Book Description

Boy Zone 2 - Motivational talks for boys

From pizza to pancakes, fishing to treasure, these punchy, relevant, motivational and inspirational talks are full of appeal for all ages and genders but are targetted particularly for boys. Each of the thirty short talks begins with a visual aid followed by an illustration and application and a bible passage.   The themes and topics of the talks are contemporary in our world today while being based on bible passages from Exodus, Psalms, Luke, Acts and Romans. Further information and other creative ideas are also provided. There is minimal preparation required to prepare the talks. While written specifically for larger group settings, these motivational talks could also be used in family devotions or by individuals. 

About the Author

Caroline Bindon has a passion for all-age worship.  She leads the Avenues Church with her husband Andrew. Her enthusiasm for communicating about the Christian faith to all-ages is carried through into her ministry and her devotional writing. While these three books were commissioned to be used with boys in New Zealand, Caroline herself sees them as resources for people of all ages, gender and nationalities to enjoy.  She has a love of metaphor and an ability to take ordinary things as a starting point to spiritual learnings and enjoys the opportunities to share with and learn from others on the Christian journey. 

Recommendation

Tim Pratt, (Past Chief Executive of Global Fellowship of Christian Youth and Past Director of The Boys Brigade and Iconz in New Zealand) has this to say about these books, “With Caroline's experience as a teacher, published children's author and pastor, commissioning her to write a contemporary series of devotions for boys was an easy choice. Our objective was that the devotions would bring spiritual issues to life in the context of the world that is unique to Kiwi boys.  The result was a format that was easy for our leaders to prepare and present from. More than that it succeeded in engaging the minds and hearts of boys with the positive life principles contained in Scripture.”

Product details

Author: Caroline Bindon
Language: English
Formats: ePub or Mobi
Word count: 23,050
ISBN 978-0-473-34600-3 (Mobi)
ISBN 978-0-473-34599-0 (EPUB)
 

Sample Text - Boy Zone 2

2. Gone Fishin’ (Luke 5: 1 – 11)

Visual Aid

Take along a fishing rod and gear.

Introduction

Who likes fishing?  Anyone got any great stories of catching fish?  What about a story where you caught something apart from fish? 

Illustration

Andrew fished from his rock at least once a week.  Catching fish was a bit hit and miss.  Some days were good.  Other days it seemed like there just weren’t any fish around.  Mostly he caught snapper. Sometimes the snapper were too small and had to be thrown back, but in Spring the water was full of large fish and often he’d catch more than the family could eat. Sometimes the water would bubble and he knew the kahawai were running.  Andrew would change his bait and lures on his rod and then he’d target the kahawai.  A good fight with a kahawai was very exciting. Kahawai fight to the very end.  The rod would bend, and it would take all of Andrew’s strength to play and bring in the kahawai.  Sometimes, if it was a big fish, bringing it in would take half an hour.  Exhilarating. Exhausting. Exciting.  Andrew would go home full of stories about the fish that he’d caught and the tremendous fight fought before finally landing the fish. When the family sat down to freshly smoked kahawai, the story would be told again.

Progression

Jesus was looking for some friends to help him.  One of his friends, Simon, was a fisherman.  It wasn’t his hobby, it was his job. Jesus was standing on the shore of the lake where Simon had been out fishing, talking to a crowd about God’s message. Jesus asked Simon to row him out on his boat so he could talk to the crowd from the water.  When Jesus had finished talking to the crowd he told Simon to row the boat into deeper water and catch fish.  Simon was an experienced fisherman.  He knew the time to catch fish was at night.  He’d just been out all night and hadn’t caught anything. He was tired. He didn’t expect to catch anything now.   What do you think Simon would have been thinking about Jesus’ suggestion?  What do you think he did next?

Bible Reading

“Master,” Simon answered, “we’ve worked hard all night long and haven’t caught a thing. But if you tell me to, I will let the nets down.” They did it and caught so many fish that their nets began ripping apart. Then they signalled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. The men came, and together they filled the two boats so full that they both began to sink.  When Simon Peter saw this happen, he knelt down in front of Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t come near me! I’m a sinner.” Peter and everyone with him were completely surprised at all the fish they had caught. His partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee were surprised too.  Jesus told Simon, “Don’t be afraid!  From now on you will bring in people instead of fish.” The men pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything and went with Jesus.  (Luke 5: 5 – 11)

Application

Why did Simon do what Jesus told him?   Simon respected Jesus, but even so, he was incredibly surprised to catch fish. As a result, he knew he wanted to follow Jesus and work with him telling others about God’s message.   Jesus uses Simon’s job of being a fisherman to explain to Simon, what he would be doing if he went with Jesus.  “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will bring in people instead of fish.”  If you like fishing, you might understand what Jesus was saying.  If you prefer playing playstation, you can change Jesus’ words.   “Don’t be afraid!  From now on you will win people instead of winning playstation games.”   What words would Jesus use to talk to you?   Jesus wants us to be involved with him. He wants us to follow him.  He wants us to make everything else that we do in our lives less important than telling others about God’s message.   And he tells us to not be afraid.

Prayer

Help us to follow you.

Help us to make you the most important thing in our lives.

Help us to tell others about you.

Help us to not be afraid.

Amen

Further Information

The devotional is based on Luke 5:1 – 11

Follow up Activity

Go fishing together.

Available from

Buy direct from Kereru Publishing