Youth Ministry Booster
Welcome to the Youth Ministry Booster podcast! The most honest and hilarious podcast in student ministry. Hosted by Zac Workun and Chad Higgins. We are the biggest fans of youth ministry leaders like you!
We are here for you with the humor and the help to engage, entertain, equip, and encourage.
Youth ministry is better together. Learn more @ http://www.youthministrybooster.com
Youth Ministry Booster
Hospitality And Youth Ministry That Lasts w/ Britton Bishop
But seriously... what is your go to Chili's triple dipper
Hey friends meet our new friend Britton Bishop.Britton and Zac share personal stories emphasizing how important small, faithful acts shape future leaders. We discuss the crucial roles of humility and vulnerability, stressing that building genuine connections and providing a safe space for teenagers to express their authentic selves is more impactful than the most well-planned events.
But a big question at the heart of it all is...
Is your youth ministry built to last the test of time?
In this episode we talk about how intentional discipleship and forming Christ-centered communities can create lasting impacts that extend well beyond high school graduation.
This episode has practical tips on fostering hospitality and how optional small groups might actually save small groups. This one is popping with insights on creating welcoming environments and supporting volunteers.
Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Youth Ministry Booster Podcast. Hanging out in the garage with my buddy Britton, yeah, what's up man, how are you?
Speaker 2:What's up, bro, how?
Speaker 1:are you? Hey, well, our Chadcation continues. So Chad's been busy with his new role. We've been having some guests in the garage and abroad, and so Britton Bishop excited to have you today, man Excited to be here, welcome to the garage. Sorry, it really is a garage. It is it is for sure A garage.
Speaker 2:So you got the little ball hanging down so your wife doesn't hit all your equipment. That's right. Tennis ball check.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bike rack on the wall.
Speaker 2:Garage fridge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's it, man, just for all the fun noodles we got leftover fun noodles from summer youth ministry Hard to say.
Speaker 2:What blows my mind is how many bikes your family has. That's like a middle class flex. We got bikes for the neighbors.
Speaker 1:We got bikes for us. We got bikes for them to grow into. Well, really, the story is, my dad loves bikes and he keeps giving us like hand-me-down bikes like I got like. I have two bikes from him, one for now and one for later.
Speaker 2:That's just the whole napoleon shocks, pegs lucky, look you got it, we got it.
Speaker 1:Dude, ask me how much I ride.
Speaker 2:Uh, no, no, no I see you down at the crossfit gym getting after it. Oh, dude, leg day post. I love it. Yeah, dude today.
Speaker 1:Uh, today was we still got a little bit of the post gym sweat. Thank you for coming out on our absolutely.
Speaker 2:Usually this is afternoon. I've already, like, settled in, or whatever we're now on the second cup of coffee before 10 am. We are hyped and ready.
Speaker 1:We always want to ask Chad's, not here. This is actually fun, because you haven't met Chad yet. Never have I ever. Where do you think Chad is right now? If Chad's not here, where is he?
Speaker 2:I've watched a few episodes of Youth Ministry Booster. I even clicked on the YouTube, watched some of those. I noticed Chad wears Carhartt shirts as well. Okay, and so I immediately go to where would I be?
Speaker 1:Okay, and uh, nine, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 2:Nine 30 in the morning. I'm not going to say where he might be and what he might be doing, but hey, we know we know where you're at, Uh probably. Yeah, Chilling out getting ready for his reservations at Chili's, I guess, or something like that 11 o'clock reservation.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, the 11 am triple dipper, Absolutely Okay, okay, okay, because he would want to know. This is the friendship test. We're going to have a friendship test across a podcast, Britton what is? Your triple play picks, like what is the triple dipper triple play picks? What are the three? Yes, the triple dipper, triple plate picks. What are the three?
Speaker 2:yes. So, like second to the trinity, there is a three that that must be named 100. So I'm a big mouth bites. No onion, okay. Uh. Honey chipotle chicken crispers two for two. And then number three, most underrated thing, and I think it tastes better in an airport. Okay, it's a southwestern egg roll, oh yes we got there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did it, that's it. Yes, dude, uh, dude, they do taste better.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you right now. Oh, they do one of the most animal.
Speaker 1:Why is that? Why is that true?
Speaker 2:chicago, o'hare I had like 20 minutes only food there was was chilies flavors I think I ate four southwestern egg rolls in 33 seconds. It's an animal planet over there.
Speaker 1:Do you match certain? Dips to bites.
Speaker 2:It's ranch across the board except for the avocado ranch. The big mouth bites also are good if you dip them in that little honey chipotle. On this week's episode of my 600-lb Life Triple play is fine.
Speaker 1:It's just when you triple up on the triple play like that's, that's when my wife also gets a triple dipper and I back clean up yeah, get it all in listen. It's not the first route 44, it's not that'll get you it's the second it's the second that's too much the first. The first is just good judgment of a happy hour afternoon and they put so much ice in it, they do.
Speaker 2:You go get a sonic route 44 and it's like I noticed you said route, which was insane. But uh, you pour it into a small cup and you're like, oh, I got 12 ounces of dr pepper and the rest is all so that.
Speaker 1:So that's my hack at sonic is and this is actually a company name for chad and I uh is easy ice is to go.
Speaker 2:We go sonic route 44 easy eyes. Are you app, guys?
Speaker 1:yes, uh, he's an app guy. I I like the discipline.
Speaker 2:I like paying, more, I like paying more.
Speaker 1:I like the discipline of trying to sneak in and before four, like, like, like it's almost like constricting myself to like, especially because like it's very like david goggins it's very, it's, very, it's very like like superhuman of like yeah if I, if I didn't get my treat by four o'clock, I don't deserve my treat 100%.
Speaker 2:How many times have you gotten it after 5?
Speaker 1:More than I want to talk about Listen.
Speaker 2:Coke Zero Cherry from Sonic is better than all other Coke Zeros. I can't explain it 100%, it's just true.
Speaker 1:Well, man, we're so excited to have you today. New friend, new listener, new friend, but partly because you're new to Oklahoma Youth Ministry. But for our folks that are a little more far-flung, you've been in youth ministry for more than a minute. So for folks that maybe recognize your voice or your name or want to get to know you more, give us a little bit of how you got into youth ministry, because some people I don't know, like there's so many other, things you could do Like maybe for some of us it's like this is the thing.
Speaker 1:I don't know what else I could do, but there's, there's like probably other stuff.
Speaker 2:So why?
Speaker 1:this. How'd you get into it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh. So youth ministry is kind of was one of those. Had found myself in college, was at like that crossroads of where will I intern at next and had some cool internship opportunities with some organizations. And one of my friends was like his name's Trey Giles. He's a pastor at Bridgetown Church. He was like hey, do you want to be an intern at this church in Kansas? And I was like no, and he's like well, I want what would I do in Kansas? Yeah, and he's like I want you what's even central Kansas, hayes, kansas, it wasn't even Kansas City, Kansas.
Speaker 2:Everybody knows where Hayes, kansas, is. You stop to get gas. They're on your way to Denver. And so he's like, yeah, you want to do it. And I was like no, but sure.
Speaker 1:Like we did it.
Speaker 2:It was a whole semester of my life and just I think I was probably I'd given my life to Christ like three months before the internship even started.
Speaker 2:so it was just one of those like I'm new to this new believer, new church yes, leading a high school boys ninth grade boys small group and then I remember the first night he had me preach and uh, it sucked so bad, like potentially one of the worst. It was like I just watched a bunch of different youtube videos I had my content, but I was like, how do I do? This come on so I was like ferdick matt chandler bishop td like is happening up here Because I didn't even know who was.
Speaker 2:We got an object lesson and I got big hands and I don't know where we're going, but it's going to be good. And any time I'm insecure, I'm just going to yell yeah, yeah, I want to get loud, but I don't know if I know what I'm saying so that just happened. But afterwards I was so sweaty no, I didn't Not for dramatic effect or anything.
Speaker 1:No, I sat down afterwards. I was like what happened? Brow sweat love it.
Speaker 2:I think it was after that, though as much of an epic fail as I would say it was. It was like this is all I ever want to do. It just something happened in my like. I've found it and I remember just like selling out, like that we went to. We went on a mission trip to Houston, texas, and I was still green in ministry, figuring out what it looks like, and we went to the Right Now Media Conference and like just all these different things that we did within like a six months.
Speaker 2:I was like in an incubator and then, like coming out of that, ended up going and helping plant youth ministry in middle of nowhere Kansas again. And just through that, just all of those just figuring out like, oh, like, man, I get to be the guy that shows up to the games and supports a kid that doesn't have anybody else there. Like, just all of those little things combined just turned into like this is it.
Speaker 1:Is that part of your story at all, of just like what was your relationship to youth ministry growing up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think growing up for me. I grew up in the Tulsa area, in a little town named Ulaga.
Speaker 1:That's two O's on the front. That's two O's, not three. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Ulaga Talala. That was the name of my high school, but I remember like as a kid we lived in Oolaga.
Speaker 1:It was the only thing to do back then. It was literally something to do.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:We'll talk about it later but like youth ministry back in the day, which was not so long ago was like I mean, that was a hundred percent Call it entertainment, call it extracurricular. It was the thing that you could do.
Speaker 2:It was a place to go the place to meet people. I was new to town, yeah, and I was new to town, yeah, but there was this youth pastor there. His name's Les Shearer.
Speaker 1:Oklahoma people, you might know Les.
Speaker 2:He's a children's pastor in Sulphur, I believe now, but I remember he just like he was like no frills. He was the like bro was wearing cargo shorts and flip flops, but not like grungy, gross Like had a family, but it was always there, yeah, and I never like went there with him Like wasn't like I don't. You're not my youth pastor.
Speaker 1:Like you're their youth pastor. But I remember like after games you'd see him saying what's up to those kids. Just a figure in the community yeah, a hundred percent, always there.
Speaker 2:Always there. And so I was like, and I didn't realize it at the time, how much that mattered. And it wasn't until years later, where I'm in youth ministry and I'm like, why is this so important to me? And you don't realize how much the things like the little things that we're doing as youth pastors that are forming students that you like. It brings first Corinthians, where it says like neither the one who plants nor the one who waters causes the growth. But like I am the type of youth pastor I am today, because in eighth grade, when I wouldn't have probably called myself a Christian, I observed some youth pastor being faithful to what Jesus was calling him to do.
Speaker 2:Like the model, the model of the faithfulness went ahead of your faith A hundred percent, and I think like if you were to sit down less, however many years ago that was, and say like, hey, how's discipling Britain, bishop, go going. He'd be like, oh that kid.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like I mean we're trying, I'm praying for him, I see him sometimes, or whatever, but it wasn't that he know exactly this guy's going to be a youth pastor like my influence, but you're like citing him as like, hey, man, who was somebody influential to you? Yeah, that's so good yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think that was those little things. And then I got to go up to Michigan and start doing youth ministry and that's where it all really just started to click. And that's where it all really just started to click, got started leading teams, like before that it was just the I mean, it was super unhealthy One man show, what can I? How can I leverage my personality Cause I didn't know any better, like I didn't. Nobody taught me how to do youth ministry, nobody. Like we were, me and my friend Trey, like we were just figuring it out, yeah, and what if it worked? It didn't matter. So it was like, man, we're going to build this on our personalities, like we can draw a crowd, like we can do all this. And then it was like, oh, that was terrible.
Speaker 2:So then, like that kind of flamed out, moved back to Oklahoma and was just chilling here, substitute teaching, coaching ball, doing all this different stuff. And there was an opportunity to move to Michigan after I was here for like seven or eight months and I spent that time getting healthy. And whenever I got to Michigan after I was here for like seven or eight months and I spent that time getting healthy, and whenever I got to Michigan. That was when stuff really started clicking. Covid happened like pretty quickly in that as well and there was just a lot of hard resets that happened, that kind of reshaped and reformed what ministry is to me?
Speaker 1:What were some of those big changes? One of the things that we talk a lot on the podcast about. There's almost like this bell curve of like. When you start you're like I have no idea what I'm doing, and then at some point you kind of figure it out because as hard or as heavy youth ministry can be, it's not super complex, it's hard work.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:It's hard work, it can be heavy work, taxing, taking a toll, but it's not like complicated, it's just getting the right things done in some of the right order, trusting the process. What were some of the things that were like because I think there's a lot of folks that are in that one man show. What were some of the things that changed for you like that that you could control, because sometimes we're like we're looking for the change at the places that we go or you know, you know god, please send a helper right, like like send send, send a messenger, send a help.
Speaker 1:But like, what were some of the things for you, just of how you led, how you planned, what you did? That you would encourage somebody that's maybe feeling like man if it's not me, it won't get done.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest thing I did was stopped looking at other youth ministries on Instagram. Okay, because I think the temptation for me like was like to look at some of these larger student ministries and just try to recreate what they were doing with less.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rather than I'll just do what they're doing with a staff of whatever people, all on my own shoulder, yeah, and.
Speaker 2:I was just trying to be somebody else. And I think the reality was when I stopped for a minute and realized I don't know what I'm doing, so I'm just going to be like relentlessly pursue knowledge, wisdom. Like I'm going to ask questions, like, and I'm just going to be real with these kids. Like I'm not, I don't need to throw. Like we're now I'm at a larger church and we do have some of those resources to do a dunk night or a big event and all this stuff. I remember I would just exhaust myself. Like why is nobody showing up? And it's like because they don't know you.
Speaker 2:And so it was just like what clicked for me was relationships were the key to all of youth ministry. Like it's going to take more than me, so I don't need to go try to find kids, I need to find volunteers. I got to find more leaders that are willing to buy into this. Like we're going to learn this together. And so it was being really intentional on Sundays and Saturdays at church, like hey, do you want to be a part of this? Like I don't know what that even means, but we're going to learn together, developing vision, being able to put culture together. Like what does it look like to have a healthy youth ministry culture that you're unwavering from? Like? What are the non-negotiables? I'm not. This is who I've been called to be.
Speaker 2:Ask your lead pastor hey, what do you think this student ministry should look like? How can I honor the overall vision of this church within the context of student ministry? And it's amazing that when you do those things and honor the systems God's put in place, how he begins to bless that ministry and so I think that was the key was just like. It's not complex, everything you need is there. It's just. Are you willing to humble yourself and say, hey, I need help, can I get some? Can you help me? Can you help me see what I'm not seeing? Can you bring people to? I don't have to be the guy right. There's some people like for me, I am a communicator. But some of the best youth ministries that I've been around are the guys that say I don't need to be the one who talks. I've got a volunteer. She's an incredible communicator. I've put everybody else in place.
Speaker 2:I've, I've, I've made all the things happen, yeah, and I think that was what clicked was just like god didn't ask me to be the guy and that wasn't. I think, just growing up you play sports, you do all this stuff like the, the insecure little boy never leaves.
Speaker 2:He just grew a beard right, and so it's like rather than letting my insecurities lead the way, it's like no, I'm. I'm just going to be really vulnerable and honest with where I'm at what I'm doing, and just trust that God's going to fill in the gaps. And that's I mean. Here we are, that's good.
Speaker 1:Well and I hope that folks hear that in your story, that, like I mean, one of the things that we love featuring the podcast is folks that have a range of experiences. Youth ministry can take a lot of different sizes and shapes, but one of the most important things and you've said it again and remind folks to hear it fresh is the work is relational work, like the work is not the sermon, the work is not the programming, the work is not the camp. Those are the avenues or the opportunities. Create spaces for relationships and man, your line of like to they didn't know me, like to be known like. That is probably the number one hunger for most teenagers today is like man, there's all kinds of stuff, entertainment and things, but who actually knows me? And then I feel safe enough for them to know the real me. And so man, just wherever somebody's serving. If you're hearing that today, I hope that encourages you to not feel defeated in that the thing didn't work.
Speaker 1:The event didn't work. The plan didn't work Because, man, there's never been a greater time in youth ministry to have the tools to connect with folks even if they weren't there. That's so different, it's so good.
Speaker 2:I think maybe I heard Shane Pruitt or somebody. Maybe he says a lot of things, but I think he said, like what you use to get them there is what you're going to have to use to keep them there. That's right. And so it's like if you're only relying on big events as your outreach strategy, like you just are going to be a hamster on a wheel, yeah, but if you can build relationships with students and just like that Eugene Peterson, like long obedience in the same direction, blue flame, like that's going to be what creates longevity in your student ministry. I think what broke my heart the most was in Kansas. We were, we were rocking, like we had a student ministry at this church. It was I mean percentages wise like we were 25% of the church's weekend.
Speaker 1:Blowing all the statistics out yeah, just crushing. Batting average high.
Speaker 2:Yeah. By all, all metrics, everything Just absolutely off the walls and Trey and I both left and he'd be cool with me saying this and I went back to visit and that student ministry had like 20 kids in it and was at like 2% and it was like, oh, and there was just this point of conviction it's a long drive to Hays, kansas, and there was just this point of conviction. It and there was just this point of conviction it's a long drive to Hayes, kansas, and there was just this point of conviction.
Speaker 2:It was like Long drive back yeah yeah, yeah, and it was just like this. That's what happens when you build a ministry on yourself and it was like those people, those kids, never met me, yeah, and so I think what also started in that was like I had to be formed by Jesus in private if I was expecting to be used in public, and at that time I was just trying to catch up, and so I didn't have enough time to slow down and allow Jesus to actually form me into who I was supposed to be, and so I just constantly was just this hamster on the wheel, quiet time with sermon prep, like my prayer was just about the next event or whatever we were doing, and I was not taking the time to actually be formed and developed and discipled by Jesus himself. And I was looking to resources. I was reading different books which are good, great, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But if you're not into those things but if you're not connecting to the person of Jesus like you're, it's a hamster wheel and it's a meat you're. You've turned ministry into a means to an end. And somebody asked me the question I'll never forget this. He said if the Holy Spirit left your ministry, how long would it take you to notice? And that was like in Kansas. I don't think we would have because I don't think he was ever there.
Speaker 1:Just kept pounding. That doesn't mean there's not fruit.
Speaker 2:There's kids that gave life to Christ. God is so much better than my ability to be anything. But I think just the reality of like we were doing our own thing for a long time but leaving that, it was like okay. So what does it look like to create a student ministry? That's slow. Yeah, that isn't just a flash in the pan. Don't overestimate what you can get done in a year and underestimate what you can get done in five. That's good. How slow? Can we do this in a way that creates longevity, consistency, Because the goal of youth ministry isn't to have the biggest youth ministry, it's that kids will keep going to church after they leave Dude say it again for the folks that maybe didn't hear the whole thing.
Speaker 1:Say it again, Brittany. I think this is legit folks that maybe didn't hear the whole thing. Say it again, Brittany.
Speaker 2:I think this is legit. The goal of youth ministry isn't for you to have the biggest youth ministry in town. It's that kids will still have conviction to go to church when they leave, when they graduate from high school. Church is a non-negotiable. Belonging to a Christ-centered community is a non-negotiable. Having people in their life centering their life on the teachings of Jesus and following the way, like that's the goal. It's not that. Oh yeah, when I was a kid, I was in a 500 kid student ministry. Who gives a crap?
Speaker 1:I went to a big high school yeah.
Speaker 2:I grew up in a brick house. I didn't make me a brick.
Speaker 1:Right, right yeah.
Speaker 2:But when a kid says man, when I, I have some friendships. I have one of my, one of my friends. He's a student pastor in Michigan. He has a tattoo on his arm. That's literally a door with like a number. I don't remember what the number is. I remember the first time I asked him I was like what is that? Yeah, and he was like, oh, that was the room number to the small group I was in and it's like crazy tattoo Wouldn't recommend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but so intense, so intense.
Speaker 2:Did you get it in that room?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean powerful, but wow, Okay.
Speaker 2:But it was like but that's how much that community mattered, yeah, and it's like that's a dude that's still committed to belonging to Christ centered community. So it's like, how are we creating environments for our kids that are able to be repeated? Because, if you're just, if it's event after event after event it's like is passion going to be enough?
Speaker 1:What's next? Like it's passion, yeah, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like so how do we continue to form in our kids convictions that don't go away? Yeah, I think the best way to do that is like okay, well, what are the convictions that jesus seems to take really seriously? Like loving god, loving people making disciples, belonging to community, like these are the non-negotiables. I don don't think anywhere in there. He was like paint wars.
Speaker 1:You know I love paint wars.
Speaker 2:But when we, as ministers, spend all of our time focusing on those things, I think we're just giving our kids a discount version of Christianity that they don't deserve, like we're shortchanging them.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think for so many, we end up just doing the metrics of you know, and some of this comes from longevity, some of this comes from being somewhere long enough that you can value what you can do in five years and not one, and start measuring how well our sophomores in college are doing, how well are your 22-year-olds doing, not just how many 15-year-olds do you have connected to, and that matters. And I think we're seeing a need for that, a push for that in young adults, a need for that, a push for that in young adults. Like there is this like really unique thing happening in this passion, like the later Gen Z generation of questions of like, just like man, like they are hungry for both the word and for truth, in a way that no event or activity or plan could really provide for.
Speaker 1:So, britt, and Say a little bit more about discipleship. I know we've got a couple areas we want to talk to programmatically ironically, but discipleship you listed off some key markers for stuff With your team, with your leaders, with even your student leaders, like what are some of those things that you're trying to like, mark or measure?
Speaker 2:The key word to that is trying. It's not perfect, but I think for so many folks.
Speaker 1:Their dashboard gets so limited to who was here last week that even an annual view of who was here and who's not here, who's in small group, who's not in small group there's so many metrics and numbers and things that we could calculate and tally Give us a broader picture.
Speaker 2:Not perfect but at least give us a bigger view.
Speaker 1:Give us some wisdom, some oversight.
Speaker 2:So we do things a little bit different with our student ministry at 180 than I've seen with, like, small groups for other churches. So our small groups are 100% optional. Okay, so kids are not required to go to a small group.
Speaker 1:They don't go straight from a thing into the small group, that's if they want it.
Speaker 2:So if the kids are there.
Speaker 1:They actually do want it, yeah, okay. So that's like we.
Speaker 2:That's a shift, it's not just ninth grade boys, you're in this room. Yeah, tenth grade boys, you're in this room. That's not. We don't operate like that. We have small group leaders. We have, I don't know, around 50 or something high school small group leaders on a Wednesday night and those those small group leaders all, whenever we onboard a new volunteer, the first thing we tell them is find your six, find your six. There are six students in this building that need to know you and you need to know, and so find your six. There's a lot of kids here, and if all of us just find six, then we're closer to it, so that's kind of the goal within our small groups.
Speaker 2:And then those students well, they sign up and all that, but it's 100 optional and I think that the goal of that was we don't want to coerce a student into discipleship, like no, like there's kids that need to just come and hear the message and hang out, like there's people that are in different stages. Something we say all the time is every student has a next step to take yeah and so like. What does it look like to create systems?
Speaker 1:Which even that dude, like that language of having each student highly individualized to help them figure out their next step. Man hear that. See that as discipleship, not as a programmatic or pathway approach, but next steps for each student, yeah because I think that's our biggest thing.
Speaker 2:that we talk about is like disciples are not mass produced, they're handmade. Mass produce, they're handmade, and so like. If you have six students that you're intentionally pouring into as a leader, you can take the time to really dig into what does this student need? How do I equip the student that this is their first time ever coming to church, compared to some of our students that can preach better than 90% of our staff? And they're a high school senior girl, that's legit.
Speaker 1:What's her next step, or?
Speaker 2:is she just in the? Now she's a cog in the wheel, but it's like, how are we continuing to?
Speaker 1:develop.
Speaker 2:Keep coming back to leadership meetings yeah, exactly, and so we just try to put things in place Like we do. Small groups are a big part of what we do. Sermon-based students come in, they hear a message and then we're going to go talk about that. We're going to dig in deeper to the scriptures with questions, different things like that. We have a class called Essentials that happens every single week, no matter what's going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so we talked a copy a couple weeks ago. Tell me more about this one, because that's the one that I thought was such a unique ongoing offering.
Speaker 2:So we have a class called Essentials. It's four weeks and it happens every single week. So, like September 25th, we're bringing in a guest speaker, we've got a big event, all this stuff, essentials, will be happening, okay.
Speaker 1:And what happens in the essentials thing is part of the Wednesday night, yeah, so whenever you come into essentials it's literally just a class.
Speaker 2:So imagine going to Sunday school. Okay, so you're coming to a Sunday school class. It's week one, week two, week three, week four. You can jump in whenever you want. Okay, you have to go to all four weeks before you're technically graduated. And whenever they graduate, we get them a study bible with their name on it. Love it, and we do the graduation in front of all the other students, like we call them up front in the middle of a service when is essentials happening in like the wednesday night lineup?
Speaker 1:is it like so, during the hang time before after service?
Speaker 2:okay, so essentials happens after service. So if you go to essentials you would be not going to a small group or engaging in whatever games and stuff are going on. So and there have been people also like I've we've- had.
Speaker 1:So it's the back half of the night everybody's in like the large gathering and so essentials is the, the new to faith, or big questions, new, the new, new member class? But I don't like that language. I like essentials much better.
Speaker 2:Yeah and so, and we we've had small group leaders that take their whole group through essentials, okay and so they just, they just make that their four week thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we need to go, like the questions you guys are asking the different things, like we're going to jump into essentials as a crew and so that's been. That's. Another big part of what we do is essentials, discipleship, wise. And then, uh, another big aspect we do a thing called summer serve and that kind of pours throughout the whole year, but we just identify, like our target student at one 80. Like we're not shy about this. If you were to ask like our target student is influential upperclassmen. So all our marketing is geared towards influential upperclassmen, all our content is geared towards influential upperclassmen. Like every single decision we make is with an influential upperclassmen in mind.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I know there are fringe kids and there's marginal students and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, like if we can get those influential upperclassmen there, like everybody can benefit from this content and different things like that, and so that's a not always a popular thing to say, especially in 2024, that we're targeting these students, but the reality is it's just that's where we're at, that's what we do and why we do it, and so within that Well, like Jurassic Park, they do move in herds.
Speaker 2:Yes, 100% and so but those students, we also, we identify them. We do a thing called Summer Serve, okay, and it starts in June, goes all the way through. It's like an internship kind of, but not an internship.
Speaker 1:But it's almost like a leadership institute right. Like this is something we were talking about over coffee. Like this is something it's a key part of your summer planning program that you're committing to this like leadership institute for your upperclassmen that has a payoff of the rest of the year ongoing, which I love. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So they'll come into that. We do a retreat with them, get them away. Every Tuesday is discipleship, so we spend 45 minutes just digging into something Discipleship wise. We use all the members of our staff, not just our youth staff, so we'll have different campus pastors everybody coming and pouring into our students, teach them, talked about conflict, talking about spiritual gifts, all these different things and then they help us with planning and executing different events and stuff like that. But then what happens coming out of that is like if you walk into one of our J-High services on the weekend. We have more high school upperclassmen leading junior high than we do adults, and so that's so.
Speaker 1:They become the workforce that have the opportunity to reinvest instead of just being occupied elsewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's like the biggest key to discipleship, especially with high school students, is getting them serving, because serving exposes your weaknesses and so like there's nothing like a middle school boy small group to let you know what you don't know about the Bible.
Speaker 1:And so for a junior boy to get thrown into that, oh, we can do, but could you teach?
Speaker 2:Could you?
Speaker 1:teach.
Speaker 2:And so, throwing a junior boy into that environment, he's going to read his Bible with a little more intention because he doesn't want to let these dudes like. There's a level of accountability and purpose. So that's kind of I mean, that's just our whole vision within it, but with that we're working it out, trying to figure out what does a discipleship pathway look like 6th through 12th grade right, not trying to disciple a 12th grader and a 6th grader the exact same way but what is over the course of the seven years that we have a student in our student ministry.
Speaker 2:So that's stuff we're working on, really trying to hone in what that looks like, Discipleship campaigns with retreats attached, just all of those different things that we're working on. We're still figuring it out, but I think at the end of the day it's slow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's like anytime somebody tries to like mass produce expedite hurry up, just flip. Yeah, Like it it gets really disappointing. Yeah, and because we're creating, we're a mile wide and an inch deep and so like, yeah, but then we're just they're cogging the wheel.
Speaker 1:And they're so hyped for worship and then they're so rude Otherwise. They cry during the worship songs and then they yell at their small green leaders Awesome, yeah, yeah. And so that's what we still have work to do. Yeah, yeah. So that's the biggest thing is we're just we try to find your six.
Speaker 2:So for this it's okay for you to find your six. I think there's a lot of guys especially. I remember being the only youth pastor, the only staff member in the room, with 50, 60 kids, and you're like, I got to disciple all these kids. Now you don't. Now you don't Find your six. Find your six.
Speaker 1:Well, because that's the relational capacity, because that's the part. So let's fold it together. Relationships are the work, the gut, honesty, the relationships are the words you shared is slower work than we thought it was. Like, relationship work is slower work. You can't rush relational work. That's either dangerous, manipulative or thin, fragile. And then you also, you only have so much capacity to give. It's the reason. That's the reason that like, small groups become a key function of the church is to help increase capacity. Not because like, just because you have a small group means it's working. It's just we're, again, we're doing the things to create the avenues and opportunities for the relational work to really happen. So, yeah, six probably is it for most of us? Yeah, If.
Speaker 1:Jesus had 12, I'm going to give you half.
Speaker 2:I'm going to give you half. Well, that's the deuce. Well, if Jesus had 12, I'll take 11. You're like you think really highly of yourself. Well, my man, yeah, I mean, maybe One of those 12 didn't make it right.
Speaker 1:Let me guess you probably got six of the things that I loved in our conversation is your commitment to and this is some of the things that's coming out for our LifeWay students team, both in conferences and training things? Is this commitment to and I'll use a word that's a little bit of a buzzy word, but it's also a really spiritual word, so I love it hospitality, deep awareness, sense and commitment across your whole team about the ways in which, when people enter, the spaces that we curate, create care is a principle of your ministry, Share a little more, say a little more and then maybe instruct and teach us in some of that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So I got to give credit where credit is due, like when I came to 180 to Church on the Move to become a part of our student team. Like Pastor Greg and Miss Polly, who are our next-gen pastors at Church on the Move, they are like Miss Polly is like the person I want at my deathbed. That's just like go into the light.
Speaker 1:She's got like that Kentucky accent. She will guide you to it the most hospitable, like if Jesus was here.
Speaker 2:This is how I bet the interaction would go, and so this is fully just like them pouring into us and now it's pouring over. But I think that's the key to hospitality is creating environments where, like one, when somebody shows up, they think they knew I was coming. Okay, right. So like when I came into your house today, this is a perfect picture coffee was ready. Yeah, like there was coffee in my cup. It wasn't. Hey, man, let me make this real quick. Like coffee was ready I was.
Speaker 1:I was actually making your refill, yeah, and so like that, and it's good coffee, thank you. Thank you, like it's not just hospitality for hospitality's sake, like it's in a nice mug, it's got a whole thing, and so but I think, like those aspects of like we knew you were coming at, what we say often is that 180?
Speaker 2:our answer is yes, and I know in youth ministry that doesn't feel like the best idea all the time. But there'll be times where a kid will come up and he's like, hey, can I get some talkies? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a bag of talkies dog Like sure. It costs 25 cents Gatorades on me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But those little things go so far with our students and other things Like, but for us on the way back end of to our volunteers, yeah, okay, so when?
Speaker 1:they show up Again. It's in the overflow Like this is seeing too many youth ministry leaders that are trying to make an amazing space for their students and there's just like no thought, effort or love given to those that are actually giving the most to the ministry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so for us, like that looks like we feed them every week when they come in for the leader meeting Like they're coming. They live busy lives. I know not everybody's budget amasses that, but I bet there's a grandma that loves to make food at your church would donate it, dude do you know how far cookies and Sonic drinks? Go I mean dude, get the app and that way you can still go at 430 and get the half-priced drinks. That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get their Sonic drink, that's.
Speaker 2:It's like when a student shows up to 180, we have something called the 180 hello that every kid will experience. It's like a secret handshake. You're going to have to either show or tell, and so when a kid comes to 180, they're going to experience three things before they get through our front door Somebody's going to say their name, somebody's going to have a physical contact point whether it's a high five, side hug, fist, bump and they're going to receive a compliment.
Speaker 2:So every single student we have a front porch team that's full of high energy young adults and some old people that really just love students and they are there and these people, like it's intentional, like I mean, hey, sam, you don't know these kids' name. You need to start praying, ask the Lord to help you in this, because he wants these kids to be cared for, and I think often we pray small prayers and think that God doesn't care about that. You don't think he cares about a kid's name so much. You might be the only person today that knew their name, and so that's like for a kid that's coming into our front doors, that's the first thing they're going to experience. If it's raining, we got umbrellas, we have a parking team out there, like when parents are dropping off it's efficient Guide and direct, it's not.
Speaker 2:We knew you were coming. We were ready for you to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:But even from that standpoint of like, okay, we have a front porch team. If it's cold outside, our expectation is that they're out there. Sure, you'd think people would bring their own coats. We have coats for our front porch team. Love it, Because if we're going to ask them to do something ridiculous, which is stand outside in the freezing cold to say hi to people, we'll be ready. We're going to give them the tools they need to be successful. Love and then. So, even to the point of when a student comes in to our building check-in is fast they're not standing there forever Waiting to put their own name in Right.
Speaker 1:Because somebody knows their name or knows them Exactly.
Speaker 2:So we're saying that we have iPads is the way we do it. It's not a write it down or check yourself in. No there's an individual, like Apple Store style, holding an iPad checking in. It's another point of contact.
Speaker 1:Personal contact. No barrier between no desk no yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all that stuff. And then then they come in and it's free for all, do your thing. Yeah, all that stuff. But even within that, like first time guest shows up, we have a first time guest table that we bring them into. Okay, check them in. If a student, if somebody's friend brought them, then we just kind of cut them loose. But the goal with that, but like, if there's a student that came by themselves for the first time, we have a volunteer there, it's going to give them a tour of the building, it's going to show them around, that's hopefully through that tour going to connect them to another student.
Speaker 1:So that way that student feels welcome. They're playing switch over there, do you? Is that your thing, basketball? What are we doing?
Speaker 2:And we have also volunteers are at all those places and so, like, when you're going to play the Switch, you're not trying to jump in with some senior boys that are playing NCAA or whatever's going on Like there's Sam Lucero there. That's just crushing Like just all the kids love this dude.
Speaker 1:How important and overlooked is that Like? Because I just some folks like volunteer is just well, that's a small group leader. Dude, the guy that posts up and like is like running the informal Super Smash Brothers thing, yes, or is making sure like the gotcha game doesn't turn violent Right. Some of the most important leaders.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, what I love. Some of the most important leaders. Yeah, our dude who does our video games like in the middle of playing the Switch. Does he have like a special title?
Speaker 1:I feel like he should have like czar of games or like the game master or whatever. Okay, yeah, but there was a day. Hey, sam, we see you, but we'll get you a vest or a hat or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But he's sitting there playing a video game with a kid one day and the kid opens up about struggling with self-harm and you're going to tell me that that space doesn't matter and doesn't need leaders in it. Like no, you've got to get comfortable in a space where they feel like, and that's the key to all that.
Speaker 2:Tommy Foursquare yeah, you got Tommy Foursquare, tommy Foursquare baby, but he's there every single week, he's getting after it, he's doing these things, and so it's just like, and these are all things, like I'm walking into 180 for the first time, yeah, and I'm getting a 180, hello, yeah, I'm like I haven't been here for, like man, these people, like there are people that are very high capacity. But what I love too about hospitality is often people view hospitality as a gift. I just don't have the gift of hospitality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like as if prayer, encouragement, evangelism, hospitality are things that reserve for some.
Speaker 2:Well, I just don't have the gift of hospitality. But what I love is you can put systems in place in your student ministry where hospitality is the only choice. And so, like our front porch team, like some of those people aren't if you showed up at their workplace today, they're probably not going to give you a high five. Right, right, Know your name and give you a compliment.
Speaker 1:Sick shoes, bro. Thanks, ONG Right but Right.
Speaker 2:But we've put a system in place where hospitality is like the standard, and so I think that's the key within all that is that a student knows when we were ready for you to be here, down to just like whenever we have events, like there's enough food for everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if there's not, we'll order more We'll get more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's those little things like everything. We try to make things as efficient as possible, try to eliminate lines doing all that stuff, but just trying to chase after excellence in all those spaces. And I think that when students have a good experience they come back. That's good man, that's good.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's one of the things that I think for so many folks the programming stuff can feel like just the stuff that we have planned for the students and stuff like the games and the activities and whatever are a piece of it. But it's the environment always, the culture. Environment always wins. You may have a week that you plan a game. We were joking earlier over coffee that some games are just bummers.
Speaker 2:They're just a bummer of a game hard to redeem.
Speaker 1:Other games are the dumbest thing you could have played, but because you did it so weird or wild or over the top, we, we were talking about word searches at connect for that were home runs. Um, please send dms about that. Uh, britain, britain has a word search for you that will get the whole group going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, super cal fragile yeah, the connect for tournament of middle schoolers watching the room gasp when the one kid missed the move. We saw it. Oh, we saw it. Oh no, why you did that? Like those are all come and go, but like the ways in which—because it creates opportunities for both adults and students.
Speaker 2:Man belonging isn't just programmed into, like the small group time.
Speaker 1:Like that is one of my big worries in this next wave of youth ministry stuff is the chance to reimagine not just the stuff that we get to do, but how alternative what it means to really belong. Not that we offer a thing for youth. But the sense of belonging is alternative to the ways in which you know a call of duty, lobby or a classroom or a locker room might feel for a lot of our students.
Speaker 2:For sure that's so good. Another key when I think about hospitality and trying like creating a space where people feel like they belong and I think it's something I did poorly for so long and I think youth pastors just kind of get this like this is just the somewhere I'm looking for like stereotype that gets put on them of like you're unorganized yeah, like, get organized, get organized them of.
Speaker 2:Like you're unorganized yeah, like, get organized. Get organized Like it's. It's literally like be intentional with your organization in a way where, like setting your volunteers up so they can win, setting your parents up so they can win, setting your students up so they can win, like nothing creates, like I don't belong here, like being in the middle of chaos and that just comes down to the fact that you're not using your workday the way you should. Youth pastor, and I think like that was convicting for me, right. Like I had leaders that felt like they couldn't come and win and it's like dude, this is on you and you'd get frustrated.
Speaker 2:You're like, well, I'm gonna try it. And it's like, no, do more than you think. Nobody's ever complained about having more details. And it's not like you need to be this type a, but like. Those are the type of things that eliminate as many questions as you can and people will experience that belonging that matters. And when you set things up in that way, you can focus on the important things rather than running around trying to find this thing for the game or this thing for your sermon illustration, or you're still getting your last point writ at 14.
Speaker 1:yeah, well, I was. I was gonna say four o'clock, you went six, fair enough.
Speaker 2:But I think, like then you can do the things you've been asked to do.
Speaker 2:You can love on the students you can pour into. Your leaders be available, because you're not running around like crazy trying to get stuff done, making it up as you go. Like use your time wisely. Like sure, be in the schools, do all that stuff, but I'm a youth pastor, guys. I how much Retro Bowl can take away from a work day? Like let's just be honest for a minute, like I know how much. Like I'm just going to run home for lunch and the next thing you know you're YouTube binged for three hours, but nobody knows where you are.
Speaker 2:because you're the youth pastor, you fell into the hole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's so much time idea when you could have been preparing and man preparing enough so you can be present enough. And if you don't have that time, like legitimately, if you're like jokes aside, if you don't have that time, then maybe the plan is less. I think that's one of the things that we've seen with so many folks is that like the number of things they have planned or programmed? Like, if you can't meet at the level that it needs to be, then maybe do it a little less frequently.
Speaker 2:It's okay not to do a game, yeah, so tell them the lines.
Speaker 1:Britton, how many games, how many formal games, do you run on a midweek in a given?
Speaker 2:quarter or year. I've been at Church on the Move for eight months and we've played one game in service. We've played one game in service. That doesn't mean we don't have tournaments and stuff during free time Lots of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's still activities, all that stuff yeah.
Speaker 2:Whatever, but we've played one game in service and it sucked. It was so bad, so cringy, terrible, fell out of place. I think maybe just because it's not a part of our culture, yeah, that the kids like what do we do?
Speaker 1:why are they feeding that kid?
Speaker 2:chicken strips always blindfolded, like what is? What is the chicken shop challenge?
Speaker 1:that's the wrong way to do that. Pastor britain, trying to get as many chicken strips as you can and convince everybody else it's a game, that's right.
Speaker 2:But I like it's it. I told you this when we're having coffee. I had a student one time. I asked him. I was like man, why aren't you guys like full send on the games, like, like, like I thought you would be. Yeah, like it was when I was a kid, big church yeah big church, big game, right.
Speaker 2:And he said well, we can get entertainment everywhere else, but this is the only place that gives us Jesus. And this 11th grade boy looked at me and said so, just give us what we came for. And this 11th grade boy looked at me and said so, just give us what we came for. It was like ouch, appreciate you, josh.
Speaker 1:Well, britain with that uh um dude, thanks for coming by today, I mean it's so good to be chatting. Um, if folks wanted to connect with you more, follow up a little bit, learn more about what you're doing, or practice the 180 hello. How do folks find or connect with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, Instagram is the best way. Britainbishop is my Instagram handle. You can find me at Double Shot Coffee if you live in Tulsa. Collab Chick-fil-A.
Speaker 1:Let's do. Yeah, chili's, hey man, well, we got to run.
Speaker 1:It's about time for our Chili's reservations, and so we got to go catch up with Chad. I'll see you there, chad. See you, bud Snap. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of the Youth Ministry Booster Podcast. If you liked what you heard from Britton or any of our other friends over the last few weeks, make sure to give them a find, a follow, send them a direct message, let them know that you appreciated what they said and connect more. One of the things that we love about this podcast is the chance not just to learn and to grow, but connect with other folks that are doing things that you love to do in youth ministry too. All right, friend, we'll see you next week on the Youth Ministry Booster Podcast. You.
