Wednesday, January 29, 2014

FREE Communication Training with Josh Griffin!





Youth Speaker's Coach is excited to announce an upcoming Master Class in Communication with Josh Griffin, High School Pastor at Saddleback Church on Thursday, February 13 at 5pm/4pm/3pm/2pm (ET/CT/MT/PT).

Josh Griffin is the high school pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, and has been in full-time youth ministry for 15 years. He’s the author of 99 Thoughts for Youth Workers99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders, and coauthor of Live Large, Be Different, Shine Bright, with Doug Fields. Josh speaks a little, writes a little, Tweets a bit, and blogs a lot — more than 20,000 youth workers visit his blog each month. He’s also a father of four.

Join in on the FREE conference call with Josh on Thursday, February 13 at 5pm/4pm/3pm/2pm (ET/CT/MT/PT).

You can view Josh's blog by clicking here...

Enter your email below to receive instructions for how to jump on the FREE training call with Josh:



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

COUNTDOWN: Top 14 Team-Builders for 2014 (#13)


If you are looking for a great, face-paced team-builder geared towards students learning each others names, look no further than Team-Builder #13 of the Top 14 Team-Builders for 2014. Here you go:

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WARP SPEED

Supplies Needed:
2 or more Tennis Balls

Time Needed:
Approximately 15 minutes

How to Play:
  1. Ask your group to form a circle. You will also form part of the circle with the tennis balls within easy reach.
  2. Explain: "I'm going to start by tossing this ball to someone else in the circle and saying their name. If you receive it, say your name, then the name of someone else in the circle not immediately on either side of you and toss it to them. That person will say their name and then the name of another person who has not yet received it and again not immediately on either side of him or her and toss it to them. Throwing continues until the last person tosses the ball back to me. Remember who you tossed to because we will try to recreate the pattern in the next phase. Any questions?"
  3. Toss the ball to someone across from you. The cycle continues until the ball comes back to you. Repeat one more time so that everyone is clear who they toss the ball to and from whom they receive it. The ball must follow the same pattern both times.
  4. Explain: "We are now going to see how quickly we can send this one ball from start to finish through the system.
  5. Time their first attempt. Applaud their attempt, whatever it is (one second per participant or longer is quite normal). And prompt them with "you can do better." Allow for planning, additional attempts and more planning.
  6. At some point the group will ask you how fast this can be done or how fast you've seen it done or what the ultimate goal is. Answer for most groups of 20 people or less = less than one second.
  7. Continue until the group attains the elusive "warp speed" or ceases to be actively engaged in trying to reach it. Process the activity.
  8. You can also try throwing multiple balls simultaneously or try it in reverse order.
Here is a video of a group playing Warp Speed:




Monday, January 27, 2014

Looking for a great dance opening for youth group on Wednesday? Try this... [VIDEO]

Before there was The Harlem Shake, there was this gem...



The Interlude is a great way to get students up and moving in a fun and quick manner. If your students have never participated in the Interlude dance, they don't know what their missing! After you teach them the basic moves, throw the following video up on the screen and dance: