GAME CHANGER Week 5 Elementary Large Group Script Need to Know: On God s Team, Players Encourage Others Bible Story: Barnabas Encourages Paul Acts 9:26 31
Character Charlie: Charlie is the new mascot of Springside School, and Charlie couldn t be more honored to take on the new role. It s been one of his/her lifelong dreams to represent the Springside Chickens so s/he takes the new position very seriously and wants to be the best Chicken Springside has ever had. Charlie is so excited to rally everyone at Springside and help them understand that everyone plays an important role on the Springside Team. S/he knows they can accomplish anything if they work together. No matter what they face, Charlie always tries to stay positive and keep morale up. Weekly Props Basketball Charlie carries on stage Phone Charlie carries on stage Gym bag with miscellaneous items fish food, balloon, rubber chicken, uniform shorts, tuna sandwich, toothpaste, mini muffins ; on bench Game Card for game Bag of Fan Items (2 bags with 1 of each item in each bucket) tinsel wig, giant glasses, beads, foam finger, pom pom ; for game Large Candy Prize (1 per service) for game Small Candy Prize (1 per service) for game Script Outline Intro & Counter Song Win Forever Act 1 Sweatband Search Funny Short Dance of the Day & Opener Charlie Life Skills Charlie Searches Gym Bag Bible Story Act 2 Mascots Are Made for Encouraging Charlie Need to Know Game Super Fan Dress Up Song Wise Up Prayer 1
LIGHTS AT 100% Worship leader enters & keeps kids excited through Intro & Counter dancing, jumping, learning song motions, etc. FIRE: GC_ES_INTRO WORSHIP LEADER (During Intro/Counter) Hey everyone! Welcome back to Game Changer where we re seeing exactly what it takes to be a great teammate! Jump up so we can sing, Win Forever together! (Give kids time to stand, call out the motions you want them to do while you sing the song.) FIRE: GC_ES_COUNTER WORSHIP LEADER (CONTINUED) (At end of counter) Everybody countdown with me! (Countdown from 10) AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_SONG_WIN FOREVER LIGHTS DOWN WORSHIP LEADER (At the end of song) I love singing that song with you guys! Take a seat so we can see what s going on with Charlie and the Springside team. Worship leader remains on stage to do Dance of the Day with kids. ACT 1: Sweatband Search AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_WK5_FUNNYSHORT (Dance of the Day) 2
Worship Leader exits. AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_OPENER AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_ACTING_GYM LIGHTS AT 100% Charlie runs excitedly on stage carrying basketball. (Enthusiastic, talking to audience) Hey Springside fans! Today is one of the greatest days for Springside our basketball team is playing the Eastpointe Eagles in the State Championships! I m predicting that the Springside Chickens will be the basketball state champs by the end of the day, and I can t wait to cheer them on! (Dribbling basketball, pretending to shoot it) Check out my sweet moves! But, they don t compare at all to Springside s star basketball player, Dylan Davenport, or as everyone here calls him Dunk! He s a Springside legend! We ve only lost one game since he s been on the team. With his b ball skills, the Eagles don t stand a chance in today s matchup. Our Chickens have totally got this. (Pulling out phone ) In true mascot fashion, I sent Dunk a text this morning to let him know how excited I am to watch him lead the team to victory today. That s an important part of my mascot duties encouraging the players. (Looking at phone ) I wonder if he s texted me back (Startled, with an upset look) No, no, no, no, noooo! This can t be! (Starting to pace back and forth, shaking head) Something terrible has happened. Dunk has lost his lucky sweatbands. He says he s looked everywhere for them. And that the whole team is mad at 3
him. (Getting angrier, stomping and pacing around the stage) Well, I gotta say, can you blame the team for being upset? How could Dunk be so irresponsible? Remember that one game I mentioned earlier where we lost even with him on the team? Well, that s the game Dunk was NOT wearing the sweatbands! And he loses them now on the day of the state championships?! What was he thinking? (Still frustrated, shrugging shoulders, lifting hands) I guess the only thing to do now is to go to the locker room and help him look for them. Charlie exits stage, shaking head and irritated. FIRE: GC_ES_WK5_LIFE SKILLS (Homer encourages everything Hoops does by showing him 10 cards for his efforts) AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_ACTING_GYM Charlie comes hurriedly back onto stage carrying a gym bag with miscellaneous items. (Talking to audience) Okay, to give you guys an update...the sweatbands are still missing! I sent Dunk home to see if they re somewhere in his laundry. What if they accidentally got stuck to his dirty undies? (Acts grossed out) So, he s checking there. The rest of the team is really, really mad at Dunk, but they ve divided up to check all around the school. And I m going to attempt to go through Dunk s gym back. We ve got to find them or this could be a total game changer or should I say game loser! (Opens gym bag ) Ugh! This smells like a fish ate a skunk for dinner and then threw it up in here.. 4
(Sniffing the bag) Ewww! Gross. (Almost hesitant to start pulling things out, mustering up the ability) Oh well, I ve got to do it. I ll do whatever it takes for us to find those sweatbands. (Pulling items out, commenting on them, and tossing them over his/her shoulder) Fish food...why is this in here? A balloon? What in the world does he need that for? My rubber chicken?! Why does Dunk have this? I ve been looking for it everywhere. His uniform shorts...probably need to make sure we keep that. Oh wow. (Holding nose) And this is why it smells like a fish threw up a skunk in here. This old tuna sandwich is disgusting! (Getting to the bottom of bag) Toothpaste and mini muffins. (Discouraged, shakes out bag) But no sweatbands. Ughhhh! We are clearly going to lose. I can t believe Dunk would do this to everyone. It s all his fault. (Sitting down on bench and opening muffins ) It s pointless to keep looking. We re not going to find them. I m just going to eat a snack and see what Homer and Hoops are up to today. (Hopeful) Maybe they know where Dunk s sweatbands are! FIRE: GC_ES_WK5_BIBLE STORY Hey there, I m Homer Homer Hoops And I m Hoops! You know, encouraging others isn t always easy. And sometimes it might even be hard to remember to do. Homer So true, Hoops, so true. But it s SO important if you are part of a team. 5
Hoops It sure is! You know, Homer, you are like one of the most encouraging people I know. Remember at the start of school three years ago when I tried out for every sport I could think of? Homer Man, it wasn t good. In fact, I think we might have some photographic evidence. This is little Hoops three years ago. Oh Hoops, I almost forgot you looked like that. Hoops Yeah, I wanted to be on the team Actually ANY team! But, no one believed I could play. Yeah, that was rough. Homer Hoops But, you know what was a Game Changer? You. You always encouraged me to keep trying. Homer I learned it from a story about two guys named Paul and Barnabas. Hoops Ah yeah, check this out! Here Homer, take this (Gives the pointer stick) Hoops tells the story. Homer will use a pointer and point to the picture cards on easel as the story is being told. CARD 1 Paul went to Jerusalem where he tried to team up with a group of people who believed in Jesus. But when he 6
tried to be part of their crew, they wouldn t let him. CARD 2 The problem was he used to go by a different name, Saul, and he would kill followers of Jesus. The people in this crew didn t believe that Saul had changed and was really following Jesus now. CARD 3 But, Barnabas wasn t afraid of Paul. He really believed that Paul wanted to be different and could help people learn more about Jesus. So Barnabas did something cool that totally encouraged Paul. CARD 4 He took him to the group of believers and stood up for him! He told them all about Paul and how he had met Jesus and how Jesus had changed him...even his name! CARD 5 Barnabas also told the apostles how Paul had gone to Damascus and told others about Jesus. And how Paul wasn t afraid of what others would think of him. CARD 6 When the apostles and believers heard all that Barnabas had to say, they finally believed that Paul REALLY was following Jesus! In fact, they were so encouraged that they supported Paul and trusted him to go and share the good news about Jesus with others! Homer So even when nobody believed in Paul, Barnabas did. Barnabas knew Paul needed encouragement so that he could continue to tell others about Jesus. Hoops Yeah, so he encouraged Paul by standing up for him and by telling others about the great things he had done! 7
Homer It just goes to show you, when we are on God s team, players encourage others! Hoops And that s a game changer!! AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_ACTING_GYM ACT 2: Mascots Are Made for Encouraging (Standing and walking to middle of stage, talking to audience; Convicted) I gotta say, I haven t been handling this situation with Dunk the right way. One of my responsibilities as team mascot is to encourage others at Springside. I sent Dunk that encouraging text this morning, but then I got mad at him when he lost the sweatbands. I definitely wasn t much of an encourager when we were looking for them, and I said mean things about Dunk to the other teammates because they were mad at him, too. I wish I would have acted more like Barnabas did in that story Hoops and Homer told. When others didn t trust Paul, Barnabas said encouraging things about him to others. Eventually, Barnabas helped the others see that they didn t need to be afraid of Paul anymore because he really was a follower of Jesus. Because of Barnabas encouragement Paul ended up playing a really big part on God s Team. Barnabas changed the game for Paul by encouraging him, and then Paul was a game changer for THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of people when he got to share the good news about Jesus with them. 8
That story kinda reminds me of what happened with Dunk today! I knew the other players were really mad at Dunk for losing the sweatbands. And I got mad, too. I could tell Dunk was even a little frustrated with himself. But losing the sweatbands was an accident. And honestly, those sweatbands really aren t the reason Dunk is a good player. Dunk practices all the time, works harder than anyone on the team, and is a really talented dude. He s not only an important part of the basketball team, but he s an important part of the whole Springside team, too! Just like Barnabas encouraged Paul by telling the apostles that he really was following Jesus, I can go tell the rest of the basketball team NOT to be mad at Dunk. And I think I can encourage Dunk and the rest of the team by reminding them that it s really Dunk s talent and hard work that helps them win games. I feel confident he can lead the Springside Chickens to victory without those smelly sweaty sweatbands! I ve got to go tell the team that they ll be fine without those things. The game starts in less than an hour. They should be warming up and cheering each other on not mad at each other and looking for sweatbands! (Rushing off stage, but is stopped by the whistle.) FIRE: GC_ES_WK5_NEED TO KNOW reacts to Ref s whistle in a funny way. AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_WK5_NEED TO KNOW 2 9
That whistle gets me every time. (Pointing to Need to Know on screen) Well before I go, that s what you need to know. Just like we re all on the Springside Team together and want to encourage our fellow teammates, God wants us to ALL to be on his team, too. And On God s Team, Players Encourage Others! So stand up and say this real fast with me! Charlie leads the group in saying the Need to Know really fast, having kids repeat after him/her. Can do it multiple times to help kids say it faster if you think it would work for your audience. (Fast) On God s Team (both hands point up) KIDS (Repeating fast after Charlie) On God s Team (both hands point up) (Fast) Players Encourage Others! (high five a friend) KIDS (Repeating fast after Charlie) Players Encourage Others! (high five a friend) You guys totally have it! I ve gotta go encourage Dunk and the team, but you all be the best fans you can be and encourage each other this week! Charlie exits. Worship Leader enters. Worship Leader facilitates game. WORSHIP LEADER See ya Charlie! You know, Charlie told us to encourage others and be the best fans we can be, so I think we 10
should play a game called Dress Like a Super Fan! FIRE: GC_ES_GAME Worship Leader uses Game Card or instructions below to explain game. Name: Dress Like a Super Fan Who Will Play: 2 players Goal: First player to put on all the fan items is the winner! Fans not playing should cheer for the players to encourage them! Instructions: Select 2 players to come on stage. Introduce the players by having them say their names and answer this question: Who is your biggest fan? (someone who encourages them a lot) Place bag of fan items in front of each player. Fan items include: Tinsel Wig Giant Glasses Beads Foam Finger Pom Pom On GO players will race to put on all FIVE fan items. Have audience cheer for their teammates to ENCOURAGE them! Player to put on all the fan items first is the winner! Give the winner a large candy prize, then give the other player a small candy prize. FIRE: GC_ES_LOGO WORSHIP LEADER You guys are the most encouraging super fans I ve ever seen! (As players return to their seats) Super fans are the people at a game that encourage the team to keep going even when they re down, and a bunch of encouraging fans can be a total game changer for a team! That s what God wants us to be for the people on our team and the people we meet every day. But you know what encourages me most of all? Knowing that God loves me and wants me on His team. I m proud to be on God s team, and you should be, too, because 11
God always wins. And when we listen to Him and do what He says, we win, too! Let s all jump up and sing this next song together! (Give kids time to stand and call out the motions throughout the song.) FIRE: GC_ES_SONG_WISE UP AUTO ADVANCE: GC_ES_LOGO WORSHIP LEADER (After the song) Great singing, everyone! I had the best time with you all today, and I hope you ll be here next week! Before you go, let s all bow our heads, close our eyes and pray together as a team (give kids a few seconds to get quiet, bow their heads & close their eyes) : Father God, thank you for loving us and wanting us on your team! Help us to be great players on your team who encourage others! We love you. Amen! FIRE: GC_ES_OUTRO 12