The Right Track  Is a Bad Place to Sit It's Your Move Work Zone and High Way  At 5 min. till start "If Everyone Cared" - Nickelback. When the song's done, welcome, & introductions, make announcements. Have prayer cards @ the tables. Next Week Soda Shop Sunday - Wear 50's stuff!   Which Way Are We Moving Work Zone & High Way Begin with a large group&ldots;  Needed: red spray paint, quarters Before teenagers arrive, spray-paint red both sides of one quarter for each teenager. As students enter the meeting, give each one a painted coin. Tell them to hang onto their coins; they'll need them later. Say: Me. My. Mine. We learn those words early, and they stick with us all through life. My feelings. My rights. My view of the world. It makes sense that the Bible tells us to show compassion to the weak and oppressed. They need the help. And while it may feel like a stretch, we probably should love those who treat us poorly too. Jesus certainly did that. But God's Word instructs us to do the unthinkable: to selflessly lay aside our own rights and to consider others before ourselves ( Philippians 2:3 ). It encourages us to follow Christ's example. We're told to forgive others (Colossians 3:13 ) and to love our enemies ( Luke 6:27 ). We're told to live in a way that reflects the love of Christ. We are to substitute selflessness for selfishness, to return forgiveness for injustice, to return love for hatred: This is the power of the gospel. The kingdom of God doesn't give us the luxury of living only for ourselves or letting the same old soundtrack play in our heads.   Break into Journey Groups Moving In Work Zone & High Way Work Zone divides into 2 smaller groups. Selflessness Defined Have youth form trios.  Say: Good news! Your distant step-aunts former brother &ldots;Edna, &ldots;whom until this moment you didn't even know existed and therefore you won't miss her all that much, has left you some money in her will. It's a tough thing for Edna but a good thing for you: the money left to you came to precisely one million dollars . . . sort of. Here's the catch: If you can give away the million to three good causes within three minutes, you'll then receive two million dollars you can keep for yourself. And the second catch: You and your partners must agree on the causes and the amount of money you give each cause. The total has to be one million dollars, but you can divide up the money any way you wish. We're not looking for just silly made up causes so try coming up with at least a few real ones. Ready? Go-the clock is ticking! After three minutes have passed, ask trios/groups to announce the causes they picked and the amount of money they allocated to each cause. Say: Good job! You're generous! Now let's see if you can agree on something for which you'd lay down your life. Give the youth about three minutes to talk it over. Then ask each group to share what they came up with.   Moving On Work Zone & High Way Faith and Works Needed: paper, pencils Give each student a piece of paper and a pencil.  Say: I'd like you to write a list of good deeds you've done in the past year or two, specifically good deeds that have served someone. Maybe you went above and beyond with chores at home or maybe you participated in service projects that benefited a community. Maybe you donated money or clothing to needy people. Maybe your service was a quiet kind of service, like putting money in someone's expired parking meter or anonymously leaving an encouraging note on a friend's desk. Maybe you drug someone to a "Jesus thing" -church, youth, or just shared some Christian values with them. You've got two minutes to list as many things as possible. After two minutes, ask students to put down their pencils. Say: Time to see how many brownie points you've earned! Tally up your score as I give you some information:     - For each way you helped around the house, you get fifteen points.     - Activities that served our community-five points each.     - For each "Jesus thing" invite- fifty points.     - Things you did that served people in other parts of the state/nation/world-five points each.     - For each way you served someone without getting any recognition (until now, anyway)-twenty-five points.     - And for those of you who helped someone in another part of the world by donating a kidney, and who refused pain killers as the kidney was removed so you could share your faith with the doctor-five hundred points. For each kidney. When students have tallied their scores, ask them to get back in their trios/groups and show each other their lists and scores. Then have them add up their trio's total scores. Have trios/groups call out their totals and describe one example of a good deed each trio member listed. ASK: * What's your reaction to creating a list of good deeds? to assigning scores to the good deeds you've done? to showing your list and good-deeds score to others? * How is this like your reaction to serving others? to getting recognition for serving others? * How do the groups good-deeds lists impact what you think about them? what you think about yourself? Say: We've discovered that this group has found ways to serve others. You've accumulated quite the list of good deeds. But as valuable and important as serving others is, serving others is not all God asks.   Moving Up Work Zone  Service & Cell Phones? Say: When we talk about serving others, we're really talking about putting others' needs before our own. Authentic service involves more than just action; it involves attitude too. Would someone please volunteer to tell us the story of the "Good Samaritan"? (Luke 10:30-36)  ASK: * What do you think the motivation was for the Samaritan to serve the wounded man? * What's your motivation for serving people? * The Samaritan had no expectation of ever being repaid. When you serve others, do you expect something in return? If so, what? * Does the story of the "Good Samaritan" have anything to do with keeping your room clean? If so, How? * Does the story have anything to do with excessive cell phone chatter? How about curfew? Say: The Bible tells us that we're to serve people in need-people who need clothes, food, help, and God's love. But serving others and doing good things isn't all that God asks. We discover, however, that when we trust Christ our motivation for helping others changes from "What can I get from serving others?" to "How can I serve God by serving others?"   Moving Up High Way Selflessness Proves to Be Costly with Jubilee 2000 Request Read: LONDON, England-In the Old Testament, periodically all debts were forgiven. These "years of Jubilee" were a way of eradicating long-standing social inequities and providing a clean slate for those who for some reason had entered into debilitating debt. In the 1990s, religious leaders, political activists, and celebrities combined efforts to encourage debt forgiveness. Pope John Paul II named 2000 a Jubilee Year, and the London-based debt-relief group, Jubilee 2000, lobbied wealthy nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund to forgive the debts of developing nations. The efforts had an impact. The Group of Eight industrial nations promised to erase more than $100 billion in Third-World debt. To qualify, countries had to prove their debts were unsustainable and their economic policies sound. The first nations to benefit were Uganda and Bolivia, which each will have $1.3 billion in debt canceled. The selfless spirit of Jubilee 2000 was also evident on a smaller scale. In Ohio, a Catholic school canceled tuition for an entire year. The move followed a bishop's decision to cancel the parish's $1.4 million debt. ASK: * What's your reaction to this sort of debt-relief effort? To making selflessness part of international relations? * Have you ever set aside a debt owed to you by someone? Describe the situation. Were you selfless or self-centered in your actions? * What effect would debt forgiveness have on major U.S. banks right now? Could debt forgiveness work at any time in society today? * How do you feel when you forgive someone, give something that's undeserved but needed, or perform another selfless act? Why? * In what ways have you been the recipient of selflessness from people? from God?   Moving Out Work Zone  Me, My, Mine Trash Time Bring both WZ groups back together for this game. Say: We're going to play a game to simulate getting rid of Me, My, Mine kind of thinking. It's really simple. Everyone grab hands around the thrash can and try not to get pulled into it. The circle can spin and twist but if the can touches you in any way you're out. If the can pass between two people all the way to the outside of the circle both people are out. If you break your grip at any time both people are out. We'll pause after each elimination to give you time to re-firm your hand-holds. We'll play until one person remains.   Moving Out High Way Instant Service Project Say: Form trios and number yourselves 1, 2, 3. Each of you will take a turn sending the two other members of your trio on "instant service projects" that must meet the following guidelines.     - A project must serve at least one other member of the class.     - A project must include a word or action designed to encourage someone, such as a compliment or a back rub. A project must be able to be completed in one minute or less.     - No project can make a person doing it terribly uncomfortable (for instance, this isn't the time to bring back the "holy kiss." ( 1 Corinthians 16:20 ). If you're too uncomfortable to do the project, ask for another one. If you're a little uncomfortable, do it-service stretches us! Ones, you have one minute to come up with projects for the other two or else you get to stand and spin like a ballerina for 60 seconds. Repeat the process for the remaining members. ASK: * What were you thinking and feeling as you went on your service projects? As people served you? * Do you agree with this statement: "Doing good things isn't all God asks"? Why or why not? * Is keeping your room clean "doing good"? How could partying be considered "doing good"? How about curfew? * Do cell phones tempt you away from acting with respect to others? * How does participating in service projects in Youth, in our community, or in another state affect whether or not you can say you're a Christian?   Come back together in The Family Life Center  Closing Work Zone & High Way The Leader Closes: Sit as youth gather in a circle. Do the prayer cards - By candle light if possible Sum up the lesson Ask teenagers to take out the quarters you gave them earlier. Say: Remember your distant step-aunts former brother &ldots;Edna? In the beginning of this lesson we asked you to come up with a gesture to lay down your life, to die for a cause. It's not any easier to live for a cause. Take the quarter I gave you and hold it in your hand. It's just a quarter. It won't buy much. God asks you to live for your faith-to do the hard, selfless, servant stuff that communicates his love to others. Being selfless usually happens in small things-daily opportunities to interact with other people, your parents and friends. This week, I'm going to ask you to carry this quarter with you, wherever you keep your change as you move through your day. Maybe it's in a pocket or a purse or rattling around in your car's ashtray. Whenever you pull it out as you're fishing for a quarter, don't spend it. Instead, let it be a reminder that wherever you are at that moment, you're God's representative. Take a look around and see how could you serve others?   Let's pray. Dear Lord, bless these quarters and youth tonight and in the coming week as they go forward thinking of the many ways they can serve You and others in Your kingdom. Dear Lord I ask tonight that you use these students to change their world through selflessness. May they have the wisdom to know that the things that are hardest to do, bring the greatest rewards. Bless us in your service, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.  UMYF Benediction    Gather: Red spray painted Qtrs., paper, pencils, prayer cards, candle   EXTRA MILES Everyday Service Projects Encourage your group members to intentionally take on one or more of the following fifteen service projects. Some can be done alone, some as a group, some as a family. 1. Reach out to loners. Extend yourself to people no one really likes. Eat with them when they're sitting alone in the cafeteria; walk home from school with them; ask them to join your group when the "cool" group rejects them. When you reach out to lonely people, you're doing what God does. 2. Join in or start a food drive. There are hungry people all around you-not just in some Third-World country. Serve by organizing a canned food drive, and then take the food to a community food pantry or homeless shelter. 3. Invite someone to dinner Wednesday night. Know anyone who eats dinner alone? Invite that person (and maybe his or her brothers and sisters too) to West Heights for a meal you pay for. Maybe they'll stay for Chat Room as well. 4. Help out at church. Shock your church's leaders by volunteering to clean the church grounds, parking lot, sanctuary, and so on. Wash windows, vacuum floors, or clean up the kitchen. 5. Stop by a nursing home on a Saturday afternoon or on the way home from school. Ask a nurse to tell you which residents rarely get visitors. Then volunteer to visit those people. "Adopt" a grandmother or grandfather for a day, a week, or longer! 6. Be homeless for a day. After church on a Sunday, live in the court yard of the church with out any modern conveniences. Make a shelter from cardboard found in the trash&ldots; your only meal will be at Youth that night. 7. Clean out your closet. The clothing you've outgrown or that doesn't fit your current style isn't necessarily useless. Gather up sturdy, well-made (not the old stuff that's worn out) garments, launder them, and take them to a mission or distribution center. 8. Get involved in world missions at home. Ask your school counselors for names of young people who struggle in school because English isn't their first language. Volunteer to help with homework, or see if you can assist with their English lessons. 9. Volunteer to be a tutor. You can help someone stay in school who might otherwise drop out. Demonstrate active love by tutoring struggling students. 10. Offer homebound people a chance to get out. Find three or four hours to give; then ask your pastor for names of homebound people in your church. Offer to work in their yard or push them in their wheelchairs around the neighborhood. 11. Go on a cheap group date and give away the money you save. Get a group together and go on a cost-free group date; then calculate how much it would've cost to go on a regular date (meal, movie, popcorn, gas, and so on) and collect that amount. Then donate the money to someone in need.