A Christmas present to you:

1. Service Projects That Make Middle Schoolers Shine: A Field Guide. Download this free 14-page toolbox for making the most of serving with your students.
   

A few of my favorites from 2009…some new, some classic, all a part of what’s made ministry with middle schoolers rich this year!

1. Ways to incorporate prayer with students:
   

Pray WITH…right in the moment of your conversation with a student

Prayer Partners…connecting adults & students in your church to pray with each other

Prayer Triplets…of 3 students who pray together regularly for each other and their spiritually lost friends

1. My middle schoolers’ favorite Christmas album (still)
   

Let it Snow Baby…Let it Reindeer (Relient K)

1. Favorite way to spend time with middle schoolers right now
   

I’m getting married in 9 weeks, so often I will pick a student up after school and include her in wedding shopping or other errands. The time affords plenty of conversation and relationship-building. The students actually really like being included in this part of my life, and I have more time to spend with students if I combine tasks!

This is NOT the only way I connect with them right now—but it’s freeing to remember it’s okay to incorporate students into our everyday lives.

1. Favorite youth room furniture:
   

Side table from Target ($14.99)

This lightweight, simple side table comes in several colors, is easy to assemble & move and the legs can be easily removed. (I’m using the removable legs for a teaching illustration this week!)

1. Favorite Concept
   

Kavannah: the Jewish concept of living with expectancy of God working in & around us. Bracelets serve as a great reminder!

To explore this concept and much more about following Jesus as a ministry, experience Cadre’s new Disciplemaking is Relationships workshop.

1. Favorite Half.com Specials
   

These out-of-print resources are among the most-used in my own student ministry this past year. Call them outdated if you wish, but I call them well-tested classics. Thanks to Half.com, you can still get them from resellers—for as little as 75 cents each!

Team-Building:

Building Community in Youth Groups

Youth Group Trust Builders

Character Curriculum:

Who Am I To God?

Who Am I With Others?

Five-Sense Experiences with the Trinity:

The Spirit Moves

God is Near

Christ in Me

1. Favorite non-middle school students to adapt FOR middle school:
   

Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas

Discovery your primary ways of connecting with God—like love languages for your relationship with God!

Good Sex 2.0 by Jim Hancock and Kara Powell

While this curriculum is designed for high school students, many of the optional/bonus studies and activities are great for middle school—especially if you adapt the questions.

Knowing the Bible 101 by Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz

1. Book That Captivated My Students This Year:
   

90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

This book isn’t new, but it became one of the biggest sources of “stumping” questions from students about God, theology and the afterlife.

1. Shameless Plug for My Favorite Middle School Equipping Event:
   

Here’s what another youth leader said about EQUIP this past summer:

Doing Equip with our middle schoolers this summer was a great experience for them. We joined up with some other churches in the Twin Cities area and brought a few of our middle schoolers on a mini road trip. We don't frequently do events just for middle schoolers, so I think they really enjoyed the time just for them, and we had some great conversations there about living and sharing their faith. One of our middle schoolers has been bringing 4 neighborhood friends to The Edge regularly this year, which is really fun to see.

Mark your calendars for the Minneapolis EQUIP June 25-27, 2010…or host your own!