Student Ministry Conversations

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Micah Marshall, the executive director and 15 year veteran youth leader from Refuge Youth Network in Pennsylvania, as they talk about fundraising and how youth pastors might have been doing fundraising in a very ineffective for a VERY long time. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what...

Welcome to this week's episode where Russell, David and Brent sit down to do the first roundtable discussion of the podcast. The discussion is about planning your year of ministry in 2024 and how you can focus in on what is important in your ministry this year and make it a point to start strong (if you haven't planned it already!) Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Jim Johnson, a Primerica Financial Advisor, to talk about the best ways to prepare for the future with your finances as a Youth Pastor. They cover investing, retirement and talk about different strategies that can be utilized to make your church paycheck cover you for the future. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would lov...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with David Earles, a recurring guest on the show, to talk about him finishing up his first year in Youth Ministry and what he has learned from the year and how he plans to continue pursuing his career in ministry. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episo...

Welcome to this week's episode where David sits down with Kyle Isabelli to talk about his upcoming book "Refined By The Fire(d)". This book is all about conflict resolution, burnout and working through church hurt and is releasing on January 9th, 2024. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode a...

Welcome to this week's episode where David sits down with Karis Carstensen to talk about the importance of being able to distinguish between doing things FOR God and doing things WITH God in your ministry. We apologize for the audio inconsistencies, as there were some problems with the audio on this particular episode. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to liste...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with co-host David Pruitt to talk the week after Thanksgiving about things that they wish they knew earlier in their ministry experience. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode and we would also love to hear from you! What is your tidbit of advice th...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Brad Griffin, the Senior Director of Content and Research at Fuller Youth Institute, to talk about his new book called Faith Beyond Youth Group and how this book can work to redirect your attention and focus into prioritizing the right things when it comes to the discipleship of your students in 2023 and beyond. Whether you are a young or o...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Rich Brown, the president of NextGenMatters, as they talk about how we are not the end of the road when it comes to student faith development, but instead we are a VERY important stop on the journey. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode and we...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Russell Mann, the Youth Pastor at Central Baptist Church in Decatur, Alabama, as they talk about what it means to be a church that strives to be a church for ALL cultures and how to manage the positives and negatives that come with the goal. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Ryan Eastman to talk about the role and importance of parachurch ministries with specific focus on Fellowship of Christian Athletes and how they strive to help the church how also we as the church can come alongside them in ministry. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked a...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Derry Prenkert and talks about the almost unavoidable situation of loneliness that can appear during times of ministry and how to go about dealing with and avoiding it. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode and we would also love to hear from y...

Welcome to this week's episode where David sits down with Zach Wyatt to talk about the expectations that come up in ministry and how to work through and handle the different things that come up working in Youth Ministry. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode and we would also love to hear from you! Wh...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with our recurring guest Travis Deans. Travis was featured on Episode 76 talking about networking and has now come back to join the conversation on a program that he has helped build and operate called 9 Month Mission Trip. 9 Month Mission is an evangelism focus for your students to get behind as they learn to treat their school campus as a...

Welcome to this week's episode where Russell sits down with Courtney Wheeland, the Youth Pastor at First Methodist Church Livingston, Texas, as they flip the script and let Courtney, a youth pastor within her first 6 months of youth ministry ask questions about things that are going on in her ministry and what she is specifically needing help with currently. Whether you are a young or old yout...

Welcome to this week's episode where David sits down with Arthur and Laura Martinez, the Youth Pastors at First Assembly in Snyder, Texas, as they sit down and talk about staying obedient in your call to ministry and how obedience can result in great things in your calling. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today&#39...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Carson Burns, the youth pastor at Southwest Park Baptist Church in Abilene, Tx where they talk about the importance of putting your family before your calling into ministry as well as your responsibility to the churches. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Justin Whiteley from Abilene, Texas to talk about how he got his start in youth ministry and how his calling into youth has changed his life in many different ways. Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode and we would also love to hear from you!...

Welcome to this week's episode where Russell and Brent sit down to talk about a few basics of Youth Ministry that are essential for all new youth pastors. Russell and Brent have both worked with many young youth pastors and are continuing to work to develop younger leaders into Youth Pastors that are strong in their faith and understand how Youth Ministry works. Whether you are a young or old...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with Stephen Hughes to talk about the importance of establishing systems that can function and work without you being there to run them. Whether you're a new student pastor stepping into a leadership role, or an experienced ministry leader this is a great episode to listen to as they talk about how to find where these systems are needed,...

Welcome to this week's episode where Russell sits down with Adrian Lucio to talk about many different mistakes that were made in ministry and how they worked to overcome them and continue forward in the calling of ministry. Whether you're a new student pastor stepping into a leadership role, or an experienced ministry leader this is a great episode to listen to as they talk about how to no...

Welcome to this week's episode where Brent sits down with recurring guest Stephen Gehring as they revisit the topic of Pastoral Care and how we as student pastors need to assess our current mental/physical/emotional/spiritual health and work towards bettering it. Whether you're a new student pastor stepping into a leadership role, or an experienced ministry leader this is a great episode t...

Welcome to this week's episode of our podcast where David sits down with TJ and Josh Lewis to talk about Legacy in Ministry. What does it mean and is there significance to having pastors across generations of your family? Whether you're a new youth pastor stepping into a leadership role, or an experienced ministry leader this is a great episode to listen to as they talk about how to establ...

Welcome to this week's episode of our podcast where Russell sits down to give a quick challenge to youth pastors as they are looking at the planning of their Fall event and curriculum calendar. Today he's looking at 5 different questions that should model the planning of your youth group. Whether you're a new youth pastor stepping into a leadership role, or an experienced ministry lead...

Welcome to this week's episode of our podcast where Brent sits down with two High School students from his youth group Ella and Taylor. In this conversation, they sit down to talk about the importance of being a leader in their school as well as how the church can help support them as they both grow in their leadership skills and actively lead others to Christ through their words and example b...