Youth Ministry Soulkeeper

In this episode, James' Senior Pastor and book author Kevin Cain helps us understand the spiritual discipline of silence. Drawing from his own experience, Kevin shares how practicing silence helps us learn how to break away with God from the noise and speed of the crowd so that we can learn to live in the stillness of body, mouth, and mind with God and within the crowd. Connect with Pastor Kevin C...

The practice of solitude can often be overlooked or misunderstood, but it is through the intentional practice of being alone with Jesus that helps us learn that we are never truly alone. By practicing solitude, the promise of God's presence and grace can become a reality in our hearts and minds. In This episode James provides an introduction to solitude, how God has used it in his own life and min...

Our students' lives and schedules are overwhelming, high-paced, and filled with all sorts of pressures and expectations. As youth leaders, we can program retreats and camps that can help our students experience the rest for their souls that Jesus promises. In this episode, we are challenged to ask a question, "How can we program and plan our retreats so that they are not a continuation of their al...

Let's just say it. A healthy growing ministry is not the indicator of a healthy growing ministry leader. In this episode, James talks about how our love for ministry, and even the people we are ministering to, can be a distraction and even an idol that causes our affection for Jesus to become misplaced. We look at some questions we may need to ask ourselves so that we can be spiritually healthy fo...

Youth ministry comes with all sorts of joys and hardships. When times are good, we think we want to stay at a church forever, and when times become more difficult, we can begin to look for reasons and excuses to leave. As strong as our emotions can be during times of struggle, we need to be able to have some stoppers in place that will help create clarity so we don't do something we regret and cau...

Relational tension is common in youth ministry because we serve and work with imperfect people. However, having a healthy soul requires a response to opposition that aligns with the heart of Jesus. In this installment of The Youth Ministry Soul Keeper Podcast, James Sabin and guest co-host Eben Eddy discuss the importance of prayer when navigating difficult relationships. Connect with Us... Person...

In order to develop greater patience in our ministries, we need to ask more questions, and wonder more and assume less. We need to recognize that all who we are involved with have a backstory to be discovered and are worthy of our time to dig deeper into their lives. When we do this, we will discover that our patience and grace towards them grows. Connect with Us... Personal Instagram - https://ww...

Success in ministry can be a slippery slope because we have a tendency to believe that the success we may experience in ministry is directly related to our spiritual maturity or God's approval. Just think about some of the more widely known pastors who we have discovered were living secret lives even while their ministries were experiencing tremendous success. We usually think hardship is when we...

God has a significant plan for each of our lives, but the appearance-driven culture we live in often causes us to sacrifice the important on the altar of the impressive. In this installment of The Youth Ministry Soul Keeper Podcast, James Sabin and guest co-host Eben Eddy discuss how small actions are often what paves the way to a healthy soul and a fruitful ministry. Connect with Us... Personal I...

Because we live in a broken world, the pain and hurt we experience from others is unavoidable. With all pain and hurt, comes the potential for bitterness and hatred toward those who hurt us. In this episode, we talk about the real struggle with pain caused by others and how it has the potential to transform into hatred. A deep seated hatred that makes the command of Jesus to forgive others seeming...

Helping our souls and students to navigate a culture that likes to take sides and defines and distinguishes between people using all sorts of measurables. God's love doesn't see sides; He sees sons and daughters. God's love doesn't see ideologies; He sees Image Bearers. God's love doesn't see labels: His love sees loss. Show Notes: Follow me at the following social media links below and reach out...

The title may sound gross, but we promise it has significance for your youth ministry. The more unhealthy we become internally, the more tempting it can be to separate ourselves from the messages we share with our students. Guest Co-host Eben Eddy and James Sabin challenge us to take a step back and ask the question, "Do I really believe what I am about to share with my students?" And If not, what...

In this episode, we talk about how important confession is in our relationship with God and others. We talk about why confession can be so difficult at times and the "why" our students and leaders need to experience confession and the forgiveness that follows in our lives and ministries. We ultimately need to know that we can be confessors because God is a forgiver. Follow me at the following soci...

No one enjoys pain, but if we let it, pain can be a teacher. Talking about his own painful experience from ministerial burnout, James shares three things he learned from his pain that helped him heal and led him to greater spiritual wholeness. Learning from our own pain, will help us to better minister to students and their families in their seasons of pain. Follow me at the following social media...

Many times the Hardship and pain we experience in ministry and life feels like a dead end with no redemptive purpose in sight. Lessons learned through his own hardship and pain, James shares that God has a redemptive purpose through it all. There is hope in our hardship and pain. Show Notes: Follow me at the following social media links below and reach out at my email address. Would love to hear f...

In this episode, guest co-host, Eben Eddy, flips the tables on James and interviews him about questions concerning soul care from fellow youth workers. They talk about how much is "too much" when being vulnerable with students, how to minister in a culture that doesn't value soul care, how to deal with our own insecurities when ministering to students, and how much availability is healthy? You wil...

No one would question a youth pastor's motive for ministering to students. Love is always the motive; but when fear sneaks in, it has a crazy way of messing up our most well intentioned ministry to students. In this episode, James hopes to help us discern the difference so that we can provide students with what they truly need, a youth ministry environment motivated by love and freedom instead of...

James talks with Christian Hip Hop artist Lamar Riddick about what is currently happening around the Black Lives Matter movement and what we as white youth leaders can do. James shares his own need to repent of being ignorant about white privilege and implicit in the continuation of systems and prejudices that continue to marginalize and oppress our black brothers and sisters in Christ and the bla...

Are you reaching out to students or chasing after them? There is a difference, and in this podcast episode we will discuss the motivations behind each. Show Notes: Follow me at the following social media links below and reach out at my email address. Would love to hear from you and to respond and interact with any questions or comments you may have. Blessings! Would love to connect with you... Ins...

James continues his conversation with CYI staffer and Billy Graham Evangelisitic Association partner Eben Eddy. In part 2 Eben shares the lessons he has learned on avoiding burnout and on keeping his own soul healthy. Show Notes: Some ways you can connect with Eben Eddy: YCI - Youth Commission International Link: https://www.yciclubs.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eben.eddy Instagram: http...

James has a conversation with YCI staffer and Billy Graham Evagelisitic Association partner Eben Eddy. In this conversation Eben talks about his journey towards and through burnout. Show Notes: Some ways you can connect with Eben Eddy: YCI - Youth Commission International Link: https://www.yciclubs.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eben.eddy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ebeneddy/

James talks about the traps that comparison can create for our souls. And why comparison always becomes a competition, which creates an "us" vs. "them" mindset. He also shares some practical ways we can keep comparison at bay in our hearts and become teammates instead of competitors with other youth workers and their ministries.

James Sabin shares some of his burnout story and the discuesses the genesis of the Youth Ministry Soul Keeper podcast as a result.