How to Prepare a Wyldlife Club Talk
Thinking about writing a club talk always floods my mind with the best memories.
I was so fortunate to have amazing leaders who gave really, really great club talks. What impacted me most as a club kid was when a leader was clearly excited and passionate while giving a talk. This Good News was all NEW NEWS to me because of the heartfelt delivery from my leaders.
I had no idea what it looked like to be truly open to understanding God’s message, and the excitement and energy I saw in my leaders as they told these stories was a model to me – a roadmap, I guess you could say – to let God’s love and His Word affect me the way it was obviously affecting their lives.
Passion and excitement for what you share with middle school kids is crucial.
As I consider my topic (perhaps need, sin, following Jesus), I ask God to bring to mind a time in my life when either I experienced it or someone close to me experienced it. Then I go to Scripture and look for a time where a biblical figure experienced that topic as well.I can get wordy and go off-topic easily, so I use this tool my wonderful friend Lisa Kojis gave me when preparing a club talk:
Hook, Book, Look, and Took
- Hook: Share a great personal story. (Your own stories about middle school are the best!)
- Book: Bring the truth of Scripture.
- Look: Go deeper into the Scripture and identify one main point.
- Took: Give them something to take away after hearing what you shared.
One of my favorite talks that I heard as a kid 38 years ago was the story about Crazy Ralph! He was the possessed man who lived alone in the tombs and cut himself with rocks and screamed at everyone who walked by. This story could be used to talk about loneliness, feeling like an outcast, or looking at a hurting person you know from a different perspective.
So grateful for Young Life – God does things through it like no other ministry!
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Watch this Zoom recording about preparing and giving WyldLife club talks.
