Youth Worker On Fire Podcast

What do you do when students and families need help on a professional level? This interview is going to help you find answers to those questions and situations. This interview is a  straightforward discussion with a man who has given his life to the spiritual and mental growth students and their families. He has trained countless numbers to do the same.   Dr. Larry Shyers has a long standing reput...

Making God's Love Clear is important. It sounds like that should be easy and it is, but the power and passion of it needs to be fresh everyday.   At the start of what would become one of the largest churches in the world, the pastor's first intention was that their church was going to intentionally make sure that every person that came to their church would feel loved and that they would know that...

Pick your…  WORD FOR THE YEAR ! Yes, one word. A friend of mine has asked me and many other friends to pick their "word" for quite a few years now. What is that one word that you want to define the upcoming year? Here are a few  changes  you can make to go from  negative talk to positive and proactive thinking : Impatient…Patient Unprepared…..Always Prepared  Not Confident….Confident Transactional...

Student Ministry is all about leading students to Jesus and then setting them up for success to live a Jesus centered life. In this episode, we talk about some books and authors that will help you guide students that love God and those who don't, answers to questions that we all ask at some point in our life.   Lee Strobel , Josh McDowell , and his son Sean McDowell are people to listen to and uti...

There are 4 of us. My oldest sister Deborah, then me (Doug), Deanna and Dawn in that order. Deborah and I being the oldest, pioneered the way as the first teenagers and we benefited big time from student ministries, family and music groups we sang and performed with. Our volunteer youth workers Ronnie and Maxine Kennedy were superheroes to us. They sacrificed themselves and countless hours for yea...

Friends who are always there and go way beyond the extra mile… You will encounter people who will inspire you. The journey will be fun, because of those people. Keep these people in your life. Their spiritual and emotional DNA will pass onto you. The holiday miracles are Never convenient, they are necessary. There was no room at the Inn for Joseph and Mary to give birth to their first born son, Je...

When Jesus showed up the timing seemed off. It was a harsh and cruel time. No one was really looking for him. They were wishing, but not looking. They were hoping for someone to get them out of trouble, but not believing it could happen that day. The process had started, but not the release from another regime take over. Joseph was not expecting it. He just wanted to marry Mary, a normal Jewish gi...

The two phrases Brent Crowe says most often are... "Leadership begins at the feet of Jesus." "Self preservation never changed the world" The reasons behind these phrases are right in line with a God sized World View. Brent Crowe is Vice President of Student Leadership University . He has a lot to do with why Youth Pastor Summit is hosted in major cities all across the United States.  As if that's...

This episode was inspired by Mark Batterson's book " Not Safe: Discovering God's Dangerous Plan for Your Life ". It talks about people who believed God was up to something great and then would take huge leaps of faith at a moments notice.   In business, it's called people who are able to be decisive! People have to learn to make quick decisions when life or God calls for it. Who are you? Someone w...

This episode was inspired by a reading from the John Maxwell's " The Maxwell Leadership Bible ". If you have this leadership resource, go to 2 Timothy 2:2 and you will see the list of "Leading Followers verses Leading Leaders". I hope that this episode will help you on a path to leading leaders! _______________________________ Looking for a new student ministry resource?  You can read my book " Bu...

I took what I knew and I maximized it. I was relentless, because I knew it was the right thing to do. I never felt trained enough nor that I had enough knowledge. God calls us to trust Him and to go with what He has shown us until... He shows us more.  It's like driving in the fog at night in the mountains. Traveling through Blowing Rock, North Carolina at 2:00AM, I would have to rely only on the...

" The second you have expectations of others, is the second you're vulnerable.  Expectations of others often leads to deep unhappiness… This doesn't mean you don't have standards of how people should act, but it does mean that all the social media dm's and thousands of expectations out there are drowning weights that give no clear direction. These expectations, often very selfish... are hurting yo...

When you are feeling stuck and don't have the words to pray know this scripture… 26 Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. 27 God can see what is in people's hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks t...

We are taught at an early age to be an extrovert... It's the way to be they say (or something like that). Although, introverted people are typically more thoughtful about who they are, what is happening around them, and caring for others. THEY THINK! People want to listen to them, because those who know them or know about them, know that those introverts have thought through what they are going to...

Ken Davis was one of my mentors in my early years. In Gatlinburg, my 2nd year with Youth For Christ / Campus Life, he came out to speak to over 2,000 students and staff.  Before he spoke the first night, he told how he was going to approach us for those 3 nights. Ken said… "But I believe you are ready now." He gave the invitation and over 500 students came to receive Jesus. He sent them to us coun...

All public school teachers are not created equal. They have different talents, teaching styles, and skills. They have different backgrounds and purposes that drive them. Jim Curtis is one of those supreme educators with his students and colleagues in mind. He served during the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 with us, because his students were going and he wanted to be apart of what they we...

To assist with the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, consider donating to local relief organizations that provide emergency supplies and support to affected families. Volunteering your time to help with cleanup efforts or offering temporary housing can also make a significant difference in the recovery process. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed dow...

"Wise as serpents…harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16) You will make  mistakes in your ministry and in life. Had some of my mistakes been avoided, there were certain events and interactions that would have been life changing for many people. But mistakes have happened to me. Some mistakes were my fault and some were out of my control... and yet still, I was responsible. As a leader of anything, YOU...

Dad and mom owned a construction business. Dad started at age 11, buying his first piece of property to build his mom her first home to own. When I grew up, at a very early age, I would go to the worksite with dad on the weekends and work all week during the summers for as long as I could remember. We had an unwritten rule… no matter the weather, we worked. I remember working in the blazing heat,...

Jesus's student, Peter, got out of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus. You immediately want to focus on what happened on the way, but I don't think so…. Everybody else stayed on the boat. The only one who experienced that event completely was Peter. He will always be known as the one who walked on water with Jesus. Many times, figuratively speaking, most of us won't even get on the boat, or...

Russ Ewell 's first son was born while he and his wife Gail lived in the Washington, DC area. The doctor said to him "Congratulations! You have a son." Next the doctor said, "He has down syndrome…". In time, they moved to Silicon Valley. Russ and his wife, Gail's, journey as parents of two children with special needs led them to start: Spiritual Resource Ministry at Bay Area Christian Church, whic...

God would transition me after he stripped everything... I was secure in a way. Each time He would build me to be a NEW person. Humble and totally dependent on Him. I would go from... strength, to broken insecurity, to desperation, to praying in brokenness, to God opening His doors, and me then walking through them in His strength. That's how He likes us... good and humble. A lot of it is like the...

What ever you are building, whether for yourself, your family, or ministry... get your priorities straight! God used Haggai to tell the country of Israel to stop building for themselves and build His tabernacle first. Then He would bless them. They had not seemed to learn their lesson yet, so God reminded them through Haggai. Its the  same for you and I. God wants us to do what He has called us to...

Most of the country is hot this time of the year. Even so, the school year has started. Everything is gearing up for students and families. Let the Hot, Hot, Hot days remind you to find a quiet and cool place to spend time with God.  The more you spend time with God, the more clear your mission will be each day this year. If you are on the other side of the equator, let the cold days be your remin...

Heather Strong Clendinen grew up in a Christian home and went to a Christian school. It was at 5 years old, a teacher discovered her gymnastics ability. Her mom enrolled her in gymnastics that year and the rest is history. She was influenced by her parents, her church, a student ministry, FCA at her high school, and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Florida State University. Her story is a stor...