Stuff You Can Use

Ministry Articles — Page 7

Practical ideas, leadership guidance, games, and ministry resources you can use.

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20 Things Small Group Leaders Do on Youth Trips

Hey, ministry leaders. We put a ton of work into our student camps, trips, and retreats, don’t we? I mean, between the budget, programming, transportation, food, questions from par

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Slime Find: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is apart of our GLOW night. We put on a special night for all our middle school students that was full of glow in the dark everything. We replaced all the flor

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Flinger Paint: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is part of a series of games based off Mario Party 9 Minigames. If you don’t know what Bumper Bubbles are check it out HERE. It’s a cool way to take a game tha

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Flag Till The End: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Have you build those Tub Racers yet? Well it might be worth it for this game! A team game that has a lot of variables for your students to really enjoy! Your studen

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Bubble Hoopla: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Time to see if all the time you spent blowing bubbles as a kid has paid off. You will use both agility and breath support to try and become victorious in this game!

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Crown The King: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is a game you can go back to time and time again. It works in both small and large contexts, so it doesn’t matter if you only have 4 people face off or your wh

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Carpet Skiing: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: It doesn’t matter if you’re used to skiing down the slopes or skiing on the lake carpet skiing is a new adventure your students will love. Create a track around you

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American Turbine: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Are you ever looking for a game during some of the Patriot Holidays(July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day)? Well look no further! This is the game for you. Allow your s

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7 Things I’ve Learned from 7th Graders

This week, I was a substitute small group leader. Now, here’s the thing you need to know about being a substitute small group leader: when you sit down for the first time with a bu

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Dirty Diaper Relay: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Who wouldn’t want to unwrap a diaper using everything but your hands!! Fill these diapers with some delicious chocolate pudding, Reese’s pieces and Kit Kat bars. It

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Bumper Bubbles: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is part of a series of games based off Mario Party 9 Minigames. If you don’t know what Bumper Bubbles are check it out HERE. Its a cool way to take a game that

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Block And Roll: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is part of a series of games based off Mario Party 9 Minigames. If you don’t know what Block and Roll is check it out HERE. Its a cool way to take a game that

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Bubble Wrap Roulette: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Your students will be asking you to do this game over and over again. It has the potential to get messy and involves something we all love to do… Pop Bubble Wrap!!S

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Dueling Unicorns: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Who doesn’t want to battle a good friend, or even a stranger, with a shaving cream filled balloon. This game gets messy, but there is nothing wrong with that!Suppli

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Conversations with Small Group Leaders

This month, I got the chance to collaborate with my friend/hero Brooklyn Lindsey on an ebook called Conversations with Small Group Leaders: How Giving and Receiving Feedback Can Tr

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Butterfly Shootout: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is a game you will want to take advantage of! Don’t worry, I know your first thought will be “Well I don’t have a confetti launcher so I can’t do this game”. N

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5 Second Rule: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is a great game to get students involved! They will probably end up saying something they didn’t want to that will make you and everyone else laugh. Just like

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Marshmallow Flyover: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: A relay race that incorporates two aspects that students love: launching something & eating something! A game that utilizes a team of 5 students to launch, catc

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Challenging Your Volunteers… Without Scaring Them Away

I’ve written before about this idea of making bigger asks from your volunteers – especially your small group leaders. I love this topic. But if you’re going to talk challenging you

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Nerf Cup Shootout: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: I don’t know who doesn’t like Nerf Guns, not to mention getting to shoot them in Church! This is a classic shootout using a Nerf gun, and an obnoxious amount a solo

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Candysaurus Rex: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is an incredible game that is sure to keep your students and leaders talking for a while. Who wouldn’t want to be transformed into a Candysaurus Rex just by us

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How To Build Picnic Boards: Youth Group Games

This is a Classic Game that can be used both as a game during your ministry night, or as a team building activity for your student leaders. This is super easy and can be used over

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Picnic Board Racing: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: A good old fashion game. An oldy but a goody. This is a classic game that has a timeless affect on people of all ages. You can use this to have a race, but also use

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How To Build Tub Racers & Storage Units: Youth Group Games

We are all doing a lot of things all the time. We multi-task and have so many things running though our minds all at once. WELL its about time we build something that can do the sa

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How To Make Slime: Youth Group Games

What’s that oozing goo of green goodness sliding down the side of a bucket ready to be poured over the head of a willing participant? But of course… SLIME!!! So you think you can u

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Musical Beach Balls: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Hands down one of my favorite games we have played. A mix of musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey, this game is always a blast! Blindfold your contestants,

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Hoodie Legs: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This is an obstacle course of steroids. And the best part about the whole things is that you can customize it however you want based upon the supply’s and resources

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Apple Stack: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We played this game with 2 teams of 2 players each, going to head to head to create the highest stack of apples. Each team gets a whole box of toothpicks to help th

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Beach Ball Madness: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We played this game with 4 players each with a sports ball bag. The object of the game is to be the first to collect all the beach balls of your color. The first pe

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Toilet Paper Hike: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We played this game with 2 teams of 3 players each consisting of one hiker, one catcher & one retriever. They go head to head to see who can hike the most rolls

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Celebrating Our Volunteers This Christmas

I happen to be one of those people who shops for Halloween candy at 5:00pm on October 31. I am not proud of this fact. But do you know what happens when you shop for Halloween cand

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Making Bigger Asks

Don’t feel like reading? Then listen to this post instead! Or subscribe to my podcast for more audio versions of my blog posts! One of the best things we can do to help a kid exper

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Tub Jousting: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Find two students who want to joust! Line them up across from each other each with a ballon velcroed their helmet/hat, armed with a foam pool noodle, and sitting in

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Every Kid Needs a Champion

I watched an incredible TED Talk last week. Maybe you’ve seen it, maybe you haven’t. Either way, it’s worth (another) watch. Rita Pierson is an educator, but the ideas she talks ab

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Chocolate Mouth-Mallows: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We played this game with 2 teams of 2 players each, going to head to head to catch as many chocolate dipped marshmallows in their mouths as possible in 1 minute. Th

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My Soapbox Rant About Empowering Volunteers

Yesterday I gave you some of my favorite snippets and takeaways from the 2013 Middle School Ministry Campference. I hope you checked it out because, seriously, there was a heck of

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Ritz Blitz: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is played with 2 teams of 2 players each, going to head to head to eat 12 Ritz crackers off of a plexiglass board. The first team to eat all of their crac

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Best Of The Mess: Youth Group Games

So we just finished our rising 6th Grade event, we call it Best of the Mess! I thought I’d share some of the games that we played… which are MESSY, GROSS, DISGUSTING, AND FUN! Thes

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A Little More Office Inspiration

So, friends, we’ve come to an end of this series of posts on how to make your office more awesome. In case you missed it, we’ve already talked about de-cluttering your workspace ,

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HOW TO | Make a Sweet Volunteer Wall

Ok reader friends, we’re back with just two more installments in this “How to Make Your Office Awesome” series. So far, I’ve shared some tips for de-cluttering your workspace , a t