Five Minutes with Marko

Marko shares the story of how he got fired from a church over unspoken expectations. Bad endings for youth workers are pretty always due to misaligned values or unspoken expectations.

Marko shares a tension he used to struggle with, between his ability to manipulate teenagers into a faith decision and still wanting to offer those opportunities. He found help in a new mindset and language.

Marko shares five prompts to get you thinking about this important question, which you can use for your own growth in self-knowledge or with a team you do ministry alongside.

Marko quickly interviews Brock Morgan, author of The Anxious Teen, about the rise of anxiety in teenagers, and what we youth workers can do. (note: this is a double-size episode!)

Considering that little, seemingly innocuous part of your ministry that could be its downfall.

Marko unpacks a powerful scene from Les Miserables to consider the sort of hope we all need, especially the teenagers we work with.

Adopting an attitude of curiosity will completely reframe your interactions with parents of teenagers.

Marko unpacks an area of his leadership that needed to change, how he became aware of it, and what he did about it.

Marko tells a story about a time he realized the lie perpetuated by so many in the church, that we can make ourselves happy by choosing it.

A message to parents of teenagers about what our goal should be, unpacking the misguided cultural shift to teenage happiness as the culturally-promoted focus of most parents.

Certainly you’re familiar with Orthodoxy (right belief) and Orthopraxy (right behavior); but Marko wants you to consider prioritizing Orthoanakálypsi and Orthodokimí (two words he made up!).

With a bit of vulnerability, Marko shares about times when criticism has been particularly hard for him to receive, and what he’s learned in that process.

Marko takes a blazingly-short 3 minutes and 54 seconds to share his math equation for excellent youth ministry.

Almost all youth workers want fun to be an aspect of their youth ministry, but we often (wrongly) consider it less spiritual. Marko lists seven reasons why fun is a spiritual value.

A humble and hopeful Long View says, “I care that a teenager is actively engaged in her faith today—and even if she walks away from it, I trust that God is going to continue working in her life.”

In this episode, Marko unpacks six different ways to spark your creativity.

Marko talks about why storytelling is so important, and offers four practical ideas for stepping into this in your ministry.

Marko provides a quick history of how we got to this place of isolated youth ministry in the church, and points out the need for change.

Marko interviews himself (yeah, it’s a little weird) about why it’s hard for teenagers to engage with Bible reading.

Why we avoid talking about this topic, and what that unintentionally teaches. As a bonus, Marko sings “The Sex Song” he used for years with middle schoolers when teaching on this topic.

A quick look at why the search for belonging has become the primary lens through which teenagers view everything, and a run through Edward Hall’s belonging theory, called Proxemics.

Marko connects the memory of a child in a Haitian orphanage with the difficulty of ministry in the early months of the pandemic, with principles that still apply today (particularly for those teenagers who have not returned).

Marko recounts an experience of watching baby sea turtles crawl from their nest to the ocean and unpacks a bunch of allegorical connections.

Since Marko often gets asked what podcasts he listens to, he takes a few minutes to list his regular podcast consumption diet.

Final week of this 4-week mini-series called Nuggets, where Marko brings four shorties for you to think about.