hsm weekend in review | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 172

Weekend Teaching Series: The Book [40 Days in the Word church-wide campaign] (series finale, week 6 of 6)
Sermon in a Sentence: How to Study Your Bible

Service Length: 82 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was the conclusion to The Book, our student version of the 40 Days in the Word church-wide campaign. In the finale I wanted to help students learn how to read the Bible, but took it from the opposite angle with the message being titled, “Don’t Read The Bible” which got some great reactions. The idea was that if you read the Bible, it will change you completely. I also asked 3 students to share how they read the Bible as well, so it wasn’t just a pastor telling them they should but they could hear from students who were doing their best to read and live out the book in real high school life.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we played a get to know you-type game where we put 2 contestants on stage (in this case Travis and Justin – two new guys on the team) and put up a random fact about them where students could text in who they thought the fact was about. We used polleverywhere.com, with a custom background so it looked much slicker than their default results template. The winners got a Twinkie shower which was hilarious and over the top, too. We also had a fun video or two to round out the night. So fun!

Music Playlist: We Shine, God Above All, Love to Learn, Amazing Love, Divine and Holy

Favorite Moment: I always love students sharing on stage – gives such credibility to the talk. The whole place got so focused when students took the stage. Way to go Sofie, Brad and Paula!

Up next: You Own the Weekend: Trabuco Hills HS (series premiere, week 1 of 6)

Add Comment February 27, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 171

Weekend Teaching Series: The Book [40 Days in the Word church-wide campaign] (week 5 of 6)
Sermon in a Sentence: New Testament survey.

Service Length: 79 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend I wanted to take students on an overview of the entire New Testament – helping them see the big picture of the second half of the Bible. We discovered each of the major divisions, focused on the big picture view and zoomed in just a little bit to help understand communion, etc. During each point I had a couple guys on stage drawing/painting an image of that part of the Bible so we had a full timeline of the Bible hanging on stage when the talk was done.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we introduced Justin and Travis – the 2 new staff members on the HSM team. We had a fun video and did a quick interview with them on stage. We also played a few funny videos – during the recap of last week I played the David & Goliath voiceover video and then for an illustration we played the video of the dad shooting his daughter’s laptop (because she had posted some bad comments and him and his wife).

Music Playlist: Go, Savior of the World, Thank You, Hosanna, How He Loves

Favorite Moment: I loved having communion at the end of the service this weekend – it just felt right as we worked through the New Testament in the Life of Christ and the early church. It was a great finale to the service – we had our team around the room at stations for prayer as well. Love it!

Up next: The Book (series finale, week 6 of 6)

Add Comment February 20, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 170

(abbreviated weekend in review this week – I was out of town!)

Weekend Teaching Series: The Book (church-wide 40 Days in the Word campaign kickoff)
Sermon in a Sentence: Getting a basic understanding of 15 difficult words from the Bible.

Understandable Message: This weekend Taffy took over the message as I was away for the weekend with my family (before heading to Rwanda). This week in the series arc [see an overview of all 6 weeks here] we were to take on 15 difficult words from the Bible. Here’s the list of words that leaders/students came up with that he explained during the talk:

Hallelujah
Amen
Fear
Devil/Lucifer/Satan
Sexual Immorality/Fornication
Sin
Atonement
Ask Jesus into your heart
Born again
Redeemed
Blessings
Holy
Grace
Mercy
Eternal Life

Up next: The Book: 40 Days in the Word (week 4 of 6)

2 View Comments February 14, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 166

Weekend Teaching Series: [re]THINK: Why Am I a Christian? (series premiere, week 1 of 2)
Sermon in a Sentence: Why are you a Christian? Because you were raised that way? It is just right? Because of your experience? There has to be more to it than that.

Service Length: 80 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we brought in Brett Kunkle from Stand to Reason to help teach about the foundation for faith asking the most basic of question: why am I a Christian? His goal was to deconstruct some of the typical answers and build a foundation for genuine faith that will stand the tests of college and adulthood. It was a great talk and Brett did a great job relating and connecting students in this part 1 of his 2-part series.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we programmed light to give our special speaker the most time, but still had a fun video “We Like Tesoro,” baptisms and we announced the You Own the Weekend weeks coming up in March. And the first weekend of the year we always ask everyone to fill out an information card as well, so we have the latest info and get everyone on the HSM text lists, etc.

Music Playlist: Paradise (Coldplay cover), Your Love Never Fails, All I Am, We Shine

Favorite Moment: Without a doubt my favorite moment was at the end of the message, when he left them in a bit of a cliffhanger and didn’t resolve all of the questions and tension in the room. He ended with a fictional story about people gathering every week to worship Peter Pan and challenged to think of Christianity beyond the fairy tale and to know the objective truth of our faith. Really great!

Up next: [re]THINK: Why Am I a Christian? (week 2 of 2)

Add Comment January 9, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 160

Weekend Teaching Series: Do Something (series premiere, week 1 of 2)
Sermon in a Sentence: We stop talking about serving and Do Something – this week we pack Christmas shoe boxes for needy children in our county.
Service Length: 59 minutes

Understandable Message: This first weekend of this short series before the holidays was designed around Operation Christmas Child boxes. We purchased and collected donations to help fill a to of boxes during the service. Rather than teach about serving and making a difference in the world we sang a few songs, shared the heart behind it then did something right there! From time to time we have big serve projects, but this was incredibly fun and made for a very different type of service than normal. At the last minute our church decided to print up our own shoeboxes and give them out as part of our food pantry and holiday ministries, too. Fun to play a part in helping those in need in our area.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We kicked off the service with a fun rendition of the new Justin Bieber single Drummer Boy. The whole youth room was decorated like Christmas (even though it is early November as I type this). We also had a fun video about how NOT to pack a Christmas shoe box. Lots of student leaders serving as greeters, and in audio/visual areas, as well as inspecting boxes that students had filled.

Music Playlist: Drummer Boy, Joy to the World, Go

Favorite Moment: Without a doubt the best part of the weekend is seeing the letters that students wrote inside the shoe boxes. Some were hilarious, all were heartfelt. This was also a big weekend for the newest member of our team, a Life Group leader named Hannah who ran point on overseeing the whole thing. She did a GREAT job!

Up next: Do Something (week 2 of 2)

1 View Comments November 16, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 151

Weekend Teaching Series: LAUNCH (week 1 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: You don’t want to hear it … but the school year is just around the corner so we’re gonna help you get prepared.

Understandable Message: This past weekend we kicked off our last series of summer called LAUNCH. It is a back to school series helping students refocus on what is most important as they head back to school. The summer interns asked if they could own their final weekend on staff and teach the message in 3 parts. They did a great job telling personal stories about successes and failures, as well as teaching through the story on Esther. At the end they had given each student a Popsicle stick and asked them to write a barrier/sin/problem/obstacle on it during the response music time at the end. Then students were directed to take their stick down to the cross at the front of the stage and break it in half as a symbol of God’s power to forgive sin and break down walls we put up. Good stuff.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we played a couple of fun cell phone polls on the big screen, including “where do you shop for back to school clothes?” and “what intimidates you most about going back to school?” – both got a good response from students.

Music Playlist: Take It All, The Earth is Yours, One Pure and Holy Passion, One Thing Remains

Favorite Moment: Getting a chance to circle up with the summer interns on stage and pray over them was a great moment. We only allow home-grown students to come back as summer interns (although anyone can apply for a longer internship) so these three are special to us. Thanks Cory, Mariah and Hayward!

Up Next: LAUNCH (week 2 of 3)

Add Comment August 24, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 147

Weekend Teaching Series: 11 vs. the World (week 3 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: Be salt, be light, and take communion to remind ourselves of the great gift of God and eternal life through Him.
Service Length: 72 minutes

Understandable Message:The message this weekend centered around 2 specific stories of Jesus and the disciples. For the end of the series and the weekend coming right out of summer camp I wanted to challenge students to take their experience, commitments and life change back home and to their families, friends and the world. I first taught Matthew 5′s challenge to be salt and light, with a candle illustration that went through a section of the crowd. Then we transitioned to the story of the Last Supper and talked through communion and how it was a reminder to the disciples for the rest of their lives of what Jesus did and a re-commitment to His challenge to share the Good News.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend coming off of camp is an important one! We played the HSM Summer Camp highlight video, had great music inclding a STOMP-style version of the song “Go” and a simple message with a couple of interactive live elements. Solid finish to camp and the launch of summer events.

Music Playlist: Go, Divine and Holy, One Thing Remains, Your Love is Enough, With Everything

Favorite Moment: After the 6:30pm Saturday service we invited up all of our students and leaders attending the Costa Rica mission trips, the first of which leaves in 10 days. They are awesome students and I’m so proud of them! They were a great living example of sharing God’s light all over the world and it was super cool to pray with and for them.

Up Next: Philippians (series premiere, week 1 of 4)

1 View Comments July 20, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 146

Weekend Teaching Series: 11 vs. the World (week 2 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: The disciples took the message of Jesus Christ to the world – their mission is our mission, too.
Service Length: 69 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we continued looking at the disciples – this time we continued through their mission work and eventual martyrdom. We started by recapping last week and moving into where each of them historically traveled to spread the Gospel. On the screen we had an animated map that showed the approximate path of each disciple. In the end it looked like spaghetti on their outline, so I encouraged them to think about the surrender and dedication more than anything else. One man, Jesus Christ, truly changed the world, and his 11 messengers (and eventually hundreds, thousands and millions of people later) spread it like wildfire. The end of the talk I went after “giving their all” and talked quickly through the martyrdom of the disciples/apostles and how it is a powerful evidence of a) their dedication and b) the validity of the resurrection. Heavy stuff for a typical weekend, but really, really an epic series. Loving this one.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We played a game of “Who Wants to Be a Fraction of a Millionaire: Summer Edition” with silly pool prizes for contestants who got the questions correct on stage. The game was fun, and helped tame the summertime energy in the room. Student band, student greeters, and students on cameras/lights/sound/control room.

Music Playlist: Waiting on the World to Change, We Shine, I Need You More, To the Ends of the Earth

Favorite Moment: My favorite moment this weekend was replacing the map of the world showing where the disciples went with a Google map of our area. For me it was the punch of the talk – the disciples’ mission is our mission, now go a spread the Good News.

Up Next: 11 vs. the World (series finale, week 3 of 3)