Youth Ministry Sherpas: Coast To Coast

Welcome to our new show, SHERPA LEGENDS! Each month, we will present a conversation with a Youth Ministry Legend. Our conversations center around their story. How did they get into youth ministry, what has kept them in it, and what were some of their favorite adventures along the way? We hope you will tune in each month for the next SHERPA LEGEND!   Our second legend: GREG SPECK A post-college job...

*Yawn* Another week of school. Another Sunday (or Wednesday). Another youth group. So much of our students' lives are driven by school, by sports, by academics, and by expectations. To many of them, life is a boring routine, or a constant preparation for the next thing. Do we treat church the same way? Do you ever worry that we are getting boring? We sat down the day after the MBSBE (Most Boring S...

Young love, isn't it precious? Unless it's messing up your youth ministry! We're coming up on Valentine's Day, and you know what that means: We get to take our wives out to dinner based on where we can go for free! Steve and Karen will be dining at Bonefish Grill (courtesy of a gift card from someone at church), while Mathew and Gina will get free dinner at Fogo de Chao courtesy of the sponsor of...

Finally, after 41 episodes, we got something right! We took advantage of a federal holiday to get our wives -- Gina and Karen -- together in the studio to talk about youth ministry from their perspective. What has it been like to be married to a youth pastor for all these years? How did they survive the nights at home while their husbands were out working with other peoples' kids? How did they han...

It's late January, how are your New Year's Resolutions going? Now is the time when we often fall away from the things we started this year. We have to say, over here at Youth Ministry Sherpas, we are doing pretty well. Mathew has been drinking enough water to fill a small pond and create an impressive level of bladder control. Steve has been in his new hot tub nearly every evening, winding down th...

It's winter in Maryland, and things are getting a little dicey. We've had our share of snow, ice, and sleet. And of course, we also face a new year of challenges in youth ministry. In this episode, we continue our start-of-the-year discussion of "How to Avoid Burning Out, Falling Down and Drying Up." Other than falling on the ice, what are ways that we as youth workers can fall down? Are we vulner...

Welcome to our new show, SHERPA LEGENDS! Each month, we will present a conversation with a Youth Ministry Legend. Our conversations center around their story. How did they get into youth ministry, what has kept them in it, and what were some of their favorite adventures along the way? We hope you will tune in each month for the next SHERPA LEGEND!   Our first legend: HEATHER FLIES Heather is the J...

Welcome to 2019! We're back after a nice Christmas break. The McCabes enjoyed their frozen pizzas, days spent in pajamas, and their house guest, Clark W. Griswold (courtesy of Amazon and Steve). The Andersons enjoyed time with their adult children in their new favorite gathering spot, the backyard hot tub. Alas, now it's time to get back to work. Speaking of New Year's, what resolutions do you hav...

It's Christmas! Time for lots of cookies, parties, and ugly sweaters. It also marks the end of an amazing year for us! At this time last year, the Youth Ministry Sherpa Podcast was still a dream. 65 full- and short-length episodes later, we're a thing! Who knew llamas would be the mascot of youth ministry everywhere?! We are both ready to celebrate Christmas. We have our favorite Christmas movies...

Batman meets SupermanBrady meets ManningDickens meets TwainJames meets JordanStallone meets SchwarzeneggerLincoln meets Washington ...Or 88-year-old Clint Eastwood meets 96-year-old Betty White? It's the first-ever crossover podcast with our friend Derry Prenkert of My Third Decade! Derry is a veteran youth worker from Indiana and host of the My Third Decade podcast, another great youth ministry p...

First, we apologize if this episode puts you in a bad mood. It was just one of those days. Steve was in a really bad mood when we recorded. It had something to do with the Pittsburgh Steelers losing late the night before. We take our football teams pretty seriously, and when things don't go our way, we get a little salty. A lot salty, actually. You might even say pissy. Hey, we might be shallow, b...

We made it! After waiting for four months to see if we could raise enough money to make it happen, and waiting for four hours on the tarmac to see if the airline could remove enough ice to make it happen, we made it to the National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC) in St. Louis! We set up our booth in the Exhibit Hall and spent the next 96 hours meeting people, giving away t-shirts, and hearing stor...

Happy Thanksgiving from two turkeys with a podcast! It's Thanksgiving Week -- one of our favorite weeks of the year, because it means the end of the fall youth ministry sprint and a chance to relax, spend time with our families, eat, watch football and take a nap. That, folks, is a good combination! We just got back from the National Youth Workers Convention in St. Louis. Wow, what a great time! I...

"Measure twice; cut once." - Every Dad Ever"The standard is the standard." - Mike Tomlin"Lock-ins are the devil." - Youth Ministry Sherpas What do Dads, successful NFL coaches, and healthy youth ministries all have in common? They all have MANTRAS, defined as "statements or slogans repeated frequently."  They are like rules for living, second-tier theologies, subtle truths that permeate everything...

Ladies and Gentlemen, by the time you read this, both hosts of the Youth Ministry Sherpas Podcast will be (gasp!) IN THEIR 50s! Steve has been doing the senior adult swim for a few years already, but Mathew is just getting into the pool, turning 50 on November 1. And guess what? We're not dead yet! We might even have some gas left in the tank. It sure smells like it. Anyway, the years sure have fl...

It's Halloween! It's also Episode 31. Is that a coincidence, or are there darker forces at work? In this episode, Steve and Mathew share our stories of the times we were scared in youth ministry. We've both lost kids on trips (well, almost). We've both scared them as often as possible. And we both have crazy stories to tell. Steve's youth group used to meet in a haunted house (for real). For some...

"What's it like having your own children in your youth ministry?" It's a question we've been asked frequently. The answer is: Challenging and Awesome! Most youth workers get into youth ministry either before they have kids, or when their kids are small. Stay in it long enough, though, and you get to experience the challenges and joys of having your own kids in your youth ministry. Mathew has four...

Every youth worker has one of those days when you feel like you are on top of the world--fresh on the trail and ready to conquer anything. This is the day we are capable, in control, and ready for whatever comes our way. Notice we said "one" of those days. Because one is about all we get, it seems Most of the time we feel overwhelmed, lost, and completely in over our heads.  Just a few weeks befor...

Well, a few weeks ago we said we were back. And we were, for two episodes. Then, unfortunately, we ran into some technical issues, lost two episodes we had recorded (they were good, we swear), and then we were out of town for a week. That's the bad news. The good news is that we were attending the Download Youth Ministry Conference (DYM200) in Orange County, California. It was amazing! We got so m...

It's a good thing we were all perfect teenagers. It's a good thing we never made a mistake, got into trouble, or smashed a shopping cart against a light pole with our car. That's why we are such good and holy youth workers. Okay, that's probably a lie. A huge lie. The truth is, we all mess up, and as teenagers we all made our fair share of mistakes. We moved on thanks to the grace of God and the k...

What if the sole event in our youth ministry calendar was the Fall Kickoff? You know, we get everybody together for one big event in the fall, and that's it! A ridiculous thought of course. Which is why we tackle "Now What?" in today's episode of Youth Ministry Sherpas.  In our last episode, Steve and Mathew talked about the importance of kicking off well. But now that we've cast a vision for our...

After a six-week break for summer youth trips and vacations, we are excited to be back for the fall with a new season of Youth Ministry Sherpas! First, we have some catching up to do. We've been all over the place since we last recorded. Steve spent a week in paradise (Jamaica) celebrating his 30th anniversary with his wife, and led a mission team to Greece, where he danced the Hokey Pokey and did...

When we started the Youth Ministry Sherpas Podcast six months ago, we had no idea what we are getting into. Now, 51 episodes later...we still have no idea! But after 24 full-length episodes, 26 Sherpa Shorts, plus our introductory episode (00)--all since January 16--here's what we've learned so far: Podcasting is expensiveIt's a lot of work and a lot of funTalking into a mic is awkwardYouth minist...

We all need to take a break. We all need to take care of ourselves. Even if you think you have the stamina of a Sherpa, trust us -- you need to step off the trail and rest. In today's episode (#23), Steve and Mathew share their ideas for taking care of ourselves. Even though these seem obvious, we don't always do a great job of being intentional about them. Things like taking time off, finding a h...

Developing Student Leaders is one of the most important aspects of our role as youth workers. It's also one of the most challenging. Are we ready to relinquish control? Are we ready to allow students to fail? Are we ready to work through the messiness of mistakes in order to discover the fruit and joy? Steve and Mathew have worked through many aspects of Student Leadership. We've tried lots of ide...