Bring it together: about 7:15pm
"Hey, glad to see you all here. Welcome to ???????

Introduce new people: give them a blow-pop, skittles, or snickers bar, etc.

Youth Challenge: (an up front game/crowdbreaker) Have two students come up and do some challenge against each other. (Chubby bunnies, dollar hop, baby food eating contest, burp contest, etc. Be creative!!! Announcements: upcoming activities, events

Games:

"The Friendship Game"
This game is played like the game show "The Newlywed Game". Pick four pairs of kids to be the contestants. The best mix is: 2 guys 2 girls guy/girl friends dating guy/girl. This way you have four different kinds of friendships represented. If not , do your best with what you have. Designate one person from each pair as "A" and the other as "B". Have staff person take "A's" out of the room so they cannot hear. Ask the "A" questions and have a staff person write down each answer on a full sheet of paper and order in such a way as to allow person to pick up each answer in succession from a face down position. Bring back the "B's" and ask them the questions. When you finish (time-permitting), take the "B's" out of the room and do the same thing.

NOTE: Make sure you word the questions correctly, (IE. "What did your friend say you would say to the following question?") Scoring is any way you wish. The first questions can be worth a smaller # of points and the later questions have a larger # of points. Whoever has the most total points at the end wins. You can think of a fun prize if you wish.

1. What will your friends say is their favorite thing to do for fun?

2. What will you friend say is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you both together?

3. What will your friend say best describes your friendship?

4. What will your friend say is the most important?

1. What will your friend say is your best "stupid human trick"?

2. What will your friend say they value most about you?

3. How will your friend say they handle conflict? Like a . . .

4. What will your friend say destroys friendships the most?

Small Groups
1. Think of someone who is a friend... put that person in your mind... no what qualities do you like about that friend?
2. What are some benefits of friendship?
3. Do some people seek friendship for the wrong reasons?
4. What are some of those reasons?
5. What are right reasons?
6. Think of your friends right now? What would cause them to stop being your friend?
7. What are you willing to sacrifice to build a friendship?
8. Can someone you don't know show you friendship qualities? (e.g.. someone helps you if you were hurt, staff people the first time you met them, a kid gets a scholarship from a person that he doesn't know)

Wrap up:
You may want to start with a story of friends giving sacrifice- a personal story is great. The Bible says something really cool about friendship. (John 15:12,13)It says ". . . Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Jesus shows us what true friendship is. It is measured by the degree of sacrifice. When we enter into a relationship to God through Jesus, we become his friend. He has already proven the depth of his commitment of friendship with us by paying the price for our rebelling against Him. He gave everything He had to give when he sacrificed His life for us.

Through a relationship with God we see the best example ever of what a true friend is and how we too can sacrifice our lives daily in little ways not just by being willing to die for someone. Our friendship with God shows through in our loving others the way God loves us.