Latest / Student Ministry Conversations / 264 | Digital Faith: Using Your Voice For Good | SMC Podcast
Transcript
- speaker-0: Hey and welcome back to the podcast. We are excited for you to be here. ⁓ and it is the last week of July. and man, what a we've talked about this a couple of times in the month of July, I'm sure, but man, what an absolute crazy, crazy, crazy month. And we are recording this one a little bit early because right now me and David are if you're listening to this on the day it came out or the week it came out, we are at the tail end of junior high camp. And David and I direct Junior High Camp together, which if you've listened to this podcast for a while you you are well, you already know that one, but then also you are probably full of ideas on how much shenanigans and how much trouble we can get into. and yeah, the question is or the answer is yes. ⁓ especially the last That's why we have two females. Well that's why we have two females on our director team as well. Yeah. ⁓ because they keep us in line and you know, we ⁓ yeah. So it's a lot of fun. But with that being said, we like I said, we are doing the last week of July ⁓ in our series of digital faith talking about how students can ⁓ I mean almost be sojourners, if I c if I may, in a digital world. ⁓ talk going back to the ⁓ you know, throwback to Abraham reference. ⁓ but where we're in the world but not of the world. ⁓ and how do we allow students and how do we make students kind of come to the understanding that they are not in the world digitally, they don't have to be, but or they don't have to be of the world, but they when when they're being in the interactions of social media and everything else. And so with that, the last episode that we have for this series is just basically, you know, everybody has a voice. ⁓ how are you going to use your voice for good? and so we are shaping how students represent their faith online. ⁓ we are sh shaping how students represent their faith period. ⁓ and so how do we begin to model that and how do we begin to ⁓ push them and challenge them to be proactive in their ways of engaging with people digitally for their faith? ⁓ and then also just how how to maintain a ⁓ maintain a presence online that's not different than who they are. ⁓ 'cause I think that's another dynamic is ⁓ especially with online presence and social media and everything else, there's a lot of people on there that are completely different online than they are in person. ⁓ and a lot of people try to live a different life when it comes to social media and everything else and in all reality, like that's not what we're called to. ⁓ we're we're called to be ourselves, we're called to be who God created us to be. ⁓ and part of that comes that that should be digitally and in person. ⁓ and so how do we shape students to represent their faith online well? ⁓ and we have to understand that like we're already in this scenario. Every single student of ours has a platform already. whether it's social media, ⁓ whether they have Instagram and they have followers, or whether my son just made a YouTube account, ⁓ where he's gonna start doing like Fortnite and Rocket League clips, ⁓ and stuff like that. So how do we go about teaching and training them to use their platform for good and to represent that faith well? 'Cause in all reality, students don't need thousands of followers to have influence. I literally like l on July fifteenth is when we're recording this episode, this morning before me and David started recording, my son was like, Dad, YouTube account. Dad, YouTube account. You said we could, Dad, I have my videos, I have it ready, I just need you to make the YouTube account. And so, like, he has made the YouTube account, he has uploaded his first two videos And within a matter of twenty minutes he had seven friends subscribe to his channel. And so with that being said, like it's it's one of those things that like it might not be a thousand, it might not ever be a hundred, but he still has an influence over the people that he has an audience of. And so while we say the same thing with this, is like we I mean, while I really don't know what we would ever do if this podcast reached like twelve hundred views an episode or something of that nature and it 'cause it doesn't. ⁓ and we're totally fine with that. But like it would speaker-1: Fifty nine, get it right. speaker-0: It would be a wild it would be a wild understanding or a wild thing to kinda comprehend, but at the end of the day, regardless of whether this show has five views or five thousand views, every comment, every word, every episode, all of the messages that we send matter. And so, like we have to teach students the same ideology and the same understanding of their faith digitally. ⁓ Because it is shaping something. And so most students have been taught or haven't been taught, excuse me, most students haven't been taught how to use their voice well. ⁓ they might have been told to use their voice and speak out for themselves and fight and like equality and like make sure they can be a social a like a they can advocate for themselves. But a lot of times we miss that dynamic of, you know, yes, you should advocate for yourself. You should have the ability and have the the boldness to speak up, but what are you gonna say when you do? And so online behavior is huge. And s why does this matter for us? online behavior reflects character, it reflects identity, it reflects faith, and I will guarantee you that me and David, at least on this podcast, this is exactly who we are. We anytime we get together, we joke, we talk, we have great conversations, ⁓ but we're not doing different identities. Like this this is who we are. You get to see us up close and personal every single week. ⁓ and we f really, really find that that's important though. ⁓ and the thing is though is going back to students, like students are learning this somewhere. But the question is, are we from a church perspective teaching this intentionally? And I I while I it has been really, really nice to see more and more faith driven posts. I still see a lot of posts of like a now just the opportunity for engagement and likes and follows has kind of shifted to more of a Christian platform. And so it's not necessarily that the heart has changed. It seems a lot of times on social media that just maybe the area that monetization is focusing on is more faith based stuff. If that makes sense. speaker-1: Can see it. speaker-0: So I I think one of the things that we have to understand is like, you know, at the end of the day, like how are you honoring God with everything you do? And we talk about God being like number one or being the priority or how you utilize God in everything that you do. Like how do we allow students or how do we make students focus on the fact of like, are they carrying God onto their social media platform? Are they carrying God into their video game streaming? Are they just carrying God into their Fortnite lobbies? Like, I mean, let's be honest, because I've heard some wild things come out of my son's mouth when he gets frustrated over games and different things like that. And so it's it's obviously happening, but I I don't know, David, what are your thoughts? What are what are ways that we can kind of work to ⁓ begin to teach that idea of using voice well? speaker-1: Well, young Anakin, we must find balance to the force. You get what you get. Brad literally just left. but I mean joking aside I was speaker-0: This is what I'm talking about. This is David all the time. speaker-1: To say this. Because the moment you I don't remember exactly what you said, but you were talking about the the But kind of the the work life balance, so to speak, like so you have your internet presence and you have your actual person. But then at the same time we also look from a reality standpoint, who you are at school versus who you are at home versus who you are at church. And, you know, w we show up to church and we we kinda put on our best face and then we go back to school and we're like F this and F that and all you know, all the different things like that. We go to work when we are driving, different things like that. And so it's like how do we bring character and integrity to everything that we do. And so like I joke about balance to the force, but isn't that kind of the truth? If you think about it, it's like how how do I take the person that I am at church when I'm in when I'm in worship with Jesus and the person that I choose to be when I'm there or when I'm at camp or when I'm at a retreat or a spiritual thing or a conference or whatever. And how, you know, you get around like-minded people who are all going towards this goal of being more and more like Jesus and it's so easy because your every second of your day is planned towards food, fellowship, and diving deeper with Jesus. And everybody's doing it together, but then all of a sudden we're no longer there and we're not pursuing those things anymore because you enter twenty different distractions that pull you twenty different directions and it's hard to find a way to be who God has created you to be. ⁓ and so I think being more intentional in our conversations, being more intentional to carry those those traits everywhere we go. If I go to church and I and I take my Bible with me and I'm taking notes and I'm doing different things like that, am I doing that at school when I have a free bell period or whatever, like I've got a twenty minute period where I could actually, you know, dive into to scripture and take some notes and maybe take a couple of people with me and and have a good spiritual conversation. ⁓ maybe have a break time at work. ⁓ 'cause a lot of our students are working during the summer. Some work all year long, but you know, certainly during the summer. ⁓ and I think Brent referenced this in our last episode. It's like now teenagers get paid to play on their phones. ⁓ what if instead, like I've got I don't know, eight, nine students working at the city pool. What if they all went to the little break room, which really they don't have a break room, it's the concession stand. What if they went to the concession stand and someone pulled out their Bible and just started started sharing whatever's on their heart, you know? And there's a lot of people that hang out because there's a shaded area over there. I they could really bring in a lot of people who are just there to get out of the sun for a moment who I mean, and that would be an opportunity to reach people too. Not just your you know your own personal reflection. So ultimately what I'm getting at is integrity and character starts to bleed into everything you do when you do it with intentionality. So it's the same thing with our online behavior. If we try to cultivate this perfect image of I'm a good Christian person. I and my mind always goes to good Christian girl because I can't tell you how many videos that I see where they're like walk with a day in the life of an influencer and they get up and their Bible is right there already open and ready to go and they they get their coffee and they read their Bible and they're highlighting and everything's perfect and they're just so happy and I'm like totally skip the part where their kid woke them up by jumping on their chest. You know, you know, that kind of thing. Like I don't know. I I just Think there can be a balance to all of it, and the more intentional we are of being raw and authentic in every area of our life, yeah, the easier it is to allow God to invade every everything in our life. But if we we section things off as I'm gonna be good here and I don't care how I act here, and you know, then there's going to be a disconnect. If we allow it to. So how do we how do we teach our students to find balance in being authentically who they are and and that's that's something you gotta be a little bit careful because the whole true self thing can take you a whole different direction you don't wanna go. But being an authentic Christian means how do I take the things that I'm learning in church and apply that everywhere I go, where my ca my character, my identity and my faith bleed into every aspect of who I am and what I do in my conversations with people. And And I think having realistic steps ⁓ of how to do that, that they can be working towards goals and different things like that, ⁓ can be really, really helpful. And of course accountability is huge. speaker-0: Sure. No, and I mean I I I I totally think that makes sense. And the thing is is like we have to kind of work towards ⁓ you kind of mentioned, you know, like it kind of integrity just bleeds into everything we do. We also just need to help them kind of d understand and define what a Christ like voice is. Yeah. And so like we have to tell them, look, and and I kinda mentioned this last episode of like, you know, Philippians, I think it was four eight. finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, lovely, commendable, dwell on these things. ⁓ so like it it's just one of those things is like when we kinda shift our focus towards that, is like not only should I be dwelling on those things, I should also be reciprocating those things. ⁓ and so like we need to be teaching them that a Christ like voice is truthful. Mm-hmm. Like we speak truth. We don't lie to people, we don't lie to ourselves. Hello. ⁓ and we are kind, we are thoughtful, we are self-controlled. speaker-1: Man. That part that aspect right there alone. If we actually controlled ourselves, everything would be so much easier. speaker-0: Yeah. Not easy. And so with that No, for sure. But in all reality, like you say, we should, but in all often times we're instead of being self controlled, we're reactive, we're harsh, we're attention seeking. ⁓ and the thing is is like all these kind of all these kind of characteristics kind of fall and like come out to the forefront and like they're the things that overshadow maybe the couple principles that we do have or the couple elements of a Christ-like voice that we do have. Maybe we speak truth, but we're reactive, harsh, and attention seeking. Like those are gonna outweigh and overweight or overbear the good aspects any day of the week. And so the thing is is and I I think we have to come to this realization if we haven't already, but I mean, I don't really feel like it's that far fetched, but we need to be s teaching students that they represent Jesus a long time before they start preaching about him. And so with that, like we need to say, like we need to have them understand that like, you know, it's not necessarily that the world's watching through the looking like through a glass, but like they are. They are saying, hey, okay, so you say you're a Christian. So how are you gonna handle this? How are you gonna speak to this person? How are you gonna respond to that coach that just kicked you off the team? How are you gonna respond to that teacher that just failed you on a test when you know you had the right answer? or something to that nature. Like there's so many different things that like are representations of Jesus that students are showing long before they ever even talk about Jesus. speaker-1: Right. Yeah, and I I think that's that's the hardest part for us, ⁓ as Christians, 'cause sometimes we we we not even sometimes, all the time, we don't necessarily want to be remembered for who we were, but who we're becoming. And oftentimes the hardest part, ⁓ and I think we absolutely have to be teaching this to our students, ⁓ some of the students that become Christians, ⁓ after having already built a legacy of being an absolute jerk bag, ⁓ you know, ⁓ I've seen some Christians that were literally literally considered bullies in their school. And yeah, Christ gets a hold of them, turns them around, and all of a sudden they're trying to tell people about Jesus. And people are like, why am I going to listen to you? You're a jerk. Like, I don't want anything to do with you. And the truth is, like, one of the the most devastating things for a for a young Christian is when they have had this transformation happen in their life. And they're excited about it and they want to tell people about it. And the world goes, uh-uh, no, you've already burned too many bridges. And now no matter how hard they try, no matter how much they've changed, people only remember from them for who they were, not who they're becoming. And that can be so hard. I and I have a student now who in some ways Is fighting that battle and I told him I was like, man, number one, I want you to understand you are not fighting this battle alone. God is ob obviously with you, and the more he does in and through you, the more people's eyes are gonna be open to it. But here's the other side of it, dude. I'm championing it because I, you know, I had the fortunate plat platform where I didn't get to see those things that he did. I didn't get to see the behavior. ⁓ and and when I say that, this student was never a bully, but he definitely had some behavioral things. and, you know, when people think about him, they think about all the the way that he acted, but he grew up a lot and matured a lot and he's taken his faith and leadership really, really seriously. And I see that. And I remember saying a year ago from this last ⁓ June, I said, watch out. God is gonna do something incredible in that young man. And people kind of looked at me like, I don't know about that. Like not to say that God can't, but just because God can doesn't mean he will be willing to. And this year it's been time after time after time after time of him proving that. ⁓ and and I don't say that to make myself sound good. It was just that God had like the Holy Spirit came over me and was like, Take care of that guy because he's gonna do some incredible things. And I was like, Okay, God, and I've seen I I could tell you countless moments where he stepped up in a massive way and led and it was incredible to see what God has done in him. But there, you know, every time he does something, ⁓ and you know, it it's you can kind of see that it gets to him a little bit, like he's he's mature enough to go, ⁓ yeah, yeah, whatever. ⁓ but every time he does something cool, someone goes, I can't believe you of all people did this because you were you were that kid who did this, this, and this. And they they bring up the whole laundry list of things that he's worked really, really hard to not. be that person anymore. And every single time someone goes, I can't believe you would be the one to do this. And he just kinda looks at me like Like and you can just see it all over his face. It's like she maybe not you know, bring up my laundry list every time I do something good and maybe just say, Praise God he did something good and leave it at that. And so and I've told him that. I like, dude, hey, I'm I'm championing for you and and the moment I saw that on his face, I was like, Okay, I shut it down and then afterwards he was like, Thank you. I don't know that I realized it was bothering me, but that really bothers me. Like I'm trying to be better and it seems like everyone just keeps pus holding me bount down to who I was and I said, Okay That stops now. And I and I've worked really, really hard. And I that that started with having a conversation with his parents and having a conversation with his friends and saying, Hey, you need to see him for who he is now, not for who he was. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: And it's changed the dynamic and he's stepped up in in in ways that have blown people's minds. And I was like, Man, I can't wait till he he graduates and I get to, you know, set him up on that stage as you know, on senior Sunday and tell of all the incredible things God has done. And not for who he was, but who he is and what God has done in his life. Sure. I I think it's gonna be incredible testimony. And so anyway, it's just stuff like that. I think So many times students need to know and be reminded that sometimes i I if I can land it at all, I would say that just because God has transformed you doesn't mean there's not still consequences of your former actions that you have to pay for and it's it sucks and it's unfortunate. But sometimes consequences don't just go away because you signed a new line and a new contract to be a different person. You know, sometimes you still have to pay for that years down the line. And that's hard. But I think that's that's where we can point to biblical truth like like Paul. You know, Paul battled the rest of his life having to deal with the consequences of things that he set up and created ⁓ and ultimately died by the very people he put in power ⁓ to do that. And so now ness we won't necessarily go down a Paul route, but we are going to have to continue to to pay for those and that's where we can come alongside our students and help them to see that their voice stepping up in spite of people holding you down is gonna show so much of your character. ⁓ and not letting that get you down will show so much more character and integrity and so much more leadership than you might even see in this current present hard. But man, there's gonna be a day you're gonna look back and go, I'm really glad God was able to use me in them in despite all of the hard. speaker-0: Yeah. Well and I think all of us have that testimony kind of built into our lives at some point. They're like I mean and the thing is is like you even look at Jesus and you look at Paul and Jesus Isn't that Joseph's boy? Like kind of thing like that. I mean it's it's it's how we operate as a society and it's how we've done it for thousands of years. ⁓ but then Paul, like when he started his ministry, people were terrified of him. Like they were like, This guy really? Like but I mean you go back to I mean ⁓ your your reputation precedes you in everything. Even going back to the story of Jonah. God's like, hey, I want you to go to Assyria and redeem these people, and he's like, heck no. Like, I'm not gonna do that because I know you're gonna redeem ⁓ Like and so there's so much f kind of power and I guess understanding behind that, and realistically that should be ⁓ maybe something that's preached is like your re reputation will proceed you. ⁓ and it's just that that same idea of like students represent Jesus long before they talk about him. So speaker-1: Side note, Brent. I think we should absolutely bring that up Sunday night as part of we're for context, we are talking about identity ⁓ and and how that's formed. And I think that might be a really good way to intro both our our leader meeting on Sunday night, but also during our orientation on Monday be a good opportunity to remind both the leaders and the students that your represent your your presentation, ⁓ your reputation does absolutely precede you and God's gonna do some cool things in you this week. but just just a little side note for us for next week. ⁓ I think there's something really good there. speaker-0: Yeah. And I I I think it's just the dynamic of like I think our reputation unfortunately is Satan's greatest weapon sometimes. because it's like, no, no, no, you're not you're not this guy. You're you're the guy that you used to be. Everybody still remembers you that way. And it's like that's that's the thing that I come in contact with all the time of people that are new believers or like struggling to embrace like God's love and mercy. It's like I don't deserve it. I'm like, Yeah, you're right, you don't. Like I was like that's that's the point. You're getting it. ⁓ and so with that story. speaker-1: Captain Crowns was on to something there. speaker-0: But like I I've I feel like there's a ton of weight and importance behind that and like Satan uses that like really, really strongly in people's lives as like, no, you can't change. You're still that person and it's like, no, Jesus is doing a new thing in you. That's why it says, Therefore you are a new creation. ⁓ and so when we talk about this though, we have to talk about the practical discipleship side of this as well. Like when we say, you know, students like you're representing Jesus long before you talk about him, like we need to ⁓ talk to them about practical discipleship things. We need to talk about real examples. We need to talk about biblical examples, about how like their reputation preceded their opportunity to spread the gospel and how that was a hindrance and a stumbling block. We also need to talk about how people struggle with the idea that they are genuinely loved and paid for with a price. Like those those real examples through posts or trends or whatever you want to use to kind of iron out those points. ⁓ we also need to teach pause before posting. speaker-1: Is this post let's be honest, is this rant, this negative rant that I'm about to to post, is this beneficial to me? Is it beneficial to the people that are going to read this? Or am I just playing into the negative rhetoric of social media? speaker-0: Well, and I do so I mean a practice that I do all the time, is like if someone texts me something and I wanna respond, I'll respond what I'm thinking and then I'll g delete it and then I'll respond again and I'll delete it and then I'll respond again and get all those thoughts out, get all of them cleaned out of my thought process, and then I will think about what I need to actually say. and I I think there's a healthy importance behind that, but that pause before the post is really, really important. And it's just that idea of think before you speak. ⁓ we also need to encourage encouragement. Like, hey, you love it when people encourage you, why don't you go encourage other people? Novel idea. Like it works. And then lastly, and you kinda did this, ⁓ you said this with your example and your story, is like when negativity is present, we have to challenge it. And say, look, no, that is not what we do here. That is not edifying him at all. We are not gonna do that. We are not gonna stand in that. speaker-1: Right, and I one of the the biggest areas that gets me ⁓ at least in my own perceived narrative of of social dynamics is that one of the things that con that the Holy Spirit constantly puts on my heart is that we as a society are way too gossipy. You know, and we all talk about it, but we don't actually practice shutting it down. And there have been times where I felt very strongly like I need to shut this down, but then I always feel bad in sense because I'm like more times than not and let's just call a spade a spade here, more times than not the gossip that I hear is not necessarily like your typical teenage gossip that just happens. More times than not it's around other Christian leaders who I respect and trust and I never want to make ⁓ feel I don't know. I I often am too afraid to use my voice. And this is a problem that I have had my entire life. But more times than not, the times that I hear it the most are in worship circles or with other youth pastors and other things and and I hear very strongly. I'm like, ⁓ this is getting into gossip territory and I need to shut this down. And then I start to, and then I almost walk it back. And one you know, a great example of this is ⁓ actually with Brent. speaker-0: ⁓ I was gonna say fine David, I'll stop. You said worship and youth. Who else could you be talking about? speaker-1: Well, I thought about this just because of ⁓ our a friend Jason. ⁓ I we were talking about a s certain situation ⁓ that had happened and I I started to I I to say something like, Hey, I think we're getting a little into gossip territory. We need shut this down. But then we doubled down and went deeper into it. And I was like and I and I kinda in my head I was like, I don't think that we should be talking about this right now. And I felt really strongly and Jason whispered in my ear, he was like If it's bothering you, it's probably the Holy Spirit. So shut it down. And Jason's just one of those guys that just he speaks such quiet wisdom, in in a really fun way sometimes too. And so then it was like, all right, let's focus back up. And and but that was just the most recent example I've thought about, ⁓ where the conversation actually was not just like it wasn't one of those like gossip to tear somebody down. It was more just like, Hey, what happened in this situation? And genuine, like, a heart that goes, Wait a second, did I not see something I should have seen as a leader? kind of thing? ⁓ and how we all felt very duped by this situation. And so but it it situations like that can so easily go to a point where we almost discredit someone else, if that makes sense. I I'm being really vague here because it really doesn't matter. It's just an example. sometimes even even with righteousness on our side, so to speak, of going, ⁓ well, we as Christian leaders are called to live above reproach. And when we see something especially in the church that is not right then we have a we have a responsibility to co to correct in love, Matthew eighteen, right? And ⁓ but sometimes more times than not we're not going directly to the to the brother and taking him aside. Instead we are, you know, talking in circles to everyone but the person who's actually perpetrating, if that makes sense. So ⁓ just All that to say all that to say, ⁓ I think it's really, really important that we we step up as leaders when when especially when we feel conviction. If the if the Holy Spirit's convicting us in the middle of a conversation, he's probably trying to convict the entire group. And maybe you're the only one who happens to be listening in the moment. Because we're we're so focused on the problem that we're not necessarily seeing the full picture of it. And so oftentimes I feel very, very convicted in gossipy circles, even even in Times when we mean well. Yeah. And and I think we can do, I mean, talking about practical discipleship, in that particular example, we really were trying to do good, legitimately. And I'm not I'm not just like saying that. ⁓ but I think that there is a level of being able to teach that speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: sometimes even even the things that we mean for good can still be harmful. So we need to be careful. And so challenging the negativity part of it, challenging to say, Hey, is this edifying the body? Maybe not. Or at least we're not going about it a in a healthy way. And so let's challenge that. Let's step up and let's let's be bold and find a way to have this conversation without tearing somebody down in the process or making ourselves feel better because we nay may not intentionally be meaning to do that, but so often we do that with our speech. So we gotta be careful. I think a lot of discipleship can show. But in the midst of that, the practical side of discipleship would then be to own it and say, Hey, I messed up and I'm gonna go to the group and I'm gonna say, Hey, I shouldn't have allowed that. I was supposed to be leading in this situation and I allowed the conversation. So I apologize to you guys. speaker-0: Sure. speaker-1: You know what I mean? We can show students that in a very practical way. speaker-0: Yeah. No, and I think modeling is a huge huge dynamic of it. ⁓ students follow what you do, not just what you say. Yeah. and while some conversations happen behind closed doors and it might still be just adults or something of that nature, that doesn't mean they're not listening to. and so, no, I I definitely like it is definitely something that we have to be mindful of and something that really can It like you said, it's a slippery slope. ⁓ sometimes sometimes we start and sometimes we get to the point to where you know, you just you get to the point to where true or maybe pent up frustrations are coming out and you don't even realize how far it's gone. Yeah. So speaker-1: That's just natural being a human. speaker-0: Yeah. So but the thing is though is like I mean we we have to we need to be modeling it just as much as everybody else. ⁓ and so like a huge dynamic of that. Like w we can talk about all those things, we can talk about in challenging negativity and encouraging and everything else, but if we're just talking and not showing, ⁓ we're missing the mark too. Yeah. So but the thing is though is as we've already said, that your students are using their voice already. ⁓ they all have a voice, they all have a platform, they all are using it. The question is, is are they using it intentionally and as a leader are you preparing them to? Discipleship shows up in how students speak even when it's in front of a screen. And we get on to our kids all the time, or all get on to my kids all the time about how what words they use and what even how they talk to themselves when it comes to video games and different things like that. ⁓ and I think there's a lot of ⁓ there's a lot of just different moments and a lot of different things that happen. and like I I think a lot of times, like especially with students, at least with my own kids, like I'm like, Did you even hear yourself? And like I think sometimes we get so lost in the moment or so lost in the in the thing that we're dealing with that like we don't even kind of keep track of the words we use. It kind of just falls falls upon deaf ears. But no, I I definitely ⁓ yeah, it it's something that like kids are notoriously bad at right now. ⁓ and we have to teach them how to use intentionality well. so but definitely something that we need to be looking at, definitely something that we need to be using. ⁓ and I think that's something that we have to kind of maybe start having conversations about. And if you're a lone youth pastor that's listening, maybe that's a conversation you have with volunteers. If you are a leader that has other staff members, maybe that's a sit down staff meeting where you talk about, hey, are we doing this well? And then you run self checks on your own ministry ⁓ and make sure that you are modeling what you're trying to teach intentionally. So but that is all we have for this episode. I cannot believe it's the end of July. Wild. This summer has flown. ⁓ but With that being said, as we've been doing for the last couple of weeks or a c last couple of months, if you will pray with me, ⁓ we will pray and then we will close this episode out. God, I thank you for the day. ⁓ I thank you just for this ⁓ God, the challenge of being intentional and modeling it. ⁓ I just pray that you allow us the conversations to arise that we can focus in on ⁓ teaching students how to use their voice well. ⁓ and use our own voice as well in the process. ⁓ we just pray that you will give us words to speak. ⁓ we pray that you will give us the right moments ⁓ for those conversations to arise and God as we are ending July and moving into August, I just pray that as school's about to start ramping back up and everything else, I just pray that we have wisdom ⁓ and we follow your plan and how you want us to lead our ministries. ⁓ keep us safe for the last ⁓ trips or random things that we have going on and I just pray that you will lead God and direct us into your will so that we follow you closer and closer and we lead others to you in the process. We thank you and we love you and we just pray all these things in your son's name. Amen.