Posts by Young Life Leader
Our Spring 2014 Club Schedule & Details From Our Club Planning Party
Last week I posted some ideas to help with planning clubs for the spring semester. Our YL team met last week and brainstormed more ideas together. This week on our typical club night, we had a ‘Club Planning Party.’ We invited any high schooler who wanted to have input. About 15% of our normal club…
Read MoreWhat’s The Best Group Texting App For YL Leaders?
When I listed the Top 10 iPhone Apps for a Young Life leader, I included GroupMe. It’s my favorite app for engaging in conversation with my YL team and YL kids. But there’s another kind of Group Texting app that’s super helpful, one for sharing information without it turning into a conversation. I’ve used a few…
Read MoreRun On Skit Characters: Instagrandma and Instagrandpa
If you’re creating run-on (walk-on) skit characters for the semester, here’s a brilliant idea from Kelly Selong and Alex Lewis in Burlington, NC. Instagrandpa & Instagrandma We started every run-on skit with our tagline: “I’m Instagrandpa, and I’m Instagrandma, and we’re your picture taking, Insta-making, never faking Instagram aficionados!” We created an Instagram account (@instagparents)…
Read More10 Helpful iPhone Apps For Young Life Leaders
Below are 10 iPhone Apps that regularly help me as a Young Life leader. Below each link to the app I’ve included the cost, why I think it’s worth it, and how I use it. If you have any others you’d suggest, leave them in the comments below and I’ll add them. -Drew Magisto The…
Read MoreTons Of Ideas For Spring Semester Club Planning
Young Life teams are gathering here at the beginning of the semester to plan club for the spring. If you’re willing to share your club schedule/ideas, you can leave them in the comments below or email me here and I’ll post it for others to use. We typically don’t start club back up until the last…
Read MoreWinter Olympics Club
The Winter Olympics start Feb 6, 2014, so it would be timely to do ‘Winter Olympics Club’ during the week of Feb. 10th. Attire Tell kids to dress in their favorite Winter Olympics attire. Most kids will just wear snowboarding gear, but some will break out the spandex bobsledding uniforms with motorcycle helmets. Offer prizes…
Read MoreInstagram Promo Videos For (Almost) Every Young Life Camp
Great news! You can now download high quality 15-second Instagram promo videos for (almost) every YL camp here on the Young Life camping site! I tried to download it directly to my phone but couldn’t get it to work, so I downloaded it to my laptop and emailed it to myself. Hope that helps!
Read MoreThoughtful Questions For New Year’s Eve
My wife and I have a New Year’s Eve tradition we’ve come to love. Dinner combined with a little reflecting and dreaming. We head to a restaurant and bring two sheets of paper. Nat gets one, I get the other. On one side of each paper we write “Thankful in 2013,” on the other “Hopeful in 2014.”…
Read MoreWhat Are You Doing After College?
When I was graduating college a mentor gave me some advice, “Take your 20’s and be a sponge. Soak up any opportunity you can to learn. Be mentored. Move out of your comfort zone. Use your 20’s to learn and be formed, not to make money. You can make money and have a ‘career’ in…
Read MoreAn Advent Prayer
An Advent Prayer by Henri Nouwen Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do, seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day. We who are anxious over many things, look forward to your coming among us.…
Read MoreTeenager Misunderstood: Apple’s New Holiday Ad
The new Apple commerical has been all over my Twitter feed. The holiday ad, entitled ‘Misunderstood,’ promotes Apple’s iPhone and AirPlay technology. It portrays a disengaged teenager ignoring his family during Christmas, paying more attention to his phone than anyone around him. I can relate. It doesn’t just happen with high schoolers during Club talks and…
Read MoreCongrats To These 12 YL Leaders Who Won Spikeball Sets
The 12 Days Of Spikeball Giveaways have concluded. Congrats to the following folks on winning two sets each, and thanks to Spikeball for their generous donations! Spencer Vanderheide, MI Will Orr, VA Lisa Cromwell, OH Matt Wade, CO Scott Henderson, IN Blake Hoskins, OH Marcus Eiland, NJ Justin Smith, NC Bill Lynch, SC Brock Tikson, TX…
Read MoreRain For Roots: Music From Ellie Holcomb & Sandra McCracken
Many of you are familiar with the music of Young Life camp musicians Ellie Holcomb and Sandra McCracken. Ellie and Sandra are part of a new group called Rain for Roots, along with their friends Katy Bowser and Flo Paris. Rain for Roots records indie-folk songs for the littlest ones in all our lives. Their…
Read MoreElf On The Shelf Theology
At our Christmas Club last week I had the privilege of giving the final talk of the semester. During most of my talk I held up this creepy looking Elf doll. When I asked who had an ‘Elf on the Shelf’ in their house, over half the room raised their hands. If you’re not familiar…
Read More2 Ways To Reconnect With Your ‘Old YL Kids’ In December
If you’ve been a Young Life leader for a few years, some of your former ‘high school friends’ are now in college. Here are two easy ways to reconnect with them in December. Exam Care Packages When you’re a college student, getting a package in the mail means a lot. I know it feels too…
Read MoreYoung Life Camp (Instagram Ready) Promo Videos
**This post was updated on Jan 2, 2014. You can now download 15 second Instagram promo videos for every YL camp here. Parker Stuckey, YL Area Director in SW Austin, TX, recently shared this Instagram video below. They edited down the original Frontier Ranch promo video to just 15 secs to make it easy to…
Read MoreYoung Life Leader Interview Questions
I recently received an email asking for questions to use when interviewing potential Young Life leaders who have gone through Leader Training. Below is a compiled list from a few friends on YL staff around the country. Tell us how you got to this point? Give us a 5 minute summary of your journey that…
Read More8 Minutes Worth Of Dance Party Music For Club
Blaine Sledge shared this 8 minute dance track he made for his area’s weekend camp. It switches songs every 30 seconds or so and would be great to use for a 30 second dance party, filler music in between games or as entrance music to club. Thanks for passing this along Blaine! Download From This…
Read MoreA Quite Unusual Thanksgiving Prayer
Happy Turkey Day! In an effort to be more present with my fam (and so my brother-in-law will stop kidding me about my iPhone addiction) I’m hitting the pause button on The Young Life Leader Blog over the long holiday weekend. I’ll resume posts and the 12 Days of SpikeballGiveaways on Monday, December 2nd. Until then,…
Read MoreThe Young Life Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant & Christmas Club Ideas
We’re celebrating Christmas early in our area and holding our 4th Annual Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant next Monday. The early date is mainly to accommodate our college leaders who start exams the following week. We typically do a combo of a traditional Christmas Club with games and music along with ‘The Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant.’…
Read MoreThe Danger Of Compliments: A Guest Post From Emily Gurnee
A guest post from Emily Gurnee, a sophomore at Purdue and Wyldlife leader in Greater Lafayette, IN. As a Wyldlife Leader, most of my contact work happens in the lunchroom at the middle school. When I sit down at a table, I may only know a few girls, if none at all. As a female…
Read MoreHow To Take Your Campaigners Group Deeper
Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE A friend recently sent me this email below. I thought it would be a helpful discussion for all of us who lead Campaigners. Drew, I’m currently leading a Campaigners group of around 15 guys. We meet every Sunday night at one of their homes and average 12 guys every…
Read MoreWhat I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming Team Leader
An Incredibly Helpful Guest Post For Any Team Leader, Written by Emily May. I was only 19 years old when I became our Young Life Team Leader. I felt completely incapable and inadequate. I had barely gotten the hang of leading high school kids, and now I was expected to lead leaders? I was thrown…
Read MoreA Guest Post From An 11th Grader In California
My name is Enrique Lopez, I am a junior in high school, and a Young Life kid at LAX YL. This is my sixth year going to Wyld Life and Young Life club. I am so blessed to get to be a leader this year for our local middle school’s Wyld Life, the club that…
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