Posts by Young Life Leader

Last August I asked for suggestions on how to reach kids outside of our normal circle. One of the comments below the post was super helpful: “Do things that are specifically aimed at being inclusive. In our area we have created an Ultimate Frisbee League. Even in name its called “The Ultimate League For Non…

Each week at YL clubs around the world, many leaders attempt to give “announcements” that are often quickly forgotten. Here are a few ideas to help make your club announcements more memorable. WHEN  End of Club Choosing when you do your announcements is key. We have found the most effective time to be at the…

If you’re a Young Life leader and a mom, this video is for you.  Check out this highlight from the Young Life Women’s Retreat at Windy Gap last weekend. Be sure to make it to the 2:12 mark for sumin’ real special. Shoutouts to ‘The Jans,’ Buffy & Maggie Smith & Martha Metzler, for throwin’…

Originally posted last August. Our Area Leader Retreat was this past weekend. It was good for my soul. We spent an hour praying together on Saturday morning, but it was weird.  Our Area Director asked us to do something I don’t remember ever doing. He said “Pray for yourselvesout loud. Don’t pray for kids, don’t…

My Commitmentby Bill Goans (a pastor and former YL Area Director) As long as high school kids mill around at ball games looking for love in all the wrong places…   As long as they desperately seek an identity based on the opinions of friends and reputation… As long as kids limp through the stands broken…

At our Tar Heel Region leader retreat we were recently given the pleasure of watching this parody music video. If you’ve seen the original from Gotye it makes the parody video even funnier. Special thanks to Emma Refvem and her program team for sharing the creativity. I have a feeling some more YL spoofs might…

What if you… …decided to serve your YL school this year in a unique way.  …invested in a good camera. …took it along when doing contact work. …asked permission to shoot photos…in order to give them away. …captured quality shots at band practices, football games, tennis matches, half-time shows, and cross-country meets. …started a website…

Originally posted August 2012. It was 3:15pm on the first day back to school for my high school friends. I was both excited and nervous. I tried to talk myself out of going to the school. I made excuses. “No other leader can go today. It’s not worth it to drive all the way out…

Our Young Life team asked the seniors how they wanted to kick off the semester and it was unanimous, ‘Merica Club. We’re still finalizing the details, but here’s our working list below. Please chime in and share your ideas in the comments section. Our first club is Sept 17th. Afterwards, I’ll post pics and let…

Maybe it feels too early in the semester to start Campaigners. If you feel like you don’t yet know kids well enough to dive into a Bible study, and you want to wait until after fall camp to kick it off, here’s an idea for you. A leader in our area recently told me about…

Below are 111 theme club ideas. Around 70 of them have a link you can click that will give you the details you need to pull off that club. These theme ideas are completely stolen from many of you, so thanks for sharing! Special thanks to Sean McGever and YLHelp.com for sharing these 77downloadable club…

Congrats to Rika Friedrich, in Cape Girardeau, MO for winning the final book in our Campaigners Resources series from Kristen Baird and the kind folks at Thomas Nelson Publishing. Rika, email us how many copies of Wild Grace you need for your Campaigners group and our friends at Thomas Nelson will send them along.  Keep…

Check out this video from Brandon Heath on being a YL leader:

Yesterday I made a grown man cry. My passion to succeed wounded a friend. Through his tears, he uttered words that hit the pause button on my heart. “Drew, God’s extravagance was never at anyone’s expense.” Never anyone other than Himself or His son. It’s probably insecurity that drives me. It pushes me to perform,…

WIN MORE FREE CAMPAIGNERS RESOURCES BY COMMENTING BELOW.   Through a random drawing we have chosen our winners from last week’s post.  Erin Green in Austin, Texas has won as many copies of “A Girl’s Guide To Life’ as you need for your Campaigners group.  Derek Babb in Wheaton, Illinois has also won as many…

One of the highlights of being a Young Life leader is the privilege to watch your middle and high school friends encounter Jesus…and then tell everyone about it.  This summer many of us got to watch that happen on the last night of camp at the ‘Say So.’ Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of…