Student Ministry Connection

What is one thing that can take your ministry to the next level? While there are a lot of ideas you might have, today we share one simple step that can immediately change your ministry, your team, and more! On this solo episode of Student Ministry Connection, Steve shares about the importance of celebrating wins in our ministry and gives examples in five different areas of concentration.  Links me...

How do we effectively communicate to middle schoolers? They have so much potential, but sometimes it's difficult to speak to them from the stage, in groups, and individually. Ashley Bohinc, author of Communicating to Middle Schoolers and director of middle school strategy at Orange, will speak directly to that question, talk about the importance of contextualizing everything we teach, and also giv...

How can we get our students to actively share their faith? We all desire that, but how do we make it happen? On this episode, Travis Deans, the northeast regional director for National Network of Youth Ministries, talks about 9 Month Mission Trip, a strategy that will help students see every day as a an opportunity to be a missionary.  Links mentioned during this episode: Follow Travis on Twitter:...

How can we leverage digital ministry to reach more students for the Gospel and connect way beyond our church walls? Dave Adamson, who is known to most people as Aussie Dave, is currently the Director of Orange Australia and New Zealand and recently released his book, MetaChurch: How to Use Digital Ministry to Reach People and Make Disciples. And on this episode, he shares some very practical ideas...

Welcome to this very special episode of the podcast! As many of you know, we have been around as a podcast since February 2016. Over that time, we’ve had 85 episodes with over 70 guests. This started out as a huge experiment. I knew I wanted to have these conversations with others in student ministry, and I thought maybe others would want to listen in to those conversations too. Low and behold, yo...

Episode 84 of podcast features a conversation with Tyler Smith, who is a longtime student pastor, sports journalist, coach, and author of a book named Searching for Seven. In this episode, we will hear Tyler's story, what it is like to be a Christian in the sports world, and hear him share some wisdom around following Jesus all seven days a week.  Links mentioned during this episode: Buy Tyler's b...

Episode 83 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Tommy Woodard and Eddie James of The Skit Guys . We discuss their stories, but we also spend time talking about their upcoming movie, Family Camp , which releases on May 13, 2022. Tommy and Eddie will tell you exactly why you should watch the movie and also how you can use it in your student ministry. And of course, they also...

Episode 82 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Jeremey Veal, the pastor of student ministries at GFN Church in South Carolina. As Jeremey currently leads out in a number of areas in his church, he has had to shift his focus to empower his volunteers and students, simplify the student ministry calendar, and more. If you wear more than one hat in your ministry, get ready to...

Episode 81 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Josh Griffin of Mariners Church and Download Youth Ministry . Josh is a veteran youth worker with over 25 years of experience who not only loves ministry to teenagers, but he absolutely loves equipping and empowering other youth workers. Before coming in staff with Mariners, Josh served for 13 years at Saddleback Church as the...

Episode 80 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Dan Navarra around youth pastor compensation. For the last 5 years, Dan has been providing amazing research around salary, benefits, and all things compensation within the world of student ministry. Dan does ministry coaching through Chemistry Staffing and has also recently begun a new role with National Christian Foundation,...

Episode 79 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with P.T. Smith, who is on staff with Young Life in the Denver, Colorado, area. Not only does P.T. share some of his incredible story, he also explains the ministry of Young Life and some ways you can partner with them in your area, and he provides some encouragement around what we can do in the area of racial injustice.  Links men...

Episode 78 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Tom Bump, founder of Restoring Leaders . Tom has many years of ministry experience within kids ministry, student ministry, and more. His organization is designed to help and restore ministry leaders who find themselves in especially hard seasons. In fact, that is also the topic of his new book,  Valleys Over Mountains , which...

Episode 77 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Marc Therrien of workcampNE . Much of Marc's growth is connected to faith in action, which is why he now serves as one of workcampNE's directors. Through environments focused on home repair and the Bible, their team allows you, the youth leaders, to focus on the students, grow in your relationships with them, and encourage the...

Episode 76 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with John Decker of Every Student Sent, a unique community-based platform with vision of connecting students to existing ministries, churches, and each other in order to propel them towards Gospel-centered mission as they navigate and engage culture during college. In this episode, we'll hear John's story and take a deep-dive into...

Episode 75 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Dr. Josh Packard, the Executive Director at Springtide Research Institute. He and his team conduct qualitative and quantitative research on the inner and outer lives of young people, ages 13-25. Recently, they released The State of Religion and Young People 2021: Navigating Uncertainty, a compilation of their latest research....

Episode 74 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Todd Rhoades around what many are calling The Great Resignation, the phenomena in our current culture consisting of many people resigning from their jobs. And the church is not immune to it. We discuss the implications for the church as a whole and for those of us in student ministry.  Todd has invested over 30 years in servin...

Episode 73 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Brett Talley. As a pastor’s kid, Brett grew up in the church world and felt called to full-time ministry at a young age. After jumping into the local church as a youth pastor and next gen pastor for over 11 years, he moved into his current role with Orange and Orange Students. Steve and Brett talk about what an Orange Speciali...

Episode 72 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a programming update from Steve. He shares how last year's programming changes went along with sharing some insights from his summer experiences, and plans for the 2021-2022 school year. He also shares a couple stories about how God has used video games to connect with teenagers.  Links mentioned during this episode: Read Steve's blog at https://...

Episode 71 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Zack Ryer. Not only is Zack one of Steve's former students, but he has recently started a music career (under the stage name, Dante Nazarro) focused on songs that he has written through his anxiety, depression, and grief. Zack and Steve talk about some things that helped him during his time in youth group, how Zack has now bee...

Episode 70 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Todd Pearage. Partnering with Standing Stone, Todd and his wife, Lynda, run a ministry called Youth Leader Oasis, where they care for other youth workers and their spouses. In this episode, he not only shares his story, but talks about what his ministry looks like, how you can get the care you need, and shares a few tips for a...

Episode 69 of The Student Ministry Podcast features some tips around recruiting. If you are going to make a difference in student ministry, you need a great team around you. Maybe you have questions, though. Like... How do I build a team? How do I get more people to join our team? How to I get the right people on our team? How do I raise awareness of the needs we have on our team? Prayer is a vita...

Episode 68 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Chris Talbot. Not only does Chris serve in youth and family ministry at his local church, he also teaches youth ministry at Welch College and is the author of Remodeling Youth Ministry. In this episode, you'll get to hear Chris' story but also hear about how we can remodel our youth ministries to focus more on what the Bible s...

Episode 67 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Emily Chapman Richards and Olivia Stanton from Show Hope, an organization started by Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman to care for orphans by engaging the church and reducing barriers to adoption. Not only do Emily and Olivia share their stories, but they also share some amazing and free ways to help educate and empower your...

Episode 66 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Aaron Stetson. Longtime listeners of the podcast will remember Aaron from our very first episode. Since then, God has redirected him to serve in a new role in the area of disaster relief. Listen in as Aaron talks about the transition from youth ministry into his work with Hope Force International, discusses opportunities for y...

Episode 65 of The Student Ministry Podcast features a conversation with Dan Navarra and Matt Steen of Chemistry Staffing. Not only do Dan and Matt share some of their stories, but they also share some great tips and hacks for those just getting started in student ministry and those thinking about transitioning to another church or another ministry. Dan also shares some important results from his a...