Fun little video of Simply Youth Ministry’s Spooky Bundle sale. $280 worth of stuff for $69 – including 99 Thoughts for Youth Workers. There are still 50 bundles left in the big sale, it all ends Saturday.

JG

We’re just about to move from The Refinery into homes – tonight and tomorrow night are the last nights we’re meeting at church and heading back into the preferred homes. Here’s what I’m sharing with our leaders this week about finding the right host home to meet your needs:

The perfect host home has great meeting space to gather
Space is a critical concern of small groups – you want enough space for your style. For some, a kitchen table is the perfect place for a small group to meet. For others, you’ll want a casual living room style and comfort. In some cases, which are less than ideal, you might just have to make due. Know that God will work in your group this year, if you’re in a mansion or a shack, a garage or a family room. If you don’t know “your style” yet, ask people around your table and see what they prefer.

The perfect host home is free of distractions
This is the most important aspect of a small groups meeting place. If you’re meeting in a busy house with kids running around, phones ringing, the game going on the TV and internet just a step away … small groups can tend to be just a little bit distracted. When you’re looking for the perfect small group space, make sure there’s not just enough space, but minimize distractions, too.

The perfect host home isn’t too far away from where the group lives
Proximity is a big deal – if what is inconvenient for you is best for the group, sacrifice your gas tank and take the group to them. We definitely try to put groups together by schools so geography plays to our advantage, but some groups will have a straggler that has to drive or the straggler might be the leader. Either way, choose the perfect host home that is perfect for most, if it can’t be all.

The perfect host home always has amazing snacks
Yup, amazing snacks should factor in which host home you choose. Can Billy’s mom cook? Do they have ample ice to keep the beverages cold?

If we get 2 out of 3 of these (snacks are non-negotiable – ha!), we’re thrilled because that’s a GREAT host home for your small group.

JG

Another (here’s the first if you missed it) quick little promo video for our new HSM message hooks.

JG

For the finale of the Happy series, we gave students a simple button of a smiley face to remind them of the 6-week series on the Beatitudes. Our goal is to provide a trigger to help them think about the choices they are making and to remember God’s path to finding lasting happiness. We also sent them a link to download some HAPPY graphics for their phone or computer and hoped they would put them there as another reminder of the series’ teaching.

JG

Easily the best of the HAPPY public service announcement videos from the series. Random … and funny! See all of them here.

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: Happy Series Finale (week 6 of 6)
Sermon in a Sentence: True happiness comes from following God’s ways, despite persecution and the challenges that are in the journey ahead.
Service Length: 80 minutes
Bible: Matthew 5:10-13

Understandable Message: This weekend we focused on the last of The Beatitudes  – that Jesus calls us to be perscuted for His name’s sake. It was a challenging message, because I was afraid the talk would end on a downer note, and as always we try to think about non-believing students in the audience as well. The message focused on standing alone, and responding correctly to persecution.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students made up the band, created one of the videos, did announcements, and ran all of the lights, camera, sound and control room. We’ve been blessed with great volunteers as well, and our new prayer and connect right before eah service is helping bond the team together and maximize their involvement in the services. 

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We played a great new game called Ninjas4Christ.com, a hilarious game of breaking boards and spinning the Wheel of Destiny. Very clever stuff – and the website is a hilarious if you haven’t checked it out. We had a couple of videos, too, including the best of the HAPPY Public Service Announcements, too.

Music Playlist: Sing Sing  Sing, Hosanna, Fix You, Overcome

Favorite Moment: Matt Reynolds, part of the security team in the Refinery on the weekends, shared his amazing story through his teenage years and his heart for students today.It was about how after losing his parent - drugs, and alcohol claimed his group of friends. The 5 friends became 4 … then 3 … then 2 … then he was alone. Powerful message of hope and a challenge to follow God’s ways.

Up Next: 1-off (TBA)

Here’s a sneak preview of the new fall calendar from Simply Youth Ministry. Check it out!

JG

Zack shared his story of committing to follow Christ 6 months ago during Mission Viejo’s You Own the Weekend series. This weekend at the conclusion of the HAPPY series we talked about persecution and the challenges you’ll face when following Christ. We did a follow-up with Zack this week on video to use as an illustration of that point.

JG

Fun little random promo video for our big PumpkinFest this Friday night.

JG

A student made this great HAPPY series finale video. After 6-weeks, it was a nice change, and got some good laughs. You can see the one we used for the first 5 weeks here!

JG

Last week we posted more small group promo slides. Here’s some old but funny ones? And even more from way back.  Here’s a brand new one from this weekend – made by a student. Enjoy!

JG

This weekend in HSM’s services we played a game of ninja triva as a fun crowd game – students had to break boards on stage for a chance to answer a question correctly. To coincide with the stage game Parker made a fun little online site, too. Check it out! Wow! I’mpressed you found this! If you have trouble figuring it out … remember, a true ninja would always “enter” through the “exit.” Of course, helping you with this means you’re not a true ninja, but oh well.

JG

Recently I told my youth group that I would be resigning as their youth pastor and moving to make disciples at another church. It was a pretty awkward weekend, but after the dust settled I’ve been able to have some great conversations. It’s weird how it takes leaving for us to be able to see how much of an impact we’ve had on teenagers’ lives and how little we may realize what the little things mean. As a result of that, one of my students wrote the following to me on Facebook and I thought it would be cool to share it with the global team of youth workers:

“I believe without a doubt that God ordained the time you came to our church. The fall after you came we went on our Student Leadership Team retreat and that is when I wrote my first poem. I wouldn’t have written poetry if you wouldn’t have been here. That is important because the March after that retreat, I almost committed suicide and you and [your wife] came and sat on my driveway with me. You told me to write to get my emotions out. I was able to get through the weeks and months that followed because I could write poetry. Those poems were written in some of the darkest moments of my life so far, and so of course, they aren’t very uplifting. (lol) But over time I have started writing poetry for God. Its like a huge circle that starts with anger because of change, and ends with worship because He’s worthy.

I wouldn’t have told you all this but God brought it to my attention the other day and I felt like I should tell you. I didn’t want [our old youth pastor] to leave. I hated the whole situation. I don’t like change. But God knew that I was going to need poetry. He knew I needed someone to bring writing to my attention. He brought you to our youth group for a reason. And now he’s taking you to another one for a reason.

What felt like my heart was being ripped out, was done so that a year later I wouldn’t commit suicide. I see God’s hand in that. Its awesome. Thanks for being a part of Gods plan in my life. “

Sean Kahlich is the Minister to Students, Ridgecrest Baptist Church and blogs at Awaiting Epiteleo. Every weekend we post a GUEST POST from one of our readers. Want to be next? Send it in!