Imagining the Best of Yourself

When I was young, I was severely bullied and picked on as a young person. It deeply affected me in ways that I just now understand. When I see young people being bullied or thinking less of themselves for whatever reason, there is a part of me that hurts inside. As I grew up and went into ministry, I vowed that if I ever got the opportunity to work with young people that I would do my best to put a stop the ridicule and the bullying and look for ways to let those awkward young people know they were unique and special children of God.

Recently, on the show "America's Got Talent" a song was featured by Kirk Franklin entitled “Imagine Me.” While I had never heard this song before it was amazing! Kirk Franklin, a contemporary Christian gospel artist, writes in this song about how we should view ourselves, pulling from his own personal experience of self-doubt, abuse and neglect. As I listen to over and over to this song, I have imagined all of the young people who experienced themselves as "less than." Below is a Youtube link to the song. I highly recommend you use it in your young People's ministry to highlight the fact that regardless of how we might feel about ourselves, God sees us at someone unique and special that God created and loves.

Prayer Wall

Here’s a great idea to help decorate your youth or young adult space/classroom and bring an emphasis to the power of prayer in our lives as Christians. Make a prayer wall.

Use one wall or part of a wall in your room or space. Get some butcher paper and attach it to the wall and decorate the center with scriptures or graphics having to do with prayer.  Throughout the year, have your youth or young adults write up prayers or celebrations. Others can write encouraging comments alongside the prayers. Whenever you meet, encourage people to take a look at the prayers on the wall and to incorporate them into their daily prayer life. You can keep the prayer wall up for multiple years or put a new one up each year.

My Broken Palace: a Cool Web Resource

I just discovered a great web resource that I wanted to let you know about. The website is mybrokenplace.com. Its purpose as stated on its website is as follows:

My Broken Palace is a non-profit organization of passionate people who want to help others in their time of brokenness. Our shared desire is that no one should ever have to deal with the crushing weight of loneliness, depression, anxiety, stress, abuse, addictions, or thoughts of suicide alone.  Become part of the movement.  Whether you are the one in need or someone who desires to encourage others in theirs, My Broken Palace embraces your participation.

“no one lonely, alone”

What is so exciting about this website is that you can leave prayers on their virtual prayer wall and you will receive uplifting text and e-mails based on the prayers that you leave. It has a list of places that you can go to get help on a variety topics from suicide, abuse, depression, etc. For those who are artistically inclined, It includes an art wall where you can upload your art work and look at others artwork that has brought you inspiration.

This is a must visit website for youth workers and students who are struggling with the messy stuff of life. I hope you'll check it out!

Resource Review: Messy Stuff

Messy Stuff: Finding Hope in the Midst of Everyday Struggles, is a five-week small group video curriculum produced by Group. I recently had the opportunity to review it, and I wanted to share with you my thoughts on the curriculum.

First of all, most youth and children's curriculum that Group produces is top quality stuff and with "Messy Stuff" there is no exception. If you're looking for an easy to use, well-balanced Bible study or small group curriculum to use with Junior High or High School students, then look no further. In this five-week small group video series,  your students will examine the realities of our messy lives-and discover how valuable they are to God, despite their messiness. They'll investigate the wrong ways and the right ways to handle this stuff that makes life messy and causes our pain and brokenness. And they'll be encouraged to invite God and other people into the process of change in their lives.

Topics include:1) Me, Valuable?, 2)Um, What Happened?, 3)How to Handle the Hurts? 4) Finding Hope in the Messiness, and 5) Remember, Life’s Pain isn't Permanent!

What you get out of the box is a DVD with guided lessons. You also get a CD-ROM that includes discussion sheets in both PDF format and Microsoft Word format,  promotional ecards, postcards, posters and desktop backgrounds. You also will receive additional editable promotional elements that you can use to get your students to get involved in this curriculum.

I hope you get an opportunity to use this resource, I highly recommend it. If you are a member of the Susquehanna Conference the United Methodist Church you can borrow a copy of Messy Stuff: Finding Hope in the Midst of Everyday Struggles free of charge through our resource center, Discovery Place (discovery-place.org).

Spiritual Journaling

Here's a great idea to start as you begin your fall program with youth or young adults to help foster some spiritual discovery and relationship building. We always want to grow closer with our youth and young adults, but is often hard to do and involves a tremendous amount of personal one-on-one time. Well here is an easy way to reach out to all students in a very intimate way as well as teaching them some good spiritual disciplines.

In order to do this you will need a bunch of one subject spiral-bound notebooks. (You can usually find these on sale at the beginning of the school year). What these one subject notebooks are going to become will be individual spiritual journals that each member of your group will be able to use.  At one of your first meetings, pass out the notebook and have your students decorate and personalize them. After they have done that, inform them that these are now their spiritual journals that they can use throughout the year to share or reflect on things happening in their life. Every time your group meets, have your students take about 5 to 10 min. to share what they're feeling for that particular week in their journals. It can be as simple as how they're week is going to reflecting upon a spiritual passage that you have written up on a board. Encourage them to participate as much as possible, even if they simply write in them, "I don't have anything to write this week."

 Inform them, that their mentor/counselor/pastor will be reading these journals and will be responding to their entries every week. Be very clear with them that only their mentor/counselor/pastor will be reading their entries and that they have been informed by the youth leader to keep what they read confidential. (Note: do not allow the students to take these journals or allow anyone the other than their mentor/counselor/pastor to read what has been written.) Tell your mentors/counselors/pastors to respond in the journals with supportive and affirming comments. If there student is not there on a particular week when you do this, have the mentor/counselor/pastor write a note saying that they miss them that particular week.

This can be a very powerful way to connect with your youth leaders and students. At the end of the year, have the students take the journals home. Good luck and happy journaling!