Youth Ministry Maverick: Hosted by Jeff Harding

We tend to focus solely on spiritual aspects of our youth ministry when assessing its health. Those aspects are certainly important, but practically speaking in terms of daily life, the mental and emotional aspects are just as important. How prepared is the average youth worker to handle and accept the various conditions some students have as they walk through our church doors? Cassidy Ford, a bus...

The arrival of COVID has accelerated the presence of online ministry, which was already growing exponentially. Whether it's social media, personal invitations, small groups, or live streaming, having a green digital thumb is now almost essential. But are we using it in the best ways? Trusted church communication expert, Seth Muse, joins Jeff to talk about how many of us are missing digital opportu...

We consistently guide our students in living out their identity in Christ. However, the pressure they feel of wanting to fit in, find the best school, choose the best career, and make their parents happy is also consistent. It can seem like the spiritual and practical aspects of life choices are mutually exclusive...but are they? Ali Gentry joins Jeff to discuss her own story, and what students ne...

One common question youth pastors and workers ask students is, “Where do you see God at work in your life?” When answering that question, we hope that students are not only seeing God work, but also how their life story is developing. Esteemed research professor and author, Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, joins Jeff to discuss the power of story. They talk about why reading classical literature can help...

The analog world is all but in the rear-view mirror, and it means that our children and teenagers now have brains literally developing in a new way. The main results are what we see now with dependence on devices, addiction to porn, and a completely new social paradigm. Chris Kaspar, founder of Techless and creator of the Wisephone, talks with Jeff about how we help the next generation start off o...

We aim to partner with parents. We hope to teach and show students wisdom and discernment as they move toward high school graduation and entering college/career life. We try to teach stewardship. So, why haven't we made concerted efforts to jointly exercise all three of those elements in a streamlined way? Hannah Moore, CFP, CFT joins Jeff to discuss how we can help parents and students have inten...

This is the final installment of our 11-episode series. Ainsley and Danielle join Jeff to discuss what they took away from the nine interviews, some Enneagram elements that weren't able to be discussed in them because of time, and Phase 2 of the project. Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Ainsley's website. Click here to access Danielle's website.

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Danielle Allen co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 9 guest, Joanna Capps. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 8 or a wing 1.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Dani...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Danielle Allen co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 8 guest, Cassi Cox. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 7 or a wing 9.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Daniell...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Ainsley B co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 7 guest, Zac Workun. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 6 or a wing 8.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Ainsley's w...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Ainsley B co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 6 guest, Addison Herritage. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 5 or a wing 7.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Ains...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Danielle Allen co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 5 guest, Dr. Andrew Root. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 4 or a wing 6.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access D...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Danielle Allen co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 4 guest, Kelsie Furgason Crawley. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 3 or a wing 4.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Ainsley B co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 3 guest, Daniel Maddry. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 2 or a wing 4.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Ainsley'...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Ainsley B co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 2 guest, Liz Dolan. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 1 or a wing 3.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Ainsley's we...

For this episode of The Youth Worker Enneagram Project, Ainsley B co-hosts as the Enneagram Coach to discuss what working in youth ministry looks like with our Enneagram 1 guest, Dan Martin. They talk about strengths along with areas of need and focus, and conclude by highlighting the effects of a wing 9 or a wing 2.  Click here to take a free Enneagram assessment. Click here to access Ainsley's w...

This is the first episode of our eleven-episode series on how youth ministry workers can capitalize on their Enneagram classifications for the sake of their personal lives and ministry. For this intro episode, Jeff is joined by the two Enneagram coaches that will take turns co-hosting during this series - Ainsley and Danielle. After getting to know the coaches, the three of them discuss the origin...

For the final installment of this series on connecting with parents, Jeff talks about the importance of employing long-term strategy to secure a solid system of interaction. Our culture mirrors these younger generations in prioritizing immediate satisfaction and vain accomplishment over quality development, which requires patience and failure. We need to be distinct from those practices, and estab...

This special bonus episode features prominent Bible teacher, author, preacher, and podcaster, Kat Armstrong. Kat joins Jeff to discuss her latest book, The In-Between Place: Where Jesus Changes Your Story. The book contains Kat's personal experiences with hardship, questions, and seeing how Jesus meets us where we are - all of which is drawn from the captivating story of Jesus and the Samaritan wo...

We discussed the reasons and importance of connecting well with parents in the first episode of the series. Jeff continues in this episode by talking about methods of solid communication with parents in a culture where the options are perhaps too plentiful.

Most in youth ministry generally acknowledge the importance and priority of parents, and how they have more time and influence than we ever could. But what does that look like practically? How do we intentionally craft our ministry vision and structure to demonstrate that? Jeff talks through some of that in this first of a three episode series on connecting with parents.

Happy 2021, YMM fam! Jeff shares some exciting elements coming to the podcast over the next several months. The centerpiece is a huge announcement about something no other youth ministry podcast - and perhaps any ministry podcast - has ever attempted! Don't miss the details!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that 2020 has been the catalyst for several paradigmatic shifts in our world, our culture, our politics, and our ministry. For this year in review episode, Jeff goes through five things that will change how we teach and invest in students moving forward.

While this year has brought forth many wretched things, Jeff is grateful that this podcast brought some refreshing levity when it started in April. This compilation and reflection certainly doesn't contain all of his favorite moments, as that would be much too long! So, why not go with a holy number? Here are seven of Jeff's favorite podcast episodes/moments from 2020. 

Typically, we all approach Advent in a similar way each year. We go through the birth story, highlight the four themes, and discuss how to personify them in the new year. But after enduring 2020, there's a better approach we can take with Advent that can set a new template for how we recognize Advent for years to come. Jeff talks about using the themes of Advent as a lens to reflect on this tumult...