Sep

5

Crazy Things I Did as a Youth Pastor - part 3

Post Category: Youth Group Fun 

In this installment of Crazy Youth Pastor I’ll share a few observations and pictures.

Adult Youth Leaders are just kids at heart
(anyone notice the resemblance to Dale Gribble from King of the Hill?)

Teen guys think it’s funny to act like girls

Seeing how much you can stuff in your mouth never gets old

Be careful what challenges you give the kids - you just may wind up getting your nails painted pink

Giving rides on the jet-ski is a fun way to get back at the kids

Teen girls will fall asleep anywhere

Also read:
Crazy Things I Did As A Youth Pastor - part 1
Crazy Things I Did As A Youth Pastor - part 2

Aug

26

Crazy Things I Did as a Youth Pastor - part 2

Post Category: Completely Crazy, Youth Group Fun 

One of the events I put together when I was a Youth Pastor was a Western night. It was a blast. We even brought in a real square dance caller and had a good old-fashioned square dance (although many found out square dancing was a whole lot trickier than the hip-hop stuff they did).

In keeping with the Western theme of the night we had several “Western” style games. They ate baked beans in the old west, right? Why not bob for tiny candy bars in a bowl of baked beans! You may notice that many of the games I organized gave the kids opportunities to do gross things in front of a large group of people to embarrass themselves and impress their friends (one of the secrets of great youth group games).

Bobbing for Candy Bars in Baked Beans
We filled the bowl full of baked beans and mixed in around 15 of those little bite-sized candy bars. Ready, set, go!

We made sure to cover the table and their clothes with plastic garbage bags because it does get a little messy.

They couldn’t use their hands so when they found a candy bar they had to spit it out, chunks and all onto a plate.

Ahh, the joys of watching teenagers hurl chunks of candy bars and baked beans! It’s a beautiful thing.

What was the best theme party you’ve been to or organized? What games did you play?

[read Crazy Things I Did as a Youth Pastor - part 1]

Aug

8

Crazy Things I Did as a Youth Pastor: Paintball

Post Category: Blog Posts, Completely Crazy, Youth Group Fun, photos 

Some of you may not know that I was a Youth Pastor for 4 years back in Fort Wayne. During that time I did some pretty fun (and sometimes crazy) things so I thought I’d start a new post series to share some of my favorites with you.

Crazy Thing #1: PAINTBALL
What youth group is complete without paintball? Sure, we did the regular paintball games but, like any good youth pastor, I wanted to mix things up.

One year at camp a couple of the kids brought their guns so I set up a “Human Paintball Shooting Gallery.” We gave the guns to the girls and had the guys put on their masks and run back and forth across an open space 40 or 50 feet away.

The girls, of course, welcomed the opportunity to shoot the defenseless guys with paintballs.

Some of the guys even decided to be brave (or stupid?) and run without their shirts on. You know, to show how much of a man they were.

I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to getting shot with hard little pellets so I always wore long-sleeve shirts (and sometimes a t-shirt underneath). I did this because some of my kids (like the one pictured below) welcomed the opportunity to sneak up behind me and shoot me in the back, point-blank from 3 feet away.

Yeah, and that was through two layers of shirts. If they handed out medals to youth pastors for being wounded in the course of duty, I’d have quite a collection.

What are some of the crazy or dangerous things you’ve done in your youth group?

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