/wipeout/index?pn=index

Balloon Stuff - Short Group Game

Watch the video and see how it goes... I thought they should have rolled on the ground until they all popped or even better... rolled over tacks (just kidding about the tacks):