happily ever after | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 114

Weekend Teaching Series: Happily Ever After (week 3 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: A challenge to value yourself as much as God values you.
Service Length: 65 minutes

Understandable Message: This week was GIRLS weekend in HSM during the Happily Ever After series — we had an AMAZING guest speaker, Kim Hamilton Anthony. She is a four-time national champion gymnast from UCLA, and has been a chaplain to NFL wives for the last ten years. She told a small slice of her story (from her book Unfavorable Odds) including how she first started finding worth in herself by impressing her dad’s friends while rolling joints at age five. Kim drew the whole room in by revealing some actual events from her life, that had every person in the room hanging on her every word.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We did a magic mirror bit where a girl from the audience came on to stage and asked the magic mirror (think Snow White’s magic mirror) questions like who she was going to marry, how to be popular, and who the fairest at her school was. The magic mirror answered with ads for theknot.com and proactiv. It got a great laugh.

Music Playlist: How Will She Know [cover from Enchanted], Hosanna, Majesty, Came to My Rescue, We Shine

Favorite Moment: Kim had first the all the guys stand up each service and she challenged them to be men who treat women with respect. Then she had all the girls stand up in each service and she challenged them to carry themselves in such a way that demands respect. During both challenges you could have heard a pin drop. People were engaged and hanging on Kim’s every word.

Up Next: iServe Weekend and Ministry Fair (1-off)

(this report was written by Ryanne Witt since Josh was at Fantastical)

Add Comment October 6, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Relationships: Think Like Pokemon

Silly little video in the series for Happily Ever After. If you missed the first one, check it out here.

JG

1 View Comments October 5, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Relationship Illustration FAIL

When you speak, things don’t always go as planned. I swear I played the perfect game of Jenga on stage, when I was TRYING to make it fall to illustrate honesty/trust in a relationship. Wow.

JG

1 View Comments September 30, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 113

Weekend Teaching Series: Happily Ever After (week 2 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: Samson teaches a lot about how NOT to be a godly man and what to NOT look for in a guy as we work to live happily ever after.
Service Length: 64 minutes
Main passage: Judges 16

Understandable Message: This week was GUYS weekend in HSM during the Happily Ever After series – I wanted to help guys understand what not to become and girls what not to chase after. The message was the story of Samson and Delilah and was titled “How NOT to be a Stud.” The students seemed to really enjoy the change of pace in teaching style and this subject is totally a felt need for this age group. It was fun to see girls think a little more critically about the type of guy they have their eye on, and for guys to be challenged to rise above the sea of “Samsons” at their high school.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: The team created several funny videos about AXE Body Spray that played well, and we had a couple of “scientists” come out and promise to help any guy student in the audience with a date. Of course, the student was planted, and we had set up a funny video of his date that everyone enjoyed, too. It was a unique element because the hosts on stage interacted with the video as if it were life, giving it a neat feeling like it was actually happening in real-time.

Music Playlist: I’ll Make a Man Out of You [Mulan cover], Glory to God, The Grateful, Take It All

Favorite Moment: A fun element we had this weekend happened after I described the typical man – how we’re in love with buffalo wings, man chairs, big screens and football. I asked for a student volunteer, then gave him that experience during the message. We had a Coke, Lazy-Boy, hot wings and a 60″ flat screen set up for him to watch the service. Fun – I checked in on him several times throughout the talk!

Up Next: Happily Ever After series finale (week 3 of 3)

Add Comment September 27, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Guys Weekend: AXE Body Spray Test #1

Fun little video we made for the GUYS weekend of the Happily Ever After series. The first of two …

JG

Add Comment September 26, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Action Movies Countdown Video for Our Guys Weekend Service

A video we found on YouTube worked GREAT as a countdown for our Happily Ever After: Guys weekend. Action movie mania!

JG

Add Comment September 25, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 112

Weekend Teaching Series: Happily Ever After: (series premiere, week 1 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: Happily Ever After may be a fairy tale … but you can find and fight for true love that lasts a lifetime by following God’s ways.
Service Length: 74 minutes
Main passage: 1 John 4

Understandable Message: This weekend was the kickoff of our relationships series by talking about the possibility of having a marriage that goes the distance if you choose to love like Jesus asks us to. The message included a clear presentation of the Gospel, and challenged students to think about their future now, and become the type of person who is attractive from the inside out now rather than having to deal with the ghosts of relationship past by not forward-thinking. Couple stronger elements in the talk – I showed the picture of a recent couple (who came through the church) who got married and asked if they really had a shot at happiness or really had a 50/50 shot of making it. I asked students to fast forward to the moment on their honeymoon when this picture would be taken, and think about how to get there God’s way. In another section I used a Jenga game to show how dishonesty and breaking someone’s trust crumbles the foundation and can leave a relationship teetering or falling apart.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We played “Who Wants to be a Fraction of a Millionaire: sponsored by McDonalds” where student contestants could win $5 Arch Cards for correct answers. Each of the questions had to do with some sort of love story, fairy tale or connection to the theme of the series. We also had some fun introducing Chris Wohlers as a new member of the HSM team.

Music Playlist: Just the Way You Are [Bruno Mars cover], The Earth is Yours, Savior of the World, You’ll Come, Yours Forever

Favorite Moment: The funniest part of me was during the 2nd Saturday night service, I was pulling out Jenga blocks one by one hoping to demonstrate how relationships are fragile and how sin destroys them at the foundation. I pulled a few blocks 1 …2… 3 …4 … then more and more and more! 15 … 16 … 17 … and the stupid thing wouldn’t fall! Felt like I played the perfect game of Jenga in front of a ton of students when I really wanted it to teeter and fall. Finally just punched it over with my hand all over the stage to a roar from the teens. Amazing.

Up Next: Happily Ever After (week 2 of 3]