The Student Ministry Podcast | Youth Worker Resources | Leadership Development

Kara Powell is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute and a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary. Named by Christianity Today as one of “50 Women You Should Know,” Kara serves as a Youth and Family Strategist for Orange, and also speaks regularly at parenting and leadership conferences. Kara is the author or coauthor of a number of books, including Growing Young, The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family, Sticky Faith Curriculum, Can I Ask That?, Deep Justice Journeys, Deep Justice in a Broken World, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World, and the Good Sex Youth Ministry Curriculum. Get the Book: Growing Young Follow Kara on Twitter: @kpowellfyi Check out the 'Churches Growing Young' Website

Sometimes being a leader means that you need to have some tough or challenging conversations. In the world of student ministry, that often means you will be faced with having to confront a volunteer leader or you may need to challenge a parent in a manner that may feel uncomfortable. In this episode, Kenny interviews veteran student pastor Ben Markham about how to tackle and navigate moments when we need to resolve a conflict or have a tough conversation with one of our leaders or with one of the parents of the students we care about. Ben shares great wisdom and insights from his years in leadership and pastoral ministry. Ben has been in student ministry for more than 15 years. Ben currently is the Lead Student Pastor at Discovery Church, a multi-site mega-church in Orlando, FL.

Podcasting has become a very popular medium that can be effectively utilized by churches and non-profit organizations for messaging, training, and for a variety of ministry purposes. In this episode, Kenny interviews Todd Cochrane, the CEO of RawVoice (parent company of Blubrry), about all the important things any podcaster ought to know before launching a podcast and how to continually get better as your show grows. E-mail Todd at todd@blubrry.com Follow Todd on Twitter @geeknews Check Out Todd's Podcasts: Geek News Central New Media Show Conferences: Proclaim Podfest Podcast Movement Microphones & Accessories: Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Blue Yeti Pop Filter Software: Audacity Adobe Audition Garage Band (Mac-only) Auphonic Hosting Systems: Blubrry Spreaker Wordpress Plugins: Powerpress Jetpack Yoast SEO Disqus Articles About Podcasting: The Most Important Podcast Directories of 2017 Blurbrry Podcasting Manual Skype Recording Software: Almoto Evaer Ecamm Recorder (Mac-only) Other Recording Software: Uberconference Call Recorder for iPhone Royalty-free Music Sources: BenSound Premium Beats Podcast Players: Blubrry Native Player Simple Podcast Player Pat Flynn's Smart Podcast Player Tune-in Radio Player Tune-in Player Embed Code Generator (Embedly)

In this episode, Kenny interviews Jeremy Zach to talk about the importance of being relational and personal in student ministry, and empowering other leaders to do the same. Jeremy was a full-time youth pastor for nine years before joining the staff team at the reThink Group working with the XP3 Orange team. Jeremy gets to spend most of his days connecting and resourcing student ministry pastors all around the country. Jeremy earned his M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Georgia with his wife and two daughters. Check out Jeremy Zach's Blog Check out the Orange XP3 Blogs Follow Jeremy Zach on Twitter

In this episode, our host Kenny interviews leadership expert (and personal friend) Kenneth Freire about the importance of engaging students in such a way that they will develop in their leadership abilities, as well as how to effectively train our students to be the future leaders of the Church. He gives us four steps: 1) Ignite students' hearts with Gospel-centered purpose 2) Allow them to ask the hard questions 3) Give them meaningful responsbilities 4) Teach them how to learn Kenneth Freire has a Bachelors degree in Biblical Studies from Liberty University and an M.Div. from Regent University. He has more than eight years of experience with leadership development, having trained over 500 men and women in leadership and theology. Kenneth Freire currently serves as a part of the ministry leadership team at Bethany Global University in Minneapolis, MN where he serves as a professor as well as serving as one of the Directors of their Lead Internship gap-year program. Read Kenneth Friere's Blog: www.kenfreire.com Follow Kenneth on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kenneth.freire Check out the Lead Internship: www.leadintern.com

In this episode, Kenny interviews one of his previous students, and now personal friend, Meg Monson about the values of a gap-year program. She tells us about her experiences as a student in YWAM-England's Discipleship Training School (DTS), her life lessons learned living in Europe, and why she believes every young adult should do a gap-year program before heading off to college. Gap-Year Programs Endorsed by Kenny Ortiz: LEAD Internship Fusion (Midwestern) Link Year (Kanakuk Kamps) Focus One Atlanta Leadership College Impact Africa Internship EMBARK Internship (Youth for Christ) Impact 360 Institute

In this episode, Kenny interviews author and international speaker Ajith Fernando about the importance of Christian leaders having a healthy family life. Anyone involved in Christian ministry knows how challenging it is to balance ministry and family responsibilities, but it is essential that we master this balance. Mr. Fernando provides us with a healthy and God-centered understanding of family that can help us cultivate to a flourishing home. Mr. Fernando was the National Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka for more than 35 years; today serves as their Teaching Director. He has also traveled extensively worldwide training and counseling leaders within the Youth for Christ movement. Mr. Fernando has written 16 books and many more booklets and articles, published in 20 different languages worldwide. Get a Copy of Ajith Fernando's Newest Book: The Family Life of a Christian Leader Follow Ajith Fernando and Check out his Resources: www.ajithfernando.com

Each ministry has an identity, and whether you realize it or not, you are sending a message to the world about your identity. The problem we often observe is that many ministries are not nearly as intentional in communicating their identity as they should be. That's where branding comes in. Design, communications, and utilizing your digital footprint are all essential elements of branding; communicating your identity to the world. In this episode, Kenny interviews design and branding expert Tiffany Kelly about the essential elements of branding. Tiffany starts the interview by giving us the heart behind why she does what she does; the theology and philosophy of the branding and design. Tiffany points us to Exodus 28:2 wherein God commands Moses with these words: “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” After those thoughts, Tiffany gives us four great steps to greatly enhance the branding and design of our ministry. 1- Promote an Identity, Not a Product 2- Be Consistent 3- Stay Current 4- Be Inclusive Recommended Resources: Animoto.com (Video Editing Website) Over (Smartphone App) Ripl (Smartphone App) Visual Church Media (Facebook Group) Great Blog Post: Summer Camp: How We Planned a Great Week-Long Off-Site Event Social Media Influencers: @vouschurch @hillsongyoungandfree @rivervalleyyth @gcyc_fl @shereadstruth @mosaicstudents Connect With Tiffany Kelly: Blog: designworship.org Instagram: @tiffany.m.kelly E-mail: tiffanyk@thisismosaic.org

To be an effective leader, you need to be a quality thinker as well as become an efficient problem-solver, and there is no better way to solve problems than to proactively stop them before they ever even occur. In this episode, Kenny dives into one of his favorite illustrations for leadership and proactive problem solving. Kenny has often challenged the people he has worked with to be a "thermostat" instead of just being a "thermometer." To be effective leaders in any ministry context, we must be leaders that can set and change the "climate" of situations, not just reflect or observe them. Recommended Resources Habitudes (by Dr. Tim Elmore)

In 1979, Bill Walsh became the Head Coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He went on to become one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. In this episode, Kenny talks about some of the great leadership lessons we can learn from Bill Walsh: 1) Develop a successful team-oriented culture 2) Develope a system that maximizes the gifts of your team members 3) Teach people to hate mistakes, but not fear failure Recommended Resources The Score Takes Care of Itself (by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison, and Craig Walsh)

Reading good books is an essential discipline for any leader, both for the feeding of our own souls as well as for the development of our leadership skills. Anyone who desires to be successful in student ministry must be a regular reader. In this episode, Kenny interviews pastor and blogger Paul Turner to dialogue about some of their favorite recommended books and the great lessons they have learned from each of those books. Paul also gives us some bonus commentary about the styles of books we all ought to be reading, and he also gives us the reasons why his list of recommended books doesn't include any books that are specifically designed as "youth ministry books" per se. Paul Turner is the Youth Pastor at Pleasant Grove Assembly of God Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He has been a writer and contributor for multiple youth ministry resources outlets over the past 15 years and a regular camp speaker for Life For Youth Camp. Paul is also the founder of The Disciple Project. Watch Paul's training videos and his Vlogs on his YouTube page and follow Paul on Twitter @PaulTurnertoo. Paul Turner's Recommended Books - Start With Why (Simon Sinek) - Ragamuffin Gospel (Brennan Manning) - Purple Cow (Seth Godin) - Linchpin (Seth Godin) - Nudge (Leonard Sweet) - Messy Spirituality (Mike Yaconelli) - Crucified By Christians (Gene Edwards) Kenny Ortiz's Recommended Books - Thinking For a Change (John Maxwell) - A Tale of Three Kings (Gene Edwards) - Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry (Cameron Cole & Jon Nielson) - Already Gone (Ken Ham) -The Shepherd Leader (Timothy Z. Witmer) - Lead Small (Reggie Joiner & Tom Shefchunas)

Anyone who works with teens or college students knows the importance of text messaging as a means of connecting with and starting conversations with students. In this episode, Kenny interviews digital marketing guru Dan Sanchez about the things any leader or pastor can do to better utilize text messaging in their ministry. Dan Sanchez is a marketing automation wizard, blogger, and a self-proclaimed Bootstrap code slinger. Dan serves as the Director of Marketing for Bethany Global University in Minneapolis, MN where he has successfully implemented several digital marketing campaigns. Recommended Resources MassTextMsg iPhone App Google Voice SumoText Trumpia Call Loop Simple Texting Connect With Dan Sanchez Read Dan's Blog: www.danielsanchez.com Follow Dan on Facebook: facebook.com/dansanchezme Get More About Bethany Global University: bethanygu.edu Check out the Lead Internship: www.leadintern.com

Just about every person in our society is familiar with Bill Gates, the co-founder and long-time CEO of Microsoft. He has been a business man, entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor, consultant, and software programmer. Gates has also authored and co-authored several books. Throughout his leading, speaking, and charitable work, Gates has sought to give the world some great words of wisdom to live by. In this episode, Kenny goes through fourteen of the best and most inspirational quotes from Bill Gates that all student ministry leaders would be wise to learn from and apply to their own lives, both personally as well as in our leadership and ministry.

Student Ministry is most effective when it serves the local church by connecting the church with families. Every youth worker ought to seek to make their local student ministry a bridge between the church congregation and the families that the students come from. In this episode, Kenny interviews author, blogger, pastor, and student ministry veteran Mike McGarry about effectively winning the parents' trust and building that bridge; ultimately being a resource to the families and being an advocate for the parents. Mike also shares some thoughts on how local church student ministries can work with local para-church ministries. Mike McGarry is the Pastor of Youth & Families at Emmanuel Baptist Church (Norfolk, MA). He earned his M.Div and D.Min from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and authored a chapter in Gospel Centered Youth Ministry: A Practical Guide (Crossway, 2016). Mike and his family are lifelong New Englanders and are passionate about seeing the Church revitalized in the NorthEast region of the United States. Read more of Mike’s writings at www.livingtheologically.com Follow Mike on Twitter @RevMcGarry Get a Copy of Gospel Centered Youth Ministry

Effectively engaging with students is super important, therefore training your leaders to effectively engage with students is also super important. In this episode, Kenny gives us eight tips and ideas on how to be most effective in training our leadership teams. The Eight Steps: 1- Make sure they know that connecting with students is the priority. 2- Train them look for and engage with new students. 3- Strategically and prayerfully assign them students to look for, and boldly approach those students. 4- Make sure you tell them not to gravitate towards other leaders. 5- Give them specific areas where they can connect with students, dont assume they'll know when and where. 6- Train them to model how to be good "sermon listener." 7- Train them to model how to be engaged in the singing portion of a worship service. 8- Encourage and train them to talk to parents when they have the chance. Recommended Resources How to Win Friends and Influence People (by Dale Carnegie) Winning with People (by John Maxwell) Sample Training Video for "Engaging with Students"

In this episode, Kenny interviews missionary Jonathan Ferguson about the theology of world missions, the importance of taking students on short-term mission trips, and the four things we must do to be great short-term missionaries. Those four things are: 1- Be a student 2- Drop the hammer, grab a cup of coffee 3- Support long-term missionaries 4- Understand that short-term missions and long-terms missions operate differently Jonathan was also a guest on Kenny's "Theology for The Rest of Us" Podcast talking about the importance of all believers engaging in world missions. Jonathan was a youth pastor in Southern California for more than 9 years, but has now been living in Kenya for more than 6 years. Find and Friend Jonathan on Facebook Follow Jonathan on Twitter

Facebook has become as much (or more) a part of American life as any sport, activity, or tradition. Recently the Pew Research Center surveyed teenagers (ages 13-17) and young adults (ages 18-24), they discovered: - 71% of teenagers and 85% of young adults use Facebook daily - 52% of teenagers and 55% of young adults use Instagram daily - 41% of teenagers and 45% of young adults use Snapchat daily - 33% of teenagers and 35% of young adults use Twitter daily Social media is a huge part of the lives of teenagers and college students, and in particular Facebook, therefore using Facebook ought to be a part of our student ministry strategies. In this episode, Kenny tells us that we can "dominate Facebook" for the glory of God and enhance our influence and ministry with the students we are called to shepherd. Here are a few of the tips that Kenny gives in the episode: 1- Utilize your personal Facebook account 2- Create a Facebook Page for your organization; recruit volunteers to share and engage with content 3- Post a lot of content people will actually care about 4- Post many different types of content (ie: Bible verses, blogs, photos, articles, quotes, memes, jokes, videos, memories, funny comments, etc.) 5- Use software to help disseminate content 6- Ask questions to organically boost engagement 7- Pay Facebook to boost individual posts 8- Use Facebook to encourage students 9- Use your profile picture as a prize 10- Utilize the Facebook events feature to promo events 11- Create private Facebook groups as a means for communication 12- Create and/or post video devotions; consider using Facebook Live Recommended Software/Platforms: - For content dissimenation: Socialoomph.com - For content curation and promotion: Buffer.com - For meme creation: Over App - For photo collage creation: Moldiv App Additional Reading/Research: - Pew Research Survey (April 2015): http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015 - Pew Research Survey (August 2015): http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users

In this episode, Kenny interviews student ministry veteran and preaching stalwart Jon Nielson about the importance of giving students a lot more than just fun in student ministry gatherings, but how to truly give them the depth of the Bible and the Gospel. Jon gives us wisdom in several arenas of student ministry such as understanding our role as youth ministers, entertainment, national trends in youth and family ministry, relationships with parents, and preaching. Jon Nielson (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) currently is the Ministry Director at Princeton University for Princeton Faith in Action, a Christian leadership development and campus outreach ministry. Princeton Faith in Action is a ministry of The Christian Union, a ministry focused on serving and ministering to students at all eight Ivy League schools. Before going to Princeton University, Jon served as the College Pastor at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois and he also served as the Director of Training for the Charles Simeon Trust. Get a Copy of Jon's Book Check out Jon's Work on Gospel Coalition Follow Jon on Twitter

Being successful in student ministry often involves being at the right place at the right time. Some might say you need to be "lucky" in order to "catch" ministry opportunities. But how can we put ourselves in a position to get "lucky" more often? In this episode, Kenny recounts the narrative of Zack Hample, the man who holds the Guinness World Record for most baseballs caught at baseball games. It appears that Zack gets "lucky" but in reality he puts himself in position to "catch" the most amount of luck, and in student ministry we can do the same. Kenny gives four steps to follow to get "lucky" on purpose in student ministry: 1- Be present 2- Study the Trends 3- Be patient 4- Pray

The importance of having a student ministry that truly is Gospel-centered cannot be overstated. In this episode, Kenny interviews youth ministry veteran and author Cameron Cole about a variety of elements of local youth and family ministry; specifically how we, as student pastors, can effectively remind students of the Gospel through everything we do. Cameron Cole is the director of children, youth, and family at Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, and chairman of Rooted. He is editor and general contributor of Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry: A Practical Guide, and host of the Good News for Teens Podcast. Check Out Rooted Youth Ministry Get a Copy of Cameron's Book Check out the Resources from New Growth Press Follow Cameron's Work on Gospel Coalition