Over two decades ago a team of people gathered to create a resource to empower kids and adults to pray in a new way.

Many had spent years – decades even – serving in youth contexts and knew the barriers that led many grown folks to assume children can’t do spiritual things.

This team knew differently: the Spirit can move through kids, and we can create the context for that to happen!

They began to brainstorm and write down ideas to take the normal ways of engaging youth – games, movement, noise – and integrate spiritual engagement.  Games You Can Pray (GYCP) was born, but didn’t extend far past the document until 19 years later, when a team of families within YWAM River City felt called to equip families to “Know God and Make Him Known”; the timing could not have been more important.  The year was 2020, and a global pandemic had transformed the world; more importantly, families were house-bound, and many churches were not in-person.  With families having limited access to their faith communities, and more access to each other, the team realized GYCP could become a valuable resource.

They took the ideas gathered by the first team and fleshed them out into robust activity guides, and then held online gatherings and pilot groups to get them out into the world.  Families from around the globe shared their appreciation for this collection of creative ways to seek God together.

Then…life changed, people moved, and the project was shelved.  Though we always intended to publish it and at times dusted it off, we knew it would take a tremendous amount of work for that to happen.

God had a plan: in 2025 He invited me to self-publish a book a month, and that fall it became clear GYCP would be the October book.  I was filled with excitement; having invested a tremendous amount of work in the project, I had always wanted to see it through.

This was a unique (and challenging) endeavor; while there are many original words from me, I sought to honor the many voices that preceded me.  Sometimes I made major changes to make the content better; sometimes I refrained from changes, even if I did not like the game.  The result is different than if I created it entirely myself, and that is part of its beauty: a Body of Believers worked together to make something special.

You now have access to this resource!  Whether for your family, a group of kids in the park, or a gathering of adults in the office, we hope these “games you can pray” inspire and equip you to seek God as one!

Stay tuned for how you can access the eBook for FREE!