eZine 12.17.2002

TheSource4YM.com
	Jonathan’s Resource Ezine

Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, December 17, 2002

In This Issue

• MORE CHRISTMAS GAMES YOU CAN USE
  
  
• STUDENTS IN SERVICE. Serving the community as a weekly program.
  
  
• WHAT ABOUT FLAKEY STUDENT LEADERS? Jonathan addresses this issue many of us face.
  
  
• LESS THAN A MONTH LEFT OF FREE SHIPPING. If you haven’t bought Jonathan’s new book, now’s the time to get it!
  
  

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MORE CHRISTMAS GAMES YOU CAN USE

by Jonathan McKee
December 17, 2002

Looking for game ideas for Christmas? Here’s a few more!

Play-Doh Snow Man
We did this for one of our youth’s Christmas parties. Divide group into teams made up of about 3-5 people. Give them each a couple cans of Play-Doh (or divide cans up between teams). Have each team come up with their best “snow man.” Have a couple of adults prepared to judge the finished products. You can have one winner or you can make up a couple of categories, such as, “Most Creative” or “Biggest Snow Man,” etc. This works great for groups of 30-40 teens. Our teens were very creative, and we showcased them on Sunday in the foyer. They loved it.
Added by Howell Champs

Ho-Ho Slam
Do you like those little Hostess Ho-Ho’s? Well what better time to eat Ho-Ho’s than Christmas.

Bring 4 to 6 students up front. Give them each one (or two- your call) Ho-Ho(s) and a glass of milk. Let them know that this is a simple contest of "the first one done with the Ho-Ho(s) and milk WINS!" Yell "go" and let the games begin!
Idea by Youth for Christ

For more Christmas games, check out last week’s newsletter: https://thesource4ym.com/archives/archivestore/2002/arc20021210.aspx

STUDENTS IN SERVICE. Serving the community as a weekly program.

People ask me all the time "How should I program my Wednesday night?" "What can I do for my mid-week program?" Here’s a great idea sent in from Kirk Phelps of Grafton Christian Church, NH.

Dear Jonathan,

Thanks for your leadership tips in your recent article. (https://thesource4ym.com/archives/archivestore/2000/arc20021203.aspx)

And thanks for asking about our youth ministry ideas. We have a “Youth Service Night” on Tuesdays for a couple hours. Youth meet at the church to help local elderly folks. The outreach is blessed w/ strong attendance and doors opening right and left. To many, we share the Gospel thru conversations and loans of our pastor’s sermons on VCR. Services this winter include shoveling snow, sanding drives and walk ways, taking garbage to the dump, moving firewood, and simply chatting w/ folks. At the end of the evening, the youth meet back at the church to share their experiences/God sightings and to pray for the elderly. It’s awesome!

In His Service,

Kirk Phelps Youth Leader
Grafton Christian Church, NH

WHAT ABOUT FLAKEY STUDENT LEADERS? Jonathan addresses this issue many of us face.

by Jonathan McKee
December 17, 2002

I just received a question on our ASK JONATHAN page (https://thesource4ym.com/askthesource/) that I thought many of us might relate to.

QUESTION:

Jonathan,

We’ve just started forming our core group of students this year. Some of these students who signed up are now copping out of their leadership expectations such as consistent attendance. What would you do?

– Jeff, Kamloops BC Canada –


ANSWER:

Jeff,

Thanks for the email- good question.

When a student leader misses one of my meetings I always like to bring them in front of the entire congregation and have them flogged publicly. I find that I have very good attendance the next week!

Okay . . . seriously now. You might have caught my recent article about student leadership. If you didn’t, here’s the link: https://thesource4ym.com/archives/archivestore/2002/arc20021203.aspx

In that article, and in the chapter in my book: https://thesource4ym.comhttp://www.jonathansresources.com/Books/default.aspx I talk about some attendance requirements for student leaders and give samples of the expectations I lay out.

Sometimes lack of attendance can reflect on the original expectations laid out. I try to lay out expectations that aren’t too stringent and have some slack if things come up. For example- I don’t want to punish a kid for going on their family vacation or their grandma’s funeral. Or what if you have a varsity athlete who wants to be a student leader but has availability problems because of the sport. I like to try to work things out. But I always make communication of this a priority. We talk about these things ahead of time. You can even add an item to your application that says “Do you foresee anything in your schedule making attendance a problem?”

If you have someone who isn’t adhering to the guidelines- I get some one-on-one time with them. Meet with them with the intent of FIRST: finding out what’s going on in their life- and SECOND: why that’s affecting attendance. Think of the lack of attendance as a symptom of a deeper issue. Don’t try to fix the symptom- find the deeper issue. Make sure that your discovery process reveals your care for the individual more than just reprimanding them for not being there.

Hope that helps.
Jonathan

WANT A RESOURCE FOR THE ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS YOUTH WORKERS HAVE?
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• What do I do with my "Fatal Attraction" staff member?
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KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

God Bless,

Jonathan

If you have any other youth ministry ideas you want to share, please email me at jon@thesource4ym.com

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Do you have a speaker for your next camp or retreat?

Check out Jonathan’s speaker page and who’s recommending him!

/speakers/jonathan.aspx

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Jonathan R. McKee
THE SOURCE
for Youth Ministry
https://thesource4ym.com/