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Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry Tuesday, December 20, 2005
December 20, 2005 My 10 year old tapped my elbow last week and looked up at me with her big blue eyes, "Can we have a birthday party for Jesus?" Every year my son (12) and two daughters (8 and 10) impress me with their perspective of Christmas?" One year they looked through the WORLD VISION catalogue and emptied out piggy banks, scraping enough to buy a goat for a family across the globe. Last year they thought it would be fun to go to the local Union Gospel Mission as a family on Christmas Eve. I can still see the expression on the face of my 7-year-old (now 8) as she served mashed potatoes to homeless families in the small shelter. This year we met in our living room once again to discuss what to do for Jesus' birthday. We had recently been challenged by a message at church from my friend Matt Furby (one of the freelance writers for THE SOURCE). His message challenged us to go out of our way this year to just adore the King. (a great message idea you can use) In Matthew, Chapter 2, we read the story of three Magi that traveled from the East to worship the baby King Jesus. Think about that word "travel." When I travel to go speak across the country, it takes me a day of flying and driving to get to my location. I'll speak for a weekend, then I'll fly and drive again just to get home. Some trips take 2 days of travel alone just to speak. I am always frustrated that a four day trip sometimes only allows two days of ministering. I even try to fill those travel days with work on my laptop or studies. Think about travel two thousand years ago. No jets. No cars. No laptops. Just camels, donkeys and a good pair of sandals. My guess is that travel took a little more than two days out of their schedule. These three magi went OUT OF THEIR WAY in a way that we can't even understand today... just to worship the baby King Jesus. What are you going to do this year to go out of the way and worship the baby Jesus? That was the question at hand in our family meeting. My daughter suggested something. "Why don't we just take a day and 'adore' the king. Why don't we prepare gifts for him and have a party for Him?" We all agreed. This week, we're taking some time one day to just go out of our way to worship Him. No shopping, no presents, no making Christmas cookies during this time... just focusing on adoring Him. It's marked on the calendar. My daughters are preparing a play. My son is writing a poem. And we all have been praying each day about what we can give to the baby Jesus this year. My wife is in 
charge of finding a charity that needs help and each family member (even my 8 year old) is
bringing money to the
"Jesus party" to give to this fund. It is exciting to know that all gifts to "the least of our brethren" are
really gifts to Him. ("The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40, NIV)Let's challenge the kids we work with and our families to "go out of their way" this year to just worship and adore the King. Merry Christmas, Jonathan McKee President TheSourceforYouthMinistry.com
Our last EZINE included a listing of a bunch of the Christmas ideas available on our web site. Don't miss some of these great activities and discussion starters! Every year around this time I receive emails asking me, "Do you have any creative Christmas games?" "Do you have any fun Christmas activities?" You're in luck! We have a bunch. My favorite is THE GRINCH discussion starter. This video clip idea kicks off some great discussion about reaching out to others this Christmas Season. We have numerous other ideas on our web page. Check em' out!
Christmas Tree Scramble (the example written out above) Pop on our GAMES & ICEBREAKERS page and click on ANYWHERE GAMES. Then scroll down to:
Christmas: Dueling Carolers Pop on our GAMES & ICEBREAKERS page and click on the UPFRONT GAMES page. Then scroll to:
Pop on our GAMES & ICEBREAKERS page and click on the SICK AND TWISTED GAMES page. Then scroll to:
Pop on our GAMES & ICEBREAKERS page and click on the AUDIENCE GAMES page. Then scroll to:
Christmas Poem Mad Lib Christmas Quiz Pop on our GAMES & ICEBREAKERS page and click on the GAMES WITH A POINT page. Then scroll to:
Pop on our STUPID SKITS page. Then scroll to:
Pop on our VIDEO CLIP IDEAS page. Then scroll down to the topic of "Christmas" and click on... Pop on our CURRICULUM & JUMPSTARTERS page. Then click on GROWTH/DISCIPLESHIP AGENDAS. Then scroll down to: www.TheSource4YM.com
Looking for some movies to watch this Christmas Break? Narnia is the film to see. If you haven't heard, the film is in its second week since its release and it's already broke 100 million. If this keeps up, it will probably secure a green light for the sequels. CLICK HERE for my two cents on the film. Some great films have also been released on DVD this week and the few weeks prior. But there are some films that you'll want to miss... films that unfortunately, most of our kids WON'T be missing. Check out Jonathan's two cents on his MOVIE REVIEWS page. CLICK HERE
Looking for the perfectChristmas gift for your volunteers, interns or staff? 
And you know how much we love to give things away... so we're giving
away new Bibles with every purchase-the "How to Find God" NLT New Believers Bible from the best
place to order Bibles online: Bibles at Cost. We'll give you one of these Bibles for each book
you order. If you order 2 six packs... then you get 12 free Bibles. If you order 2 books, you
get 2 free Bibles.AND GET THESE FREE BIBLES "Bibles at Cost" offers these Bibles and more for prices you just can't beat. These Bibles retail for $7.99 each, but Bibles at Cost sells them for just $2.39 each or by the caselot. If you ever want to order Bibles, just check out www.Biblesatcost.com for details! Delivered free via e-mail to subscribers each week. We encourage you to distribute this newsletter freely and ask only that you not change its contents. HAVE YOU MISSED PAST "EZINE" ARTICLES? CLICK HERE FOR JONATHAN'S "EZINE" ARCHIVES And for more FREE resources and ideas ... go to THE SOURCE www.TheSource4YM.com Copyright ©2005 The Source for Youth Ministry All rights reserved. |
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 LAST CHANCE TO GET FREE DVD WITH THIS NEW BOOK!   CLICK HERE FOR MORE  |
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