GROUP Magazine is looking to feature your youth room Do It Yourself ideas! Have you created your own stage, lighting, coffee bar, pulpit, or any other creative idea that you would want to share with Youth Ministry Nation. Oh and did I mention that GROUP Magazine will pay you $50 if they feature your DIY idea in the magazine! Boom goes the dynamite!

Email Scott Firestone, Associate Editor of GROUP Magazine, the below items to EARN $50!

1. Title Your Idea
2. Simple Step-by-Step Instructions (including total cost)
3. Picture of Your Finished Product
4. Don’t Forget Your Name!

Here is the first installment of the NEW GROUP Magazine DIY Section!

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

Quick snapshot of the infamous “Triple Jump”

Watch the Gorilla Man in event #2 of the 2012 Simply Olympics!

The triple jump (sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or, incorrectly, the hop, skip and jump) is a track and field sport, similar to the long jump, but involving a “hop, bound and jump” routine, whereby the competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit.

The triple jump has its origins in the Ancient Olympics and has been a modern Olympics event since the Games’ inception in 1896.

Watch the Gorilla Man in event #2 of the 2012 Simply Olympics!

Thanks foe loving students
- Justin

P.S. Thanks Wikipedia!

Every year we create a theme around our 404040 Sale! As the Olympics are nearing and we are super excited. We had to create a pre-olympic Olympics competition…starring the one and only Gorilla Man! When we were filming is was about 908 degrees outside, hence the sweat on the back of our infamous Gorilla man.

Click Here to DOWNLOAD 40 FREE Backgrounds

We shot the video at a local high school and happened to meet the Girls High School Hurdles State Champion for the state of Colorado. Thus we challenged her to a race and because the gorilla and I were so embarrassed we have decided not to air that video. Actually, for some reason it didn’t get recorded…lame I know pheww! But you can check out our real race below…fyi I’m the Unibrow’d Russsian Guy! VICTORY!

Click Here to See ALL 40% Off Items

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

You may have met The Jordan Howerton Band at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in March of 2012. As they were throwing sack chairs, hitting the Sound Stage, flash mobbing classrooms, and leading worship at the early morning devotional times! If not well then meet them now…or at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2013 in Indianapolis, IN!

Now that you have met JHB, as they like to be called, take a listen to their new album “We Are Free” by clicking play below…

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

Imagine sitting on a hillside in ancient Palestine as Jesus taught you and thousands of other people. But instead of hearing the predictable words that other religious leaders spoke, you were startled, shocked, amazed to hear this rabbi declaring bold truths with authority.

Veteran youth worker Johnny Scott wants your teenagers to encounter these same bold truths from this same authority, to discover how Jesus challenged his followers with new insights on who God is, what God’s kingdom is all about, and how we can interact with God.

Click Here to Buy Now.

Each session in this series features a teaching segment filmed in the Holy Land, helping your students visually experience the setting and experiences behind Jesus’ teachings. The Rabbi includes four creative DVD-based lessons:

• A New Kind of King
• A New Kind of Kingdom
• A New Relationship
• A New Teaching

Click Here to Buy Now.

This curriculum includes loads of useful materials to help you including discussion guides, promotional materials, and more. And because all of the resources are editable and reproducible, you can tweak away and infuse them with your ministry’s unique flavor!

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

Few teenagers dream of being ordinary. They seek to be significant, remarkable, memorable. They seek to lead lives that matter.

Fortunately, Jesus set the standard in being anything but ordinary.

In this five-week series, veteran youth workers Brad Tate and Chase Allcott will engage your students in thought-provoking conversations about several unforgettable moments from the life of Jesus—moments that demonstrated how lives changed every time heaven and earth collided.

Click Here to Buy Now.

When do heaven and earth collide in the lives of your teenagers? When Jesus becomes real in their lives and in this world. When they become followers of Jesus, not just fans of Jesus. When they obey Jesus’ words about community and surround themselves with other people building God’s kingdom. When they fully allow God to define their lives and their hearts. When they minister and serve now, instead of waiting until they’re older.

This DVD-based curriculum includes five insightful lessons:

• Believable: The Story of the Centurion
• The Cost of Following Jesus
• Choosing Friends: The Call of Matthew and the Disciples
• What Defines You
• Harvest: The Kingdom Worker

Click Here to Buy Now.

You’ll get tons of helpful materials to help you use the curriculum, including discussion guides, promotional materials, and more. All of the resources are editable and reproducible, so you’re able to tweak away and infuse them with your ministry’s unique personality.

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

The Group Magazine team was able to meet and have lunch with Mark and Cathy Cornelison. If you are fans of the hit NBC television show The Biggest Loser you most likely already know about Mark and his son Chism and all of the reality tv drama that unfolded.The best part about having lunch with Mark and Cathy was their humility! Our team was blown away by the things God did through Mark and Chism on this television show. Not to mention see the physical but more importantly the spiritual change Mark and Cathy both had coming out of this experience. Look for Mark Cornelison to appear in your next issue of Group Magazine! Not a subscriber click here for the best deal!

Above you can see a before picture of Mark and Chism Cornelison and an after picture of Mark.

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

We all love the newest funny videos from the soon to be #1 search engine on the internet…YouTube! So here is a mind-blowing thought to use the energy that can easily be called annoying that your 15 passenger van will contain this summer!

THOUGHT: Use this crazy energy to create memories for your students, their parents, your volunteers, and you.

1. Step: 1: Create a YouTube page for your youth ministry.
   *A facebook page can do the same thing you just lose the viral possibility
2. Step 2: Film your students singing songs, playing games, or whatever crazy thing they think up next!
3. Step 3: Post those videos for all to see…parents, students, church leaders, volunteers…etc!

SECRET: This can also become a video blog (vlog), which will allow a PERFECT avenue for parental communication!

Check out this viral video memory from the Harvard Baseball Team!

Check out our friends at Group Mission Trips if your looking for a fantastic mission trip experience!

Thanks for loving students
- Justin

When i was a kid we participated in what was called “Book It”! We got stars on a button, like the one below, and when we got 5-stars we got a FREE personal pan pizza! In essence I read a lot fo books so I could have FREE pizza…not a bad incentive. However the older I got is more about proving my teachers and my parents that i could actually meet the challenge!

Ever thought about doing a similar challenge for your students over the summer? Often times that is all a student needs is to be challenged. So challenge them to read 5 books this summer and if they do celebrate that fact with a pizza party, Starbucks run, or more books! Click the banner below for our top 5 summer reading suggestions for students, parents, and leaders!

Thanks for loving students
- Justin