eZine 05.19.2009

TheSource4YM.com
	Jonathan’s Resource Ezine

• Featured Article: Making it Special for Graduates
• Jonathan’s Blog: Jonathan Unveils Messages from Popular Songs

With the end of the school year around the corner, many of us are looking for some fresh ideas of how we can do something special for our graduates. As our seniors leave the group or our 8th graders move on, let’s make it memorable!

Even though you might not use these exact ideas, I think they’ll get your mental gears turning.

INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS WE LIKED

It was amazing to see all the fun and creative ideas that came in. Many had similar elements. Some of the basic ideas for ceremonies included the following components:

• A celebration dinner decorated to the hilt, with great food, beautiful cakes, etc.
• Cap and gown ceremonies
• An invitation not only for the students, but to families as well
• Video of family and friends talking about the graduates
• People appointed by the family to give a short speech on behalf of the graduate
• Posters, collages or even entire booths full of memorabilia displayed for each graduate
• Pictures/plaques of all the graduates with all their names hung in the youth room each year
• Graduates writing letters to themselves that are mailed to them later in the year
• A ceremonial reading of “Oh the Places You will Go” by Dr. Seuss

People also came up with some great “senior trip” event ideas:

• Weekend retreats
• Bike trips
• Camping trips
• Senior NASCAR trip (with pit passes)
• Senior Disneyland/Disneyworld trip
• Senior trip to Hawaii

Some of the gifts that were suggested were:

• Nice leather bound study Bibles (CLICK HERE for Bibles at Cost)
• Photo albums filled with pictures and memorabilia, and journals filled with letters from kids and youth leaders
• A Pillow case signed in Sharpie by all the kids and leaders
• Engraved gifts like a silver picture frame or even a unique item like a hammer
• Books like Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Faith“, The Case for Christ“, or Dobson’s “Life On the Edge“
• CD compilations with Christian music like the ConGRADulations 2009 CD or the ConGRADulations 2009 CD, DVD and Hardback Bible
• Or, check out the cool The CPYU Graduation Bundle which includes two resources, The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness and ConGRADulations! Class of 2009.

THE TOP FIVE IDEAS

Out of all the ideas, a select few stood out to our team at THE SOURCE. The following five are our top picks:

JONATHAN’S NOTE: Although we had many people submit ideas about “graduation ceremonies” of some sort, Leo had some very distinctive elements that we loved (for example, bringing the college kids in for a unique portion of the ceremony and the freshman kidnapping). Thanks for the great ideas Leo!

Every year we do the following for our graduating seniors and 8th graders:

In Church: On the Sunday before graduation we bring all of our graduating seniors to the front and I give a short (2-3 minute) talk, followed by a name by name recognition of each senior. As they leave the stage they always receive a book from our pastoral staff, this year it will be Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ.”

In Youth Group: That same evening we bill our youth group event as Senior Night. We project a slide show of pictures of the seniors from as many years back during their youth group time as we can. Inevitably, the non-seniors appear in the shots as well and it becomes a great time of looking back and reminiscing. Then, in place of a message from me that evening, we have the seniors all sit at the front of the room and let everyone else share their favorite memories of the seniors. We get a mix of “most embarrassing” stories and genuine encouragement from underclassmen about how some of the seniors have shaped their walk with Christ. We then give every senior a chance to share a piece of advice with the underclassmen. We as staff are always amazed by some of the things we hear/find out that night. Then we take the underclassmen out of the room for an activity and bring in current college students who graduated from our youth group and have them talk with the seniors about the challenges of being a Christian in various college environments. We get more positive feedback from this night than any other night of the year.

Freshman Kidnapping: One of the final tasks of our seniors is to assist with our annual Freshman Kidnapping. With permission from parents, our high school students show up at the homes of our graduating 8th graders at about 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning and pull them out of bed “as is,” with some obvious provisions for modesty of course. They then take them out to a local restaurant where our staff are waiting and the church treats them to breakfast. Students talk about their kidnapping experiences for years to come. Once the kidnapping has occurred, the 8th graders are then an official part of the high school youth group.

It’s fun, it’s informative, it’s gritty… it’s Jonathan’s Blog.

Katy Perry Does It Again

Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 6:52 AM

Katy’s song started with these lyrics…

Nice. Huh?

Katy’s background is interesting, a flop as a Christian singer who adjusted her content to go mainstream. I blogged about her before when her I Kissed a Girl song first came out (and received heated responses from internet readers), she’s definitely one to keep your eyes on. Her journey as a young artist is reminding me of Madonna’s legacy– creative, controversial, and sexual… just what young people want to hear.

It would be nice to think that our kids are not hearing this music outside of our houses… but, think again. My son came home from school yesterday and announced, “Guess what song they (the school) were playing at lunch today. If You Seek Amy.” (If you’re not familiar with that song… you’ll want to read this article) The song wasn’t edited. The school plays songs as long as they aren’t “explicit.” (and that song only ‘spells’ the F word… it doesn’t say it. Nice!) This isn’t my first experience with this kind of music slipping under the radar at my kids’ schools.

So how should we respond?

Unfortunately, a letter to your congressman will probably do very little. But David offers parents and youth workers some advice at the bottom of our past Youth Culture Window article on the subject– check it out for more about the lyrics our kids hear, how the lyrics affect them, and how we should respond.

Add Comment

Twilight or Slumdog?

Posted on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 3:06 PM

Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of numerous youth ministry books including the brand new 10-Minute Talks, and the award winning books Do They Run When They See You Coming? and Getting Students to Show Up. He speaks and trains at camps, conferences, and events across North America, and provides free resources for youth workers internationally on his website, TheSource4YM.com.