YouthMAX Facilitator Preparation Materials
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Manuals
Icebreakers
Topics for Discussion
Inspirational Quotes
Games/Activities
Videos
Discussion Questions
Biographies of Famous People, Past and Present
PowerPoints
Mini Biographies
Books for Students
Resources for Group Facilitators
1. Manuals
Basics for Teaching Youth
http://www.abhms.org/resources/church_life_leadership/wcll-403_Basics_Teaching_Youth.pdf
Gives a good overview of how to work with youth groups in a ministry setting
Focus Groups 101
http://www.tgmag.ca/aorg/pdf/english/guides/FG101Manual_e.pdf
A guide for someone who is new to doing group facilitation.
2. Icebreakers
Icebreakers for Small Groups (2-5 people)
http://www.youthgroupgames.co.uk/icebreakers-for-small-groups-25-people.html
FireStarter Youth Empowerment Program
http://www.freechild.org/Firestarter/facilitating.htm#MindGames
3. Topics for Discussion:
1.
Dare to be Different
2.
Creativity and Innovation Means Thinking Outside the Box
3.
Speaking the Truth in Love
4.
Reaching Out to Other Cultures
5.
Unhealthy Group Activity (How to recognize when a group you belong to has changed its rules to
include insidious activities and what to do about it)
6.
How we can contribute to the community
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
Ready to Use Discussion Ideas
http://www.youthideas.co.uk/yw/talk/index.shtml
Youth Discussion Ideas –Middle School Counselor and Writer, Susan Carney provides a list of Discussion
Ideas and Discussion Starters at the end of her article. http://susan-carney.suite101.com/youthdiscussion-activities-a37006. Carney has also written an article entitled: “Positive Role Models for teens,
which can be accessed at: http://susan-carney.suite101.com/positive-role-models-for-teens-a33604.
Here, Carney provides tips concerning what adults and group leaders should do to model a healthy
lifestyle for teens.
4. Inspirational Quotes
An ideal culture is one in which there is a place for every human gift.-Margaret Mead
Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.-Chuck Palahniuk
Our Similarities bring us to a common ground; our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other.
-Tom Robbins
Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.- Andrew Carnegie
If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living. -Gail Sheehy
Anger blows out the candle of the mind. - R. G. Ingersoll
Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours. Tom Hopkins
Great minds have purposes; others have wishes. -Washington Irving
I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. - Jonas Salk
If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade. Tom Peters
If you blame others for your failures, do you also credit them for your successes?-Author Unknown
If you choose not to decide, you've still made a choice.-Author Unknown
If you fail to plan, plan to fail.-Author Unknown
If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster. - Clint Eastwood
If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it. -Jonathan Winters
In doing we learn. George Herbert
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. -W.
Somerset Maugham
5. Games/Activities

Aardvark Relay http://www.jubed.com/youth_ministry/view/
Christian Youth Games http://www.ehow.com/info_7963294_christian-youth-group-games.html
Interactive Youth Games http://www.ehow.com/info_7963294_christian-youth-group-games.html
Interactive Youth Group Calendar
http://www.rethinkingyouthministry.com/2008/09/cool-idea-interactive-youth-group.html
Depression: Small Group Activities and Discussion
http://www.mediainternational.com/support/PDF/POWER%20SURGE/Depres.pdf
At Risk Youth
http://at-riskyouth.org/
“ARISE is a non-profit, created in 1986, that provides a rich assortment of time tested, evidence-based
life skills curricula for at-risk youth. ARISE also offers staff training that enhances the effectiveness of
those who care for troubled youth and adolescents.”
Christian Games for Youth Groups
http://christianyouthgroup.org/activites.html
6. Videos
For Female Teen Groups, as well as mixed group settings: Film and Discussion Guide: A Powerful Noise
Summary of the film: A Powerful Noise is an hour and twenty minutes in length. The film traces the
lives of three women, one Vietnamese, one Bosnian and one is Malian, and how they overcome many
challenges to improve themselves and make a difference in their prospective communities.
A Powerful Noise –entire film can be watched free of charge at:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/192215/a-powerful-noise
A discussion guide for A Powerful Noise for the group facilitator is found at:
http://www.apowerfulnoise.org/downloads/APN_YouthDiscussionGuide.pdf
Spencer Wells Builds a Family Tree - Ted Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/spencer_wells_is_building_a_family_tree_for_all_humanity.html
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
Ted Talks
http://blog.ted.com/2007/04/06/evelyn_glennie/ “ Percussionist Evelyn Glennie leads the audience
through an exploration of music, not as notes on a page, but as an expression of the human experience.
. . . when we do listen to each other, it’s unbelievably important for us to really test our listening skills.
To really use our bodies as a resonating chamber. To stop the judgement. For me, as a musician, who
deals with 99% of new music, it’s very easy for me to say, oh yes, I like that piece, oh no, I don’t like that
piece, and so on. And you know, I just find that I have to give those pieces of music real time. It may be
that the chemistry isn’t quite right between myself and that particular piece of music. But that doesn’t
mean to say I have the right to say it’s a bad piece of music. And you know, it’s just one of the great
things about being a musician is that it’s so unbelievably fluid. So there are no rules, no right, no wrong,
this way, that way.”
Net Smartz Workshop
There are two videos at this website which deal with cyber bullying and its consequences. These may be
shown to students followed by a discussion of the videos. Each video is approximately two minutes in
length.
http://origin.www.netsmartz.org/RealLifeStories
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas DVD 94 minutes, suggested age group: 13-18 year olds
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Facilitator’s Guide)
http://www.socialstudies.com/pdf/BVH119DVG.pdf
“The innocence of childhood savagely collides with the Holocaust in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Bruno (Asa Butterfield) knows that his father is a soldier and that they have to move to a new house in
the country... a house near what he thinks is a farm. But his father isn't just a soldier; he's a high-ranking
officer in Hitler's elite SS troops who's just been placed in command of Auschwitz. As Bruno explores the
woods around the house, he discovers the concentration camp's perimeter fence. On the other side sits
a boy his own age, with whom Bruno strikes up a friendship--a friendship that will have tragic
consequences. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is most powerful in the details: The casual brutality of a
Nazi lieutenant; the uncomfortable juxtaposition of the family's domestic life with glimpses of the
treatment of the imprisoned Jews; a ghastly propaganda film suggesting that life at Auschwitz was like a
holiday. But more than anything else, Butterfield's performance makes this film compelling. The young
actor perfectly conveys Bruno's limited perspective even as the film carefully unveils the larger, darker
reality. The movie's ending will undoubtedly spark arguments, but only because of the emotional
complexity of what happens--The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is made with great skill and compassion.
Also featuring David Thewlis (Naked) and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) as Bruno's parents.” --Bret Fetzer
DVD may be purchased at amazon.com for $12.99.
Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, Ph.D. (Book and Video)-Author and therapist Mary Pipher discusses
issues facing female teens such as: how our culture defines beautiful, peer pressure, sexual trends,
fashion trends; the need for girls to be able to define what they want, and to communicate their limits;
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Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
the need for female teens to become assertive enough to express their true feelings about becoming
involved in a situation, regardless of what their peers think or say.
7. Discussion Questions
Have you ever taken it upon yourself to defend the underdog in a situation? What happened?
What is your favorite movie? Which scenes in the movie move you the most?
If you could become or do anything in the world that you desired, what would that be?
What are your passions? What about your passion could inspire others, or make a difference in their
lives?
What message did you take away from this movie?
What can you do to get exposure to people, other than those who are like us?
What type of positive impact do you want to make to the rest of the world? What resources do you
need to put in place to set your plan in motion?
What are some things we all have in common? What is it that makes each one of us unique and special?
8. Biographies of Famous People, Past and Present
Tim Tebow
Pat Tillman
Jason Brown
Kobe Bryant
Julianne Hough
Anderson Cooper
Beyonce
Ryan Seacrest
Lance Armstrong
Bill Gates
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
Maya Angelou
Russell Simmons
Neil Young
Jennifer Hudson
Sean Penn
Tiger Woods
Jesse Owen
Mark Zuckerberg
Oprah Winfrey
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Morris Dees (Co-founder, Southern Poverty Law Center)
Martin Luther King
Stephen Hawking
Nelson Mandela
Bono
Ronald Reagan
Helen Keller
Mohandas Gandhi
Louis Pasteur
Abraham Lincoln
Isaac Newton
Napoleon
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
Alexander the Great
Thomas Edison
Julius Caesar
William the Conqueror
Charlemagne
Augustus Caesar
9. PowerPoints
Free downloadable PowerPoints, lesson plans and educator guides dealing with the subject of bullying
for parents, teachers and students.
http://sociology.mrdonn.org/powerpoints/bullying.html
10. Mini Biographies of Participants
Encourage participants to share a little about themselves or to write a brief journal entry on a particular
subject. Let them know that they need only share as much as they desire, but that sharing releases
them from the power the issue has held over their lives, and that sharing also helps other members to
see that they are not alone, others are also working through similar challenges. They can also use
drawing to illustrate certain points.
11. Books for Students
Powerpak Collection Series: Leading at School by John C. Maxwell
Leading from the Lockers (student and teacher editions available) by John C. Maxwell
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
Double Take: A Memoir by Kevin Michael Connolly (A young man born without legs discover what it
means to be truly human)
The Freedom Writers Diary : how a teacher and 150 teens used writing to change themselves and the
world around them by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell (True Story)
“Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined
teacher and her remarkable students.
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California,
Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with
an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the
Holocaust—only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured
books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides,
undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding.
They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings
in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The
Freedom Riders.”
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
“Speak is an absorbing story of a 9th Grade girl, Melinda. She has entered high school and very
rarely speaks to anyone... not her peers, teachers, and least of all her parents. Something deep inside
Melinda is haunting her and keeping her voice trapped within. Transforming from a normal, happy
middle-school girl to a lone, outsider with very little friends and failing grades, her teachers and family
do not know what to do to help her. This is because she won't tell them what has caused her to climb
within her walls and hide there.”-a customer review
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
“Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his
porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush who decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night
crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and
learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.” This novel would be suitable for male
or female teens.
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
“Cole Matthews has been fighting, stealing, and raising hell for years. So his punishment for
beating Peter Driscal senseless is harsh. Given a choice between prison and Native American Circle
Justice, Cole chooses Circle Justice: He'll spend one year in complete isolation on a remote Alaskan
island. In the first days of his banishment, Cole is mauled by a mysterious white bear and nearly dies.
Now there's no one left to save Cole, but Cole himself.” This book is suitable for male teens, or a mixed
group of males and females.
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
“…the story of James Sveck, a sophisticated, vulnerable young man with a deep appreciation for
the world and no idea how to live in it. James is eighteen, the child of divorced parents living in
Manhattan. Articulate, sensitive, and cynical, he rejects all of the assumptions that govern the adult
world around him--including the expectation that he will go to college in the fall. he would prefer to
move to an old house in a small town somewhere in the Midwest. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to
You takes place over a few broiling days in the summer of 2003 as James confides in his sympathetic
grandmother, stymies his canny therapist, deplores his pretentious sister, and devises a fake online
identity in order to pursue his crush on a much older coworker. Nothing turns out how he'd expected.”
This would be a great book for male or female teens.
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
Skin Deep (Point) by Lois Ruby (novel)
“Laurel is shocked by the sudden transformation of her best friend and boyfriend, Dan, a
withdrawn young man who secretly joins a band of neo-Nazi skinheads and becomes involved in their
violent racial demonstrations.”
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher (novel)
“…a boy's senior year in high school goes awry when he's kicked off the football team for taking
a stand against the coach, and his girlfriend is killed in a car accident.” This book would be great for
male teens.
Things are Gonna Get Ugly by Hilary Homzie (novel)
This is a novel for female middle and high school students about learning to accept yourself for
who you are.
You Go, Girl…Keep Dreaming: A Special Book About Always Believing in Yourself (Updated
Edition) by Ashley Rice- This is an inspirational book for female teens which discusses issues of
self-esteem, goal setting and overcoming self-doubt.
12. Resources for Facilitators
Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers by Chap Clark
“What do teenagers really think about adults? If you think you know the answer, you may be in
for a surprise. According to Chap Clark, today's adolescents have largely been abandoned by adults and
left to fend for themselves in an uncertain world. As a result, teens have created their own world to
serve as a shield against uncaring adults. Based on six months of participant-observer research at a
California public school, this book offers a somewhat troubling but insightful snapshot of adolescent life.
It will surprise and enlighten parents, youth workers, counselors, pastors, and all who want to better
understand the hearts and minds of America's adolescents.”
Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth by Walt Mueller
Quick and Popular Reads for Teens by Pam Spencer Holley
In paperback ($47.00) and on Kindle ($36.00) at Amazon.com
NPR Interview with Nicholas Carlisle, attorney, psychotherapist and the executive director of No Bully,
and Miriam Rollin, executive director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. This is a 13 minute interview where
they discuss why there is a surge of bullying in schools today, and how they got involved.
Youth Worker Journal
http://www.youthworker.com/youth-group-games-activities/11629278/
Creative Sermon Ideas
http://www.creativeyouthideas.com/blog/creative_teaching_ideas/
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.
“100 page e-book Includes all the help you need to prepare powerful, life-changing youth sermons that
will turn your preaching around and make your youth sit up and listen! Includes 7 complete sermons
written just for youth, more than 100 pages of training, and a simple one-page sermon preparation”
The Good Life (television show)
On this episode of the program, two attorneys share how parents can tell if their child is being
bullied. They also offer some solutions of how bullying can be eliminated. Go to the website and click
on the tab that says, “Their Recent Videos.” http://vimeo.com/goodlife45
Anti-bullying Website
This website provides material and statistics concerning bullying. There is also a 2-minute
Youtube video concerning bullying.
http://antibullyingprograms.org/Statistics.html
Net Smartz Workshop
This is a video of approximately two minutes long in which Dr. Sharon Cooper, a developmental
pediatrician talks about the unforeseen and future consequences of bullying, and teen pranks. She
offers parents and guardians tips on how they can protect teens.
http://origin.www.netsmartz.org/DrSharon/Bullying
John C. Maxwell®, YouthMAX® and John Maxwell Team® are registered trademarks of Maxwell
Motivation, Inc. and are used with permission by the John C. Maxwell® Certification Program. Use
beyond the Program, is expressly prohibited without prior written approval of Maxwell Motivation, Inc.