TRY THIS ONE: GAME

Group, May/Jun 2004 by Legel, Craig, Banks, Eileen, Roskam, Nathan, Pankey, Bob, Et al

BLACK LIGHT FLOOR HOCKEY TRY THIS ONE: GAME

Black lights turn your gym into a glow-in-the-dark game room.

Add a twist to your indoor hockey activities by purchasing several 48-inch shoplight fixtures from a hardware store. The black lights for these fixtures are available from discount stores or online.

Order glow-in-the-dark tape from an online Web site, such as www .monstertape.com. Use the tape to define the edges of your hockey goals and to cover the hockey puck and hockey sticks (or use fluorescent spray paint on the hockey sticks).

For the game, ask kids to wear white shirts for one team and fluorescent-colored shirts for the other team. Challenge teenagers to dress so that they glow outrageously! Turn off the lights, turn on the black lights, and play your game to some loud and crazy disco or upbeat Christian music.

CRAIG LEGEL Darlington, Wisconsin

BASKETBALL RUN

Add a new dimension to ordinary basketball by putting the basket in motion!

Form two teams, and divide your playing area in two. Have one team member from each team tape a basketball hoop to his or her back. You can purchase small, inexpensive hoops at a dollar store, or make your own from cardboard. Use a small, lightweight ball for play.

Players with baskets on their backs can run anywhere in the playing field. Other team members must defend their team's basket while trying to score at the same time. Variation: Tape a basket to the back of every player!

EILEEN BANKS Rome, New York

KRISPY KREME FUND-RAISER TRY THIS ONE: FUND-RAISER

Here's a low-effort, high-return fund-raiser that appeals to everyone's taste!

Your group can cash in on Krispy Kreme doughnuts! The doughnuts are a fundraising gold mine because they practically sell themselves. Most of the local Krispy Kreme franchises will offer three kinds of fund-raisers (prices vary by region):

* Purchase boxes of doughnuts for $3 a dozen, and sell them for $6.

* Buy cards that have an offer of "buy one dozen, get one free" (good for up to 10 dozen-three dozen per visit). You can purchase these cards for $10 and sell them for $20.

* Purchase certificates for $3 and sell them for $6, redeemable for a box of one dozen glazed doughnuts, plus $1 off a second dozen.

In order to qualify for these fund-raisers, you must fill out an application, and you must be part of a nonprofit organization.

We were able to make $300 in just a few hours selling these doughnuts, and we've heard of groups that have sold as many as 600 dozen doughnuts in less than three hours!

IMPRINTS OF JESUS TRY THIS ONE: OUTREACH

Just before the start of the school year, use this send-off activity to commission students for servant leadership.

Spread out a banner-sized sheet of white paper on the floor, and write the names of all the participants' schools in large letters. Set out dishes of tempera paint, along with towels, water, and large bowls.

Gather students around the banner, and tell them that you and the adult leaders are commissioning them to commit to serve their classmates during the upcoming school year. Explain to your young people that although the world's definition of leadership is focused on what others can do for the leader, Christ's definition of leadership is about the leader serving others. Then ask each student to dip one hand in the paint and leave a handprint on the banner near the name of his or her school. By actively placing their prints near their school's name, they're symbolically placing their imprint on the lives of their friends and classmates.

Once students have each placed a handprint on the banner, ask them to step over to the bowls and water, where you and other adult leaders can wash the paint from your students' hands, just as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples in John, chapter 13. Tell students that by serving them, you and the adult leaders are commissioning them to serve others.

THE MAZE-TRIX TRY THIS ONE: DISCUSSION STARTER

Use mazes as an object lesson on how to trust God and follow his direction.

Make two transparency copies of a standard maze. It should be a maze that doesn't have an easily identifiable solution, but it also shouldn't take too long to solve. Place two large sheets of newsprint on a wall, and use two overhead projectors to display the mazes on the newsprint. Choose two volunteers, give them markers, and see who can finish the maze first.

Turn off the projectors and ask the students to look at the lines. Ask: What are these lines like, without the mazes showing?

Do these lines look like the paths you've taken in your life? Why or why not? What purpose does the maze serve? How is following God's guidance like being led through a maze? Explain. Say something such as: Sometimes it may seem that God is leading you down a crazy, crooked path, and you can't understand where he's taking you or why. But when we rely fully on God, we can be confident that he will always lead us on a path toward a closer relationship with him.

THE GREAT SCAR-OFF TRY THIS ONE: BIBLE STUDY

Use a "battle-of-the-scars" to spark a lesson on Jesus' healing power.