WRITING YOUR LIFETIME DREAM STATEMENTLesson 5: Leader Guide

LEADER PREPARATION

LESSON OVERVIEW: Students will learn how to write a Lifetime Dream Statement for the life mission (unique life purpose) that God reveals to them.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:1. WHAT: Students will understand how to capture the lifetime dream that God reveals to

them.2. WHY: If you accept the unique life purpose that God designed specifically for you, you’ll

have a bold, passionate lifetime dream that far exceeds your highest hopes.3. HOW: After learning about the process for writing a Lifetime Dream Statement, students

will work with their Conversation Partner to help each other write a statement that captures their life mission, their unique life purpose.

MEMORY VERSE: Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21 TNIV).

LEADER-FACILITATOR PREP: • [Optional Icebreaker] Familiarize yourself with the “Draw four dots in the air”

exercise and the lesson segue. • Think about how you’d complete this sentence: If I stayed focused on my

shortcomings, I’d… [See Introductory Remarks for examples.]

BEFORE LESSON: Text Messages for Students [optional]Customize one or both of these text messages to fit your needs:

• Could you use a little mission-vision from God? Join us for a large dose!• Do you wish you had a lifetime dream? You actually do! Come and discover it at small

group.

AFTER LESSON: E-mail for Parent/Other Adult Mentor [optional]Customize this e-mail to fit your needs:

Dear ,

We’re excited to let you know that in our latest lively lesson from The Way I’m Wired: Discovering Who God Made ME to Be, we learned about an important topic: Writing Your Lifetime Dream Statement. This brief statement is a God-inspired declaration that outlines a person’s next steps on the pathway to purpose. It encourages your teenager to make the most far-reaching contribution possible, one that could have ripple effects on countless people.

Major Teaching Point: If I accept the unique life purpose that God designed specifically for me, I’ll have a bold, passionate lifetime dream that far exceeds my highest hopes.

Our Memory Verse: Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21 TNIV).

As the opportunity arises, talk with your teenager about our lesson. These questions could help initiate a conversation, deepen your relationship, and cause you to see your teenager in an entirely new light. (Yes, this is the stuff that Christ-like young adults are made of!)

• From Exercise #1: What group is God calling you to serve?• From Exercise #2: What’s your life message or power slogan?• From Exercise #3: How will you get your life message out? [such as speak, write, act,

paint, sing, lobby, build, counsel, teach, fund, design, shelter, pastor, lead]• From Exercise #4: What God-inspired passions support your life mission?

Prayerfully consider having a conversation with your teenager about your own Lifetime Dream Statement that reflects your life mission. (If you’re using the parent’s companion book, How Your Teenager Is Wired: Discovering Who God Made Your Teenager to Be, refer to Chapter 9.)

Thanks for your prayers for all our teenagers. Have a blessed day!

LESSON GUIDE

OPTIONAL ICEBREAKER: 5 MINSAY SOMETHING LIKE: Imagine you see four small dots in the air. How creatively can you connect those dots? Draw your answer in the air.

ASK:• Who wants to show the group how you connected the four dots? [Possible answers:

square, rectangle, circle, half-circles; figure-8; star; triangle; sides of a capital “L.” Use of a wavy or dotted line, rather than a straight or curved line.]

As you can tell, there are numerous ways to connect four dots. Likewise, God creatively connects the four dots for each person’s Lifetime Dream Statement differently, based on their very unique life mission. Let’s take some time to look at your personal life dots.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: 5 MINWelcome your students and open in prayer. Then, SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Moses stuttered. David’s armor didn’t fit. Paul was a murderer. Naomi was a widow. Miriam was a gossip. Martha was a worrywart. And Jesus was poor. But in spite of their shortcomings, they each had a huge role to play in building God’s kingdom.

Remember as you write your Lifetime Dream Statement that God isn’t focused on your shortcomings, but on the passionate life mission in your heart. If I stayed focused on my shortcomings, I would… [curl up in a ball and never get out of bed; eat myself into oblivion; quit my job and move to a desert island to protect people from my foolish ways].

ASK: • How does it help you to know that God focuses on the lifetime dream we’ve been

wired to complete, not on our shortcomings?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Well, just like Moses and the rest of the flawed cast of characters that God has used over the years to further the kingdom, you’re also called to move forward in spite of your faults and failures.

LESSON FOCUS: 5 MINSAY SOMETHING LIKE: This lesson focuses on how to write a Lifetime Dream Statement. If you accept the unique life purpose that God designed specifically for you, you’ll have a bold, passionate lifetime dream that far exceeds your highest hopes. [Leader: If you worked through the materials yourself with your own adult Conversation Partner, share a few appropriate highlights. Examples might include opening a horse ranch for runaway teenagers; writing a book about your testimony of almost being aborted; founding a nonprofit volunteer organization to care for drug-addicted babies; starting a local chapter of MCs for JC (Motorcyclists for Jesus Christ) and helping the idea spread worldwide; developing a cancer support ministry in your church and sharing your program online with other churches.]

READ PROVERBS 19:21 (TNIV): Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

ASK:• How do you feel about wanting God’s purpose to prevail in your life, versus making

your own plans? Why do you feel that way?

DVD LESSON: 10 MINSAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let’s watch the DVD lesson to learn more about how God reveals life mission details and how to capture those in a formalized statement. Open your Life Map to the note-taking section for this lesson.

Start the DVD for Lesson 5 and pray silently as the material is presented. Pray for your teenagers, by name, that they’ll hear God’s thoughts about their lifetime dream (their unique life purpose) so they can capture it succinctly in a formalized statement. Pray, too, that they’ll have at least one “Ah-Ha” moment and a no-turning-back experience in their Conversation Partner time. Stop DVD.

DVD REVIEW: 5 MINSAY SOMETHING LIKE: As the video explained, our God is a passionate God who has entrusted you with big dreams, hopes, and longings—and who can’t wait for you to unwrap that gift of a lifetime dream.

• “WHY” QUESTION...about God’s perspective: Why does God want you to capture a Lifetime Dream Statement about your unique life purpose?

• “HOW” QUESTION...about the benefit for teenagers: How does writing your lifetime dream bring you joy or cause you to change for the better?

CONVERSATION PARTNER TIME: 40-45 MINSAY SOMETHING LIKE: In just a moment, it’ll be time to switch gears and go into your Conversation Partner time. We on the leadership team will be praying for your conversation—and we’ll also be coming around to observe the process. We expect you to focus intently on your Lifetime Dream Statement, so please don’t feel like you need to include us in your conversation. Just do your thing and do it well.

If you finish before the 40 minutes is up, please stay with your Conversation Partner and help each other memorize the Scripture verse; you also can focus on the suggested homework at the end of your Life Map. We’ll make an announcement when you have 5 minutes left to wrap up. Pair up with your assigned Conversation Partner now and head to a quiet place.

Pray silently: As you walk around, ask God to bless each teenager, by name, with a revelation of their Proverbs 19:21 lifetime dream and a sold-out commitment to it. (Ask for yourself, too!)

CONCLUDING REMARKS: 5 MINBring the group back together and ASK:

• Starting now, how will your insight about how you were wired with a lifetime dream affect your day-to-day living and your unique life mission?

Give a quick summary or personal challenge. Then, SAY SOMETHING LIKE: From our lesson, you can see the importance of moving forward with the lifetime dream God revealed to you. I hope you always remember that you can’t out-dream God!

Just a reminder to take a look at the Homework Suggestion and also to memorize the Scripture verse—both of which can be found in your Life Map.

Close with a brief prayer.