back in the day, we used to use a “hot seat” (it was actually in the ys ideas books at one time!). it was a common bar stool, wired up with some kind of old car electrical converter to a wire mesh on the seat. it delivered a ‘million needles’ feeling. horrible stuff — can’t believe we thought that was fun! here’s an updated version, and don’t we all have that last kid in our youth group?
(ht to judy gregory)
If my Japanese doesn’t fail me, I think they were reciting the memomry verse of the week. Now, that will help with memorization.
that should say memory verse…I was thinking in Japanese.
Thanks for sharing that! I will now be limping through the rest of my day!
laughed out loud – it remindes me of YEARS ago when we did “crotch bat” announcements with the pastors son during a youth group meeting… got in trouble for that one
ahhhh the hot seat I remember it well from the youth for christ years!
I’d forgotten all about the hot seat until I read this post,
Marko. Yup, we used it all the time in Campus LIfe and
I HATED it, both as a kid and as a staff person!
Takes me back!
I still have my ‘chair’ some where in storage (with wireless remote) from my Campus Life days. You might be interested that we used it in our junior high ministry. We had ‘escape passes’ that you could earn as a reward and use to escape ‘the chair’ if you were sent. The pass allowed you to have someone else take your place (including staff). I learned how to withstand the ‘charge’ and run the battery down, so I was no fun most of the time.
Although the video had me both cringing and laughing.
Mike …
Now, that’ll leave a mark.
When I was volunteering with Young Life I sat on a “Hot Seat” that a youth pastor friend of mine had, not knowing what to expect. The shock threw me to the ground, ruptured a disc in my back, and resulted in the worst pain I’ve experienced in my life. I had to have surgery and was out of work for a month.
The irony to me is that any high school teacher who tried this with students would lose their teaching license and probably at least be taken to court, if not to jail. But youth ministry professionals have obviously been doing it for years. The youth pastor who did this to me is still at the church he was with at that time–nearly 10 years later.