The following links are items that I have read and shared through Google Reader in the last 7 days. Some will be youth work or youth ministry related, while others are of personal interest. You can view my full shared items here.
11 January 2009
UPDATE: OK, it’s obvious this post wasn’t published on a Sunday (it was a Monday). I’ve got some more work to do with the automated link posting plugins on this blog. My humble apologies!
Through the wonder that is the Disqus comments system, you can now leave a comment on this blog using your Facebook profile!
Handy for anyone who doesn’t have a profile elsewhere, and great for gaining a bit of continuity across various websites.
Just for fun, leave a comment below by signing in with your Facebook profile! (Apparently there may be a bug that stops Safari users. Try Firefox instead until it’s fixed)
Sorry about the lack of information up on the blog this past week, I’ve been a bit pre-occupied!
Due to some complications, Kirsty was induced nearly 3 weeks early which suddenly changed all our Christmas plans! Then after 3 days of induction and 20 hours of labour ending in a c-section, our daughter Hope Isabelle Jolly was born at 9:48am Christmas Morning!
We had no idea if the baby was a boy or girl and are overjoyed at how gorgeous and amazing little Hope is.
We’re currently settling in at home and getting used to being a family together which is simply amazing. After the Christmas break, my paternity leave kicks in which gives me nearly 3 full weeks of hanging out with Kirsty and Hope. I’m really looking forward to it!
So don’t expect too many more youth work related posts over the next couple of weeks. I’ll get to blogging when I can. Enjoy your new year!
Apologies for the lack of posts this week (especially after such a sustained effort) but I’ve had a nasty cold which wiped me out for a few days. I did however, manage to host the youth group’s Christmas party, and take 28 kids Ice Skating!
Today started out with the Breakfast Club’s end of term party so I was in work at 6:30am before heading over to hospital for another check up with Kirsty. Due to liver complications, Kirsty has been having regular scans and blood tests to check on the baby. Today was no exception and I’m pleased to say baby is very healthy and active with a due date of January 13th.
However, in order to ensure the liver issues don’t adversely effect the baby, the consulant told us that they will enduce Kirsty on Sunday on order to give birth Monday or Tuesday! That’s this week! BEFORE Christmas! Not really what we were expecting!
So we’ve come home a little shell shocked and paniced thinking of all the things we need to get done tomorrow (not to mention the church event I’m hosting and the dj gig I’m doing).
So if I don’t manage any more youth work related posts before Christmas, you’ll know why! I’ll keep you all updated on Jolly Junior though. 
Have a great Christmas!
At the breakfast club this morning, I was sitting next to a young girl who was chatting away to me. At one stage she turned to me and said:
“You know how when you’re 7 and then you have a birthday and then you’re 8 and then you have another birthday…”
“Yeah”, I said expectantly.
“Well I just don’t get it!” she said.
I just giggled in reply. I’m not sure if she was trying to articulte a far deeper question, or whether she really didn’t understand how aging works. It made me laugh though.
The following links are items that I have read and shared through Google Reader in the last 7 days. Some will be youth work or youth ministry related, while others are of personal interest. You can view my full shared items here.
12 December 2008 – Short news article on Child Bishops
10 December 2008 – Missions trip to Facebook!
7 December 2008 – Police join Social Networks and make friends!
7 December 2008 – A great synopsis of Andrew Root’s ‘Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry’.
This is a silly adaptation of the classic volleyball game except players must remain on their knees at all times!
Numbers: groups of around 10 or over (2 teams of equal numbers are needed).
Suitable for: ages 7 and up!
Preparation time: under 5 minutes.
Venue: large room or small hall.
Safety First: As participants are all sitting on the floor, the only risk is from over-enthusiastic individuals waving their arms around too much. Try and encourage the team to spread out and cover the court between them to avoid injury.
Equipment needed:
The game:
Set up the court by marking out two equal sized squares divided by a central line. If you have a tennis or badminton court already marked out, that is the perfect size. If you have a net, set it up between the two squares. If you don’t have a net, clearly mark a line of tape down the centre between the two.
Organise the group into two teams and have them spread out across their side of the court. The more people you have on a team, the more silly the game becomes as everyone tries to get a touch on the ball! Have every team member kneel down on the floor and explain that they are not allowed to get up. That means no running, jumping or diving – everyone must remain with their knees on the floor at all times!
You then play volleyball! The obvious aim is to get the ball to touch the floor on the opposition’s side. Every time this happens, the team gains a point. A point is also given if the opposition team knock the ball out of the court (just like in tennis).
To start, throw the beach ball onto the court and watch as the team passes it around and tries to knock it over to their opponent’s side. With large groups it is best to allow them as many touches on the ball as they want rather than the usual three-per-team. You can play until a certain score is reached, or until a given time limit is up. The winning team is the one with the most points.
Adaptation: To make it even more difficult, you can get the teams to sit on their bottoms instead of kneeling!
Tim Schmoyer over at Life In Student Ministry has unvieled his idea for free missions trips – a co-ordinated online “mission to facebook”!
The Online Missions Trip is a two week outreach campaign for teenagers and youth leaders to capitalize on the tremendous social opportunities that exist on the Internet and use it to share Christ with unsaved friends all over the world!
The ‘trip’ will be taking place early next year with youth groups encouraged to train their young people in online evangelism throughout January, and then start sharing their faith in the first two weeks of February. Dates, details and downloads are available at the brand new onlinemissionstrip.com
I think this is a really good idea! While I’m not so interested in a coordinated approach to evangelism, I believe that empowering young people to share their faith is vital and to help them do so through digital media is important. Nearly every teen I know has multiple accounts on various social networking sites, so the online missions trip can help them to better live out their faith online.
Go check it out and see what you think!
These are my youth work, youth ministry, childrens ministry and schools work links for 5th December to 9th December. For more related links, check out my links page
I’m getting quite excited about The Big Church Day Out that’s happening on 24th May 2009. Although it’s still six months away, momentum is building for the biggest cross-denominational church celebration event in the South of England!
Organised by my friend Tim, the day is taking place in the grounds of Wiston House, West Sussex and has an amazing line up of bands, artists, speakers and supporters including Delirious? (in one of their last ever UK dates), Graham Kendrick, Y Friday, Cathy Burton, Steve Chalke, Stop The Traffik, Premier, Alpha and 24-7 Prayer to name a few!
The BigChurchDayOut is an exciting new one day event focussed on gathering the church from London and the South of England. It aims to provide an environment for celebrating together that as church, we are all part of something much larger than just our own local situation, and through an exciting day of music, worship, prayer and just being together, that many people would be encouraged and inspired to continue to press in for all that God has called them to, in both their local and wider areas.
Tickets are on sale now at reduced and early bird rates, so start encouraging your church, family or youth group to go along. I’ll see you there!
My name's Jon and I write about youth work related topics. Views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of any organisations I am involved with. So why not leave a comment, send me a message or subscribe to regular updates?
