Serving Your Family

I am practicing a new technique for my blog posts: less words! 

I have this terrible habit of talking and talking and talking, which of course on a blog is, writing and writing and writing---Ahh I'm doing it again! 

Here is a short video I showed to our preteens during a lesson I taught about how God desires that we minister to our family. I think it is a great way to challenge preteens, especially since the boy in the video is only 4 years old. 

Be Blessed! 

Are Preteens Only Half-Christian?

No. 

The question, "are preteens only half-Christian?" sounds crazy! Right?
Yet I notice so often that adults and parents alike see their preteens as Christians that are meant to sit on the sidelines. They think preteens are Christians in waiting, as though they cannot offer as much as someone older.

So perhaps the better question is:

Are we expecting too little from our preteens? 

My answer is a resounding YES! And I see it all the time! It's as though we are too afraid to challenge our preteens, for worry they might actually have to experience failure. Well I love when our preteens attempt something on their own and encounter failure, because it allows for the opportunity to teach them about the necessity of abiding in God!

English Standard Version (©2001) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

Yes, it is sad to see our preteens encounter challenges in life, but when did you stop facing troubles as a Christian?
I believe we need to continue to challenge our preteens to pursue God more, and create opportunities for our preteens to be involved in ministry as it will dig deeper the spiritual well from which they will rely on as they transition into youth ministry.

Here's a video I showed to our preteens as I challenged them to consider how they are encouraging the people around them. I asked "How much do you know about the person sitting next to you this morning, have you reached out to encourage them?"

Let's challenge our preteens to be the Church wherever they go!

Be Blessed! 

Awesome Game Night Idea!

The 2nd Friday of each month I get to plan a fun-filled night for our preteens! From 6:30pm to 10:30pm we eat, play games, get crazy, get a little crazier then conclude the night with a movie and snacks, we call this Preteen Night Out!

I recently tried a themed night: Night of the Ninja! And if you did not already know this:

Preteens love ninjas. 

I asked everyone to dress up like a ninja and come ready to learn the art of the ninja! I have about 5 college-aged volunteers (no parents allowed, sometimes youth (7th grade through high school) can be good volunteers) who help facilitate the night and lead small groups. 

I like to have about 5 to 1 ratio. So with 25 preteens, and 5 leaders, that means 5 teams of 5. If you are interested in the games we played I will have them listed below along with the supplies I used to make it possible. 

Here are some quick tips in case you want to make up your own games or don't have the time to read all of mine: 

• Create the environment from the start (we decorated and used ninja-sounding music at the entrance) 
• Remind the preteens that weapons are not allowed (they will try to bring foam weapons of all sorts) 
• Dress up your leaders (think about how awesome Disney World is, everyone is always in character!) 
• Be enthusiastic and flexible! (almost nothing goes according to your plan, but it will still be fun)

Ninja Games:

(accuracy) Ninja Frog Shooter---

Bucket of rubber frogs located at center court (basketball court used here, but any distance greater than 25ft will work)

Each person on team can only grab 1 frog at a time

Return to start line and launch frog into team’s bucket/box. If shot is missed pick it up and retry shot from start line

Team with most frogs in bucket/box after time runs out wins.

(teamwork) Ninja Sword Ball--- (We didn't have time for this game, so no pictures sorry!)

Using half noodles each team must hit their team balloon into another team’s box

Teams can only block their box within 3ft away from box

Team to put one balloon in every team’s box wins

(cunning) Ninja Puzzle---

With a parachute hanging off the basketball rim, teams must roll on their stomachs to half court. Leave their cart there and crawl under the parachute to find their team’s missing puzzle piece.

First team to complete their puzzle wins!

(cunning, accuracy, speed, teamwork, sneaky) Ninja Battle--- (We did not have enough time for this game either!) 

4 way cross-over dodgeball

The game space will be divided into 5 quadrants.
follow dodgeball rules

If you get hit move over to join forces with team that hit you

Once hit you cannot return to your original quadrant

Team that has most people in their quadrant wins!

Ninja Hunt---

Game begins on first floor outside

Each team given a map to find bonuses

Each team given first clue to lead them to next clue

Follow clues to discover the sacred vase!

Do not get caught by the "Ninja Hunter" patrolling the halls

If you get caught your team must hand over 1 clue to "Ninja Hunter"

This game was a favorite of the night. Turn off the lights and that will automatically amp up the level of fun for preteens! 

Ninja Beam---

Teams line up and each hold one piece of wood

Start at the first cone and place each piece of wood on the floor and step across them

The player at the back must pick up the last piece of wood and each team member must pass it to the front together

If any player touches the ground with their hands the entire team must return to the nearest cone

It is acceptable to fall down and continue playing so long as the player’s hands do not contact the floor when falling or getting up

Supplies Needed:

Ninja Shooter—

-5 medium buckets or boxes

-1 large bucket

-48 rubber stretch frogs

-place markers for starting line

Ninja Sword Ball—

-25 short noodles

-5 boxes

-5 segment play area

-5 balloons

Ninja Puzzle—

-5 easy puzzles (25 pieces, I got mine at the dollar store)

-Giant parachute hanging from basketball goal

-5 rolly carts

-start line set up

Ninja Battle—

-lots of balls

-play area segmented into 5 parts

Ninja Hunt—

-5 church maps

-4 clues for each team
(I used 5 locations in our building, and alternated which team's clue would lead them there, the final clue for each team was the same and led them to the "sacred vase")

Ninja Beam—

-blocks of wood for each player

-lots of cones
-our blocks of wood came from our giant Jenga set!

Giant Jenga Blog Post

Ninja Bandanas— We started our night with each team becoming a "Dojo". I cut strips of fabric from Hobby Lobby that the preteens decorated for cool ninja headbands.

-fun fabrics

-tape

-hot glue

-decorative stuff

Be Blessed! 

Quick Tip: Increasing Visitors

It is always a blessing to see new faces on Sunday morning. I cannot think of many ministries that would not want to increase the number of new guests, which is why I am excited to share with you some of the things that have really helped our ministry:

Prayer:
"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." John 15:4

From Our "Night of the Ninja" Preteen Night Out

Visitor cards: 
Every time a new guest visits our ministry they fill out a small card with their personal information, and this is very important to us because the following day we mail a welcome packet from our ministry. It has calendars, postcards and newsletters detailing all the events happening in the preteen ministry.

Encourage: 
One of our most successful methods of increasing out visitors has been the preteens inviting their friends! Because of the influence our preteens have in reaching their friends, I always make sure to celebrate and encourage our preteens to continue inviting friends.

Various Events:
This is probably our central method of bringing in new guests. Create as many opportunities as possible for your preteens to invite their friends. I spend a lot of time making our once a month, friday night event, Preteen Night Out, lots of fun. It is absurd and crazy. Our guests have so much fun they almost always visit us that following Sunday morning.

There are so many more tips for increasing guests, but these are definitely some of my absolute favorites.

Be Blessed! 

Janitors For Jesus?

This was AMAZING! Our Preteen Ministry is focusing on being "Every-Day-Missionaries" so I decided that an amazing every-day-mission opportunity would be to stay after church and gather a team of preteens to clean all the pews and pick up trash left behind. 

You might be thinking..."no way, kids hate cleaning!" 

And I would normally agree with you, but when they are cleaning as an act of service instead of a demand, they feel empowered, dignified and needed. This motivation is absolutely inspiring. One of our preteens exclaimed, 

"We Are Janitors for Jesus!" 

I don't know about you, but I love that statement!! It symbolizes the humility and zeal God desires from each one of us. 

The picture above is a graphic I designed for a post card mail out I sent about 5 days before the event. I also passed them out again that Sunday morning so they could show their parents. Let me know if you would like to use the image, and I would love to send you the file with a higher resolution. 

So You Want to Start a Preteen Clean Team? 

Here is how I did it: 

Our Preteens Finishing up the first: Preteen Clean Team

• Pizza lunch right after church. I had 2 other adult volunteers with me as well
• Put preteens in teams. We had 10 kids on 2 teams. This helped us be more organized with who cleaned what. 
• Keep it simple. I say 'clean' but really we emptied trash cans and picked up left-behind trash. 
• Have fun! Be "Janitors for Jesus" and go impact your church today!

Is Your Ministry On a Mission?

This semester in our Preteen Ministry we have been on a mission. Not just any mission of course, but the greatest mission of all! Spreading the Word of God.

But are not all Christians on that same mission too? 

I would say yes! But...how many of us are actually doing something about it? At FBC Lubbock our Preteens are on a mission every day, and so we call ourselves: 

Every-Day-Missionaries!

I absolutely believe that our preteens encounter opportunities every day to be the presence of God in their community. From this idea we have "Every-Day-Mission Opportunities." 

These "opportunities" can range from encouraging a friend running the mile at school, bringing in the groceries to help mom and dad, anything that examples the missional attitude of serving the people in our lives. 

I wanted to preteens to believe that God can, and will use them even though they are only 10, or 11 years old, so I showed them a video about a young girl named Rachel...

I have noticed an amazing response by our preteens! We have seen a huge increase in visitor attendance as a result of our preteens inviting their friends to various events. There continues to be fruit each week as I listen to all of the testimonies our preteens share on Sunday mornings. I love it! 

"How can I implement Every-Day-Mission Opportunities in our Ministry?"

• BE SUPPORTIVE! You have got to be the catalyst for the change, so be excited and encouraging!
• Create various points-of-entry. This means have a variety of ways for new visitors to get plugged in. Sunday School is great, what about something on a Friday night? Or a Wednesday evening? 
• Be consistent. Each Sunday remind everyone in your ministry of the goal to be Every-Day-Missionaries. 
• Find ways to spotlight your preteens. Each Sunday morning in our large group time, instead of asking about their week, I ask our preteens 'How have you taken advantage of an Every-Day-Mission Opportunity this week?' They loveee sharing in front of everyone!
• Teach what it means to you to be an Every-Day-Missionary. Each week during our large group time, I teach a short lesson on a the traits of an Every-Day-Missionary. 

Be Blessed!

Return of the Blogger!

It has been almost half a year since I last posted on this blog and I certainly have missed it! Well, I have been incredibly busy, with finishing college, getting married, riding a 100 mile bike ride with my dad and beginning seminary at Golden Gate.

I took a break from all things blogging as I realized I had been seeking fulfillment and affirmation from the success of my posts. This was troubling to me because I had allowed my blog to become an Idol!

I am so excited to be back to writing and I look forward to sharing with you all of the exciting things I have learned about Preteen Ministry.

So if you're looking for great Preteen Game Ideas, I will be posting some awesome games. If you are looking for fun mission ideas for preteens I have lots of tips and ideas to share with you!

I will be praying before I begin my next post and I look forward to seeing how God may bless your preteen ministry.

Be Blessed!

"Out of the Pew Thinking" Preteen Style!

Have you ever thought of how Jesus often ministered to His people? Numerous times throughout the Bible I see how Jesus sought out His sheep. Like the woman at the well,
Jesus pursued her heart and met her where she was at. 

This is such an important lesson for us to effectively minister to preteens! We must find a way to meet the preteens in their environment, to discover their unique passions and minister to them there!

I spoke with the worship minister at the country's fastest growing church (still surprises me that it's here in Lubbock!)  and asked him about how they grow their church into the culture of these new believers without becoming a part of the sinful culture. He said to me,

"we are willing to do anything short of sin to get these people in."

Now I firmly believe God has different purposes for different churches and different ministries, but I can't help but feel that sometimes our ministry needs to get up and step out of the pew, pass the gleaming white steeple and step onto a playground, a sidewalk, and maybe even a gravel path....

This past summer after seeing how many of our preteens loved running, I decided to start a new preteen event called "The Preteen Mile"

Each Saturday morning I woke up early, laced up my running shoes, clutched my Bible in hand, and anxiously awaited the 4-7 preteens that came prepared for a mile-long run followed by a short devotional and  then another mile-long run afterward. 

My intention was to challenge the preteens to run with all their heart, and to trust in God not just when they felt their strength weakening but with every step. Not only did the preteens get to experience God's strength and loyalty in their times they felt weakest, but whenever one of our preteens began to feel exhausted from running and finished after the others, they certainly did not run toward a quiet finish line. All of their peers were cheering and encouraging them to finish the run! 

It was absolutely incredible to see the preteens pray for God's help and then see how their attitude changed as their hearts received the blessings of our Lord. I loved the summer months that I was able to have the time to serve our preteens outside the church, doing something they love! 

This is what I am talking about, listen to your preteens, all of them! Find out what types of activities they are involved in and pray to God for Him to give you the opportunity to minister to your students there! 

The impact of God's love outside the church walls is powerful. 

Ideas for Ministry Outside the Church

• So maybe you have lots of preteens who dance, then have a dance workshop where you practice choreographing dances to Christian songs, and take a break to study the lyrics! 
• Perhaps you have lots of athletes, come up with a way to make a soccer team, or a pick-up football team. Get parents involved and have fun! 
• What about lots of artists?? Draw, paint, create visual illustrations of Biblical stories! Have a gallery night to showcase their work to parents too. 
• Singers? Start a choir! Sing Christian songs and study the lyrics, watch as the preteens realize that many of their favorite songs are filled with Scripture! 

I could go on and on!! Please let me know if you are looking for ideas, and I will do my best to help get you started. You just gotta choose to be used! 

Be Blessed! 

Jesus on Facebook for Christmas!

I wanted to add another post similar to the post about Jesus on Twitter. This is another video that is very similar in format and style. I think it does a wonderful job of presenting the story of Christ's birth on Earth.
Check it out!

I love the way this video really connects all the characters in the Bible during Jesus' birth. I hope this video is both an encouragement for you and a resource for your ministry!

Be Blessed!

Jesus on Twitter this Easter?

I wish I could have found this video just a few days sooner! I would have loved to get the word out and shared it with you to show to your ministry! But maybe now since Easter was only yesterday, it is still relevant! And personally, when you're talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is ALWAYS relevant!

This short video is super cool to me! I love how it showcases the Gospel in a unique and engaging medium. I showed this to our preteens on Easter and we had a short discussion about it too!

I hope you enjoyed the video as much as I did! I definitely feel like it is a powerful resource that could be used for numerous lessons. 

Christ is Risen....Risen Indeed! 

Be Blessed! 

Does the Easter Bunny go to Sunday School?

Today is Good Friday, which means Easter is only a few days away! It is remarkable to me how quickly Easter came up, I still remember seeing all the fast food restaurants changing their marquees to advertise their fish sandwiches!

With one of the most anticipated days in the church calendar coming up, I am certain many of us involved in ministry are asking ourselves

What should I do to get preteens excited for Easter?

This is a simple question with a not so simple answer. Some of you may use cool lights, fog machines, beautiful productions or skits, maybe even some form of magic tricks. All of these methods for teaching are of course useful and exciting! But I wonder how Jesus would have taught preteens...

Easter in our preteen ministry is always a challenge for me. I spend hours upon hours in prayer, asking God what He desires for me to do. Last year was definitely a stretch for me, but it was a powerful leap of faith as God called for me to lead a short worship with our preteens (and I am by no means a singer!). It was so amazing to see our preteens enraptured by the overwhelming joy of Christ. 

My simple petition to you, is that you take a pause in the middle of all of your planning and designing, and consider God's will in it all. I am not trying to say whether or not you should use a strobe light, or a laser show, an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. I am trying to say, have you asked God what He wants to do? 

Yet not as I will, but as you will

May you and your ministry be blessed this Easter weekend as you pursue heavenly things and equip your preteens with the awesome saving truth of the Gospel and Jesus' Resurrection. 

Be Blessed!

How to Transition Preteens to Youth

I love working together with other ministries in our church. It always reminds me of how we are all one body serving our Lord to do His will. Does your ministry ever work with other ministries in your church?

Last year, I was thinking about how so many of our preteens talked about their fears for leaving 5th grade and moving into 6th grade. They were all so worried about this transition from our preteen ministry into the older Youth Ministry, as well as all of the additional changes they had heard about.

I started talking with our youth ministry intern and after praying about it for awhile we decided to create an event only for our preteens moving on into the youth ministry.

It has been such a powerful resource. This transitional event for our preteens allows the youth ministry leaders to get to meet with their future students and begin establishing relationships before they are seeing them on Sunday mornings, and youth retreats. In fact, last year we hosted this event for the first time and we had a great response! We invited the current members of the youth ministry to come with the intent of being welcoming and inviting the future teens.

We played tons of team-building games, and played silly charades-style games that allowed the students to showcase their talents and act silly in front of everyone. The youth ministry intern told me that it was incredibly effective to have all of the preteens already familiar with the layout, leaders and other students before our "Promotion Sunday."

When the youth ministry leaves for their week-long summer camp, they usually focus on building relationships with the new students, but now they already have the foundation and they work on strengthening and truly getting to the heart of the new youth students!

I hope you get the opportunity to help your preteens cross the bridge into Youth Ministry
because it really is an awesome thing to see these kids feel accepted and excited about continuing their journey in discipleship with Jesus Christ. 

Are there any things your ministry does to help your preteens feel at ease with the transition into Youth Ministry?

Be Blessed!

Should You Use Music for Preteens?

In the title I posed the question should you use music for preteens? I firmly believe the answer is YES! 

Music is such a powerful resource. It creates an engaging environment, and with Christian music, you can subtly reach preteens' ears.

Sunday mornings from 9:15am until about 9:35am we have a kind of free time in our ministry. All the preteens are still arriving, and the others are playing various games like Giant Checkers or Wii. While everyone is busy playing games and catching up with their friends, I always have music playing in the background. It really creates a fun atmosphere with messages reinforcing Biblical Scripture.

I absolutely love using Pandora, the internet radio service. It's basically a radio-based program that creates a never-ending playlist of songs based on a genre you specify! You can pick a song, artist or album and Pandora will play music similar to the original genre selected. You have the option of "liking" or "disliking" each song. If you click dislike, then that song will never be played again.

It is free, but it will pause to play ads every now and then. I decided to purchase a year long subscription for $30 and I completely believe it is worth it!

The station I use the most for our preteens is "We Shine Radio" (made from the song We Shine by StellarKart) mixed with Group 1 Crew. It only plays Christian music and it's fun, upbeat and engaging for our preteens.

Also, a friend suggested I try Spotify as well. I am still learning about this internet radio service, but so far I really like it as well. His name is Nick Bremmer, you should check out his blog about Preteen Ministry.

Click here for Nick's Blog 

If you are looking for an idea to immediately spice up your Preteen Ministry, I would highly suggest incorporating music that is not only relevant to your preteens, but is Gospel-centered.

Challenge Your Preteens

In your preteen ministry, you probably have at least one boy or girl who is just out-of-the park amazing. I'm talking about, the preteen who seems to know more scripture than you, and gets in trouble at home for staying up too late reading their Bible.

I love all my preteens and when you have this preteen in your ministry you feel supremely blessed! They can follow directions, sit quietly, and listen. 

But they are every bit as in need of your guidance and God's truth as the "troubled" preteen talking in the back of the room. 

In my experience I have seen a pattern of preteens being forgotten about. In a trend similar to a bell curve. The "trouble-makers" are neglected when leaders are short on patience, and on the opposite end the few students who excel are often neglected in an entirely different way: they are bored. 

It's time we seek ways to challenge all of our preteens! God stretches us that we may grow in His strength, and your preteens need to be stretched so they can learn to rely on God rather than their strength alone! 

In AWANA (our Wednesday night program, check out the organization's website Here) we have an amazingly dedicated preteen named Zach. He loves learning about God and learning as much scripture as possible. With a month left in the semester, Zach, has completely finished all of the scripture memorization curriculum available at the 5th grade level (He's pretty much ready for seminary now!) What this means is that on Wednesday night he no longer has any new verses to learn in the AWANA program at our church (we stop AWANA at 5th and have a separate middle school ministry).

So here is what I have decided to do...

After praying about this for awhile, I asked Zach 

if he would like the opportunity to teach the class of 15 other preteens during the "Council Time." This is usually when I teach a lesson I have prepared during the week, and I felt it would be the perfect way to challenge Zach's knowledge of scripture. It is one thing to memorize verses, and another thing entirely to apply their truth and teach others! 

He was incredibly excited at the opportunity to teach, and I have since been helping guide him toward God's will for his lesson. Zach recently chose to teach on Acts 16:29-31. I am super excited to see what God has planned for Zach's lesson, and I am so glad God led me to offer Zach this opportunity. 

I pray you seek ways to challenge your preteens and present them with more and more opportunities to serve the Lord. 

Be Blessed! 

Ever Seen More than 100 Bibles at Once?

Bible Race Part 2:
( Did you read Part 1? Bible Race Part 1 )

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about our preteen ministry feeling led to gather Bibles to donate somewhere. We called it The Bible Race! 

It was amazing to see what God had in store for us...After only three weeks of accepting donations, we broke the 100 Bibles mark! Not only did many of our preteens donate Bibles, but the word got out and parents, grandparents even our church donated many Bibles to our Bible Race.

We set a goal to cover up the stage I stand on Sunday mornings with Bibles and force me to stand on  the floor. The preteens achieved that after just the 2nd week!

Together we prayed for God to open the door for us. Praying that He knows the need and that He can direct us toward how to fulfill it.
Three days later when our Preteen/Children's Team Leader was getting her haircut she was talking about how many Bibles our preteens gathered and that we were praying about where to send them, and surprisingly, the gentleman cutting her hair looked at her in complete shock! He began to tell her how his church here in Lubbock was struggling to figure out how to supply their members with Bibles, because although many of them enjoy going to church, they cannot afford a personal Bible.

This Sunday our preteens will be delivering all 109 Bibles to a very excited gentleman named, Larry, and his beautiful church filled with people anxiously awaiting the blessings of God's Word.

And it all started with just one preteen, one question, and one Bible.

So the next time you are blessed to hear the words: "How can we use this for God?"
May the Lord God fill your heart as you challenge your preteen to seek God and watch how God paints the story of His love and generosity in your ministry, and even in your family!
God never planned for today to be an average, ordinary day so go be the miracle God wants to work in someone's life!

Be Blessed!

A Mind for Ministry

A mind for ministry begins with your heart, and sometimes your ears.

It is to no value if your words outnumber the stars yet their light as faint as a simmering candle. We as ministers (every Christian should be in the lifestyle of ministry) should never forget that the greatest act of ministry does not so often come in the form of spoken word or prophetic thought, but rather the greatest act of ministry comes in the form of listening whole-heartedly to the words of a beloved brother or sister.

We as ministers of children, preteens and families must remember always that the words we say are just as important as the words we listen to. In fact, I would even say that the words we listen outweigh the significance of the words we say!

And trust me, I do not write these words lightly, as I am quite fond of words especially my own. It is a problem I must remind myself of and more importantly the antidote--to be slow to speak...and quick to listen. 

I pray as you read these words your heart may be spurred on toward the opportunity to listen before you speak. Or if this is a treasured discipline of yours already, may you be encouraged to know that I am in pursuit of the art of listening as well.

Giant "JENGA" Tower!

Who wouldn't want a giant version of Jenga? 


This is actually SUPER easy to make! Here's what you will need:

• Someone awesome to help you! 
• 6-10 foot 2x4's (try to get wood that is straight and not bowed or warped)
• A good saw, circular saw, miter saw, or table saw will do 
• Sand paper...lots of it! 

Alrightyy for starters, be very safe when making all your cuts, I can assure you giant Jenga will not be as awesome if you have to go to the hospital while trying to make it. 

Step 1: Take a ruler, or measuring tape and mark every 10.5 inches. 

Step 2: After making accurate measurements begin to cut each 2x4 into 10.5 inch pieces

Step 3: You will need about 54 pieces to make your tower 18 levels high (height of the original Jenga)

Step 4: Use sand paper to soften the edges that seem rough. Splinters are not fun

Step 5: Have fun! 

Because preteens are still preteens...

Make sure your preteens are mature enough to play the game appropriately. A big concern for our ministry was whether or not these blocks of wood might look more like projectiles. Fortunately this has not happened. 

Also, I personally tested the tower. And yes once it gets to be about twice as high (36 levels), the wood does hurt when it falls. I do not believe it is dangerous, but it is something that should mean there is adult supervision when people are playing with it.

"Gnoming" your Bible!

Here is one of my favorite things we have been doing in our preteen ministry: 
Steve the Gnome

It's a really simple concept actually. I bought this garden gnome at our nearby walmart for only $5. I let the preteens vote on his name (STEVE) and boom!

STEVE the Gnome is part of our weekly game, Gnoming your Bible. Each Saturday I contact one of the parents and let them know I will be coming by later that night to drop off Steve at their house, and that they must keep it secret from their son or daughter.

Then in the morning, STEVE is outside their front door with an envelope, and inside the envelope is a short Bible verse! Each Sunday morning during our large group time whoever got STEVE comes up to the front and reads the verse out loud. After they have read the verse they proceed to explain to the large group what the verse means to them!

It has been an amazing tool for ministry, allowing opportunities for the preteens to stand up in front of everyone and teach. Also, it is super funny to see how excited the preteens get about finding STEVE outside their front door on Sunday mornings!

Fun Top10 Tips!

I know I titled these the "Top 10" they are probably just the Top 10 for now. You always gotta be ready to adapt quickly...hmm...that should be on the next top 10 list I make!

10.) Incorporate some aspect of running, 

and the game is sure to be a hit

Try playing capture the flag, and divide into several teams. When one team takes your team's flag you join forces. Continue this until you have one giant team that has taken all the other team's flags! (fun to play leaders vs. preteens)

    9.) Preteens don’t just love college-aged people, they love anyone who wants to be crazy and energetic with them too

It's definitely true that preteens often look up to 18 to 24 year olds, but don't ever feel like you're too old to "run around with them kiddos".  With preteens, you're only as old as you act! 

    8.) Try to make events and games like a field trip, with something never seen or experienced before

Giant Crab Soccer with Noodle Hockey in the Background

      7.) Duct tape can entertain both preteen boys and girls for at least an hour

At Preteen Night Out designing their country's flag, with duct tape!

    6.) Funny videos are great for teaching lessons!

I love this video for talking about inviting people to church

This is a good video talking about how silly we can look trying to fit in with society

   5.) When reading long Bible passages, try to act out different parts

When I'm reading through some lengthy scripture, I like to read the verses with a little more energy than just normal reading. I try to change my voice a little bit to keep it fun and engaging while being careful not to distract from the focus of the passage. 

 4.) Try playing “Grandma’s Underpants” to fill empty time

This game can be absolutely hilarious with preteens. Everyone must sit together in a circle. Pick one person to "go" first. This person can only say "Grandma's Underpants" during the entire game. Everyone else in the circle can ask ANY question they want in order to make the person laugh. And remember, that person can ONLY respond with the words "Grandma's Underpants"

3.) Dodgeball is fun…but only for a little while

What I mean is simple. Dodgeball is usually a great game, there are so many ways to play! But after awhile, even if you are playing with balls made of foam, someone is almost certain to get hurt. This is why I say that it is fun!....but only for a little while. Be discerning about this game and you should be okay. 

2.) If it glows, it’s going to be awesome

I wrote a previous blog post all about this!

1.) The louder and crazier you can be, the better! 

Underwear relay race game!