Nice Parachute, Never Opened, Used Once, Slightly Stained It's Your Move Road Work and Trek Groups Get rid of the round tables. Make one long loop with long tables. Everyone sits side by side this week. Gather in the gym. Welcome, & introductions Ask for someone to make the announcements. (See if anyone knows what's going on?) Super bowl of caring and Parties - Twisted Valentines - Pancakes   Which Way Are We Moving Work Zone & High Way Begin with a large group Have You Looked at Your Parachute? It's normal and healthy for teenagers to doubt and question what they believe. Most of you are searching to find who you are and what you believe.  This session isn't able to answer all your questions and doubts, but should help you understand that having doubts is normal, even among adults. O Chute! An atheist, a plumber, a hippie, and a Christian were on a charter plane. Everything was going fine until the plumber used the restroom. While he was in there he notice that the faucet was loose. Being a plumber he couldn't resist tightening up the drip. He pulled out his trusty pliers made one turn on the loose faucet and it popped off in his hand. Water sprayed everywhere and soon was flowing out of the bathroom and into the cockpit. The water quickly shorted out the planes controls causing complete engine failure. The plane was doomed.  All hope of a safe landing was soon abandoned as the pilot runs to the emergency exit, opens the door, yells there's three left, and parachutes out of the pane.  The plane is surly going to crash so the atheist says, "yawl can pray 'bout this but I'm not wasting my time, so bye!"  He grabs a parachute and jumps. The plumber grabs a parachute and jumps saying "If I make it through this Lord I'll never charge overtime again". The Christian looks at the hippie and says "I've got faith that we'll both make it through this okay. You take the parachute, I'll be fine!" The hippie says, "You bet we will man, that first guy jumped out with my duffel bag!" Cut to the atheist. Having experienced far to many minutes of free-fall, he tries to pull the ripcord on his pack and the chute won't open! He looks for the backup chute cord, but can't find it! Now he's in a total panic. He thinks that maybe now might be a great time to get religious. He glances down to see how much time he might have left and notices a fast approaching person. He shudders for a moment thinking it must be an angel of death coming up to get an early start on his eternal torment, and then notices it's a middle-aged woman just blasting up from the ground toward him! As they get closer, the atheist decides this might be an angle coming to save him and shouts, "Hey, do you know anything about parachutes? Mine won't open!!!!!" The lady shouted back, "No, sorry. Do you know anything about gas-stoves? Mine won't light!!!"   Even if you aren't aware of it, everyone has faith. Some have faith in themselves, some in science, and some in money. Others put their faith the church of the week. Some will question their beliefs as they think about the world they live in. And they may question the beliefs of their parents or other adults in their lives. Some may be confused about their faith in God. Tonight we will discuss the concept of faith and what it means to Christians. Break into Journey Groups   Moving In Work Zone  A Little Faith Needed: Tape Start by asking for a volunteer to test his/her faith. Have the volunteers legs taped together, place a few small pieces of tape over the eyes, cross the arms in front of the chest. Have at least 6 people stand around the volunteer. Now tell him or her that they may not move their feet and must now lean gently into the arms of the people around him/her. Have the catchers push the volunteer around to each other's arms. Also have the catchers delay pushing the person for the increased scare affect. Play a few times. Note: your smart heads will want to let someone fall because it will be so funny. Try to let them know ahead of time that "It was an accident" just isn't going to cut it.   Moving In High Way Make them wonder!  Needed: White board & marker Make a list of the top 10 biggest mysteries or doubts that your kids have- things that your group wonders about. Try to make some of these include questions about how God made the world and how Jesus was God and man. Discuss:    What possible solutions or answers do you have for these?    How will you find the answers?    What's the baffling part about these mysteries? Now modify your "Wonders" list by changing the title to "Thing You Can't be Sure Of" and make a second separate list of "Things You Can be Sure Of." For example, they can be sure that the sky appears blue, that milk comes from cows, and that fire is hot. But they can't be sure of things like Was there really a flood that covered all the earth, when they'll die, or who they'll marry. Now go through both lists and put check marks next to those that we have control of as humans (for instance, "I know that I will fail if I don't study). Then star those that others have control of ("I don't know if my teacher likes me"). Finally, circle those that God is in charge of (basically everything).   Moving On Work Zone  Walk of Faith Needed: a sturdy board at least 6 foot long and 4 inches wide (a 4x4 works best) tape Set up the room so that everyone can see the post is set up between two tables. Ask for at least three volunteers to be blindfolded and guided. Assign one guide to each volunteer and send them down the hall to get a drink from the drinking fountain. As they return, have one at a time come in to the room. Everyone should gather around the blindfolded person and lift him or her only by the legs and feet as high as possible (sponsors are spotters). Have others stand around to help hold a hand and steady the volunteer. Here's the sneaky part. Let everyone else in on the trick ahead of time. Secretly move the post onto the floor. As the volunteer is lifted into the air the lifters squat down and place the volunteers feet on the board. The hand holders keep the volunteers hands clear of the heads so that they do not realize where they are. The helpers then kneel as if they are much lower than the volunteer and begin to help the person across. Then they suddenly pull their hands away and leave the volunteer on the board and yell "Faith Walk." Repeat for the other two. Break into as many small groups as sponsors allow. Ask:     What do you think the game we just played had to do with faith?    What made it scary?    How do you think the volunteers felt knowing that they had no control over their situations?    What is hard about believing in something when you can't see?    Finally, what do you think faith is? Is it only believing in God or can you have faith in other things, like people or events?   Moving On High Way The Discussion Use the following list. Some kids won't admit their doubts in any of these areas. Go down the list and ask if any have wondered about each one. If they express no doubts, pressure them a little. For example, say something like, "Since you're so sure about this one, maybe you can help me. Tell me what makes you so certain." If they're being honest, they'll admit to having serious doubts about most of these issues. What do you sometimes wonder about?    If God exists    If the devil exists    If hell is really fiery    If there really is a heaven    If God answers my prayers    If the theory of evolution and creation are the same    If Jesus actually rose from the dead    If there are angels    If Jesus is God and vice versa    The story of Jonah and the whale   Moving Up Work Zone  Make them wonder!  Ask for someone to come up with one of the biggest mysteries or doubts they have. Choose one. Discuss:    What possible solutions or answers do you have?    How will you find the answers?    What's the baffling part about these mysteries? Try a few more and discuss.   Moving Up High Way Doubt If people have doubts and questions about God, what should they do?    Ignore their doubts    Stop doubting and trust God    Get a cheeseburger    Repent    Look on the Internet    Pray    Turn to Buddhism    Read the Bible    Feel guilty    Share my doubts with another Christian    Share them with a non-Christian friend    Blame my doubts on evil    Ignore them    Get others to doubt the same things    Assume I'm too ignorant to understand everything    Talk to God about my doubts   Moving Out Work Zone & High Way Doubt is Normal Doubt is almost a prerequisite for developing a strong faith-no faith is required if you are absolutely sure about something. Decide which of the following statements is true or false    Doubts about God are normal.    Men and women of the Bible never doubted God.    If a person has doubts, then he has no faith.    Doubts about God are normal.    God understands and accepts my doubts.    Doubting means a person is losing faith.    If you have no doubts, then you have no faith.    If left alone and unrecognized, doubt will become disbelief. Use this to communicate that doubt is normal for all of us. Reinforce the idea that God won't ever reject us-not even for doubting. When the youth begin to share some of their doubts, don't feel pressured to give all the answers. The purpose of this is to encourage the kids to talk about their doubts and questions.    What is your biggest doubt?    How do you handle doubt?    What is the most common answer?    What is the most common reaction of teenagers?   Come back together in the FLC   Closing Work Zone & High Way The Leader Closes: Sit in a circle, use candle light and ask for any prayer concerns. Remain Seated Pray Say: Remember the "Nice Parachute, Never Opened, Used Once", the parachute may not have worked correctly, it could have been packed wrong, it may not have been a parachute at all. Let's say you get a chance to buy that chute. Will you just put it on and jump or will you take it apart first and have a look? Doubts are normal and are necessary. Wondering and doubting doesn't mean that you don't have faith-it isn't a sin. But it can weaken your faith in God. Save your big doubts for God himself, because they may never be answered in this life. We may not have all the answers, but God will reveal all truth to us in His time. You are challenged to stretch your minds and your faith. Have a look first then make that jump and believe.  Many people talk about faith in terms of belief. They believe that there is a God or they believe that you should go to church. But is simply believing that faith the kind of faith God wants? There isn't anything wrong with a belief that focuses on information. But there is another kind of faith-a faith that believes above all doubt. It is based on facts, but runs deeper than mere knowledge. It focuses on a relationship with God. You should understand that God doesn't expect you to walk around lost and in the dark-the Bible provides you with the facts for your faith. But you still must believe in those facts to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.     UMYF Benediction and turn out in to the world! Don't forget, sell those pancake tickets.