Halloween Freebie: "Christian Zombie Killers Handbook"

 

 Download this free eBook in PDF format, The Christian Zombie Killers Handbook: Slaying the Living Dead Within by speaker and author Jeff Kinley.

CLICK HERE to start your download! 

Game #19: "Baby Food Baseball" (Wacky Wiffleball 2.0)

Here it is "Wacky Wiffleball" 

is back with Version 2.0 and

a CRAZY new spin...literally!!!

If you liked the game "Wacky Wiffleball" that I posted a few weeks back or saw it recently on Youth Leader Stash. Here is version 2.0 with a wild messy new spin.  This time around you ARE goint to use your wiffleball, just in a whole new fun way!!

Supplies:
- Wiffleball bat or Fat Bat
- A wiffleball
- 4 baseball bases or something you can use as bases
- Squeezable Baby (see above..available everywhere)

Explanation:
Very simple rules and idea. You are going to be playing a wacky game of wiffleball/baseball with a wiffleball filled with a variety of baby food inside.  Before the pitch the you will squeeze in a good amount of baby food into the ball. Every time the ball is hit, of course, baby food is going to go spinning out of the holes causing a mess! It is similar to the old "shaving cream baseball", doing the same thing filling the ball with shaving cream!

You can just play a regular game of wiffleball/baseball or use the rules similar rules to other Wacky Wiffleball game...

"You can throw the  and hit someone to get them out.  Two addition to the rules that we add is: 1.) you can have as many people on a base at a time as you like, but only one person can run to the next base at a time. It keeps it from being one massive herd of people running at a time.  2.) There are no strike outs.  Determine for your group and game where and what is a home run, if you would like.

As always like any good backyard or youth group version of wiffeball make up whatever "house rules" you like for your group to add to the fun.  Change things each time your play or each inning. Like: "this inning you have to run the base in reverse",  "you have to skip around the bases", etc...

Enjoy have fun and let your imagination run with other great squeezable products that you can fill your wiffleball with... maybe EZ cheese"??  Would love to hear what you end up using!!

News U Can Use: MS/JH Students and Energy Drinks

Monster Energy Drink Cited in Deaths 
By BARRY MEIER

Five people may have died over the past three years after drinking Monster Energy, a popular energy drink that is high in caffeine, according to incident reports recently released by the Food and Drug Administration.

The reports, like similar filings with the F.D.A. in cases involving drugs or medical devices, do not prove a link between Monster Energy and the deaths or other health problems. The records were recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the mother of a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died in December from a heart arrhythmia after drinking large cans of Monster Energy on two consecutive days. 

Last week, Wendy Crossland, the mother of that teenager, filed a lawsuit against Monster Beverage, a publicly traded company in Corona, Calif., that used to be known as Hansen Natural. The lawsuit charges that Monster failed to warn about the risks of its energy drinks; a spokeswoman for the company said last week that its products were safe and not the cause of the teenager’s death. 

That spokeswoman, Judy Lin Sfetcu, added that Monster was “unaware of any fatality anywhere that has been caused by its drinks.” 

Monster Beverage’s stock ended down Monday more than 14 percent, sliding sharply after The New York Times reported about the F.D.A. filings. 

In an interview, an F.D.A. spokeswoman, Shelly Burgess, said the agency had received reports of five deaths with possible links to the drink as well as a report of a nonfatal heart attack. Additional incident reports referred to other adverse events such as abdominal pain, vomiting, tremors and abnormal heart rate. The reports disclosed cover a period of 2004 to June of this year, but all the deaths occurred in 2009 or later. 

The filings do not make clear whether the incidents involved other factors, like alcohol or drugs. However, the number of reports that the F.D.A. receives about any product it regulates usually understates by a large degree the actual number of problems. 

The release of the filings about Monster Energy may increase Congressional calls for greater regulation of the energy products industry. Monster Energy is among scores of energy drinks like Red Bull and Rock Star, and energy “shots” like 5-hour Energy, that companies are aggressively marketing to teenagers and young people. 

In a statement, Ms. Burgess, the F.D.A. spokeswoman, said that it was the responsibility of energy drink manufacturers to investigate accusations of death or injuries associated with them. She said that the agency was still looking into the cases but had yet to establish a causal link between the deaths and the drink.

But the release of the F.D.A. reports may also raise questions about how closely producers of energy products monitor their safety or whether the F.D.A. reviews those activities. 

Late Monday, Ms. Sfetcu, the Monster Beverage spokesman, said that the company had not received copies of the F.D.A. incident filings about possible fatalities associated with its products apart from the one filed in connection with the December death of the Maryland teenager, Anais Fournier. She said she did not know whether the company actively monitored the F.D.A. database that collects reports about such incidents. 

Monster Beverage makes a variety of energy drinks with names like Monster Rehab, Monster Assault and Monster Heavy Metal. Labels on the containers state that they are “not recommended” for some consumers, including children — a group that beverage producers define as those under 12 years — and people “sensitive” to caffeine. 

Under current F.D.A. rules, companies are not required to disclose caffeine levels in their beverages and can choose to market them as drinks or as dietary supplements. Those regulatory categories have differing labeling and ingredient rules. 

While healthy adults can safely consume large quantities of caffeine from sources like coffee, tea and energy drinks, the drug, which acts as a stimulant, can pose risks to those with underlying conditions like heart disorders. 

The type of 24-ounce can of Monster Energy that the Maryland teenager, Anais Fournier, drank contains 240 milligrams of caffeine. 

The lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the teenager referred to autopsy and medical examiner reports that said she had died of “cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity” that had exacerbated an existing heart problem. The report also showed that the teenager had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which can affect the body’s connective tissue, including blood vessels. A lawyer for her family, Kevin Goldberg, said that the 14-year-old had been aware she had an underlying heart condition but added that her doctors had not told her to restrict her physical activities or her caffeine use. 

In an April letter citing the teenager’s death, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, urged the F.D.A. to enforce caffeine levels in energy drinks. 

In August, F.D.A. officials responded by saying that there was insufficient evidence to take action on caffeine levels in energy drinks. However, the agency also noted then that it had not yet received medical reports related to the Maryland teenager’s death.

Ran-Dumb Monday Morning Video: "Gangnam Style Halloween Lights"

Just because not everything has to be serious.  Kick off youth group this week with some RAN-DUMB Fun!!

Ran-Dumb Youth Ministry Meme of the Week

Free Music #16: Guitar Lesson-"Cornerstone" by Hillsong

Worship Artistry is offering a FREE video download guitar lesson. The guitar lesson is for the song "Cornerstone" by Hillsong.

Also check out a second "sample lesson" of the song "Redeemed" by Big Daddy Weave

Worship Artistry provides online song tutorials. They have a large catalog of songs to choose from with a variety of paid subscription options. They currently are offering a FREE 30 DAY TRIAL!!

CLICK HERE (to get your free lesson and also find out more about 30 day FREE trial)

Free Resource #31: "Importance of Family Dinner" Study

Family dinner together may just be the new most important meal of the day and may be the life of your MS/JH Students.  
18 year long study on the connect between family dinner and life long drug use!




" Over the past 18 years, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbiaTM) has surveyed thousands of American teens and their parents to identify situations and circumstances that influence the risk of teen substance abuse. Why? Because a child who gets through age 21 without using illegal drugs, abusing alcohol or smoking is virtually certain never to do so. What we’ve learned is that parents have the greatest influence on whether their teens will choose not to use.

Our past surveys have consistently found a relationship between children having frequent dinners with their parents and a decreased risk of their using drugs, drinking or smoking, and that parental engagement fostered around the dinner table is one of the most potent tools to help parents raise healthy, drug-free children.

Simply put: frequent family dinners make a big difference."

CLICK HERE (to get the PDF of the study)