A captivating, skillfully chosen illustration communicates more, is remembered longer, and has greater impact than thousands of words that offer abstract truth but tell no story. Jesus knew the value of story. He consistently sprinkled his talks with parables, stories, and illustrations to drive home the point He was making. In the best-selling tradition of Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks and More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, comes a third volume of lively, effective illustrations, stories, parables, and anecdotes, compiled by veteran youth worker Wayne Rice. Some will make listeners laugh, some will make them cry, and all of them will make kids think. This all-new collection of illustrations comes from the personal files of many of today’s most popular youth speakers. Guaranteed teenager friendly, Still More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks will give a youth minister fresh ways to help kids understand and apply important truths for their lives.

The 100 illustrations in this book are some of the hottest ever used -- short stories, parables, humorous anecdotes--all of them guaranteed to deliver the truth of God's Word in a way that young people can understand and remember.

This outstanding resource contains 40 outlines for individual youth talks and contains suggestions for bringing talks and youth sermons to life--illustrations, object lessons, video clip suggestions, music suggestions and more.

A first-of-its-kind study of Protestant youth ministers reveals the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today’s youth workers.Of the 7,000 youth workers assembled in 1996 under Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, a sample of 2,130 full-time youth ministers from dozens of Protestant denominations and parachurch organizations answered a battery of exhaustive, deliberate questions covering:What they liked best about youth ministryWhat particularly pleased them in their work with youthWhat they found most encouraging or discouragingTheir biggest obstacle to an effective youth ministryTheir biggest concern in youth ministryTheir answers revealed a dedicated group of professionals, concerned a out the students in their ministries, but troubled with a variety of perplexing issues. And their answers form the backbone of Youth Ministry That Transforms, a comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking study (funded by the Lilly Endowment) focusing on the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today’s youth workers.Spearheaded by Merton Strommen--one of America’s most exemplary and influential thinkers and authors in youth and family ministry--the research-writing team is joined by Karen E. Jones and Dave Rahn of Huntington (Indiana) College’s Link Institute for Faithful and Effective Youth Ministry, and acknowledged leader in the task of undergirding youth ministry with a research base. These three deliver thorough analysis and sound interpretation regarding the state of youth ministry at the dawn of the 21st century.Youth Ministry That Transforms belongs on the desks and in the classrooms of all who are concerned with this developing profession, including denominational and parachurch leadership, professors, youth ministry students, and thoughtful youth workers themselves. It is also an insightful resource for any who want to understand youth ministers and their profession: senior pastors, executive pastors, and other individuals and committees charged with hiring and supervising youth workers.

Does your youth group suffer from the "silent complex"? Need help to get them talking about what's really important? Would you like to be a more effective discussion leader? Then look no further! Get 'Em Talking gives you 104 field-tested ideas that will get your kids talking about topics like . . . Rock Music - Dating - Serving God - Death - Friendship - Peer Pressure - Anger - Drugs and Alcohol - Gossip - Family - Parents - The Church - Values - Faith - Cheating - Jesus . . . and many more! Get 'Em Talking is the perfect resource for anyone who leads discussions. You'll glean the insights of two of the nation's most experienced youth professionals on what makes discussion groups tick, how to get a good discussion started, what to do when problems hit, and much more. Learn How to Effectively Use Discussion Techniques Like: - No-risk Discussions - Rug Discussions - "If" Surveys - Yarn-Sharing Experiences - Relay Discussions - Tape Talk - Groupers - Continuum Discussions -- Get 'Em Talking will quickly become an indispensable part of your youth ministry resource library. Whenever you need a great discussion-starting idea, just reach for Get 'Em Talking!

Start Discussions That Matter to Your High Schoolers About God. About themselves, their, beliefs, their questions, their lives.[Burst: More than a quarter-million copies sold in this series!]More High School TalkSheets—Updated! contains the same kind of provocative, compelling, discussion-starting questions that are hallmarks of the best-selling TalkSheets series—now updated for new-millennium high schoolers. Here are 50 more creative discussions that focus on relevant, real-life topics:The FutureDeathPrioritiesAIDSHeaven & HellPremarital SexPrayerKnowing GodHomosexualityMaterialism & Consumerism. . . and 40 more subjects of perennial interest to teenagers.TalkSheets are convenient, effective one-page reproducible handouts with intriguing questions that will get churched kids and unchurched kids alike talking and thinking about the Bible—and how its principles affect their daily lives.Use TalkSheets to launch your own lesson—or use them as stand-alone Bible studies. Each TalkSheet comes with detailed information and suggestions for discussion leaders: Bible references galore, Internet resources, further group exploration, and activities to pursue during and after the meeting.More High School TalkSheets—Updated! is the perfect discussion-starting resource for youth meetings, small groups and cell groups, Sunday school, and camps and retreats.

If you ate up the previous two best-selling volumes of Drama, Skits, & Sketches, you’re gonna really dig this next batch of 54 brand-new, youth group-tested thespian exercises! With the help of the scenarios in Drama, Skits, & Sketches 3, you can discuss important issues with pizzazz . . . present Bible stories with humor . . . and add serious significance to your lessons. Use them any way you’d like--whether as fun, informal, no-prep reader’s theater or as guides for seriously polished performances!SCRIPTURE SKETCHES Designed to supplement your Bible teaching--and add flesh and bones to already powerful Bible stories--your students will love acting out scenarios such as "Community Kitchen," "Recipe for a Quiet Time," and "As the Cookie Crumbles: The Search for Fig-nificance." (And we’ve provided an index that lists scripts according to Bible reference--quite the handy tool as you prepare specific lessons!)CONTEMPORARY SKETCHES These 21st-century skits will hit your kids where they live, using terms, imagery, and situations they’re intimately familiar with. Looking to beef up a topic for the evening--or even add some spice to announcements? Try on "Can O’ Blame," "Backward Lip Sync Contest," and "American Master" for size.TV TAKEOFFS These humorous sketches based on television programs are great for lively discussion starters or as openers at camps and conferences.TIMES OF CRISIS Here are scripts that deal with tough issues and tough times. And while many discuss crisis in a lighthearted manner, their themes will grab your students’ attention and prepare them for some excellent dialog.MONOLOGS Time for one kid in your group to shine! These scripts require little or no costumes or props, but they can be as powerful as an ensemble cast’s three-act play!Plenty of skits and sketches here--serious, spiritual, educational, and humorous--to keep your group learning and having fun for months. Drama, Skits, & Sketches 3 is perfect for youth leaders, camp counselors, Sunday school teachers, and recreation directors!

Contains 75 more clips from recent movies you can use to illustrate topics you teach on all the time--with summaries of the movie and the clip, start-stop times, Scripture references for Bible study, and discussion-starting questions to provoke discussions on subjects that matter to today's adolescents.

Just what small group leaders need to get their youth started in a meaningful discussion. This flexible and adaptable resource for youth workers contains 600 questions including 50 complete Bible studies specifically designed to help groups get acquainted, get deep, get spiritual, get into topics, and get into the Word. Leader’s hints, exercise options, and fun, helpful tips are included.Features include: * 600 ready-to-go small group questions for equipping small group leaders* Perfect for youth workers, camp counselors, Sunday school teachers, student leaders, or volunteers* Leader’s hints, exercise options, fun and helpful tips* Flexible and adaptable--ideal for both junior high and high school groups

Cultivate Intimacy and Honesty in Your Youth Ministry’s Small Groups Here are 31 small-group meetings about--well, small groups. After all, the kind of honest sharing, perceptive silence, compassionate boldness, and mutual growth that are the marks of an effective and attractive small group don’t always come naturally. With the complete sessions in Talking the Walk--all of them customized precisely for small groups--—you can lead your small group of teenagers from just getting comfortable with kids they don’t usually hang with, to talking honestly, listening carefully, and understanding themselves and each other. The first five meetings are a gradual, gentle introduction to the idea of communication, confidences, and listening skills--the mechanics and heart of small-group dynamics--then on to more than two dozen topical meetings about issues that matter most to adolescents: how to face life’s tensions; self esteem; change; sexuality; giving and receiving love; clarifying future goals; friends; family; forgiveness; diversity; conflict; moods; priorities--and more, all of them based in Bible passages . . . appropriate for mixed groups of churched and unchurched kids . . . and each session with more than enough creative and quirky ideas, so you can select those that best fit your style and your small group’s temperament. Perfect for outreach and evangelism groups, discipleship groups, Sunday school, midweek cell groups--any time you want small groups of your students to grow together in community, in intimacy, in faith. (Previously published as Honest to God) 31 sessions.