Written by Andy Davenport.
Training your Capernaum friends to lead in their ministry is crucial. We should view them as the leaders who will one day replace us. Here are a few thoughts and ideas on why and how you can begin to make this an essential part of your ministry.
Nuggets to help your friends succeed up front
- Start by treating club planning like you would a typical club
- Focus on your friends natural talents
- Help them discover their gifts by helping them get outside their box
- Let them have a hand in picking the songs, character names, dance moves
- Costuming is key
- Teach them to celebrate everyone
- Make their disability a strength
- Come prepared – Many can’t improvise well
- Walk through EVERY step with them
- Teach them how to get the crowd involved
- Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.
- Explain the WHY
Ways to bring your friends up front at club
- Leading singing
- Assist with club talk
- Giving club talk
- Running games/mixers
- Giving announcements with you
- Hand out prizes
- Raffle person
- Lead shoutouts
- Lead 30 second dance party
- Melodrama
- Scores of the Week
- Banana for the “Banana Song”
Top 10 excuses you make to keep from putting your friends up front?
- “I’m not creative”
- “My friends aren’t funny”
- “I’m not funny”
- “We only have 5 kids at our club”
- “But I’m not Sean Mann”
- “No one can understand what they are saying”
- “Everyone else will want to be up front”
- “We don’t play games at our club”
- “It will take so much longer”
- “I don’t know how to put them up front”
Character Ideas
- Dancing Janitors: Fresh and Clean
- Toni and Tonii: Coming at you unplugged, uneducated and totally unrehearsed. Oooooh, baby baby!
- Coaches: Bring it in. 1,2,3 Whammy!
- Roller Coaster Operators: They lead the crowd in acting out a roller coaster ride
- Extreme Walkers (Rollers): (Video) Make video during the week doing “extreme” walking moves
- (skateboard moves without the skateboard). Give funny names to tricks. “Stick It or Miss It”
- Misdirection (in lieu of One Direction): Let’s be honest, this is just another chance to dance
- Game Show Hosts: From Timbuktu to Kalamazoo, we play the games that make you go WOOOOO, so if your games get boo-ed, you’re gonna call who?
- Magician: Knock down the wall, poke your head thru the ring, cracker disappear
- P90Owen: Basically, dance along with Owen until you pass out
- Referizzles: Referizzles from Capernaum-izzle and our games are off the hizzle!
- Host “Sink or Float”: (Video) Dropping things in a pool and the crowd guesses if it will sink or float
- Good Morning Young Life: (Video) Wake up kids dressed in costumes and ask them funny questions
This post first appeared on YL Capernaum Everywhere.
