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A Gaggle?


Take Your Pick…Holidays

So my good friends at YouthWorker sent me a gaggle of goodies. That’s right, a gaggle! Among the loot was a DVD titled Take Your Pick…Holidays. Produced by Jim Hancock, it has videos, study guides and message outlines for 6 sessions based on….wait for it….the holidays!

This resource is handy because Jim doesn’t stick with the basics and when he does, the vantage point is not the mundane. Everything comes complete on 1 DVD, with a PDF of the leader’s guide, which I’m sure the technologically proficient could transfer to their tablet of choice for ease of use.

This particular resource will be good for youth workers who don’t simply want talking heads or generic videos. Se the leader’s guide to create your meeting or craft the night and plug and play the video. This is a great resource.

Group’s Emergency Response Handbook

If you’re in youth ministry for longer than 15 minutes, ten chances are you will experience a teen in crisis. I’m not just talking about middle school girl crisis which comes and goes like weird outfits from Lady Gaga. This book covers everything from suicide intervention to crisis pregnancy, academic problems to gender issues.

This won’t make you a trained counselor, but you’re going to feel like you could be. Each section comes with counseling background, as well as tips and ideas. This is a book you’ll want to read early and often in ministry. I like it so much I have a copy on my Kindle. Crisis doesn’t come planned, so preparation is key here.

Obviously this is for use with teens in crisis, so one idea would be to make each section a leadership training time and talk through your leader’s specific skills for your setting and group. And just for clarification, just because you aren’t a middle school girl anymore, or in my case, never were, don’t assume their grief isn’t a crisis. This book should be in the hands of every youth worker. 

You can find both of these resources at www.youthworker.com  
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