Stuff You Can Use

Ministry Articles — Page 8

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

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HOW TO | Make Your Own T-Shirt Wall

We’re still going strong with this little “How to Make Your Office Awesome” series. So far, I’ve shared some tips for de-cluttering your workspace , a tutorial on how to make a woo

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HOW TO | Make Custom Dry Erase Boards (with a FREE Download)

In case you missed it, I’m in the middle of a little series about how to make your office awesome . Because having a cool office is fun, of course, but also because the condition o

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HOW TO | Make a Pallet Wall for Your Office

Yesterday I shared a list of tips and thoughts on how to make your office super awesome. And, in case you forgot, Tip #4 on that list was… DO ONE SUPER COOL THING. If you recall, I

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HOW TO | Make Your Office Awesome

Today, I want to talk about making our offices freaking awesome. Why? Two reasons. #1 Having a sweet office is fun . I mean, think about all the time you spend sitting at your desk

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HOW TO | Make Super Simple (and Awesome) Wall Art for Your Youth Space

Recently, our youth space needed a little makeover. I guess it’s just what happens when you’ve got hundreds of teenagers running around multiple times a week: stuff starts to fall

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Elephant Wars: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Elephant Wars is played with 4 contestants battling it out at the same time to be the last elephant standing. The game is simple: drop an orange down the leg of a s

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On The Spot Rap Battle: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We recently started doing these “On The Spot” segments and this one happened to be a “Rap Battle”. Here’s how it worked… At the very beginning of our program we ask

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Balloon Cup Blow Off: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. We played this game with teams of 2 players each. Each team races to repeatedly blow up a balloon and use the air inside of it t

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Gatorade Flip Out: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. We played this game with teams of 3 players each. Each team has 60 seconds to try and flip as many Gatorade bottles in the air a

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Baby Food Roulette: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Students create circles of 8-10 people and pass a spoon around as music plays. When the music stops, whoever is left holding the spoon must eat a spoonful of baby f

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Q-Tip Shootout: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: 2 teams of 3 players each race to knock 16 ping pong balls off of golf tees by shooting q-tips out of straws standing 7 feet away.Supplies You’ll Need: 1. Q-Tips, S

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On The Spot Dance Crew: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We recently started doing these “On The Spot” segments and this one happened to be “Dace Crew”. Here’s how it worked… At the very beginning of our program we asked

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Life-Size Guess Who: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: It’s the classic game of Guess Who?, but with real people. Students play head to head trying to guess their mystery person on their board or 16 other students. The

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60 Second Makeover: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This one’s for the girls! In one of our weekly SHINE! staff meetings we decided to play a game where the girls can get back at the guys for beating them at all the

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Cereal Surprise: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Blindfolded students compete to try and identify extra (and usually gross) ingredients in their bowl of milk and cereal. Whichever team can identify the most myster

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Duct Tape Round Up: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: National Duct Tape Days happen over Father’s Day weekend every year, and we decided to pay honor to Duct Tape with a game. The game starts with the floor littered w

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Baby Slingshot Relay: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: It was Mother’s Day and we needed a game, so we thought why not use a sling shot to launch baby dolls across the room, make students put them in strollers, race aro

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Giant Angry Birds: Youth Group Games

We were pretty excited to create and play a Giant Angry Birds game. But we couldn’t believe how excited our students were. Seriously. They kind of freaked out. This is how we did i

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Reverse Charades: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: If you’re wondering what the reverse of Charades is, it’s when the whole crowd is acting out the secret word and only one contestant is guessing. We played this wit

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National Flashlight Day: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: If you haven’t noticed, we love playing games that celebrate random/weird holidays. So to celebrate National Flashlight Day (Dec 21), we played a game where student

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Stick To It: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. This game is played with teams of 2 players each. One player bounces ping pong balls across the table to their teammate who is h

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Conjoined Christmas: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Teams of 2 race to be the first to wrap a christmas present – except one thing: they are both wearing the same sweater with only one arm out each sleeve. Each playe

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Chocolate Unicorn: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. It’s a test of focus and balance as students try to stack Oreos as high as they can on their forehead. Whoever can achieve the h

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Worm Races: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Students put worm costumes on (sleeping bags) and crawl across the floor like worms in a relay race. The first players from each team crawl to their partners on the

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Face The Cookie: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. It’s pretty simple, contestants place an Oreo on their forehead and just by using the muscles in their face they have to move it

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Mystery Hotdog: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We have a long tradition of Chef Andy’s amazing games based on his unique recipes. But we are in a time of transition at SHINE!, and Chef Andy is handing off the re

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VHS Dominoes: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. 2 Teams of 2 race to set up VHS tapes like dominoes in a “U” shape on a table and try to be the first team to successfully have

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Storage Tub Racing: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Teams of 2 race in a figure-8 pattern going in opposite directions using plastic storage tubs with scooters attached to the bottom. One teammate sits in the tub, wh

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Suck It Up: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: This game is from Minute to Win It. Four players compete against each other to transport as many pieces of candy as they can in 60 seconds from one bowl to another

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Stocking Face Tug A War: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Four players compete head to head to head to head – literally. Four stockings are tied together with the opening for the leg going over each players head. Players p

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Sticky Toes: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: Contestants plunge their foot into a bowl of Jello to try and retrieve little plastic animal figurines using just their toes. The first player to find and remove th

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Fruit Ninja Kinect: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: As a part of this website I’m not only sharing what games we play and how we play them, but this is also just an archive for my own personal records. So this post i

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May The Odds Be With You: Youth Group Games

Quick Overview: We put 60 seconds on the clock with the Lord of The Rings soundtrack blasting in the background as students try to shoot an arrow through a hoop using the Z-Curve B

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11 Must-Have Small Group Supplies

When Kenny and I aren’t doing Stuff You Can Use, we’re doing Middle School Ministry at an awesome church in Buffalo, NY. It’s pretty fun. We’re learning a lot, we’re trying a lot,