Encounter Youth Podcast

Every summer our graduated seniors share their testimonies. It's incredible to hear the depth of wisdom and love that they have received!

Many of us wrestle with internal thoughts and feelings that can make us feel hopeless. Even as followers of Jesus, we are not immune to mental health struggles, grief, or pain. It can be disorienting to go through a difficult season. In this message, Tim shares about the power of biblical hope. If you haven't ever opened up about something like, we are here to listen and support you.

Zach Rabold shared a fiery and super practical message, encourage all of us to seek the highest path in every area of our lives. Which ones stick out to you? Which ones are you uncertain of? We're believing for a summer of growth for each of you!

In this message, Nat Ornelas shares from Scriptures and her personal experiences about how important wise counsel is in making good decisions. While we can each hear the Holy Spirit personally, we should continue to invite advice from trusted voices. We know many of you are in a season of making difficult choices and hope this is encouraging as you seek the Lord's guidance!

Why pray? Nate Lacy shared a powerful message on prayer out of Ephesians 6, emphasizing how prayer is like spiritual breathing-- it's the very thing that sustains our life in God! We hope you were encouraged at NDP this year and would love to have you join us next year! A huge thank you goes to all of the local business, youth groups, and Encounter Church team that support this gathering.

Have you ever experienced "decision fatigue"? Some times the sheer amount of choices that each of us are supposed to make is overwhelming. Many of us struggle to know how to make decisions about education, work, or a career and yet feel forced to have a fool proof plan. In this message, we look at Scriptures that reveal God's desire to guide this process and help us discern our calli...

Why do we use technology? Tim shares that we often look to tech to be a source of achievement, answer hard questions, or rest our minds. Ultimately, however, it takes us away from what could actually offer what we need.

Jordan is a youth leader intern who has an amazing story of finding God and community after looking for those things in tech. He explored how Jesus invites us to follow him by denying ourselves and how that is connected to self-control. We hope you're encouraged to continue to surrender your tech to Jesus!

As we continue to think about our lives through the lens of surrendering to Christ, we recognize the significant role that technology plays. In this message, Tim explains the original design for technology to increase connection and work. While this is sometimes achieved, there are many ways in which current tech actually decreases connection and distract from work. Are we willing to ask ourselves...

If living for God's kingdom in either singleness or marriage is the goal, what should dating look like? Tim and Nat discuss the purpose behind dating and the pitfalls.

Jesus made two crazy, counter-cultural claims: first, the singleness is a meaningful and powerful calling, and second, the marriage is meant to be an image of God and humanity. Nat and Tim unpack this in a podcast style recording from their dining room. We hope it reveals the incredible vision God has for both of these lifestyles!

We're continuing our series on surrendered sexuality by addressing the temptation and harm of pornography. Whether this is something you've been exposed to or not, we believe it's crucial to bring this conversation into the light of God's mercy and truth. Please reach out if you need to talk or would like additional resources!

It was a honor to have a team from YWAM Orlando join us and hear Grace Petersheim share about missions and following Jesus in spreading the gospel!

What's the difference between attraction, temptation, unwanted thoughts, lust, and sexual immorality? What does Jesus have to say about them and how can we walk in freedom? We hope this message brings clarity to an often confusing aspect of growing up in a sexually charged culture. Please reach out if you would like to talk to someone, have questions, or need prayer. May Jesus gives us radical...

What does God say about gender? How do we hold fast to truth and carry extravagant love? If you've wrestled through these questions for yourself or a friend, we hope this message brings clarity and compassion. Please reach out if you have questions or would like to process with someone on our youth leader team!

Last week we welcomed two new youth leaders! They shared their stories with amazing vulnerability and we hope you're encouraged.

We're launching a new series! How do we respond to the authority of Jesus in areas we might wrestle with? In this series, we want to address how to navigate sexuality, technology, and mental health by surrendering to God. We hope you are encouraged to be faithful even when it is challenging and costly.

Zach Huyard, who recently joined our Youth Leader team, shares about surrender to God in everything and how that has looked in his life. His encouragement is that each of us take time to reflect on our lives and see what Jesus might be calling us to lay down.

Have you ever wondered if you are living the right way? If your life is what God wants it to be? Someone asked Jesus a question that is very similar. In this message, Tim shares about loving God with entire lives out of Mark 12!

As we wrap up the series on sharing the Gospel, Tim shares about how making disciples is the most effective way to make a difference in the spreading the good news about Jesus.

As we finish our series on the Gospel, we spent some time talking about the promise of the New Creation that Jesus will bring to all who submit their lives to him. We also discussed how we can respond to the Gospel and begin to share it!

We're coming to the end of our deeper dive into the power and beauty of the Gospel this fall by looking at the Incarnation of Jesus. What kind of King enters His kingdom at the lowest conceivable place? What kind of God unites himself to a physical world marred and broken by our sin? There's only one!

How does God respond to Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden? He gives them a promise that one day the snake crusher King will come from their descendants! God hasn't given up on his original plan-- and as Christians we believe He never will!

Have you ever wondered why there is so much pain and suffering in the world? If God is really good, why does he allow terrible things to happen? In the message we read the Biblical account of the Fall of the first humans in Genesis 3 and discuss how Satan uses sin to tempt us away from God's good plan.

This message continues our series exploring God's story throughout the Scriptures through five "chapters" of the Gospel. Here we see the test that humanity was given through the form of two trees. Again, God's incredible generosity and goodness and abundance take center stage.