Youth Worker On Fire Podcast

While you may be teaching, coaching, raising or leading adolescence it is important that you pay the most attention to your young children while doing the work. Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest. - Luke 9:48 When children are present...

COMFORT... IS IT A TRAP? Most of us "work forward" -> to being comfortable, but comfort can kill you or at the least make you lose the ability to achieve or live up to the purposes God has made you for in this life. Too much comfort slows creative juices down. To much comfort can set you up for moral failures as it did for King David. "Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go an...

YOU MATTER … Everything You Do Counts… Everyone You Meet Is Important! You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:20 (Amplified Bible) For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed,...

In this episode, we interview Chase Allen ( Youth Pastor at First Baptist Church Umatilla ) about his month long sabbatical in 2023. Here are some of the questions we discuss: 1. How long have you been in student ministry and how long have you been at this Church? 2. Who decided you needed a sabbatical? 3. Did you think you had time to take a sabbatical?  4. What changes did you feel with the exte...

Better to have little, with fear for the LORD, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil. (Proverbs 15:16) Ed Sheeran (Songwriter/Artist) - "Writing music is like turning on a faucet. At first you get muddy water. The more you run it, the clearer the water gets. The same thing happens when writing music. At first the ideas are unclear, but as you keep writing the thoughts and ideas become clea...

God has a plan for you and your team! Moses had a lot of energy when he was in Egypt and thought he knew everything. However, he found that his energy alone and his willingness to lead got him into trouble. It took God about 40 years to get Moses in the mindset to where he actually could lead with humility. In this episode, you will learn about the four major excuses Moses used with God, thinking...

Happy New Year! God has a plan for your life. I always knew I was meant for something good since I was very young… around 5th grade to be exact. But it was seldom easy. At age 15, I had a God encounter that would send me on the journey I saw in a daydream when I was 10 years old. That journey has never ended. God continues to open and close doors. What about your life? What about the lives of stud...

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….Re...

Fundraising… Blessing or Nightmare? (Answer: They can be both.) Usually you are either a good at: Ministering to people or 2. Fundraising (Occasionally some are both.) But it doesn't matter. It's not about you, it's about God. It's about you transferring your knowledge and your abilities to others. When you're not good at something, then you find somebody else that is. We often say if we show by e...

This episode is an episode unto itself, but came out of an original interview with Chuck Mingonet (Episode 101, Navy Jet Pilot and Commander). Chuck and his wife have two children. Their daughter and her husband, became missionaries based in Spain. Ian their son (Chuck's grandson), became ill while on the mission field with a brain tumor that was known to be fatal. The family came back to the USA...

From the Mission Possible Devotion: "Hard days will come. People will try your patience. What you worked for won't happen the way you hoped it would… when you want to stop pursuing excellence, just keep showing up." 1 Cor. 15:58 - "My beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." ____________________...

The 10,000 hour rule (as written by Malcolm Gladwell) is not quite enough to become an expert. There are "4 things it takes to be an expert", according to a YouTube personality. 1. REPEATED ATTEMPTS WITH FEEDBACK. EXAMPLE: A tennis player must have immediate feedback to become great or good. NOTE: Be weary of experts who don't have repeated theory through feedback. 2. VALID ENVIRONMENT 3. REPEATED...

Matt Ferguson is the CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) and Head of Storymaking at  Storyland Studio s and PlainJoe (A Storyland Studio). Matt is a master of encouragement and leadership. His creative and insightful nature has led him to incredible opportunities vastly beyond our time together, when he was a student in my youth group. Our main focus in this episode is about Matt's work with PlainJoe....

Environments your students, parents and volunteer staff drive into, walk into, and engage others with… It sets the mood and the tone for learning and caring. All student Ministries are not made or created equal. All students are not made for all student ministries. Both students and student ministries have their own personalities, dispositions, and characteristics. Set the pace! Who are you wantin...

How is Different good? It's good because God has made us very unique and individual since before birth, according to Psalm 139. People as a whole (or in groups) don't usually like " Different ", because conformity is easier to understand. Conformity is predictable and doesn't cause surprises. Difference-makers change their world and the world around them. They do not conform to the standards of th...

"Be slow to speak…" James 1:9 Recently, I sent a video to a church event out of state.  No not the one I served locally. They asked me to speak and I asked if I could send a video if I could not show up. They said yes so I did. I found out the new pastor decided not to use it, because it was too long. However, it was told to me that he was going to tell people what I said anyways (in their own wor...

Here is a good place to emphasis this well known fact in great businesses and great ministries… What have you GIVEN UP to go to the NEXT LEVEL ? What have you said NO to before saying YES to something better? You will find here that Emelia Hartford (Record Breaking Car Builder & Driver, Actress, and Producer) had to give somethings up in order for Ferrari to help her! It was funny, but true! Ferra...

Rick Eldridge started out as a music artist and Campus Life director for Youth For Christ in Orlando. So… how did he becoming a movie producer / film director? We dive into this here and also talk about his new movie, NEVER GIVE UP - The Brad Minns Story . The true story of how twenty-year-old Brad Minns does the impossible in the Men's Singles Tennis Finals in the 1985 Deaf World Games . In a fiv...

Mike Wolfe from the TV show American Pickers says, " It's the smalls that keep us in business. " These guys go after big items like, high six figure vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles. They restore historic buildings. They shop through out the USA to fill their stores in Iowa and Nashville. But the things that keep them going are the small items that can be sold to anyone. Those individual valu...

You are not alone… So give your best to your family and give your best to your ministry! Episode Scripture Reference: Psalm 139 :1-18 Heaven knows your name and so does your family and friends. Give your best to both worlds, because God is there to help you succeed in your family and ministry. So with this in perspective, when you are in a tough place… with your church, board members, parents, stu...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 Did you know that Johnny Cash was one of the great philanthropist of student ministry? Johnny Cash … the man, the singer, the legend changed my life and I wasn't even a country music fan! His decision to say "YES!" to Youth For Christ got me to...

Iron Sharpens Iron (Proverbs 27:17 NLT), so a Friend Sharpens a Friend. More than one mentor brings strength! I have always tried to lead students in ministry (and my own children) by directing them toward several mentors. Dr. John Maxwell said, "With one mentor you get their good qualities and their bad ones too. With many mentors you can take the good from each one…."! I was watching the Univers...

Sammie Smith was an NFL (Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos) and College Football (Florida State University) running back, as well as, a track star at Apopka High School and Florida State University. After a career ending injury and 7 years in prison , God's plan for his life started unfolding! During his pro career, his son died of SIDS and life was not the same. Sammie and his wife have served Go...

I can't afford time off… But I can afford a hospital visit after breaking down from the stress I am under. You might say that sounds ridiculous! But people say these things all the time, but they don't say the second part. They feel justified or tough by saying I don't have time or money to fix what's hurting me. So now what…? Jesus the Messiah often talked about REST . Here is one thing he said…...

"I came that you might have life in ALL of its Abundance." - John 10:10  Volunteers and student leaders… train them and educate them regularly on what is expected and consistently remind them of God's vision through you for themselves and your student ministry. During my time as a student minister, we would take our volunteer staff to various trainings hosted by student focuses groups (YPS, SLU, Y...