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How to Equip Your Youth Group to SHARE THEIR FAITH With CONFIDENCE! · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today we're talking about three ways to help your youth group student share their faith with confidence.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to another episode of the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we give you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast track the growth and health of your youth ministry.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: If this is the first time we're meeting, my name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen Laskola, and today we're talking about how to empower your youth ministry students to share their faith with confidence.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Say that sentence with confidence.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize what I was getting into when I started this sentence, so I just kept going.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: How to empower your Let me shorten it Three, two one go how to help your students share their testimony with confidence.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I think, growing up I grew up in a Christian school, I grew up in the church and I feel like there was always this narrative and pressure kind of like share your faith, share your faith, share your faith.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: And I feel like there was always this narrative and pressure kind of like share your faith, share your faith, share your faith.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: And I never knew how to share my faith.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Like, is it just like, do you want to talk about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, it can be just as simple as that.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: It probably could be, but at my school it didn't.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Well, we were all Christians at my Christian school.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: But to my neighborhood kids and people I knew, you know those public school kids that I live next door to it was just like our kids are public school kids.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: So I'm just saying like, how do I just bring this up in conversation?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: And then I feel like I sort of carried around this guilt with me for most of my life, of like if I were really brave for Jesus, I would just not even care, and I think there's something to be said about that.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: That is truth.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: But I feel like what I've realized growing up in the church and being an adult Christian now is that sharing your faith is a little more nuanced sometimes and there can be a little bit more finesse in it than just like walking up to someone like a Christian robot and saying let's talk about Jesus, and it's like well, it's usually done within the context of a relationship and it's usually over multiple conversations and multiple interactions and life like meeting life, and where do we intersect?
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: And are you watching my life and what are the things I'm saying and doing?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: And it's usually over a period of time, and so that's kind of what I want to talk about today is how can we give students maybe a bigger perspective on what it means to share your faith so that they don't like maybe some of you are resonating with what I'm saying that they just don't feel like they're supposed to be some street evangelist, or like they're just supposed to be holding up signs or knocking on people's doors which, like I'm sure, people have come to know Jesus that way.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but nobody I know has.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: When I ask people, how did you come to know Jesus, it's usually through a relationship with somebody over a long period of time and I would say, when we look biblically like that's how it happens as well.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Like.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I see Jesus, I've experienced Jesus, and now I tell my brother, and now I tell my friend.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: And you know, it's just this thing of like it, like when you look at Andrew in the new Testament.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Every single time he's brought up in the book of John, he's always bringing someone to Jesus, every single time, and it's people he knew, like you know, and I was also the added aspect of you're still continuing to do life with them.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: It's not like like you got saved, not like you got saved, moving on, you got saved, moving on.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: And it's like, whatever happens to them Now it's turning into discipleship.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I find all that very interesting.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: And so how can we kind of hone, help our students hone that skill so it becomes a lot less guilt-ridden, a lot less intimidating, a lot less unfeasible.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Is it infeasible or unfeasible?
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I'll look it up and not edit it out and other riveting conversations with Kristen and Jeff.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I am a communication major.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: I wish I would have known that, but maybe that's more of an English major business.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: They probably know If you're an English major is it in or unfeasible?
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Anyways, infeasible, I'm going to go with final answer.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go with unfeasible.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Should I look it up right now, incomprehensible, while you're talking, I'm going to look it up.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, any excuse to not listen to what they're saying.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Put in the comments section below Before you hear the answer.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Is it infeasible or unfeasible?
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, so number one, I would say we really challenge students with the question do they even know their own story with Jesus?
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Both are fine to use.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Well, that's why I didn't know, because I knew both were okay and we're both right.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: And if you guys put in the comments section below either one, you're both right, you're right.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: So do they know their own story.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So here's like what I think is, and we're going to talk about three today.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: There's more.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I always say that we are never giving you this is it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: There's no other ways to encourage students.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: There's maybe three and a half, but I don't know who's to say.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: How many is it Put in the comments?
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Google it, google it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: How many are there?
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: And these are just the three we happen to be talking about today.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: One tool that has been effective for me is encouraging students that their best testimony, their best talking points, are it's usually personal experience.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: So when we talk about their story, it's not necessarily, you know, and we've talked about this before like this testimony.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Isn't this like big black and white, before and after, like home makeover edition of your spirituality?
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: But it is just tell me about your experience with Jesus and that is the most relatable, that's the most easy to tell, that's the most irrefutable and it's the most natural and disarming, you know, because I think when we and I'm all for apologetics, like I thrive on that stuff and that is really what saved my own faith as a high school student, but at the same time I don't think that's the only method like let's put this ammunition in their pocket Like well, did you know that Darwin said this?
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: You know, and again, I love that stuff and I have whole conference sessions I do on that stuff.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: However, I feel like in the normal cadence of relationships and life, that isn't actually the only talking points we need students to understand.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Is, you know, creationism or young earth, old earth, or we need them to know about, like the reliability of the authors of scripture and all of these things that you know once you are a Christian, are very interesting and maybe that does bring some people to faith.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: But I'm just saying it's not the only thing we need to equip them with.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Of like well, just have you ever stopped to just think about your own story and experience with Jesus?
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Because that's very New Testament the disciples you know, andrew bringing his brother and his friends and like hey, I met the Messiah.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: The woman at the well, hey, I met this guy who told me everything I've ever done.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Like you've got to hear him or did you know?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: And it's all this like experiential word of mouth.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: It wasn't like scientific evidence that's bringing the masses to Jesus.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Of like well, what are you talking about?
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Like well, I know you, and then you are sharing your known experience with me.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: So it's like, by extension, I'm a part of this experience.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Like whoa, tell me more, and it's also something that you can't refute.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: This happened to me.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: This is my experience, this is my testimony.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Someone's not like no, that's not true, because darwin's no, it's like.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: This is what happened and I'm expressing to you my testimony yeah, and I think that's a powerful skill for students to have.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: So some practical questions that you can ask students to help them start thinking about it, because they might be very unaware is how did you come to know Jesus?
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: You know, like.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Tell me like, was there a time you were a nonbeliever?
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Now you are?
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Well, what was that jump like?
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be glamorous, it's just what was it like.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: And whatever it is is the good enough answer.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: You know, or if you've been walking with Jesus your whole life, tell me maybe, like when that faith felt, like it became real to you or personal to you, right, how has God shown up in your life?
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: How have you seen him work Whether that is a life change externally or internally, and how have you seen God shown up, maybe in the lives of the people around you as well?
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: So, just like, where's been the action?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: How do you know?
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: It's true, like if someone were to ask you like, yeah, I wish there was a God, but I don't know, that seems like far fetched what would you say?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Or how deep down, and that's kind of where we could move maybe a little bit more to the apologetic side.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: And as a high schooler, I remember thinking through some of that stuff of like I don't know, but I know that scientifically and mathematically everything cannot come from nothing.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: So we're all stuck at the same square one.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: It's just a matter of how did we go from square one to square two?
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: There was nothing and now there is something.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: So there's two different explanations for that, which one, to me, makes more sense that zero plus zero equals everything, or some one plus outside of space.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Time and matter is the force behind it.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: And I'm like it's got to be that one, because otherwise I just had to break every mathematical and scientific rule that you're hinging this thing on, and so that that does come into play.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: But what?
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: How would a student answer that?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Like, how do you know it's true?
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: What was that like clutch for you?
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: That was like is it true?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: And then you had this thought of like but this you know, and that's really helpful for them, and just remind them that a testimony is just your real lived experience.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: That all.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: That's all it is, and I think we're headed in a good direction in this day and age of like defining testimony a little more casually, but I remember growing up there used to be testimony nights and come meet the mob boss who's now a Jesus follower.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: And there I was and you know I had my leather gloves on and they were around this guy's throat and all of a sudden you know it was just like whoa, that's a testimony, but it's like what is just your lived experience, and the encouraging part about that is there's always going to be that either camp speaker, conference speaker, whatever of the testimony like you're talking about, like they were woke up in the gutter after doing drugs for you know, 72 hours straight, or whatever like this oh my gosh experience and then they came to know jesus, which is legitimate.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: And not only that, that speaks really closely to some people yeah but there's also the person that's like you know what I don't?
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: That's not the lifestyle I live and that really doesn't resonate.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: It's a cool story.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: It doesn't resonate with me and everyone's individual stories resonate with another person, right, grand or small, like you know, the person that has that huge, grandiose one, it may resonate with someone that's just like, totally like, live in the suburbs of suburbia and that totally speaks to me.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: And vice versa, the person who has the very what we would call vanilla or like maybe boring testimony, it's like that could speak to the guy who is face down in the gutter, like you never know how god's gonna work in those things and and I would also encourage your students even the boring is not when you think my eternity just got changed yeah, good point, and I think sometimes if we only tell these like big flashy, you don't want to tell your story.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: No, I was gonna say if it's meant for a movie script, then I think sometimes the just regular joe who's kind of curious about christianity thinks it's for people who really needed it.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean, yeah, because I've been like witnessing to people throughout my life and sometimes like we'll go to church and I'll get them there.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, they're just sharing all these like wild testimonies and I can only imagine they're sitting there thinking like this is not for me.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I don't need someone like I'm not rock bottom person, I'm not drug addict person, I'm just kind of regular drug addict person.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I'm just kind of regular successful thriving person.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Why in the world would I need Jesus?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I wasn't like broken.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Three bedroom, two bath.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: White picket fence yeah, Boringville, United States.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: And they.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: But if all you're hearing is a wild testimony, you're like, well, good for you, brother, like you needed it, but I'm good, you know, and so it doesn't communicate much of a need.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: But if you watch, just the regular person say, yeah, I was just kind of living life, but here's, you know what Jesus said.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I think both, like you said, both have their place.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: So let's just encourage students.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: It all testimony means is this is my lived experience with Jesus over a period of time.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: That's it, you know, and it will be relatable to somebody.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: So in the same way, I also think there's a place for street witnessing and those who are gifted and love doing that.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: I, I tried it, I did it a couple of times.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I just felt like it was not my strong suit, not my gifting, but I feel for those who do it and do it well and do it the right way, that it's awesome that there's people out there doing right.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: you know, and yeah, I just think for me and for probably a lot of other people, that may not be exactly the natural gifting to sharing their, their testimony so I did it a couple of times as well and it was very and it was effective, but it was very opportunity driven, like I wasn't like seeking people out.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: And it was very and it was effective, but it was very opportunity driven, like I wasn't like seeking people out but it was almost like our paths crossed in a way that felt kind of supernatural, and then they started asking questions or we started a conversation there, like I'm going to the boardwalk today to do you know like, like that necessarily.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've just felt like the Holy Spirit just draw me to people or like, yeah, like and people I didn't know, but these conversations would start and I just was like here we go, this is happening.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So it almost felt like I was ready anytime the Holy Spirit wanted to prompt or push.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I guess you could argue, you should always be.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and those were amazing, amazing conversations, whether it was on the street.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: One was like on the street literally in san diego, in a really sketch area, and it went really well.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: And one was like in a doctor's office with one of the techs, because we were alone in a room for a long time.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: I was getting like a procedure done and it was like this it's go time.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: You know I'm talking more about like I'm heading down.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: This is the goal and I'm going to talk to 700 people today.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: So number two.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Now this hinges on the youth pastor, youth leader, whatever a little bit more.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: But are you presenting the gospel clearly and often enough to where the students, they themselves, have a grasp, because they can't share a gospel that they can't fully grasp?
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: And here's what I worry about sometimes is that we are teaching.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: We've talked about before.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Rick Lawrence has a book about youth ministry and teaching and he says every time you teach, you should make a beeline to the gospel.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Every story goes back to the gospel, every story relates to the gospel because the gospel is the narrative of the Bible.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: We're not telling a bunch of different isolated stories.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: And what's the moral of the story?
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: We've talked about that on the podcast many times and here's why I bring it up again, because if we aren't making the gospel clear of actually what it is, students can often easily mistake this for a morality gospel of like, yeah, just that's kind of like.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, I always knew Jesus died on the cross for my sins, yes, but I always focused more on so you better be good, you know.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: And here's how to be good.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: And we're going to go to church to learn how to be good and while I can't say that's completely, we're trying to introduce them to the one who is good, you know, not like, let me teach you every weekend how to be a better person.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: And we've talked about why that creates a very short sprint of a faith because you realize I can't.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I can't be good, you're like I never will make it.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: And so are we making the gospel very clear and concise every week for our students, so that they understand it so well that when their friends do ask them like what, what does it matter?
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Who, jesus?
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: is it's like, oh, here we go.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Or yeah, jesus may or may not have existed, what does it matter?
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Or if they get those opportunities that they won't just lump him into like yeah, he was, like taught us how to do some good things, you know.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: But that you realize who Jesus is changes everything, because of Jesus is God, which he is.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: We can't now just be unresponsive to that.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: It requires a response and no response is a response, and you know.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: So I would just challenge us as youth pastors, as we teach this and we want students to be able to reiterate, well, whatever they're learning from us, that becomes their script for when somebody does ask them a question.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: So if we aren't being clear about it, if we aren't doing the justice of what the gospel actually is, if we are teaching in a sense more, I'm not opposed to topical teaching.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I think topical teaching is fine as long as you're always drawing a line back to the gospel of like who jesus is, so that every single week that they're getting that ingrained in and them and that they can articulate it simply I think one thing that I've seen be kind of helpful is like the spoken word things you know, like that one guy does the gospel and the letters all stand for something different and it's just like a easy way to remember it.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: It's god, our sins paid everyone what's it called?
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: uh, mnemonic, is that what the?
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Is that what that is?
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: I?
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: guess.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: So yeah, like a mnemonic device, but it's yeah like spoken word, things like.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: So if if I don't think I've seen what you're talking about you can look it up on youtube.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I've had a guest speaker come in and he played the video and then he went through each letter.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: So it's like, if you can't remember, what does the gospel mean, it's God, our sins paid and the result is everyone life, like there's life for everyone.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: So it's a little like grammatically weird, but he does this whole spoken word on it and it's this like ah yeah, that's like it in a nutshell.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So can our students clearly articulate?
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, everyone knows John 3, 16, but can students do they have?
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: What I'm getting at is do they have a clear enough understanding in themselves that they can recite that, to share it, to show it in a way that makes sense to people their age especially, because if they don't understand the gospel, really nothing we do every week matters Be a good friend.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Well, if you don't know Jesus, who cares?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: We've got to figure that out and make sure that they understand that we're not accidentally teaching morality, but attaching them to Jesus through relationships.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: We're not just teaching them a set of belief.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: A relationship with Jesus, not just, you know, believe the right thing, because now we're treading into some pharisaical waters there.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: You know which we have to be really?
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Because they believed all the right things and they even did a lot of the right things, yet there was no relationship with God.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Their hearts were so far from him, and I think that is probably one of the most haunting concepts to me as a youth pastor and a Christian that you could maybe go through your whole life and miss it.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Like what a shock that would be.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And so we have to be very careful with that one that we're make, that students get the gospel and have a firm, firm, firm grasp on who Jesus is, what grace is, what faith means, and you have to talk about it every single week.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: You have to talk about it in every single message.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: It has at some point.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: You know I'm not talking about just an altar call at the end of every message, but that you're dripping in these concepts of actually what the theology of Jesus is Like what is this?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Hey friend, I just wanted to interrupt this episode for a second to let you know about an awesome opportunity for you and your youth ministry.
• 21:50
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• 21:58
  Speaker 1: So we've helped tons of youth pastors grow the size and health of their youth ministry and we want to invite you to be a part of that as well, because maybe you're just sort of feeling stuck in a rut.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Maybe you don't know what to do next.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Maybe you just have a vague plan in your mind of what you're doing and you want some real help to get you from where you are to where you want to go.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: So if that sounds like something you've been looking for, go to growyouryouth ministrycom and check it out for more details.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to the episode.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: And then, lastly three, give them an easy win.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: This is one of those things that like to jump back to the beginning of the episode.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: It's like are we really asking 12 year olds to go make cold calls about?
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: you know the gospel.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Well, who'd you share the gospel with like?
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: And is your car's warranty up and needs to be renewed?
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: it's like I bet you.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: They're sitting there thinking like I, I don't know, like I'm looking for an opportunity.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: So what I love to do is just give them an easy opportunity, give them an easy win of like here you here.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: We're gonna bring somebody in, somebody.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: One brave volunteer, come on, stand up here in front of all of us, have at it.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: But like creating an environment where so I always tell them this you have access to people I don't have access to.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: So your part in this for this stage of your life might be you just invite.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: You invite Because I'm not going, like I'm not like on your soccer team, like hey, buddy, you want to come to youth group with me?
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you do it in that voice.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: It's really a turnoff.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Trying to be relatable very, very creepy totally relatable.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: But I try to create an environment at our youth group that is definitely believer focused, but sinker, sinker, seeker sensitive, and that's like the whole mission of our church believer focus Cause it's not like, oh, water everything down, but it's like, no, be believer focused so that believers are believers are continuing to grow, but be seeker sensitive that you have an environment that is so easy for somebody to bring their friend, and so that's what we're trying to.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: That's what I mean by an easy win.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Is your youth group set up for the visitor as well, that your students know intuitively, I can bring a friend here.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I rarely have to ask my students to invite their friends.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: We do a big push in October during this competition series called the Battle.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Other than that, I don't really tell them to bring their friends.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: However, they do all the time because I know that they know this is a place that will click with someone who's never been to church before.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: They're not going to be weirded out, they're not going to be embarrassed.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: They're going to feel loved, accepted, they're going to be that whole like belonging before they believe kind of thing.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: They're going to have a really good time.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: They're going to be treated well and I'm not going to have to like yeah to a new person.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I'm sure worship is a little like what's going on.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Well, we're still going to worship, but the way we design it, it's like you can come and be curious and not be isolated or like totally boxed out of like.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, this is for us insiders and somehow the students intuitively know that, because they keep bringing these people who are unchurched, who don't know Jesus, who don't have parents that go to church, and they come all the time new kids on Tuesday night.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: So an analogy I always love to use is your youth ministry should be more of an on-ramp than an intersection, where it's like you can gradually come into it and into your faith, as opposed to like just this stop sign where you go, I have no idea and I don't know what you guys are doing.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: This is so confusing, so confusing.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and like, just like anything in life, like, if you love it, you're inevitably going to tell others about it.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: You know if, like whenever you go to a new restaurant, or you know, Right, you want to share it with people.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like Because.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like, you're excited about it.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Oh, you have to go it's so good and get this and whatever.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And so if our students leave every youth group night going, oh that was so good, I can't wait to come back, they'll inevitably bring the people with them, you know, and so have I.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Again, that's like another question for the youth pastor have we created an environment?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: That's an easy win for them to bring them?
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Because sometimes that is their level of evangelism is maybe I can't take you through the Roman's road, but I can definitely invite you to church and sit by your side, include you, get you assimilated, answer any questions that might come up.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: But students, some of their evangelism too is they are the gateway to get them there.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: You have access.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Where I don't, I maybe can preach a message.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: You can't, but you could probably answer some questions.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: So it's like this partnership, you know, and I think that's really empowering to say like, yeah, maybe you didn't like quote all these Bible verses, that you understand them, but you couldn't quote them at this stage of your walk with Jesus, that's okay.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Well, where you're at right now, you're the bringer.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: That's huge.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: That's New Testament, like I said, like they were bringing their brothers, they were bringing their friends, they were like, just you got to see.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Come and see come and see, like that's like the mantra pretty much of the New Testament church when they were bringing people, come and see, come and see, and so that is an evangelistic tool, is like literally bringing people, you know, and so I think empowering them and putting that tool in their hand is like maybe you're not ready to like all these words we've been talking about.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Share all this stuff, say all this stuff, but could you say, hey, I love.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I remember in fifth grade this girl at my school said I love my church, I'm like you do Because mine's so boring.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And she's like I love my church, you should come.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, like, and I was already a Christian, but I was done with church already in fifth grade.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I'm like this place is a snooze fest, you know, and I was like what You've been gatekeeping this?
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Like this church is amazing.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: It's the church where I work at now.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: You know, it was so cool, like I loved it Fifth grade, never looked back.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I'm still here, you know, and I just remember her saying that at school.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: I love my church.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: And it's like what a great testimony.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Like a kid who loves going to church, tell me more, Because I remember going on Easter one year and I felt like I was, you know, like a kid could be thinking like I've had an experience with church, but why are you 12 and in my PE class and you're talking about your youth group?
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Tell me more you know.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: So putting those tools in their hands as well, I mean, I think that goes a really long way and it's just that shared experience kind of getting them to talk, be excited about it, know a little bit about their own story, being able to grasp the gospel for themselves, little bit about their own story being able to grasp the gospel for themselves.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I think, developmentally is enough for them to make a real impact in the kingdom, absolutely.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's how I came to know Jesus is.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: A couple of kids in my art class in high school were brave enough to just start talking to me about God and from there like I mean it was a while of time to have to go through and get through my thick skull, but eventually they did.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: And I always look back and it's like I'm really thankful they had the guts to do it, because I wasn't like an easy sell and they easily could have just been like well, tried it, forget it, you know.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: So anyways, and your story is like you were that person who you like never did drugs, you weren't like boringville, but it was like so it wasn't like, oh no, let's save this lost cause.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Like you weren't visibly on the outside like this hooligan or something, and it was like why don't you just come to our church?
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I remember you started.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: You said that's where you it.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: It was the Christian club on campus and ironically I had a friend begging me to not go A Christian he was.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Wow, why?
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: That was a whole other issue, all right, but yeah, I remember just like no, I'm going to go check it out and stuff and honestly, I just loved their willingness to be open, to try their best to answer questions.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: They didn't have all the answers and a lot of times it would be like I'll have to get back to you on that or I just don't know that answer, but I respected that because it was like, hey, you're being honest and it was the journey that they were on and they were wanting me to come along too.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: It was really cool, cool experience and I'm very obviously very grateful that they had the uh, the guts to do that where they are.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: so they are now.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: So, caleb, amanda, appreciate you.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I haven't talked to them in a really long time, but I did reach out because, honestly, they didn't know that I ended up getting saved.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: What?
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Because it happened so like maybe six months after school had ended.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: And so I got in contact with them later and I remember he was just like Caleb was the only one I got a hold of, but he was just like amazed, like oh my, like I was praying for you for so long.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: He's like I got to the point where I thought like well, maybe it's just not going to happen.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: You never told me this.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: That's crazy, you guys are hearing it for the first time.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Wow, so, yeah, so, definitely worth, you know, encouraging your students with all the things that we've shared today to be able to use, you know, to have their in their tool belt and just to know it.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: Just, you know, the worst that someone can say is no thanks.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't think anyone's getting physically violent over here If they are well go to a different school, all right.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: We're gonna do a community comment of the day and then we're going to do our final winner for the 250th episode giveaway.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: The community comment comes from Lydia Long, who says oh, and this was in regards to the episode we did, which was leadership principles, you learned from the crown that was a long time ago.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she said somehow I ended up listening to this episode on my drive out to lead our middle school summer camp last week.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: It might seem strange to say, but it was the best pep talk going into camp.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I felt so ministered to and inspired Love the work you all are doing.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Lydia long.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, and that's an older I was like at least a couple of years old.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: That episode came out, so I'm glad it's still circulating out there, all right, the winner.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: winner for the final, for the final giveaway this is for the uh, soccer goal.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Pop-up soccer goal set Vavo Sport, vavo Sport, we'll say Vavo Sport soccer goal set.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: And the winner is Vanessa Velasquez.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Congratulations, Vanessa, you won, you did it, your hard work paid off.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, thank you guys for all you that entered the giveaway.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: We appreciate it, and congratulations for those who won and the ones who didn't.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll probably be doing another one when we hit episode 300.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: That's crazy to think of, not about like far away probably.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: About a year.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: So, next year roughly this time.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you, guys for watching and listening and we'll see you next time today, we're talking about five ways to make your smaller youth group feel bigger.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Today, we're talking about five ways to make your youth group that is.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Today, we're talking about five ways to make your small youth group have more.