Youth Specialties Blog
“Evangelism Gone Bad” Contest
By Chris Davis on March 26 2012 | 0 Comments
To celebrate the release of Jonathan McKee's new Real Conversations DVD curriculum, we are have a contest to find stories of evangelism gone bad. Watch the video to learn how to enter.
Recap the details:
1. Create a 1 minute video showing awful evangelism among teenagers
2. Upload it to YouTube and tag it “EVGoneBad”
3. Email the link to the video to Contest@youthspecialties.com by 4/13 to be entered.
4. Voting for the finalists will be between 4/17 – 4/23
5. Winner will get lots of great stuff!
More about Real Conversations new DVD curriculum on evangelism:
Don't overlook your best evangelism tool—your students! Most of us would love to equip our students to reach their friends. In four video-based sessions, youth ministry expert Jonathan McKee trains students how to reach out to their friends… without scaring them away.
For many teenagers, sharing their faith in Jesus to their friends is an overwhelming and scary prospect. Outreach is inviting their friends to a fun event once a year.
In this entertaining DVD training, Jonathan McKee ignites the passion of Christian teenagers to live authentic lives and gives them tools to reach out to their friends in ways that won't give them cold sweats! The message is simple: an authentic faith creates opportunities to talk about Jesus. In this dynamic DVD training, students will discover the secret to sharing the reason for the hope that's within them.
Click here to learn more and watch a sample.
By Chris Davis on March 26 2012 | 0 Comments
Random (Useless!) POP Culture Trivia
By Jen Howver on July 20 2009 | 4 Comments
I’m back again with more trivia for those of you who, like me, absorb WAY more from music, movies, and TV shows than you’d really like to (or even like to admit!). So far the first guess on our first two trivia questions have been the correct answers, so I’m guessing that there’s something about the warped minds of youth workers that is connected to the useless information we get from pop culture. Just to make you feel a little better about your own trivia nerdiness, a little confession here: I’m finally at a point in my life where I DON’T feel the need to compare nearly every situation to an episode of Seinfeld or The Simpsons! (But really, just about every situation in life CAN be compared to one of those shows’ episodes…think about it!)
So here’s the latest trivia Q for you, with a little back story, of course:
In this movie, the main character is given a nickname in high school that really sticks (and is even chanted by the entire school, much to her embarrassment). My usage of this phrase has been passed along to our daughters, who use the phrase whenever they encounter something not so pleasant. So, in what movie is the main character branded with “Grossy Josie” as a nickname?
Remember, the big winner gets the amazing prize of bragging rights until the next question is posted. How’s that for motivation??!
By Jen Howver on July 20 2009 | 4 Comments
Random (useless!) POP Culture Trivia! Round 2
By Jen Howver on June 08 2009 | 3 Comments
So one night I couldn’t sleep. That’s when some of this random, useless pop culture trivia entered my head and kept me awake even longer. So I made a list. Seriously. In my phone there is a list of random things to use for this goofy series. So, here we go with round 2 of the exciting new game, Random (useless!) POP Culture Trivia! (I’m gonna keep it a little easy again this week so you get the hang of it. Then…prepare for the real challenge!)
When my husband & I were first married, we lived in a tiny box of an apartment that was inside a barn. No, really. We had two windows in the living room, and the rest of the apartment was enclosed in the barn. Our bedroom was like a batcave, which came in really handy after youth group lock-ins (when we could sleep all day and not realize the sun was even out!). So although it was a barn, we were not allowed to have any pets. But we skirted the rules a little and got a hamster. She was a teddy bear hamster to be exact, and she was pretty cute. It wasn’t hard to decide on a name for her. We called her “Schmoopie.”
What TV show did we get that name from? And for bonus bragging rights (because, remember, there are no physical prizes, only the pride of winning the challenge), what was the title of the episode where Schmoopie emerged?
Enter the cheesy trivia music here. Good luck. First correct response wins big.
By Jen Howver on June 08 2009 | 3 Comments
Introducing…Random (useless!) POP Culture Trivia!
By Jen Howver on May 28 2009 | 7 Comments
Yes, it’s true… I have SO much random (useless) pop culture knowledge eating up memory in my brain that I’ve decided to share some of it with you & turn it into a little fun (and draw up a cheesy logo for it!). Of course, there are no prizes (other than the honor of bragging rights), but a good time can be had by all. In fact, you may learn some interesting things (or not) along the way, as each of these tidbits will be accompanied by a story of some sort. The best part is, you can join in the fun by trying to guess the answers or by sending me your own trivia question to be featured here in an upcoming contest. Email me at jen dot howver at youthspecialties dot net (yes, that’s dot net!) and I’ll be happy to take your trivia question into consideration for another day, and will of course, give you some mad props if I use yours. Here goes…
So my good friend, David, and I found a kindred spirit existed between us when we both knew what the other meant when we said, “220, 221, whatever it takes.” To put it into context, someone may ask me, “Do you know what’s involved in operating a forklift?” and I may reply, “Yeah, 220, 221, whatever it takes.”
The question is, what 80s film is this a quote from? Bonus points if you can give us the context in which the quote was used. First to guess wins bragging rights until the next edition of Random (useless!) POP Culture Trivia!
By Jen Howver on May 28 2009 | 7 Comments
ConGRADulations Contest
By Adam McLane on March 24 2009 | 361 Comments
We’ve partnered with our friends at Interlinc to offer a fun and easy contest. Simply leave a comment on this post by Friday, March 27th, at 12:00 PM Pacific Time. (That’s 3:00 PM for you East Coast folks.) We’ll pick two random comments to win prize packs from ConGRADulations! Class of 2009.
No strings attached. Just leave a comment letting us know what high school you graduated from and you’re entered. You never know, you may find another youth worker who went to the same high school you did! One entry per person, please.
WINNERS!!!
Using the integer generator over at Random.org, here are the comments who were picked at random.
ConGRADs to the winners. I’ll have the kind folks at Interlinc contact you soon.
Brought to you by:
By Adam McLane on March 24 2009 | 361 Comments
What if the church marketed more like…
By Adam McLane on November 07 2008 | 33 Comments
In the past 36 hours this video has popped up on dozens of youth ministry and church marketing blogs. I was thrilled to learn that the the people behind the video were none other than NYWC Pittsburgh presenter Richard Reising and his new blog BeyondRelevance.com.
When I watched it, it caused me to start thinking of other brands. Coke. Nike. Tide. Wrigley Gum. State Farm. On and on I thought about the various brands that we all interact with on a daily basis. Maybe it’s just too many years of all-nighters with middle school boys but I started to come up with my own versions of the video in my mind…
What if the church marketed more like McDonald’s and promised the same experience no matter where you went? or What if the church marketed more like Domino’s Pizza and if they failed to deliver in 30 minutes, no offering would be taken?
Contest: Unleash your creativity and think like a marketer! We want to hear your funny, silly, hopeful, or downright odd ministry-based analogy of a popular brand. Leave a comment with your entry, we’ll pick the best one and send you one of our famous prize boxes.
UPDATE: Richard Reising is going to include a copy of his book to the winner and he will help us pick a winner: ChurchMarketing 101: Preparing Your Church for Greater Growth Deadline to post your entry is Thursday, noon PST.
By Adam McLane on November 07 2008 | 33 Comments
Advertisings Unintended Consequences
By Adam McLane on October 17 2008 | 3 Comments
According to a new study by to be published by the American Journal of Public Health, ad campaigns, such as the publicly funded Partnership for a Drug-Free America, designed to dissuade kids from using drugs may actually encourage drug use.
“Youths who saw the campaign ads took from them the message that their peers were using marijuana,” the report suggests as a possible reason for its findings. “In turn, those who came to believe that their peers were using marijuana were more likely to initiate use themselves.” link
In youth ministry, this study could have far reaching effects. On the one hand, we desire to fill our students with truth to handle the challenges they face in today’s pluralistic society. On the other hand, we don’t want to introduce a curiosity to younger adolescents and accidentally educate them on something they are unaware of.
This doesn’t just apply to drugs, does it? This could also apply to how we talk about many hot topics that youth groups discuss all the time.
For discussion: How do you balance educating students enough so that they make wise decisions, yet guard against them being curious about something they’d never considered before?
By Adam McLane on October 17 2008 | 3 Comments
I graduated from Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado
on March 24th, 2009 at 11:18 am
on March 25th, 2009 at 11:00 am
TOPEKA WEST HIGH, TOPEKA,KANSAS HOME OF THE CHARGERS