Psalm 112:7-8; Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:6-7; 2 Timothy 1:7
9:00
Gather and Sign-in/up
Pay, sign-in and sign-up for a Family and then enjoy some free time.
9:15
Rules and Expectations
- Your cell phone is only good as a paper weight for this lock-in. If you can’t limit its usage turn it in. You don’t have any other friends beside the ones here tonight and your parents – since they didn’t volunteer tonight – are glad to get rid of you. They aren’t calling. Oh yea, don’t use your phone for a light.
- No swearing/profanity – Believe it or not this category includes inappropriate “chocolaty” discussions.
- No “extra curricular” activities permitted. For example, no sucking face with anyone.
- No roughhousing. Yes, this includes keeping someone else’s property from them by force, sneaky-ness or running away from them.
- Do not leave the Church. If the area you are in is not climate controlled you are outside the church.
- No cheating. If you are looking for a way around a rule, you are probably about to cheat and had best not attempt any deviations until you reach saint hood.
- Snacks and drinks are allowed in the Youth Center only. If you “forgot” and accidentally took food or drink with you, try harder. If you just don’t understand, it’s the stuff you put in your mouth when you’re hungry or thirsty.
- Do not open or go around locked doors. If you find yourself climbing through a wall, window, non-door opening or have to do anything to a door that is more than just gently opening it by the knob, you are probably attempting to go around or open a locked door.
- Stay out of the rafters, organ loft. If you have to climb to get where you want to go and/or then you feel yourself having to balance on a beam high above the floor, chances are you are in the rafters.
- Sleep only in designated sleeping rooms. No hiding, food or drink in designated sleeping rooms.
- Go only where you are asked. No sneaking off to do your own thing. If we are playing a game and you’re just sitting and watching/talking alone with a friend or friends, it better be in the Youth Center.
- Respect the church property. Do not touch the Drums, Piano, any musical instrument, spot light, or electronic equipment in the building. If it looks like it might be fun to play with and you are not in the Youth Center or Gym don’t mess with it.
- Do not start fires, dangle, hang or jump off of anything. Why do I even have to say this… Oh yea! Because someone will do it if I don’t.
Expectations are as follows:
- Participate as you can
- Respect others and Listen
- Clean up after yourself
Read “THE PURGE” Large Group game rules here!
9:30
Introduction
Say: What would you do during the Purge? Psychopaths aside, does anyone feel a burning need to commit crimes on an annual basis — and if they did, is the law really the only thing that prevents them from doing it? And if morality isn’t enough, think about it on a realistic level. Even if you wanted to commit a crime without consequences, would it be worth risking your life by wandering into the lawless streets?
Tonight we’ll be talking about Purging all your anxiety and fears and replacing them with Christ. We’re going to pretend it’s only four days before the PURGE. Each day closer (actually, only hours apart) we’ll have small Family group discussion in Fellowship Hall. Each time we end a discussion, we’ll have a friendly “Family Distraction” time to keep your mind off the coming PURGE. Your Family group will begin with a discussion at your table. When done with your discussion, everyone will wait at their team table before continuing the round. Rounds begin with six “PURGE” cards spread face down in the center of the table. One will have “Challenge “on it. At “Go” (from the Youth Dude) all family members at all tables grab a card and leave it face down. At “flip”, all flip their cards face up. The family member with the “Challenge” card will compete for their family against the other family contestants. If you’ve competed before you are not allowed to compete again (Remove one “Fear Not” card each round). Everyone will compete at least twice.
Let’s go to Fellowship Hall, find your table and get started!
9:45
Four Days Out – Family Distractions I
Round 1
Supplies: Table discussion sheet I, 6- PURGE cards, 8 empty balloons, 40 red cups, 8 yoyos, 8 big spoons, 8 small bottles of bubbles
Small Group Leader
Have someone at your table ask the following question to your group.
ASK:
- What’s the difference between worry and concern?
(After discussing the question use the following definitions for reflection.)
Worry is thoughts and images of a negative nature in which mental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats.[1] As an emotion it is experienced as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined issue, usually personal issues such as health or finances or broader ones such as environmental pollution and social or technological change. Most people experience short-lived periods of worry in their lives without incident; indeed, a moderate amount of worrying may even have positive effects, if it prompts people to take precautions (e.g., fastening their seat belt or buying fire insurance) or avoid risky behaviors (e.g., promiscuousness or cliff diving).
Concern (plural concerns) That which affects one’s welfare or happiness. (Mark’s health was of great concern to Connie.) The expression of solicitude, anxiety, or compassion toward a thing or person. ( He placed his hand on his sister’s sunburnt legs with great concern.) A business, firm or enterprise; a company. (The employees’ attitude is really hurting the concern.)
Say: To be worried speaks of negative emotions such as anxiety and fretfulness. To be concerned can also mean that, but it has a more positive meaning—to be responsible for or interested in something.
Say: Below are some possible teenage worries. As a group, put a C next to the ones a person would have some sort of control over and an NC for those one would have little or no control over.
__ Dying
__ Getting acne
__ Parents divorcing
__ Living with alcoholic parents
__ Flunking a test
__ Having stress
__ Being unpopular
__ Being a victim of school violence
__ Being in a car accident
__ Breaking up
__ Enduring parental abuse
__ Living through a war
__ Not making a sports team
__ Being pressured to succeed
__ Getting in trouble with the police
__ Dating
__ Abusing drugs and alcohol
__ Becoming pregnant
ASK:
- If problems can be prevented or dealt with in some way, why do teenagers still worry about them?
- Which ones do you have more control over? Why or why not?
Say: Problems are inevitable, but worrying about them is a choice.
(Leave this sheet on your table and remain seated until all are ready)
Round 1 Games
This Blows
Players blow up a balloon and use the air in the balloon to blow 5 cups off of a table. The balloon can be blown up as many times as necessary. First player to complete the task wins.
Bottoms Up
Players knock 2 cups off of a table (flat on the ground) with a yo-yo. The yo-yo is attached to a spoon and hangs down the back side of the players after tucking it in their waist bands. The players use body momentum to swing the yo-yo to knock down or pull each of the 2 cups. First player to complete the task wins.
Bubble Trouble (Mega Bubble Challenge)
Players blow bubbles (Using children’s bubbles) and move one across the room by blowing on it. The game is won when one of players gets one bubble from point A to point B (on to a chair) first. This is not as easy as it sounds as you have to keep blowing bubbles until you have one that is dense enough to move across the room. If the bubble is blown to high in the air, it cannot be controlled and more bubbles must be blown.
10:30
Free Time
Gym or Youth Center Only
10:45
Three Days Out – Family Distractions II
Round 2
Supplies: Table discussion sheet II, 6 -Purge cards, 8 decks of cards, 8 full pop cans, 160 red cups, 8 blue cups, 24 empty balloons
Small Group Leader
ASK:
- If you had absolute control over the troubles in the last session, would you still worry? Why or why not?
- Would you worry if you knew that God has complete control over all problems?
- What does “choice” have to do with Gods control?
- Why does God let us make bad choices?
Check out Psalm 112:7-8
He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
ASK:
- What do these verses say about a godly person? (Pick One)
__ A godly person never has problems.
__ God will solve all my problems before any real damage is done.
__ I don’t have to fear problems even when they come.
__ Problems will come, since it talks about triumph coming at the end.
ASK:
- How does this verse affect your beliefs or how you handle situations in your life?
(Leave this sheet on your table and remain seated until all are ready)
Round 2 Games
Don’t Blow the Joker
Stack a full deck of cards on a full (dry) soda can, with a joker on the bottom of each stack. The object of the game is to blow all of the cards off of the can except the last card which is the joker. If you blow too hard, you blow the whole deck off. If you don’t blow hard enough, nothing happens. First player to complete the task wins.
Moving on Up
This is a simple game that requires 19 large plastic cups of the same color, (like SOLO 32 oz cups) and one cup of the same style in a different color. Stack the 20 cups with the odd color on the bottom. The object of the game is to move each of the 19 cups to the bottom of the stack, which will move the position of the odd colored cup, using alternating hands and then the odd color cup back to its original place at the bottom. First player to complete the task wins.
Defying Gravity
Contestants blow up 3 balloons then tap them to keep them off the ground for the longest. At “Go”, players release all 3 balloons into the air. Players may not hold balloons, allow them to rest on the body, or hit the ground, or their game is over.
11:30
Free Time
Gym or Youth Center Only
12:00
Food
Num, Num!
12:30
Two Days Out – Family Distractions III
Round 3
Supplies: Table discussion sheet III, 6- Purge cards, 428 red cups, 8 water bottles filled approximately 1/3 full, 16 pencils, 8 glasses
Small Group Leader
Say: You’re talking to a friend who is worried about a situation. Using Romans 8:28 and
Philippians 4:6-7 what advice would you have for him or her? Would your advice change if this
person is a Christian? Why or why not? (Answer all three of those questions.)
Romans 8:28 We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
Philippians 4:6-7 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Say: Now we’re going to brainstorm some fears you’ve experienced.
(List these on the back of one of your hand outs.)
ASK:
- Which of these fears do you face most? Why?
- Are some fears more prevalent (happen more often) or important than others?
- How can fears freeze us from doing something we should do?
- How can they help us to not do something we shouldn’t do?
(Leave this sheet on your table and remain seated until all are ready)
Round 3 Games
Stack Attack
Players must stack 36 plastic cups into a perfect triangle-shaped structure. Once that’s completed, player must get the cups back into a single stack. At “Go” players begin stacking cups into a pyramid shape. When the triangle is complete, with 1 cup at the top, 2 cups below it, and so on, the player then returns the cups into a single stack. First player to complete the task wins. (hint: 8 at the bottom)
Stick the Landing
Players must toss a water bottle onto a table and get it to land upright. Use water bottles filled approximately 1/3 full. Set up a foul line 5′ away from table. At “Go” players must use 1 hand to flip a bottle end over end to land upright on the table. First player to complete the task wins.
Speed Eraser
Players must bounce a pencil into glasses. Set up glasses in a row. At “Go” players bounce pencils into the glasses using only their designated throwing hand. Pencils must bounce off the table and land directly into the bottom of the glass with no interference in order to be counted. First player to complete the task wins.
1:15
Free Time
Youth or Activity Center Only
1:30
One Day Out – Family Distractions IV
Round 4
Supplies: Table discussion sheet IV, 6- Purge cards, a way to play Christian music, colored paper, 120 cups, 72 paper plates, 8 rolls of toilet paper, 8 unopened tissue boxes
Sponsors
Set up a circle of chairs in Fellowship Hall like normal musical chairs, remember to short a few seats so everyone can’t find one. When teams have gathered, play a quick game of musical chairs around the outside of the circle. Let the music run for only five to 10 seconds before you stop it. You don’t even need to crown a champion if time is short. After playing break into discussion groups
Small Group Leader
ASK:
- How did you feel when you were waiting for the music to stop?
- How are those feelings like the anxieties you feel in life?
- What do you do about fears and anxieties?
Read: 1 Peter 5:6-7 Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.
(Give each person a piece of colored paper.)
Say: Tear your paper into something representing one source of anxiety in your life.
(Ask volunteers to show and explain their torn-paper symbols. Have the rest of the group suggest Christian ways they might lessen their anxieties. If your group members all know each other well, encourage everyone to share.)
Read: 1 Peter 5:6-7 again.
Say: Everyone exchange your torn-paper anxiety symbol with someone else in the group and then crunch it up into a ball leave it in the center of the table.
(Do it!)
SAY: Because God is with us doesn’t mean we won’t have fears. But we can trust God to help us deal with our fears and overcome them. What did we just symbolize with the crumpled paper in the middle of the table?
Read: 2 Timothy 1:7 for God did not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
ASK:
- What has God given us?
- Why are so many people scared of new things?
- Why are Christians sometimes scared of the world?
- What things happen when we “hide” in church?
- How do we engage the world without compromising our faith?
Round 4 Games
Chandelier
Players stack 5 levels of cups, starting with 1 cup on the bottom and finishing with 5 cups on the top, with a paper plate in between each level. (15 cups & 9 paper plates needed per player)
Dizzy Mummy
Players unwind a roll of toilet paper onto their body by executing a series of 360 degree turns. Have a teammate hold the toilet paper in one place but freely so that it spins. Players hold one end of the toilet paper in one hand and spin so that the paper collects over their body. If the paper fully tears off their game is over. First player to remove all the paper not glued on the cardboard roll wins.
Hanky Panky
Players remove all the tissue from a tissue box one tissue at a time.
2:15
The Purge
Large Group Game 1
The earlier “Family Distractions” portion earns privileges during the Purge: Extra flags 12 possible winners!
Supplies Need: 3 flags and 2 binder clips per youth
How to Play: The idea is very simple. Everyone clips 2 flags to their waist, one on each hip. Anyone with a flag remaining after 30 minutes has survived.
How does everyone enter the playing field? Family groups go out one at a time with up to 30 seconds between departures. The Families with the most pre Purge wins go out first ranked down to least wins (Best of three Rock, Paper, Scissors for tie breakers). Successive rounds will be Families with the most remaining flags, including any captured flags (See below).
Why should hiders try to get other peoples flags? You get to use any captured flags for yourself any time during the round. Unlimited additional flags may be captured and used during the round and two must be clipped to your hips if you have them.
Two new flags will be issued each new round, no more than 3 to begin any round. Players may retain a bonus flag not lost from the pre Purge “Distractions” or they may have earned during a round – still no more than three flags to start within the successive rounds. (See below)
Here’s the hard part:
- You can only hang out in a group for 5 minutes at a time
- Do not use force to stop someone from taking your flag
- Do not use force to take someone’s flag
- You can only pull one flag at a time and must leave that person alone for at least 5 minute after pulling a flag
- In a battle, both players can lose a flag – counter attacks are legal
- In a battle where you both have one flag left, ties and near ties -up to 5 seconds later – mean you’re both out one flag.
- If you run out of flags you can’t get anyone else’s, return to the youth center and await the end of the round
- No ganging up on someone i.e. two or more people can’t pull the flags from one person at the same or near the same time
- If you are attaching a captured flag to your hips (replacing one of your own missing flags), others can’t hover around waiting for you to get situated.
- Do not just give away your flag or flags (Like, helping your family or friends – tisk, tisk!)
- If you’re hiding and someone finds you, you must turn over a flag and leave your hiding place for at least 5 min
- Youth without flags in the Youth Center may, at the Youth Dude’s whim, return to the game one at a time, as an Assassin grabbing any one flag and then returning again. Assassins carry a visible pool noodle.
- No turning on lights or using anything else for light.
- All flags should be the same length and clipped only with a binder clip at the waist.
- Do not shorten or alter the flags in any way
- Do not tie or attach the flags to the clips in any way
- Do not attach the flags to your clothes in any way
- Do not let your shirt/top obstruct the flags in any way
- Do not use any means to obscure the flags
- A flag count will occur before the beginning of each successive round. If any flags are missing we’ll all search the church to find the missing flag(s) before starting any new rounds.
- Do not look for a way to cheat!
Underground Church
Large Group Game 2
Needed: 2 – 1/2 pool noodles, note paper or white board to make a list of who is next in line to be the Guards and then the Church, a cape like blanket
The players are: Christians, Church, Emperor, and Guards.
All gather in one spot to begin the game. The Church is picked (two people) and is given a set amount of time to go and hide. The Guards will become the Church for the next round. No other light sources from anyone are allowed (No electronic device glowing light).
The Guards, (2 people) become the church in the next round and must carry visible pool noodles at all times. The Guards primary job is to catch Christians. If a Guard tags a Christian with a pool noodle, the Guards take him or her and tosses them into “Jail”. The Youth Center is the Jail; keep only 3 captives at a time. When the 4th is caught and brought to jail the 1st gets out. If a Guard happens to stumble on the Church or guards the Church the round is over and the Christians win. If the Guards catch 2/3 of the total number of Christian players, the Guards win. Multiple catches still count toward the goal of catches.
The Emperor is randomly chosen each round. The Emperor’s only job is to find the church ending the game – Emperor wins. The Emperor wears a cape made from a blanket at all times and can be tagged by a group of 2 or more Christians. Only 2 Christians need take the Emperor to Jail. (Jail rotation works the same with the Emperor, he or she is just one of the captives in the same rotation.) The Emperor is not allowed to hang out with the guards, it’s beneath him!
The Christians try to secretly find the Church keeping its location hidden from the Emperor. Once the Christians find the Church, they need to inform and gather at least 1/3 of the Christians (Think Flash Mob – all of a sudden they’re there) at the Church while evading the Guards and the Emperor. If they are successful, the round is over, the Church has survived, and the Christians win!
5:00
Movie or GYM Free Time
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Print: Signup sheets; sign in sheet; leader table discussion sheets I, II, III, IV; 40- PURGE cards; 8- PURGE Challenge cards; postable schedule; Purge Thoughts sheet; Sponsors full pack; movie synopsis
Gather for this Lock-in:
24 empty balloons 500 “red” cups
16 pencils 8 blue cups
8 yoyos 8 small bottles of bubble
3 flags (strips of cloth) and 2 binder clips per youth
8 Glasses 72 paper plates 2 – 1/2 pool noodles
Colored paper a cape like blanket music player
Movie – Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
FELLOWSHIP Hall Set-up: – lots of tables for “families”
Movie Synopsis
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
For 12 year old Alexander Cooper, everyday is a bad day. And his family thinks he’s being silly because they never have a bad day. On the day before his 12th birthday party, he learns that another boy is having a party of his own and everyone is going to it. And another kid punks him online. So at midnight of his birthday, he wishes that his whole family can have a bad day. And things for the whole family go bad, his mom’s car is broken so they have to share a car, his sister has a cold and has to go on stage, his older brother, who’s hoping to get his driver’s license and to bring his girlfriend to the prom, has to deal with his girlfriend’s snootiness and fails to get his license, his mom has a crisis at work which could cost her her job, and his dad who has a job interview has to bring his younger brother with him but because his pacifier is broken he can’t stop crying. Alex feels responsible.
Sex & Nudity
- A woman accidentally walks in on her son in the bathroom. We only see him from the waist up. Later, she points out that she’s seen all three of her sons and her husband naked before. The word “penis” is used four times in this scene.
- We briefly see a baby boy’s butt.
- A boy’s head is photoshopped onto the bodies of women wearing bikinis. Meant for laughs. The word “boobs” is used.
- Male strippers are accidentally hired for a child’s birthday party but they do not strip when the dad says “no guys it’s PG”. This is made for laughs.
Violence & Gore
All violence is just slapstick
- A woman slips over on the floor.
- A man chases after a kangaroo, the kangaroo soon kicks him in the stomach and we see the man flying into their neighbors shed.
- During a driving test, a teenage boy crashes his car into a lamp post, an airbag bursts out the driving wheel and afterwards, he has a black eye.
- A teenage girl is late for school so she rides her bicycle quickly and suddenly falls off it.
Profanity
- 1 “crap”
- 1 “God”
- In a children’s book, the phrase “take a jump” is misprinted as “take a dump.” A man reads the phrase aloud several times.
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking
- A teen girl takes too much cough medicine, and acts loopy afterward.
- Drinks are served to adults in a restaurant.
Audio/visual unsynchronized
- When Kelly Cooper is frantically riding her bike to the bookstore, she is not ringing the bike’s bell but it is still making a sound.
- Ben is at the job interview and Trevor the baby is making noises, but Trevor’s mouth is closed and he has no real expression on his face.
Character error
- When Celia is riding in the Cooper family’s (now very badly damaged) minivan to the prom, they start making silly improvisational music with their mouths, and she looks right into the camera.
- After Kelly walks in on Anthony in the bathroom, she turns and hits her arm/wrist on the door frame of her bedroom. Later when she says goodbye to Alexander and the family, she says that her foot is killing her.
Continuity
- When Ben is bringing out the birthday cake at the end of the movie, the cake is caved in at the middle. This was due to the baby dragging its foot across the cake. However, when that happened, it was more towards the bottom, not in the center.
Factual errors
- Throughout the entire movie, while the characters are on their cell phones, the screen is lit up. On these makes of cell phones (iPhone) when the phone is held to your ear, the screen goes black. The screen only lights up when the phone is removed from your ear.
- When Alexander is holding the cage with the guinea pig while waiting for his Dad to come pick him up, there are kids getting on a school bus and there is no Stop sign on the bus. Cars just drive by while kids are getting on the school bus.
Mistakes & Oddities
- After the driver’s side door is torn off the car, the hinges are plainly visible with no damage. Obviously the door hinge bolts were removed before the scene. Had the door been attached to the hinges, they would have been bent toward the front of the car and torn up.
- While at the interview, baby Trevor gets green ink all over his face. Later Ben tells Kelly it is permanent marker and won’t come off. Actually it was a green Highlighter marker, which is easy to clean up (and it wouldn’t have stained his face as dark a green as was depicted).
- An alligator was used instead of a crocodile.
- Baby Trevor is played by twin baby girls
- In the book, whenever something goes wrong, Alexander vows to move to Australia to get away from everything. In the movie, Alexander is an expert in all things relating to Australia.