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We’re looking for every topic from program development to leadership to teaching & training.

Even if you’ve written one article and you’d like to share it, we want to hear from you!

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We’re giving a new 32GB iPad for every 30 new 1 Year subscribers
:: from April 7, 2010 to May 7, 2010::

This isn’t a contest.

One youth worker in every 30 who creates a 1 Year Subscription is going to get an iPad.

There is no limit as to how many iPads we will give away. As soon as another 30 subscribe, we’ll give away another.

Anyone with a 1 Year Subscription – renewal or new – will be included

Just another way that YouthResource.net is the only Youth Ministry website that gives back 100%

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!!

You also get:

* Over 2 years of Lessons with Powerpoints
* Over 2 Years of Powerpoint games
* All future updates
* An investment into other ministries & 2 church plants.

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YouthResource.net has just pre-launched a job site for youth pastors, youth workers, and children’s workers called:

YouthMinistryJobs.net

The site is absolutely FREE for job seekers & employers!

Check it out today!

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In the last 2 G-140 Podcasts, we’ve been discussing working with volunteers.

In this weeks show, I talked about the importance of helping volunteers understand their commitment and getting their signoff on those very things.

The majority of youth workers don’t have a formal process of this and it causes tons of problems down the road:

• The volunteer doesn’t know what the vision is.
• The volunteer knows what you’ve said the vision is, but they’re not 100% committed to it though they are committed in some form to ministry.
• The volunteer doesn’t know what your expectations are of them.
• You have no way, as a leader, to be able to discuss shortcomings because you haven’t laid out the expecations.
• The volunteer doesn’t know what a win is and what the youth ministry values most.

And here’s a BIGGIE:

If you don’t have these things ironed out, there WILL be conflict.  What the volunteer sees as being important and what you see as important may be entirely different things.

And conflict should be expected if the volunteer cares about what your doing.  If a volunteer doesn’t know what’s expected and doesn’t quite get the vision but they just come in week in and week out then I’d have to question their overall heart commitment to what’s being done.

As promised on the Podcast, I’m including a simple “Commitments of  a Youth Leader” document that we actually used with our leadership.  Please keep in mind that I thoroughly gave a talk on vision, values, and philosophy of ministry so they knew what they were getting into, and THEN I went over specific expectations before asking them to sign on the dotted line.

A number of things are bulleted so feel free to comment or ask me any questions to bring clarity.

COMMITMENTS OF A YOUTH LEADER > [PDF]

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Just Released Today: The Price is Right part of the TV GAME SHOW NIGHT PACKAGE Available Right Now For Subscribers!

Upfront games are fun, but sometimes they’re painful to watch.  Some years ago, we took cues from what was going on in culture and, instead of trying to use obnoxious upfront games, we started adapting what was working in the mainstream, did it really well, and had a lot of fun & success while doing it.

The Price is Right is one of those timeless games that may just be good enough to survive a host change.

Actual title screen shot from powerpoint

It’s got all the things that make a really great game show and I think it lends itself so well to the upfront game format that it’s worthwhile to try to pull it off at a youth event.

Here’s what we’ve learned after doing it a few times:

If you’re a fan of the Price is Right then you may know that the gameshow is composed of really 5 things that have made it a hit for decades:

• A great host who knows the games and relates to the contestants
• An announcer who knows the products  & gets the crowd riled up
• Average everyday people
• Cheesy games with Cheesy props!
• Audience participation that is encouraged!

(I didn’t mention Barker’s Beauties, but I’ll refer to them in a moment)

Consider all 4 of these things when you plan for your game.

• Find a Bob Barker type host with a tacky suit and a skinny microphone.  He must close with the neutering pets line.
• Get an announcer who can sound dead serious while being funny.  We re-wrote a lot of the product descriptions to make them sound ridiculous and funny.  We even had some products that we described as being used for something else than what they were made for. And, naturally, we had some products like Depend undergarments.  If the announcer can remain serious.
• We did get some of our female adult leaders to display & demonstrate the products to the students.  I’ll never forget my wife all dressed and carrying out a silver platter with a box of Ex-lax on it.  It was amazing!
• Allow students/contestants to say something about themselves when they make it Contestants’ Row
• Cheesy props are important I think.  One of the things that makes TPIR great is that carnival feel of the games.  In our TV GAME SHOW NIGHT package, we’ve made it possible to play a couple of the games while watching the screen, but if you can take the time to build the sets, I think it can make the night a lot more fun.
• Audience Partipation – most upfront games in youth ministry create a passive crowd who grow bored pretty quickly.  Make sure you remind the audience that they are an important part of the game.  Tell them to give the contestants what they think are the right answers.

ONE MORE IDEA:

If you have a big screen in your room, go through the trouble of having a camera guy pan the crowd back and forth while the announcer prepares to say which contestant is next.  This gets the whole crowd involved instead of only 8 or 10 or 12 people getting to play the game.

Inside our TV GAME SHOW NIGHT PACKAGE, you get:

• HQ graphics that look like the game show
• MP3’s of music from the show like the opening theme, the “come on down” music, the theme for Cliff Hangers (Yodeling song), Background music for product descriptions, buzzers, the losing tuba & more
• The full Powerpoint gameplay of Cliff Hangers (the game where the yodeling climber falls off the mountain)
• & Game descriptions with adjustments so that you can make it work.

This is all included for subscribers right now.  Subscribe today!

He actually climbs & falls off the mountain!

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Just Released Today: TV GAME SHOW NIGHT PACKAGE Available Right Now For Subscribers!

One of the most successful ideas/events that we pulled off was the “TV Game Show Night.” On a single night, we played several of

Actual Screenshot from Who Wants to be a Millionaire PPT

the all-time greatest TV Game Shows and gave out real prizes.

For you event-based ministries out there, this one was is pretty near can’t miss from a creative standpoint. However, we improved the idea by doing TV Game Shows for several weeks at our main gatherings. After all, isn’t the point of an event or attraction to get people to your main gathering?

Gameplay PPT screenshot that looks just like the real thing!

For several weeks, we surprised students with what game would be next. Here’s the short list of games that we pulled off successfully:

• The Price is Right
• Family Feud
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire
• Are You Smarter than a 6th Grader
• The Dating Game
• Street Smarts

Included in our subscriber’s area, we’re offering the works on all of these game shows we mentioned above.

The TV Game Show Night Package includes:

• High Quality Print Promos
• Powerpoint Games for each TV Game Show
• MP3 Theme music for each game

Become a subscriber today!

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Creating an environment where honest, open discussion can happen starts with modeling honesty & openness.

This environment should also be safe & sensitive to its participants:

• Doesn’t allow one person to dominate the discussion.
• Keeps the focus on the topic at hand.
• Doesn’t allow an individual to be cut off while making a point.
• Is Okay with the people who really don’t have a lot to say.

Enjoy the silence…

• Don’t be afraid if you ask a question and no one says anything.
• Realize that people are often processing the question.
• Don’t give in to the desire to answer the question yourself in an attempt to kill the silence.
• If the pause is too long, you can rephrase the question.
• Read the participants. Often you will see someone who has something to say, but they are afraid to say it. Ask them for their input!

Hey, I’m not the expert here!

When questions are asked by a member of the group, rely on the group. Don’t feel like you specifically have to answer. After all, it’s facilitated discussion.

Fielding Questions from Participants:

• Repeat the question, paraphrasing it, and presenting it to the group as a whole. (That’s a great question. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?)
• Ask probing questions. (What do you mean exactly?)

8 Tips For Facilitating Discussion

1. Paraphrase what someone has said so that the student feels understood and the other students can hear a concise summary of what’s been said at greatest length.

So, what you’re saying is …

2. Check your understanding against the words of a student or ask a student to clarify what he or she is saying.

Are you saying that…? I’m not sure that I understand exactly what you meant. Could you please run it by us again?

3. Compliment an interesting or insightful comment.

That’s a good point. I’m glad that you brought that to our attention.

4. Energize a discussion by quickening the pace, using humor, or if necessary, prodding the group for more contributions.

5. Ask for other thoughts and opinions on a student’s comments to stimulate further discussion.

Has anyone else had an experience that is different than Jim’s?

6. Mediate differences of opinion between students, and relieve any tensions that may be brewing.

I think that Susan and Mary are not really disagreeing with each other but are just bringing out two different sides of this issue.

7. Pull together ideas, showing their relationship to each other.

As you can see from Dan’s and Jean’s comments, there are some real similarities between…

8. Summarize (and record, if desired) the major views of the group.

I have noted three major ideas that have come from the group’s discussion…

PRINT THESE TIPS >

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If reality TV has taught us anything recently, it’s the variety show is never going to die.

Just Released Today: THE AMERICA’S GOT TALENT PACKAGE Available Right Now For Subscribers!

When “America’s Got Talent” became the rage a couple of years ago, we decided to capitalize on the success and put on our show which we called “Emerica’s Got Talent” (because our youth group name was called “EPIC”).

We built a stage set that included miked judges who’s stage setup had lighted up X’s that could be controlled locally.

Depending on what kind of crowd you have (and how many students you have coming to your gatherings) you can do a one-time big event or stretch it out like we did for about 6 weeks and milk it for all it’s worth.

So know you’re crowd before making this decision.

HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS TO MAKING THIS A HUGE SUCCESS:

Actual Screenshot: Package includes High Res for PPT, MediaShout @ Printing

• Do ridiculous biographical sketches of each contestant.  Backstage and bio videos are great.
• Have a terrific onstage host who can direct traffic.
• Pick 3 witty judges who are “experts” on talent.  Try to pick teenagers out of your group.

IF YOU’RE USING AGT FOR MULTIPLE WEEKS

• Post video of each week’s competition online to encourage more participation.
• Show video recaps before each week’s show.
• Create a video montage intro with contestants
• Share videos on FB & Myspace

CAUTION:

• Prep your teen judges and make sure they know that though it’s tongue & cheek, to make sure they’re not
  

  Includes a simple step-by-step how-to on building the stage set

  personal or mean to contestants.

  

  Use your own Youth Group Name if you want...

  We got killed by this one night, and there’s almost nothing you can do once it happens.

Just Released Today: THE AMERICA’S GOT TALENT PACKAGE Available Right Now For Subscribers!

AGT PACKAGE

Inside the package we’ve included:

• The AGT Transparent Logo
• AGT Powerpoint Promo
• AGT Print Promo
• AGT Logo that you can add your name to
• HQ version of the theme song (difficult to find)
• How-to: “Building the AGT Judges Booth”

Full version of the MP3 is 56 seconds in HQ

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Today, I connected with a youth pastor who’s organizing a dodgeball tournament and I’d previously forgotten some of the things that we’d learned along the way.

Here’s how you can have a better dodgeball tournament…

JUST RELEASED TODAY: Our Dodgeball Tournament Package Available Right Now for Subscribers

Things you should keep in mind:

AVOID THE DODGEBALL TOURNAMENT DRAG

One team just can’t seem to hit the smallest, evasive guy on the other team & there’s nothing worse than having 80-90% of your students watching what is going on from the sidelines. Often they leave or hang out in the hallways & that causes logistical issues.

My suggestion – especially if students have brought friends – is that every team get a few games in rather than a one and out.

Screen Cap of timer from our Member's Area

Here’s how you can play multiple games with multiple teams:
• Make time limited games
You can make the game “last team standing” or “time limit who has the most people left” which ever comes first.
Not only will it make teams play a little more aggressively, but also it will keep sideline teams watching the clock as they know they are on deck.
• Have simultaneous games going on
I don’t think this is necessary if you have a smaller group of students, but if you have 30 & up you need to add courts.

HAVE BOUNDARY MARKERS CLEARLY DEFINED & REFEREES

Students take tournaments probably too seriously, so make the extra effort. We even had our refs wear striped gear.

HAVE AN ANNOUNCER OVER THE LOUD SPEAKER DOING PLAY-BY-PLAY

They can make it funny, entertaining, keep people interested, and direct traffic so that teams will be on deck for their turn

GIVE AWAY A CHAMPIONSHIP
Dodgeball was always a staple in our youth ministries, so it was easy to do a couple of tournaments a year and have tons of kids show up.
A team trophy is an amazing idea. When the team wins first place:
• Have photographers on hand
• Do a presentation ceremony
• Give them the championship trophy – and use this as a reigning champions trophy that can be displayed in your youth facility inside a case with the team picture. Bragging is awesome buildup for your next tournament.
• Give away individual trophies.

Print & Powerpoint Promo Images

Trophies are trophies. They’re exciting whether they mean anything or not. There were no good dodgeball trophies, so we modified a Bowling trophy that was a bobble head. We actually put a mini sweatband on the top of it. Everyone knew it was a bowling ball, but they still thought it was very cool.
Just today, we released a Dodgeball Tournament Package in our Member’s Section.

The package includes:
• 3 Minute, 5 Minute, & 10 Minute Countdown Timers
• Promo Images for Printing
• Promo Powerpoint for plugging the event upfront

Become a member today!

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YOU’VE BEEN TO WAY TOO MANY WEDDINGS

Everytime you go to a wedding, you expect to hear the same tired old songs playing out of the same tired old portable sound system. And some people are way too excited about it.

Here’s some payoff for all those painful wedding reception blisters.

Typically it’s less than 3 seconds before you figure out what song’s playing. So that’s what we’ve done here. We’ve created a high quality powerpoint with HQ clips that last about 3 seconds apiece for teams to compete in a sort of wedding song “Name That Tune.”

This download is available IMMEDIATELY for subscribers.

SUBSCRIBE NOW & use this amazing game tonight at youth group!

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