Teen Trends
Within the past month, a TikToker by @jongraz has been predicting the luck of the day with his 13-year old pug, Noodle. Every day, Jonathon picks his old dog up to see if it is a bones day or a no bones day. If Noodle stands up, it's a bones day and it is good luck. If Noodles is limp and lies back down, it is a no bones day with bad luck. The dog and owner have over 4.3 million followers with a single video having over 9.7 million views. Teens all over the world are following along with this game of luck, responding with videos of how their days went or blaming a "no bones day" for their lack of luck.
Song of the Week
Ryan Ellis, a California based singer-songwriter recently released his new EP "Episode 1". The EP features R&B elements with the singer's clear vocals and pop influences. Songs like "Heart of the Father" take a very personal perspective of reaching out to God and the need we have for the Father in our day to day lives and in our battles. Reflective of the entire album, "Episode 1" is a mix of hope and crying out to the Father, two features that Ellis reflects well through lyrics and tone.
To see more of this singer, read his personal biography here to see how his own testimony influences the musical process.
Game of the Week
"Screaming Vikings" is a silly group game that can be played with medium and large groups. The game is played by having one person give action commands with the goal to catch someone messing up. Standing in a circle, the person in the middle points at someone and gives them an action like screaming Vikings. That person must now create that action, as well as the two people on the left and right of them. Commands include "screaming Vikings", "chia pets", and "Jello". The three people have 10 seconds to act it out, but if one of them messes up and gets caught, they switch out to become the person in the middle. The gave has no official end, so it can be played for as long or short as wanted.
Sermon Illustration
When your parent call your name, you usually know exactly what you are about to get into by the way they say it. If they use your middle name you're in trouble, if they use your whole name, you're probably in BIG trouble.
When the Lord calls out to us, we don't have to guess what His intentions are. He isn't trying to catch us doing something wrong or make us feel ashamed. The Lord remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is calling us to do better and rise up from our sin with Him.
Encouraging Thought
Just as we call out for God, He is calling us as well. Even as we go through hard times, we are never alone. The Lord is calling us to our heavenly home and to our purpose within the Kingdom. When we accept Christ into our lives, He doesn't stop at our salvation, He continues doing a work in us and will never abandon us.
1 Peter 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
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The vision of the Student Leader Weekly is to empower high schoolers (alongside adult leadership) with practical ministry ideas.