YoungLives Thank You Cards

Did you know that you can order YoungLives Thank You cards from the service center? It's true! As you think of thanking volunteers, or as a way to keep in touch with donors, make sure to order some for your area! This would also be a great way of thanking donors who are sponsoring girls at camp; just have the teen mom write a note inside and you're all set. 

Have another way you've said "THANK YOU!!" that you want to share? We love spreading the word on creative ideas. Email amy (greatergryounglives@gmail.com) with photos and a brief description.

MENTOR Sign

Defining what a mentor is (and what it isn't) with teen moms can be tricky! While we seek to model Christ-like loving relationships, healthy relationships are foreign to so many of the moms we work with. Clorrisa Brooks shares what her club has done in an effort to define the role of a mentor: 

We use this sign (pictured above) every week. We always have it sitting somewhere. We have used it by talking through what the girls think the word mentor means and then (mentors) bringing some different words into it. These are the words the leadership team eventually agreed upon. :) There are many more we could have added but didn't have room for.

M - mom, meaningful, moving forward

E - empowering, encouraging

N - nurturing, non-judgemental

T - together, trustworthy

O - open hearts, obedient, one-anothering

R - real, respectful, relationships

Thanks for sharing, Clorrisa!

Training Call {Working with Adult Volunteers: Giving Them a Vision for YoungLives}

In YoungLives, we often have more adult volunteers than college age ones. While this is tremendously helpful in serving teen moms, it can be challenging. Listen to Katie Pirch's training call on working with adult volunteers. This is full of great information! Let's all strive to make sure each of our volunteers is properly and adequately trained to do ministry. Thanks, Katie!

Personalized Tote Bags

Looking for a great year-end mentor gift? Something for your donors? The perfect camp accessory? Or something for all of the above? Check out the personalized tote bags from the Wedding Chicks. At just $10 a bag (or less if you order more than 20), you can personalize them for your region or area. Pick the colors and design that you like best. These bags make a great gift & an awesome way to represent YoungLives in your community!

Personalized YLVS Pacifiers

Looking for the perfect gift for a new mom in your area? These make great & unique gifts for coordinators or teen moms who have just had a baby. Email Emilie Schrieber for more information!

Love Does.

I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, 

but now I know you simply need to say yes. - Bob Goff, Love Does

Does this resonate with you? I know it does with me. When I heard about YoungLives I sensed a stirring but struggled to believe that God could use me. As a young, white, single girl in grad school who was not a teen parent -- or any parent for that matter -- it didn't make sense on paper. I said yes and it's been a crazy journey since!

Bob Goff's stories of authentic faith, love and adventure are contagious. With roots in Young Life, his book drew me closer to the heart of God and illuminated just what this mission is about -- being Christ with skin on and loving others in crazy ways that the world doesn't understand. One of my favorite things about this book is that in each chapter he brings it back to Jesus and the greatest love story of all time. I highly recommend this book as a gift for mentors, committee, donors & yourself (after all, you deserve it!).

A summary of Love Does in two words? Must Read.  

Have you already read Love Does? What did you think? Leave a comment!

Where to Buy

Idea Sharing - from the Southern Division!

At our Southern Division Training this month we offered an idea sharing session. We positioned posters  around the room with different topics such as Club, Music, Campaigners, Mentor Care/Retention, Transportation, Camp ideas and so on... and gave the coordinators and volunteers an opportunity to share their tried & true ideas!

The ideas shared were compiled into this document available on Google docs. Feel free to peruse and get some fresh ideas for ministry!

Hard Pressed on Every Side

At the Multicultural Pre-Conference before the All Staff Celebration in January I had the opportunity to attend a workshop called "Hard Pressed on Every Side". It was led by Dr. Cynthia Erikson and Dr. Jude Watson of Fuller Youth Institute (Fuller Seminary). 

Dr. Erikson and Dr. Watson have done extensive research on urban youth workers. In the presentation they share about burnout, self-care, environmental stressors, internal stressors, and post-tramatic stress disorder.

Their presentation and accompanying handout are now available on the Staff Resources site. Other recordings from the Pre-Conference are also available on this page. Take a look! 

Christmas Thank-You

Check out this incredible Christmas video created by a teen mom in YoungLives North Hills, Pennsylvania! Perfect for sharing with volunteers and donors.

Prayer Idea

We all know that prayer is the foundation of what we do, and that our prayer strategy in ministry is crucial. Here's a great idea from a committee chair in Pennsylvania:

"Right now we are working closely with 13 teen mothers, and to be honest we are desperate for God's help. Each of these moms needs a miracle from God; each one needs His revelation, His grace, and His guidance.

God doesn't want us to rest on our past experience. He doesn't want us to expect Him to just continue working in exactly the same way we've seen Him work so far. As I've prayed and thought about this, I've felt more than ever the need for focused, individual prayer for each of the girls we are working with.

So here is my "call for help": I'm looking for volunteers who will commit to pray for one specific girl (and her child), either daily or weekly, for one year. I pray that at least 13 people will respond, so that we can have at least one prayer supporter for each of our girls.

If God speaks to your heart about this, please reply, and I will send you the name and some bio information about one of our teen moms."

Cool, huh?

Gifts for Mentors + Volunteers

Looking for ideas for your mentors, committee, girls or childcare volunteers for Christmas?

Photo gifts are quick and easy and a wonderful keepsake!

Now through Monday Kodak is offering 40% off of all photo gifts and free shipping. Just use the link HERE to activate the discount.

Shared by Lisa Brown

Mentor Evaluation Tool

Ever wanted to be better about helping mentors debrief after a year of mentoring? Or about evaluating their gifts and where they could best fit in the ministry when they need a break from mentoring? This guide will help walk you through "exit interviews" and one-year anniversary discussions with your mentors - with the goal of helping them to continue to find satisfaction and purpose in ministry.

Click Here to check it out!

Shared by Rebecca Asper- Eastern Divisional Coordinator

Scrabble Necklace Gift Idea

Tired of giving your mentors t-shirts and water bottles as appreciation gifts? Here is an idea for a hip retro-new gift: necklaces made with scrabble tiles. The back side of a scrabble tile is used to put the image on and then it is somehow magically covered with a protective resin coating and made into a necklace!

In case you didn't know, necklaces with charms made of scrabble tiles are hip and stylish (don't worry, I am also often last on the hip and stylish train...but thanks to the YoungLives blog...you too are now on the hip and stylish train!) For less than ten dollars you could have yours!

Discounts are available for quantities. To order visit livelovecelebrate .

Reminder: With any gear that includes the YL logo, please remember to follow the new branding guidelines.

Club Reflection E-mail

Try sending a "Club Reflection" e-mail to your mentors after every Club... with thank-yous to mentors for the specific parts they played, highlights from Club, questions about things they could have done differently, and updates on the girls. It is a great way to "debrief", build a team spirit, and help mentors who weren't there to feel involved!

Shared by Monica Linde--Philadelphia

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Value of a Volunteer Hour

Check out this website...

http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/volunteer_time.html

It tells you the value of a volunteer hour and is helpful for grants and reporting in-kind donations. The value of a volunteer hour in 2008 was $20.25. Multiply that by the number of hours mentors volunteer and it's amazing! It's also fun to share with the mentors so they know how important they are to the mission of YL. (The 2009 values will be up later this Spring.)

Thank you, Thank you!

As a Thank You to mentors, donors, and anyone that helps out with Young Lives... we create a Thank You DVD! Sometimes the folks helping us (especially donors) don't always get to see the impact that they're having on these young moms, so we show them! On a weekend day I schedule "dates" with the girls and their babies and interview them about why they are thankful for Young Lives, their mentors, those that watch their kids, etc. We edit the video and make copies for all those that we'd love to Thank for their faithful service!

We have had such an overwhelming response to these videos! Donors feel like their money is being well spent because we aren't spending it on calendars or t-shirts! Plus, they get to see their girls and kids on tape sharing about how glad they are that Young Lives is a part of their life!

Praying in Color

A great prayer idea for a mentor meeting or retreat is Praying in Color. Basically the idea is to doodle your prayers!

The idea comes from a book, Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth (cover art to the left). Basically coloring, doodling and drawing prayers brings a new depth and focus to your prayer life. The website for Praying in Color has many ideas on how to use the concept, examples of people's prayers, as well as links for finding the book.

This would be a great exercise to change things up at your next mentor meeting or retreat. Either take time and lead everyone in the same prayer...or allow them to do it independently. Here is a Color Your Prayers Instructions sheet with four ideas of prayers to color.

Prayer Art © Sybil MacBeth

Celebrate Your Mentors and Volunteers This Holiday Season

• This year I'm doing a "why I'm thankful for you" letter to each of my mentors. They should get them between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dusty Linn in Conway, AR.
• Last year we had one big Christmas meal with all the Young Life committee and leaders and all of the mentors in YoungLives. We don't get together with everyone very often and it was really nice. (Great way to build community with YL in your area!), Dusty Linn in Conway, AR
• Present a slideshow to your mentors and volunteers celebrating what all has happened through YoungLives in 2009.
• Give Christmas gifts/cards to all of your volunteers - tote bags, ornaments, stationary, blankets, t-shirts, fleeces, baked goods, books, calendars, coffee, on and on! It is not about the money, but the effort and thought...and we all LOVE getting a little treat! Make sure to enclose a personal letter of your thankfulness.
• Have the girls write Christmas letters to the volunteers telling them how thankful they are and what YLVS has meant to them...copy them all, tie them together with Christmas ribbon, and mail to each volunteer.
• Have a Christmas dinner for just your volunteers - this may be in place of your mentor meeting for the month of December. Go around and have everyone share how they have seen Jesus work in 2009. Have the tissues ready!!!

Recommended Books to Read With Mentors

Ann Gregory (in Houston) recommends the following books to use as mentor training tools (read through it as a group in your own YLVS "Book Club", give as gifts to your mentors, or recommend they read them on their own.

1. In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen - my favorite book

2. The Power of the Story, Leighton Ford - one of my favs on relational evangelism

3. Teaching to Change Lives, Howard Hendricks

Monthly Mentor Meetings

Every month for our mentor meetings we make sure to appreciate our mentors, all while getting things done! Mentors show up to my house at 5:30pm and we all help with the finishing touches on dinner, during that time we like to catch up with each other. When we sit down for dinner, it's all business. We share about how our girls are, ask for advice on issues, and encourage each other. Then we take the time to brainstorm club. I'm always asking them, "What haven't we done?" The challenge is to create the most exciting, fun club yet. Mentors get cared for with the meal and the relationships, and we get the mentor meeting done before 8:00pm. I never knew meetings could be so much fun!

Shared by Erin Kennedy-- Chicago, IL.