Youth Ministry Sherpas: Coast To Coast

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church! 

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church! 

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. It's a burst of llama love for youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!  

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon will take turns giving their answer to a Top 3 question in these short and fun episodes. The Triple Play is a burst of llama love for all youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!

The Youth Ministry Sherpas are back for the fall, kicking things off with a crazy new series, the Sherpa Triple Play! For 21 straight days, Steve, Brock and Shannon are taking turns giving their answer to a "Top 3" Question in these short and fun episodes. The Triple Play is a burst of llama love for all youth pastors, youth leaders, volunteers, and anyone who works with teens in the church!

It’s already June, and Brock, Shannon and Steve finally managed to get together to record our final episode of the spring season. The last few months have been tough for all of us, with plenty of personal and ministry things to deal with. That has left us all feeling pretty tired, burned out, and cynical. Let’s just say, we aren’t exactly “killing it!” these days. That’s reality. Ministry is hard....

It’s Move Up Season in youth ministry. There are new families moving their oldest child into a youth group for the first time. There are freshmen moving into high school. And of course, seniors graduating to the next thing, whatever that may be. For youth pastors, navigating these changes is a big challenge. We have to communicate well, help people feel comfortable in their new setting, ensure nob...

Today the Sherpas welcome good friend and Download Youth Ministry Co-founder Josh Griffin to the podcast! We talk with Josh about his unforeseen call to youth ministry as a college student, and his discouraging first job at a small church in the upper midwest. It was during a hard time that he discovered Doug Field’s book, “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry.” That led him on a pilgrimage to Saddleback...

Smelly Cabins, Snack Shack, Silly Skits, Scary Bus Rides, Smooching Kids – nothing says summer like Summer Camp! Even after our many years of experience and all the various programs we’ve led, we still believe in Summer Camp. It’s one of the foundations of our ministries. Summer Camp provides the chance to get away, break rhythm, avoid distractions, build relationships, and have significant, life-...

Episode 18: The Beauty and Necessity of Contemplative Youth Ministry With anxiety at an all-time high and attention spans at an all-time low, how can youth pastors help our students experience God in deeper and more meaningful ways? Is it more than music, games and messages? On this episode, Shannon, Brock and Steve talk about the value and beauty of contemplative practices in youth ministry. Whet...

Sadly, we are missing Shannon today, but Brock and Steve got together the day after they both preached in their churches’ main services to talk about our experiences with preaching. It can be a big deal for youth pastors. We both get to do it regularly, and we’ve seen the benefits our time in the “pulpit” has brought to our ministry within the congregation. Whether you preach once a year or once a...

Today, we talk about money. It’s a sore subject in youth pastor circles. Many youth pastors and youth workers feel underpaid, unappreciated, and undervalued. What’s worse; talking about it or asking for more feels unspiritual. Aren’t we just in it for the kids? Well, yes, but what can we do to improve our financial viability so we can take care of our families, build church health, and achieve lon...

Brock is back from sabbatical, if you can call it that. A month off–albeit with two interruptions, a speaking engagement, and painful back issues. But there was also a trip to San Diego, another trip to London, and some sweet time with God. So, in hindsight, what did Brock learn about himself, about his identity in Christ, and what it is that keeps us in youth ministry? How do we do what we do wit...

Our first-ever interview guest is Brad Griffin, Senior Director of Content and Research for the Fuller Youth Institute, and co-author of their new book, Faith Beyond Youth Group. It has been nearly 20 years since Sticky Faith brought to light the troubling truth about Millennials leaving the church. Those same problems–exacerbated by accelerating technology, anxiety, and a worldwide pandemic–are a...

It's February and we're still Brock-less. However, Shannon and Steve got together to talk about Valentine's Day, the Super Bowl, and more importantly -- Youth Ministry. What happens when our students surpass their parents in spiritual maturity? Sometimes it's students from nonChristian backgrounds, but it can also be students from within the church. How do we challenge them to keep growing and pur...

Brock is still on sabbatical, but Shannon and Steve connect for a great conversation about tradition, innovation, and who should be playing in the Super Bowl this year. Youth Ministry is usually on the cutting edge of church culture, which means we are always up for trying something new. At the same time, creating stability and traditions for our students can be a valuable gift. How do we know whe...

Our first episode of 2024, and we're already Brockless! Brock is on sabbatical and will miss a couple episodes, but Shannon and Steve are back to kick things off. Steve went to the Passion Conference in Atlanta the first few days of the year (along with 55,000 college students) and while it was awesome, it also got him thinking about worship, emotions, and their role in youth ministry. How do we s...

The Youth Ministry Sherpas met for the very first time ever at Mariner’s Church in sunny SoCal at the Download Youth Ministry Conference. Not only did we have fun together, we also spent some time with some of the most amazing youth workers on the planet. Five of them – with a combined 140 years experience – are featured in this episode. When did they want to quit, and what got them through? The a...

We've all experienced the outreach gone wrong. (Hint: It usually involves a lock-in.) In this episode, we talk about some recent outreach events we've done and share nightmares from the past. Then we back up and talk about the reason for doing them in the first place. What is the purpose and what is the win when it comes to outreach? In the bigger picture, in this day and age when "church" isn't a...