Exclusive Getaways 8:00 - 10:00 Open Gym and Music 10:00 - 10:30 Fitting in!  Watch "The Germaine Chronicles" A short clip about a girls struggle to fit in. Activity: Youth will learn that Jesus took risks to build relationships with us and wasn't worried about "fitting in" with those around him. Supplies: paper, pens or pencils, envelops, stamps, Bibles  Before the Study: Create a list of outrageous social norms, and make one photocopy for each person in your group. Label the lists, "Wobble Wobble Cultural Norms." Use the following ideas or come up with your own: ·You give another person a friendly greeting by touching your left elbow to his or her left elbow. ·Greeting another person with your right elbow is considered rude. ·Shaking someone's hand is a way to pick a fight with that person. ·Say yes by putting your hands under your armpits and flapping your "wings" like a bird. ·Say no by clapping your hands. ·The words "hi" and "hello" mean "I don't like you." When someone laughs at you, it's considered the ultimate insult. ·When you feel insulted by someone, you turn your back on him or her and ignore that person until he or she stops insulting you. When in Wobble, Wobble Ask for two volunteers to leave the room. Tell the rest of the teenagers that they're now inhabitants of a strange island country called Wobble Wobble. Instruct them to relate to one another according to the social customs and standards of the island's culture. Give each person a photocopy of the Wobble Wobble Cultural Norms list. Give them a few minutes to study their lists. In the meantime, leave the room and tell your volunteers that they've been shipwrecked on a strange, little-known island country called Wobble Wobble. Tell them that they're tired, hungry, cold, wet, and afraid-and they don't know much about the inhabitants of Wobble Wobble. Tell them to be careful not to insult the inhabitants but to try to fit in so they can take shelter and perhaps get food and dry clothing. Send your volunteers back into the meeting room, instructing them to approach the islanders and try to make friends with them. When teenagers have interacted for several minutes, call an end to the experience. ASK: ·Island inhabitants, what was it like to follow the cultural norms of your society, knowing that the "newcomers" couldn't understand your customs? ·Volunteers, what was it like to try to understand this society, to fit in, and to try to get your needs met? ·Did you find yourself doing crazy things to try to fit in? If so, what? ·How did you feel when you failed to communicate with others?  ·How was this experience like the experiences we often have when we're trying to gain acceptance from certain people or groups of people? ·Why do you think we try so hard to be acceptable to others? SAY: Sometimes our fear of rejection can cause us to do crazy things to try to gain acceptance from others. When we do experience rejection, it can motivate us to withdraw from other people, determining not to risk rejection again. 10:30 - 11:00 Name Whomp  Form a seated circle and have everyone introduce themselves. One person is "it" and stands in the middle of the circle. The person that is "it" wields a "whomper" of some sort; examples are a rolled up newspaper, towel, or Nerf bat. "It" starts the game by calling out a seated person's name. That person must call out another seated person's name before "It" can whomp the first person on the knee. The object for the seated player is to quickly recall and call out another player's name prior to being whomped. If the seated player fails, he becomes "It". Variations are for the players to choose to be animals, states, cars, etc. 11:00 - 12:00 Group Activity Steal the Gold Like steal the bacon - This is a game that combines rambunctious team spirit and individual challenge: Teams of would-be thieves try to steal the coveted "Gold" out from under their opponents' noses and make it home without being tagged. Divide into two large and equal teams. Decide how to divide the church into two areas. Each team will have a designated "Pile of gold." Each team has five minutes to hide their gold in their area. All gold must be visible, not inside, under, behind or otherwise not in common sight. It will be dark so many good places should be easily found.  The idea is to get the gold back to your home area and not be tagged by any other opponent. If the thief makes it home, his or her team receives points. The winning team must find the Youth Dude and claim their points by verifying they have the gold. The opposing team then must recover their bacon and go hide it again. When a player is tagged, they must go to jail and remain until the gold is successfully recovered or their team frees them. The first large team to win 10 points wins. 12:00 - 12:30 Open Gym and Music Or Win Exclusive Getaway The winning team or group gets to go to one of 3 specific area of the church and devour the "GOOD" snacks and drinks in comfort. The rest of the youth hang in the gym and get a few morsels. 12:30 - 1:00 Group Activity Casting Call Gather everyone back together and pin a piece of paper to his or her back.  The paper contains the name of a famous person.  By asking questions which can only be answered with "Yes" or "No" such as "Am I still alive?", "Am I fictional?", etc. the person has to guess their name.  Successful guessers may ask again. Play again using only the names of the people in the group - Each person has someone elses name on his or her back. 1:00 - 1:30 Group Activity 4 On The Couch Place chairs in a circle making a couch part of the circle. Place 2 gals and 2 guys on couch and the rest of the people in the chairs. One chair must remain open. Have every one write their name on a piece of paper. Place all the piece of papers in a basket. Go around the room have everyone pick out one of the pieces of paper. (They cannot hold their own name) they must not let anyone know whose name they have. The person to the left of the empty chair begins by calling out someone's name. The person who is holding that name must move from their seat to the empty seat. The person who called out the name and the person who moved to the empty chairs trade the papers with names on it. Then who ever is next to the new empty seat calls a name out, etc. The point of the game is for the guys to get all guys on the couch and the girls to get all girls on the couch. 1:30 - 2:00 Open Gym and Music Or Win Exclusive Getaway 2:00 - 2:30 Group Learning Activity At the Bursting Point Students use balloons to illustrate how stress can affect their lives. Supplies: Bibles, 1 balloon and 1 thumbtack or safety pin for every 2 students Ask teenagers to form pairs, and give each pair a balloon. Explain that one partner should list aloud anything in his or her life that causes stress, such as college admission tests, parents, dating, or sports. For every item named, the other partner should blow a little more air into the balloon. Some pairs will list so many things that the balloon will actually burst. Others may elect to stop before that happens. When all of the groups have exhausted their ideas, distribute thumbtacks to the groups that still have intact balloons, and tell them to pop the balloons, symbolically releasing their stresses. Ask: ·Do you ever feel like you're going to explode from stress? If so, when? ·What are the major stress factors in your life?  ·How do you deal with them?  Read Psalm 94:19.  Ask: ·Does God want you to be stressed out? Why or why not? ·How can you give your stress to God and enjoy his consolation?  2:30 - 3:30 Open Gym and Music Pizza & Pop 3:30-4:00 Quick Cliques  Say: When I call out a description, find two other people who share that thing in common with you. For example, if I call out, "Same month of birth," try to find two people born in the same month as you. Each group must have exactly three members. Play several rounds of the game, calling out things such as "same eye color," "go to the same school," "same middle initial," and so on. Then ask:  ·How was this activity like how groups are formed at your school? ·Why did some people get left out when the groups formed?  ·Do people sometimes get left out of groups at school?  Say: There's nothing wrong with hanging around people you have things in common with. But there's more to making good friendships than that. Quick Cliques II Summary: Teams will race to create lists of things that all the team members have in common. Supplies: You'll need paper and pencils. Form equal-sized trios. Give each team a sheet of paper and a pencil. Tell teams their challenge is to list everything they can think of that all team members have in common. For example, team members might all attend the same school; prefer the same kind of music, or like the same brand of tennis shoes. The only rule is that they can't list similar body parts, such as "We all have two arms, a brain, and a nose." Tell teams they have three minutes to create their lists, so they need to work quickly. To add to the urgency and excitement of the game, inform teams when there's one minute as well as 30 seconds remaining. When time is up, find out which team has the longest list and ask team members to read the similarities they listed. Then ask teams who had similarities not already listed to share them. To conclude, have the entire group discuss the following questions. Ask: ·How easy was it to discover something in common with another team member? with every team member? ·What does this reveal about the extent to which we're alike? the ways in which we're all different? ·How can our similarities draw us closer together? How can our differences help us grow closer? Variation Idea (time filler): Challenge teams to list things members don't have in common - things that make each person unique. For example, kids may have been born in different states, might go to different schools, or might like different music. You might also challenge your entire youth group to list as many things as it can that all members have in common. 4:00 - 5:00 Group Contest The Hunt Gather the youth in the Youth Center. Divide into four teams. Then explain the rules of The Hunt, and then pass out the first clue. Each team will have to determine the clue from each Bible verse. They will all be going in different directions so leave the other clues that do not belong to you alone, someone could take your clue before your get to their destination. Take only your clue! They will be clearly numbered. No swapping teams. No talking to other teams. No cheating of any kind!   (The verses below somehow pointed to rooms in the church where other clues were hidden) Jhn 19:25 So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Mag'dalene. (The Cross in the Sanctuary) Luk 22:12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready." (The only room in the church on above all the rest.) Psa 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see light. (One of the drinking fountains in the gym where the lights were always on.) Neh 8:4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden pulpit which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithi'ah, Shema, Anai'ah, Uri'ah, Hilki'ah, and Ma-asei'ah on his right hand; and Pedai'ah, Mish'a-el, Malchi'jah, Hashum, Hash-bad'danah, Zechari'ah, and Meshul'lam on his left hand. (The pulpit.) Psa 6:6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. (The sleeping room couches.)  2Sa 2:13 And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. (At the time we were doing this there was a kiddy pool in one of the classrooms for a Sunday school lesson.) 1Cr 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (In Fellowship Hall) 5:00 - 5:30 Open Gym and Music Or Win Exclusive Getaway We had a short discussion about including others, cliques, and fitting in, buy the time we had finished the winning group invited everyone to the last Exclusive Getaway! 5:30 - 7:30 Underground Church UNDERGROUND CHURCH has been a tradition for the youth of West Heights for many years.  By mixing this exciting game of tag-hide-and-go-seek-sardines-in-the-dark, a memorable experience should take place and with any luck each time they play it, from here on, it will have a deeper meaning.  The Game Players are; Underground Church, Followers, or Guards. There is one "Church" (a group of three).  The church is given a set amount of time to go and hide.  The Church will become the Guards for the next round. There are "Guards" (number depends on the size of the "Church").  The Guards try to keep the church from growing.  If a Guard tags a follower the Guard and the follower must go to the jail.  The follower must remain in jail until at least three others are caught.  After the third follower is caught and brought to jail the group of followers is free to leave the jail after the count of 50. The "Followers" try to find the Underground Church without being tagged by the Guards or giving away where the Church is.  If a Guard finds the Church the round is over.  But, if the Church has 7 members it take 2 Guards to end the round.  If the church has 12 members it will take all three Guards to end the round.  Guards may not yell for other Guards, they must go and find them.  During the time the out numbered guards are away gathering together, the church may move to a new hiding place.  Once the church reaches 17 the round is over and the UNDERGROUND CHURCH has survived! 7:30 - 8:00 Get Your Stuff and Get!