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These 5 Tips Will Help Your Youth Group Retain Your Sermons! · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Bible is not boring.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's taught by boring people.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You want to make sure that the listeners are not only absorbing what you're saying, but you're serving it on the correct platter for them to be able to ingest it.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: If we want students to absorb what we're saying better, we've got to make sure our style of communication is enhancing what we're trying to say so that the listener doesn't get listeners fatigue or engagement fatigue, but that our communication is multidimensional in our tone.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Are you looking for ways to help your students retain and absorb what you're teaching?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Then stick around, because today we have five tips for you.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ministry Coach podcast, where every week we give you actionable and practical steps that you can implement into your youth ministry.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: My name is Jeff Lascola and this is Kristen Lascola, and today we're talking all about methods to help your students absorb the messages that you're teaching better.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Basically, we're trying to up our teaching game for maximum retention, maximum engagement and maximum understandability.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Is that a word, understandability?
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I think it is.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Sounds like it.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Sounds like it, okay, I understood what you meant.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: What?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: you meant.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: That means it's a word you understood, about understandability.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: If you're like most youth pastors, you probably do a lot of teaching.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: That is probably the majority of our stage presence and like our public job.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Like there's a whole office side on the background, but for what people see and think that's what they see as as their teacher.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: So today I'm going to give you five ways that you can help them to pick up what you're putting down.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: A little bit better.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Hip Hip Quote there.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Hey kiddos, all right.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Number one what you say and how you say it are both communicating something.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: So I was having a great conversation with my friend Jed last night and Jed was saying one of his favorite speakers is our college pastor.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Actually, this guy named Damien and he said the reason that he likes him so much is he says it's the words he's saying, but the delivery of how he says I almost said says, says each thing.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: It's contagious.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: He said, it drives the point home even harder.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: And usually when I coach people on speaking I say, while your content was really good, like your points were theologically sound and your examples were good and it made logical sense, but the listener grow like you, flat line when you say everything with the same exact monotone.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: And it's not so much even monotone, it's like a just too much of the same rhythm too much of the same energy, too much of the same cadence, and then it all becomes one level.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: It all becomes a little white noise, and so I think what Jed was saying when he was talking about Damien's communication is that, like Damien is known for being really energetic, like he has a lot of energy, he wants you to get to know this and this is what God's doing, but then here's what I need you to hear, and then he can come down and be serious and like drive the point home.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Now, one thing I think that is a temptation here is that we think we will be heard and applauded when we yell.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and some pastors do it the entire time.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, I was listening to a pastor the other day and she was like kept yelling and yelling and yelling and yelling until people applauded, and I think it was like see, and I'm like don't encourage it, you know.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I think it was like okay, your point was good, but it felt like something different just because you yelled it the whole time.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, One of my favorite quotes is if you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: If you yell at everything or your entire message, you highlight nothing.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, there's no part of your message that stands out.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: They just get excited and you know they're passionate or whatever, but I think we're.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Damian is so brilliant is that he's passionate and energetic, but he knows how to come down and let's just talk like normal people.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: And here's what I want you to hear.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Did you get that?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean, like you've got to change up, that's a pattern interruption pattern.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Interruption.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: That's a great way to put it, but we've got to weave that throughout our messages.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Now that's a hard thing to that kind of boils down to the art of communication.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: So what I would suggest is, once you get your talk down like you know what you're gonna say say it out loud.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: A few times.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: We've talked about this before the idea of holy rehearsal, getting it out and tried to pay attention to different methods and different styles of Communicating points.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: So okay, when I talk about this I'm gonna be kind of humorous and off the cuff and kind of relaxed and just more like chill yeah and then when I say this, I'm gonna look at them and I'm gonna be really serious.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Don't miss this, you guys.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Or this I'm gonna be more Energetic and excited, because this is like the good news of the gospel yeah, let's celebrate.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Can could it get any better than this?
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: You know, and so you want to make sure that the listeners are not only absorbing what you're saying, but you're You're serving it on the correct platter for them to be able to Ingest it.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So it's it's they.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: They can ingest what you're trying to put out there.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And that takes practice, and the other method you could do to help you with this is listen to different speakers and Try to pick up on their cadence.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: And when was the part where they, like, just got you?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: right and like you heard that word and that was so good.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: What was the part where they lost you?
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: And it was like I don't know what this guy's saying anymore, like we've all been there where you're just like I don't know.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: There's just a lot of words, you know you're, you're so boring.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So if we want students to absorb what we're saying better, we've got to make sure our style of communication is Enhancing what we're trying to say so that the listener doesn't get listeners fatigue.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah we're engagement fatigue, but that our communication is up down over here.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Over here, serious, energetic, quiet, this, but so that we are multi-dimensional in our tone right, especially in a tick-tock world of they.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: They say, I think it's, you have one second to see a tick-tock video before you decide I'll watch it or I won't, and just like that.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say like we have such short attention spans.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: But it is true, you know, all of us are guilty of that and it's like we lose our train of thought really quickly.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Like things need to entertain us, like immediately change it up, change it up, change it up, and not that your talk needs to be Ping-ponging that fast but, no, but, and I think you can just those pattern interruptions, use your whole body in it too, like.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I often jellyfish like a big manatee.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: A lot of times I like Act out like if I'm telling a story like charades.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Like a mine, jeff, we're like a month.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: No, so like this weekend, for example, I told a story about how my friend and I tried to make homemade applesauce by putting an apple on Like a old t-shirt in her room, and then we got a baseball bat and we just started wailing on this apple, thinking, oh my gosh, it'll be applesauce like how creative are we clean?
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the apple exploded everywhere all over her room and we tried to hide the evidence.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: But Basically, like you know, I pretended I had the bat and I was like jumping and like trying to hit this and the kids were laughing.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: And then I did the allegory of Plato's cave, if you've ever heard that, and I was sort of acting out the guys who were Chained to the wall and so I leaned up against the wall and I was like pretending I couldn't get out and I was like how crazy would I be if I had seen the light, you know.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: And I'm like covering my eyes.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: And then I come over here and I just chain myself back up to the wall like oh, this is cozy.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I like this wall feels good over here, you know, and so kind of not like in an overly I'm doing a skit kind of way, but dance for me monkey in a way that you're using your whole body to kind of act out what you're doing.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: So, that you become more engaging, that you're not standing in one place, you're not a monotone flatline, you know, but you're just, you're a one-man show, we're just kidding but that you're engaging through your voice, through your body, through your presence, all of it.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: You know you're one person on a stage.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: You got to take up the stage.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: You got to take it up with your voice, take it up with your body, take it up with how you move around and how you, you know, use your space, don't just stand behind a podium, all of that.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: And so these are the tips, because, again, you might be brilliant and know so much about the Bible and have a great message you want these kids to get.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: If they cannot pay attention to you because you're boring, might as well put on the Bible project video or something, because it just it's a, it's a shame.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, practice makes perfect on that.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: So, number two, kind of along the same lines, make your sermons multi-dimensional.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: And what I mean by that is you're totally right, you know we live in a tick-tock age.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: We live in a quick-cut kind of thing, short form, it's just our attention spans, and now students can pay attention.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, they sit through my sermons and if, but if they're engaged and and you're being entertaining and not just humorously, but like information no, but I've had youth pastors asked me that, like I can't get kids to sit through a message, and I want to kind of ask.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: That question that you just said is like well, are you engaging?
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah so here's another method, and what I mean by multi-dimensional is, again, you're one person, so if they're just like here's Kristen's monologue on the fall Ready, go open your Bibles to Genesis 3.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: We want to use as much dimension as we possibly can.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: What that means is you do want to use your own voice.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: That's a medium, for sure.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: But then we want to go into.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: What did you hear that enhances this message really well?
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Like, maybe it's a clip from a movie or a cool story that you heard from the news or from sports or from the world.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Like I think it's really cool how we can teach them like and I'll get into this in a little bit but just where faith in life intersect.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: So what kind of example can you bring in?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: One of my interns did a really cool object lesson last week.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: You know he had this Brita filter thing but the spout was out and he kept trying to fill it with water and it was going everywhere and he was trying to explain no matter how much we try to fill up our lives with food and money and stuff and popularity and skills and assets, like we're never going to be satisfied and you can see where he's going with that.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: It's a pretty classic object lesson but it engaged them.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: It like just kind of like how you said what was the thing you?
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: said Pattern.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Interruption of just like oh, caleb has some water up there and he's pouring something I'm going to pay attention differently now which not to bring it back to the tick tock thing, but when something is like wait what's going to happen.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: I'll watch a little bit longer, I'll pay attention a little bit more.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: It's like that, whether it's storytelling or an individual or something like that.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Are you leading them down where it's like OK, I want to know.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I want to know what you're doing, what you're talking about, all that.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Or even like a game, like a crowd participation game, like I played a word association game with them this week and I'm like all right, when I say House, what's the first thing you think of?
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Like yell it out.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: When I say food, what's the first thing?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And it all led to what I was talking about in my message.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: But you want to?
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Ok, now, audience participation.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Ok, I need a volunteer.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Ok, someone, come up now.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: What I want you to do is blah, blah, blah.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I saw a cool one the other day, like someone was like gosh.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't even bring it up because I can't remember the point, darn it.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Totally defeats the purpose of it, then I know.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Ok, he was trying to balance like a crutch.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Ok like his daughter was on crutches, and so he said can I borrow a crutch?
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: And so he was holding at the palm of his hand and he said all right, I want, I need a volunteer.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I want you to balance it in the palm of your hand, like it.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: It's vertical.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: You know, you're trying to like whoa, like keep it in your hand.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: And he said look at your hand.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And when you look at your hand it falls right over.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: You can't do it.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: And so he said, ok, try again this time.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Look up, look at the crutch.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: And the person could do it immediately.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: And it was this whole thing of like focus and like where are we looking?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Are we looking at Jesus?
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Are we looking, you know, at the problem?
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: And you know it was like oh, that was pretty cool.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: So there's all kinds of things like that making something tangible, bringing in a clip, bringing in a song, bringing in a volunteer, I don't know, just something to make it a little bit multi dimensional.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Because then it staples that, what you're trying to convey.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: It staples it to that image and you'll always remember the image.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: What was the image?
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: For it was because of this, you know it's like just a way to recall what it was that you're thinking of.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, One time I did a message on Christmas and it was I forget what chapter in Revelation where it talks about like the dragon trying to eat the baby.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: And so I, I had like an activity, like with a dragon, I'm like, or I like pulled out the nativity.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, what's missing?
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: And they're like an angel of this.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I'm like, no, the dragon you know.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: And so then we talked about the passage.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: So I'm not the kind of teacher I'll be honest that like every single weekend I have like some kind of ta-da look at my little magic trick.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Like I don't always have like an object lesson, but I try to have something, I try to engage from somewhere, something something more than me just talking, if it lends itself to it.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Ok.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So number three I feel like a method of teaching that really helps your students absorb.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: What you're talking about is to make sure you're doing the same sermon series on the weekends and midweek, I think exactly the same or while the same series.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: So like I think sometimes youth pastors are like well, we're in the book of John on the weekend, let's do a dating series midweek, and I think it's a win-win.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: It's a win for you to do the same one, because then you don't have to run two series simultaneously, but at the same time it's a win for the students, because I think it sort of like closes the loop of the learning process, because listening is only one aspect and I don't have small groups at my weekend service.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: So it's basically like I give a message, I pray they leave and then I say I'll see you on Tuesday, we're going to continue this conversation.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: So on Tuesday I take the same theme, the same series.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I give a shorter message that is a slightly different direction than what I went on the weekend.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: So it's that illustration you couldn't fit in or that passage you wanted to read but you ran out of time.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: You save that for your midweek and then you write a talk sheet, a discussion sheet based off of all of it, and then they talk about it in their small groups and then they get to actually dialogue with what they had learned.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Now twice Weekend message and an intro on the midweek, and now they're talking about it, and I think that just like pounds it in.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: You know, it's the same way the adult Bible studies work as we listen to the sermon and then we take the notes and then we talk about it.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Or this part was confusing, or how does this apply to our lives?
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I think if we just have them listen and leave, they're not going to absorb as much as we want them to because they weren't able to interact with it on a real level, like this is me, this is you, I'm learning from my peers, or what did you think about this?
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Or oh, I never thought about that.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, my small group leader has something to share.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: It's like now we're like kind of tearing this thing apart and excavating it and unpacking it and interacting with it on a different level than sit and listen.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: So do the same series.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Number four timing.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: If you want students to absorb your message, don't go too long.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I think 25-ish minutes is about the sweet spot for a weekend message and then I think about 12 minutes is a sweet spot for a midweek message 12 to 15.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: And so I think if we go much longer than that, what I've noticed with students is they'll engage and they'll engage and then I can see it almost the distinct moment where I lose them and I'm like, darn it, I have so much good stuff to say and as a communicator it's hard, because you're just like with the Holy Spirit and you've got it, and then you want them to know this and you're preaching and you're going and you're going, and then you look at the glazed over eyes and you're like why, am I the only one so excited?
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I think they started out excited and I think 25 minutes.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: You killed it for them.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like you used to always do, the like land the plane.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you always say that I don't remember doing that.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: It's burned in my memory you did it which?
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: is fine.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: It's a good thing for pastors because we can talk and talk and talk and talk, and so we just need sometimes to land that plane, keep them wanting more, keep them engaged so that they leave on an energized note, ready to reengage with the material at your midweek service or in their small groups or whatever they're gonna head to next.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: But don't over do it.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Say what you need to say, say it very well, say it with high impact and then send them off on a high note, not on a when.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Like you know, one of the most disheartening things as a youth pastor is when a student raises their hand and I'm like, yes, and I'm thinking you have a question and we're gonna engage right now, and they say what time is it?
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: It's worse if they say do you know what time it is?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Or they'll say what time does service end?
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, what time do you stop talking?
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Hashtag humbled, very humbled.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: So keep it short, keep it to the point.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: And then number five we talked about this a little bit in number two, but just to unpack this a little bit more, relate your sermons to real life.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: I think we have to help students bridge the gap between.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: This is where, like the Bible, like we don't want them to think, the Bible ends and your life begins, but that the two overlap and intersect.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: This is how faith works in a real, tangible way.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: That's why personal stories are actually really good, because it shows students how you have interacted with your faith, or how this person or I heard this story from the news or this movie, or do you remember this from the Olympic games, of whatever?
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: People always love telling sports stories.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm as a student growing up in church.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how many sports stories I've heard of.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Every pastor is telling a sports story to illustrate some point and I get it.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: They make for great illustrations, but not when you don't understand the sport or you're not in sports, you're just like I don't care how fast he ran, like tell me something else Anyways, but you do.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: You It'll probably be a sports story or something you know.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: And I think, as youth pastors, the more you read and the more information you're taking in.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Like I was able to quote Bonhoeffer in one of my last messages because I was reading a Tim Keller book and he quoted Bonhoeffer and it was this, since, like, I don't read Bonhoeffer but Tim Keller does, and so I got to use this excerpt and it was great and it just it was about Nazi Germany and, like this book he had written in the power of forgiveness and it just brought it to light of like oh Jesus says forgive.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's see what that look like in history what does that look like in like on the human level, not because the Bible just feels so authoritative and sometimes unattainable, like I can never live up to the Bible.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: And then, when we put it in context of no, this is how real people are living this out like I think students are like aha.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: So whether that's you or a different story, and remember please, pastors, you're not professors, don't try to be a professor.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Be a pastor.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Professors are telling you as much theology as they can before the bell rings and it's for a midterm, and they're trying to like go as deep as possible and explain the Greek and this and that and like sometimes there's a time for that if it really enhances your message, but on the regular, remember, your job is to get people to understand how the Bible intersects with everyday life, how the gospel is simple yet profound, how it changes everything, changes the way we live and think, and how Jesus is so present.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Like we don't want to get lost in academia and not I'm not saying so, make it watered down for the dumb-dumbs.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I'm saying sometimes and you know who you are pastors use the pulpit to flex their knowledge and be so impressive and it's like did that really accomplish what it was supposed to accomplish today of for me to understand how to live out the gospel?
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And I think there can be other areas where it's like, hey, tonight we're diving deep into this area of theology, you guys should come.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: But on the regular, for the most part, we have to make sure we're acting as pastors, shepherding people into a life of Jesus, not flexing our Greek.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Right, that's one of my favorites.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: People think we're super smart.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: They tell you the Greek word and then they explain it in English and like thanks, how about you say it in English?
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Cause that's what we all speak.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it does matter because, like I could, I can already sense.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're one of those pastors that does it.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: No, I don't.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I could just sense some of our listeners pushing back.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we do understand the gospel deeper.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: No, it's different.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about when you're throwing it out there just to simply let everybody know that you knew the Greek word, I know.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: but I am just circling back on that to say I do know some of you are thinking right now no, but we need to know the original language because it helps us understand the concept deeper.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: I get that Exactly, but not when it's just to say this word, which is this in English like okay, just said that thing, you didn't need to explain the Greek.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Too many unnecessary details, just that you find interesting of just like well, when in 200 BC the caves of Qumran were actually blah, blah, blah, you know, and it's like some people are very interested in that, but did that-?
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: I'm interested in that.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I am, I for sure am.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: That has its place and we need to make sure our students are not getting lost in our theology hobby.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: But we're making it For them, not for us.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah you know what I mean.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Flip side I.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: I think it's a real shame when a lot of pastors, youth pastors or senior pastors, whoever but are talking about, like the illustration becomes the message and it's almost like wait, where was the Bible?
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: You know, in all this Really great right and they're great storytellers.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: That was a guy.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I don't remember his name I need.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: If I did, I wouldn't say it, but he was the probably John speaker at that summer camp and phenomenal speaker.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Like you, he was very engaging.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Are you talking about?
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: me.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, right.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: So he, he was able just to get everyone's attention and draw him all in and these like fantastic, funny and exciting stories and he kept interweaving the Bible, which obviously you're supposed to do interweave the Bible.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I already know a relational stories but it was more like.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: It was almost like he was telling two stories.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Simultaneously, and then you go like all right back to the good stuff, right back to the good.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Anyways, let me finish my good part.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: It was like the fun.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Exciting was his stories and illustrations.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: The boring, annoying blah was the Bible Wait guys, the students at the summer camp would audibly make those noises like where he'd get to the pinnacle of his story about himself.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Now turn to John what?
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And the kids would literally be like, oh I'm like that's not, whoa, like this is not how the Bible supposed to be, the Bible is.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: There's so much in there, right, it's.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: That's not the boring part, right?
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: So your stories and your illustrations should just enhance and help them to better Understand.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what's in the Bible.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Yes he was a great speaker, but I feel like you ended up.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: I remember the time he was trying to go for out to the little league team and this happened.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: It's like what was the message about?
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: No idea, you know, or like that's how all his messages were it rubbed me the wrong way because I'm like you're really making the Bible seem like the enemy of all your.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and making students think like back to the boring here's what Chris Brown, our senior pastor, always says.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: He's like the Bible is not boring, it's taught by boring people.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And so this guy doesn't sound boring, he sounds super exciting, but he doesn't know how to communicate the Bible with the same enthusiasm.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: And so, yeah, like you said, it's our stories we need to be told, because it shows the students how to live out their faith and how faith is Part of real life, not just on a shelf, in a Bible somewhere, and then we go about our daily lives, but no guys, look, this is how it yeah, this is where it overlaps.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: So we tell those stories to Enhance their understanding, but they should never be like the story, the message, yeah, because who was the message?
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Little league, you know right, it's like it's not my life.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: I had a great story that I decided to throw a verse in.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Right, right, right, right, yeah All right.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: So where do you go from here?
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Well, I would check out the episode we did on how to increase your confidence when giving sermons, and also we did a separate one on how to kind of build that engagement with your students while you're speaking.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: So make sure you guys check those out.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Right now we're gonna do a question of the day.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: This kind of plays off of what happened to us today, which is in San Diego County and other parts of the country.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Actually, from what I've heard, this is tarantula, like mating season.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: I have not seen a tarantula out in the wild in decades and I kept seeing these newsfeed things pop up and social media like the tarantulas are out, so make sure you leave them alone and all this stuff.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: And Tonight our daughters were playing outside and I heard them screaming as they're running towards the house and they were like there's a huge spider outside and we have like this year we just have had a ton of just spiders in general, but it usually those like garden spiders with the big butts, and I thought that's what they were talking about at first and I said, well, how big are you talking about?
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: And they're like it's like as big as you are younger daughter's hand.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I'm like wait, where was it, you know?
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: And they're like it was on the ground.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: I'm like, was it a tarantula?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: They're like yeah so, anyways, we went outside.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Caught it.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: We all screamed a few times.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: I had to change my shorts at least twice, but we were able to get it to shoot it on to another yard.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: So, anyways, the question of the day is would you rather live in an area that was infested with spiders, snakes or clowns?
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: The three biggest fears.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Maybe you live next to a clown school or something.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: I say clowns, that's the one you wait.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: What?
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: How do I say?
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: The one you would or wouldn't?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: What would?
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: you rather I would.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd want the clown.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: But like it's constantly dark and poorly lit in wherever you.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Clowns.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, every time, every time snakes.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: That would be my biggest fear.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: But wait, maybe we should reword that which is which is the one you would be least likely to Want.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Want snakes for me.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: If they were tarantulas, I would say no to the spiders get all kinds okay, then spiders for sure that's the one you would not want to be near.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, over snakes.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I mean after seeing that tarantula today and they moved a lot faster than I thought.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: He was here are the two things I learned about tarantulas within the last few hours.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Number one they're fast.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Number two they do not care what direction they run.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Oh see, I hate the unpredictability of spiders.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I had the high stuff a few times.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I ran into a snake the other day in our yard and he was so slow.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Sorry didn't see you there.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: I'm just gonna.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: And he went like up our house.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he went up the wall.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: My spine is.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: And this is a community comment of the day.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: This comes from Bible fan who says very helpful.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: This is my favorite youth ministry podcast.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: The tips and ideas shared are ones that you can easily implement in your own Context and and apply it to many size youth groups.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with the rest of us.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I always try and make sure that it's up the goal, right?
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: to make sure that anything we say is a Applicable to if you have a large youth group or if you're just starting out or you know whatever, all sizes and all that yep all shapes.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: What shape well.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you, bible fan.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: We appreciate that and make sure you guys check out those other episodes on sermons, engagement and confidence.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you guys so much for watching and listening and we'll see you next time.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Today we're talking about five ways that you can keep your students absorbed in your serbids in youth ministry.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Are you looking for ways to keep your students absorbed in what you're Teaching?
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Are you looking for ways to keep your students in?
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Are you looking for ways to keep?
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: No, I did for you.