ideas 4 small groups
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, small groups, student ministries, wednesday night
no responsesHere’s one of many ideas for small groups:: Let them serve as a small group!
Does your children’s ministry run a midweek program? If they do, I’m sure they could use some assistance. At Glenkirk our Children’s ministry midweek program is booming, so much so, that their leadership team is having a hard time keeping pace – a lot like our jr high program. Each week the AWANA program sees about 150 K-5 graders and so their is always a need for some extra assistance. So…
If you’ve been keeping up with the blogs on here you’d know that we’ve moved around some of our Jr High programming. The biggest change is taking youth group from Wednesday nights and moving it to Saturday nights – creating Overflow – and making Wednesday nights a small group night. This has offered a unique opportunity for some of our Jr Highers that are involved in a small group.
Some quick background – Every summer our Children’s Ministry at Glenkirk runs a Vacation Bible School that gets about 600+ kids for the week – this past summer we filled up because we literally ran out of space! In order to love on those students parents and students are called upon to lead these K-5 graders. It’s an awesome team of well trained leaders but the coolest part is the majority of the leadership for VBS are Jr highers – about 200 more/less. So a lot of our Jr Highers have already worked with K-5 graders and look forward to VBS every summer – almost as much as the K-5 graders do!
So anyways…Wednesday night also happens to be the same night that our Children’s Minitry runs their AWANA program. Through talks with the CM director we came up with an idea to have a small group assist each week with some AWANA activities. We just had our second week of this idea being carried out and it was awesome! Allowing a small group to serve together is one of the best opportunities you can create for a small group. It’s the opportunity to not just teach Jr Highers who Christ is but to teach them how to be Christ to others.
There still are some ideas revolving around this to work on but we are headed in the right direction. If you’ve never tried this I ask that you give it a shot. Just seeing the faces on K-5 kids and the faces on Jr Highers glow after serving is all worth it!
A few things to check-out::
Anthony Prince’s Blog – Director of Children’s Ministries @ Glenkirk
Glenkirk Church – Middle School page that offers many ways for students to get connected
Glenkirk Jr High Fan Page – Facebook page where parents/leaders/students can see pictures, updates, etc.
taco tuesday review
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, student ministries, taco tuesday
no responsesEvent Date: Feb 2nd, Tues
In Attendance: 40
New Students: 2
Tacos Ordered: 139
What is Taco Tuesday? Find out by going to our first TT post.
Good: Yet another awesome TT event. We had more leaders at this TT than ever before! TT allowed for leaders to plug in with students – one of the main things TT was created to do!
Bad: Extremely loud night. Tacos took a little longer then normal – partly my fault because I didn’t order enough tacos the first time because a bunch of students came late =/. Some of the leaders that were there for their first TT were a little lost at first.
Action Steps: Talk through with leaders a little more about what to expect/do at TT nights. In addition, have leaders plug Overflow on Saturday nights.
Conclusion: It was awesome night! Allow we didn’t have as many students as I was expecting it was still a fantastic turnout! In addition, there were enough leaders there to actually utilize that opportunity to plug in with students and love on them! Love seeing God work through leaders!
winter camp @ FoHo
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, student ministries
no responsesJust wanted to drop a quick post about winter camp this past weekend. It was awesome!!! First off it was one of the fast FoHo weekends I’ve ever had – not exactly sure why that is though. On top of that there was a ton of snow – something I’ve seen in my numerous years of going up to FoHo. Lastly, there were a bunch of students there due to a camp cancellation the weekend before because of weather conditions. FoHo continues to offer a place for students, as well as leaders, to be removed from the everyday grind.
A few quick notes::
Needed Help:: The topic of the weekend was a great topic to persue but I feel was to abstract for Jr Highers to grasp over the course of a weekend. The big welcome and energy on Friday night was a bit lacking. The openning talk jumped in to deep for those students at camp for the first time – unchurched or fringe students. Did not appreciate some of the off-handed jokes our speaker made throughout the weekend during his talks, that without his additions, would have gone unnoticed to students. Missed a night for students to make a decision to make a commitment to follow Christ – not looking for an altar call but for a time to put that into a student’s mind.
Nailed It:: Assigned seating for meals (although we didn’t have enough seats for our group – however, that’s our fault due to last minute additions to camp). Created a space/place for leaders to get to know students and vice versa. Stretched students – pushing them out of their comfort zones. Created a place where students can see others worshiping God – showing them that our God is BIG. Created a place set apart from life down the hill. Some of the speakers illustrations to make the text applicable to students. Free time activities. The amazing ability for us to add 9 spots at the very last second. Lastly, they created a place where students feel welcomed and loved.
Over all it was a great weekend. The best part about camp, and in my opinion the most essential part of camp, was seeing Gkirk Jr High leaders plugging in with students! Many of our students were at Jr High camp for their very first time and a few of them weren’t even plugged into our weekly ministries! I can’t wait to see what God does in the lives of the students that went up to camp this past weekend.
Thank you Forest Home for allowing a space for the most essential aspect of camp to take place!
Find pics and vids of the weekend at the Gkirk Jr High Facebook Fan Page.
taco tuesday review – new records!
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, outreach, student ministries, taco tuesday
no responsesEvent Date: Jan 26th, Tues
In Attendance: 42 (record to date)
New Students: 7 (ties record)
Tacos Ordered: 186 (record to date) – New individual record :: Brenden 8th grade – 20 tacos!
What is Taco Tuesday? Find out by going to our first TT post.
Good: Awesome awesome awesome awesome! Had a bunch of new students there this week. Record setting week with a bunch of new students. Had time to talk with some of the new faces. Del Taco staff is amazing with what they put up with! In addition, Del Taco handled our 186 taco order like a champ!
Bad: Extremely loud night. Not enough leaders – the past few weeks have been low turn outs, we weren’t expecting/ready for this.
Action Steps: Continue publicity of Taco Tuesday – both to students and leaders. Make the rain stop so we can eat outside - let me know if you can help with that one…haha!
Conclusion: Had an amazing night this past Tuesday. Some of our core Taco Tuesday peeps invited some friends this week. The best part is they only had to mention it once to their friends and they totally came. Set some sweet and exciting records this week! The crazy part is we were missing some of our core TTer’s which means we could have had an even bigger crowd. Oh and Brenden, an eighth grader, set a new personal taco eating record – 20 tacos!
overflow – review
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, Overflow
no responsesFind out why we decided to create Overflow and what purpose it fills.
Event Date: Jan. 23rd, Sat.
In Attendance: 24 Jr highers
New students: 3
Tonights topic: Stand tall
Scripture used: 1 Timothy 4:12; 4:15
Summary: Even though you are young you have the ability to teach Christians and non-Christians about God’s love.
Games: Hillbilly Musical Chairs – we’ve tried this game in the past and it didn’t work to well. Had the same thing happen on this night. Awesome concept but haven’t worked out the kinks yet.
Skit/energy builder: Spittoon Boy – Jill, Naomi, Jenn, and Johnny did an awesome job with our first skit at Overflow.
Action Steps: Still need to work on better transitions. Due to the large amount of new leaders – thinking about offering a time for a leader to introduce themselves to the group. Keep a better eye on the time – had to zoom through announcements this week – better than not doing them at all like last week though. Better leader to student interaction throughout the entire night.
Conclusion: Wow this was an awesome night! We came a long way from last weeks first trial run. Still have some items to work on but there wasn’t as much awkwardness during the night. Worship was awesome this week as well – students were totally in tune with it. I actually had a leader say – I feel like more people were singing tonight than sing in our morning adult services…haha. Johnny spoke tonight and did a fantastic job! It was his first time speaking and he absolutely killed it! Awesome job Johnny. I saw students totally relating to his talk! Finally, have more potential leaders looking to jump on board and that’s fantastic. The more leaders we have the more students we can touch.
game – hillbilly musical chairs
filed in: games, student ministries
one responseMaterials: Pre-printed and cut slips labeled “Person” or “Chair”, music
Directions: fold the slips of paper in half. Hand out a semi-equal amount of “Person” and “Chair” slips. As the music plays they must go around exchanging slips with each other. They can’t look at the slips until the music stops. Once the music stops they unfold the slip and find out whether they are a Chair or a Person. If they are a chair, they get down on all fours to make a human chair. If they are a person they must find an open chair and carefully sit on their back. Any person left standing without a chair is out. Repeat.
Some Notes: Have leaders prepared with extra “Person” slips to hand to students with “Chair” slips (essentially when you exchange those slips you’ll be taking a chair out like in traditional musical chairs. The more “Person” slips you put into the game the faster the game will go). BE VIGILANTE ON STUDENTS THAT ARE ROUGH – this game can end with an injury if not policed well.
with both feet
filed in: love, outreach, student ministries
one responseThe other day I was sitting at Rubio’s eating dinner and looking out into the parking lot/street. I love to sit next to windows or facing the store entrance so I can people watch. It was a pretty day, snow covered mountains and the sun was just starting to set. As I sat there and watched the cars go by, I started thinking about the amount of hurting people in my small little area of life. I tend to think about this often. The amount of hurting people seems so vast that I don’t even know where to begin.
I got the chance to eat lunch on a jr high campus again today and it was awesome. Had the chance to reconnect with students that I hadn’t seen in awhile and meet a few new ones. But in reflection of that visit I can’t help but think of just how much hurt is on that one campus of 800 or so students. It seems so vast.
I came across a news article today about a group of high school students that weren’t deterred by the size of the problem. They have decided to do something, anything they can, to help those hurting in Haiti. A problem that also seems very vast. This article made me smile because these students get it! They understand that the size of the problem/hurt/depression/need should never stop or prevent action.
Don’t let the size of an issue deter you from facing it. Jumping in with one foot will only give you a convenient step out of an unresolved issue. Jumping in with two feet will give you the ability to run at every issue head on. Join me and thousands of others that have decided to jump in with two feet to spread the love of God all over this hurting world.
If you care to read the short news article about those high school students here’s a link:
Santa Maria Times – Youth Group Launches its Own Relief Effort
redefining the win
filed in: love, student ministries
no responsesPulled this off of Kurt Johnson’s blog. Basically they have put my thoughts about youth ministry into a quick video. The concept of scheduled “unscheduled” time. It’s those moments when you’re in a car with students on the way to the beach or you just have called for lights out when a student whispers your name to see if you’re still awake so they can ask you something. It’s those moments that will leave a lasting impression on students. If we don’t decide to “redefine the win” we risk working towards a programming goal rather than a relational goal. Being fixated on a programming goal sacrifices relationship and ministry without relationship isn’t ministry.
Here’s the quick video. It’s about 12-13 minutes long.
Share your thoughts below ::
taco tuesday jingle
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, student ministries, taco tuesday
4 responsesA quick little jingle after a Taco Tuesday night. Check it (lyrics found below in case you can’t make them out) ::
Lyrics
So I put my hands up, They’re playing my song
At Del Taco-ooo yea
I’m munchin’ my food like yea
And I’m sipping my drink like yea
So I put my hands up, They’re playing my song
At Del Taco-ooo yea
Yeaaaa-aa-a, It’s party at Del Taco!
kick-off – wednesday night small groups
filed in: Gkirk Jr High, wednesday night
no responsesWith the creation of Overflow on Saturday nights our Wednesday night programming is heading in a different direction. Why did we change Wednesdays and create a Saturday night group called Overflow? Check out the why here.
Last night was our first Wednesday night small group time. Now we have had small groups end our Wednesday night program since August. However, that small group time only lasted about 15 mins, if that. With the creation of Overflow our desire is to see Wednesdays, as well as other week days, become a time that is focused primarily on small groups.
Not real sure how I’m going to give reports about small groups, so here’s a quick attempt until I figure out a better way.
Number of Small Groups: 3 guy groups, 2 girl groups
Study Topic: Currently working through Girl/Guy talk.
