Jim Hancock
Zondervan, 2011, DVD, $24.99

Holiday times are sometimes the hardest times to teach a lesson or lead a study, especially something fresh and new. Take Your Pick: Holidays is a DVD-driven curriculum offering six fresh, new studies for the usual Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Easter, but also includes lessons for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Black History Month/Martin Luther King Jr. Day. If you are looking for youth ministry babysitting of popping in the DVD and letting someone else teach, this is not it. The DVD along with six short video vignettes also includes a 139-page leader book that offers solid, in-depth lessons. Each lesson includes an assortment of options for teaching the lesson including games, discussions, written reflections, handouts and a message outline. On the whole, this is a great resource to have for holidays, but the video clips and lessons easily could be used throughout the year. I especially like the “Man Up” lesson for Black History Month, as it is one of those lessons we might not teach otherwise. The video clip for the lesson along with the accompanying material is worth the purchase of this resource. This is excellent for any age group; but in my opinion, it an outstanding resource for middle school/junior high as it offers a variety of options to meet the differing learning styles of students.
—Dan Istvanik, Mansfield, Ohio

My good friends at YouthWorker Journal sent me a gaggle of goodies. Among the loot was a DVD titled Take Your Pick: Holidays. Produced by Jim Hancock, it has videos, study guides and message outlines for six sessions based on….wait for it….the holidays! This resource is handy because Jim doesn’t always stick with the basics; but when he does, the vantage point is not mundane. Everything comes complete on one DVD with a PDF of the leader’s guide, which I’m sure the technologically proficient could transfer to their tablet of choice for ease of use. This particular resource will be good for youth workers who don’t simply want talking heads or generic videos. Se the leader’s guide to create your meeting or craft the night and plug and play the video. This is a great resource.
—Rick Nier, Pastor of Youth & Christian Education, Winona Lake Free Methodist Church

Jim Hacock provides a very accessible curriculum in Take Your Pick: Holidays. The videos offer great variety. Some are done as first-person accounts of stories, while others are based on songs, and still others are done as interviews with students. This provides for dynamic presentations that engage youth on different levels. One of the most accessible videos for teens is “The Valentine’s Day Massacre” in which a volunteer youth worker chats back and forth with a friend about the topic of sexuality and how to share the topic with teens. It is a really great presentation, and the resolution is full of grace. Beyond the wonderful videos, Hancock also provides an engaging and applicable curriculum in PDF downloads. Each lesson provides necessary background for the holiday being discussed. Then each lesson provides a wonderful group session, a talk outline, a transcript of the video and various questions that bring the topic home for the youth. This is a very accessible resource for youth leaders, offering relevant and biblically based lessons that lead youth to consider their faith and the elements of Christian faith within various holidays. Each lesson challenges youth to let go of the way the world practices these holidays and instead discover how we can glorify God as we celebrate.
—Joel Jackson

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