BTE 5.08 Middle and High School Separate vs. Together: Part 2 with Trevor Sill and Brittany Shoemake

Mailbag questions or topic suggestions? Text us!

We explore why Trevor Sill at The Bridge Christian Church combines junior high and high school and how they rebuilt midweek around one big night and weekly small groups. Trevor shares wins, missteps, and the practices that turned constraints into a discipleship advantage.

• Reasons for combining ages including space, staffing, family rhythm
• One big night monthly plus weekly small groups structure
• High schoolers as culture carriers and mentors
• Onboarding fifth graders and the move-up pathway
• MIX as a relational fast-forward for incoming sixth graders
• Teaching at a shared level with age-specific application in groups
• Handling pushback and aligning leaders to the vision
• Stories of student-led impact including a new sixth grade FCS
• Electives on Sundays for deeper age-targeted study
• Whole-church Wednesday ecosystem that connects parents and students

If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe to Beyond the Event wherever you listen to podcasts.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Brad Warren.
This is Beyond the Event, ayouth ministry podcast presented
by Christ and Youth, where wehelp you maintain momentum
between the mountaintops.
Uh today's guest is TrevorStill.
He is the youth pastor at theBridge Christian Church in
Carthage, Missouri, right downthe road from us.
And he's going to be uh talkingto us about why it is beneficial

(00:23):
for them to do junior high andhigh school programming
together.
If you missed our last episodeuh with Michelle Cruz talking
about the opposite, having youthministry split by junior high
and high school, you can go backand listen to that one as well.
These two will kind of exist ina pair together.
Uh but before we do that, I amjoined by the elusive.

SPEAKER_04 (00:46):
I know you're gonna make some comment.

SPEAKER_02 (00:47):
Brittany, do make I have like you're impossible to
get on here.
This is well hold on.
Let's let people be objective.

SPEAKER_04 (00:56):
Let's let people in on your scheduling of meetings
habit.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02):
Let's talk about all the things that you have done in
the months of September andOctober.
Wait, how many how manycountries have you been to in
the months of September andOctober?

SPEAKER_04 (01:14):
Technically, three.
Three countries.

SPEAKER_02 (01:17):
Technically, yes.
I like it.
Republic of Ireland.
Yeah, okay.
Got it.

SPEAKER_04 (01:21):
Republic of Ireland.
So that'd be in the South andthen Northern Ireland.

SPEAKER_02 (01:25):
So and then the Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_04 (01:28):
And then and then Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
In our offseason.
Just gallivanting all over theworld.

SPEAKER_04 (01:34):
Just gallivanting.

SPEAKER_02 (01:35):
What were you getting up to?

SPEAKER_04 (01:36):
Yes.
We uh we were doing some sitevisits and checking in with some
of our partners there and alsotalking about some new
opportunities with them as well.

SPEAKER_02 (01:49):
So fun.

SPEAKER_04 (01:50):
So yeah, it it was a good time to do that.
Good time to have some extratime with our partners like
that.
Uh with teams there.
Um so a little bit just moreintentional time that we can get
with them.
So it was fun.
And then I I also got to go toConnected.

SPEAKER_02 (02:09):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (02:09):
So from our our CIY Europe team, they put on a youth
worker conference in Ireland.

SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
Is it more like wilderness or YMS?
Or kind of a combination of thetwo?
I would say it's a combination.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (02:23):
It really is.
So, and there were 65, 70 youthworkers there.

SPEAKER_02 (02:29):
Which is incredible.

SPEAKER_04 (02:30):
Ireland, which is incredible.
So it was good.
Saw people there that I've seenthrough the years of doing work
in Ireland, and then some of ourpartners were there too.
So yeah, it's great.
And got to hang out with our CIYIreland team.

SPEAKER_02 (02:44):
They are just a hoot and a half.

SPEAKER_04 (02:47):
It was lovely.

SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
Um, that is wonderful.
Uh, so I wanted to have you onlike four episodes ago to talk
about your summer, you know, andjust see how like well we got to
get like an engage or we got toget like a move summer update, a
mixed summer update, and I waslike, well, we'll get an engaged
summer update.

(03:09):
Um, but then I did a bad job ofscheduling the podcast.
And uh here we are in December,and I'm just now asking you
about your summer, but well, ittakes a lot of lean power to
think back.
No, it's actually kind offitting for engage anyway.

SPEAKER_03 (03:23):
Okay, how?

SPEAKER_02 (03:24):
Because like it's a year-round thing.
Like we talk about summers andlike there's a high
concentration in the summer, butit's like really we get to
reflect on kind of 2025.

SPEAKER_04 (03:35):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
So, how was 2025 for engage?

SPEAKER_04 (03:38):
2025 for engage.
Uh yeah, that's funny becauseour mind is already in 2026.

SPEAKER_02 (03:45):
Your mind is already in 2020.

SPEAKER_04 (03:48):
So not so.
Um 2025.
I know that that's the yearwe're in, but it feels like that
was years ago.

SPEAKER_02 (03:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (03:55):
Um, it was great.
We had the highest number ofspring break trips that we've
had.
So had took several teams um towe had three
back-to-back-to-back weeks inNorthern Ireland at Riot, um,
which was exciting.
I mean, that would have beencoming out of two years ago.
Uh, Riot was the ministrypartner of CIY as a whole.

(04:18):
And so we got to to talk aboutthem a lot.
And then so having so many teamsget to come over and actually
support and be with them inperson was really encouraging.
And the the Riot team lovesthat.
All of the students that are atRiot come to the youth center,
get to see more of Americanteens that are their age, their

(04:41):
peers that they get to hang outwith.
So um, yeah, so that was great.
And then into the summer we hadhad several teams.
It was different for me, I'llsay this.
And as I've been havingconversations, I this was my
first summer at CIY.
So been here for 18 years now.

(05:01):
That was my 19th summer.
That's crazy.
19th summer, and I was not on asummer engaged trip.

SPEAKER_03 (05:08):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (05:09):
So first time ever.
So I got to go and bounce aroundat several moves and popped in
at mix.
So yeah, it was a little bit ofa different summer for me, but
how was that?

SPEAKER_02 (05:21):
How did that?
It was different.

SPEAKER_04 (05:24):
Yeah, it was it was good.
Yeah, it was good because we Imean, we have such capable
leaders that are leading theteams.
We know that that's not all justreliant on our engaged team and
our engaged staff.
And so we have other leadersthat are incredible that that
well you did it.

SPEAKER_02 (05:40):
You would you also did all three spring break
trips, right?
Like you just stayed in stayedin Northern Ireland for a bit.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (05:47):
So yes, I got to see see those three teams come in
and just see how that transitionwould be with the back-to-back.

SPEAKER_02 (05:54):
Including uh past and future podcast guest.

SPEAKER_04 (06:00):
Really?

SPEAKER_02 (06:00):
Tyler Hensley, right?

SPEAKER_04 (06:02):
Oh, Tyler.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (06:04):
He was one of the Spring Racers.

SPEAKER_04 (06:05):
He was the the middle one, yes.
They were they were team numbertwo coming in.

SPEAKER_02 (06:09):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (06:10):
And that was their second time going back to Riot.
So that was even uh a sweeterdeal too, when you can have uh a
church that partners multipleyears at the same mission
partner and get to build arelationship, yeah, yeah.
Seeing that relationship get tocontinue.
And a few of the same students,even that came back from they

(06:30):
had been two years earlier withyou.
With me.
Look at that.

SPEAKER_02 (06:34):
How fun was that?
Yeah.
I love Tyler.
I love that church.
Yeah.
I'm sure he's listening to this.
Hello, Tyler.
Thank you for going on anengaged trip.
Um faithful listener to be onthe event.
Um okay.
I wanna do I I I have a coupleof like uh I kind of want to do
like lightning round and justask you a couple of random

(06:56):
questions about internationaltravel.

SPEAKER_03 (06:59):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
But we gotta move quickly through them.
Like, we don't need unlessyou're like, can I tell a story?
And then I'll probably let youtell a story.

SPEAKER_04 (07:04):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
So here we go.

SPEAKER_04 (07:06):
A little nervous, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 (07:07):
It's fine.
You're gonna do great.
I believe in this.
Uh worst international airport.

SPEAKER_04 (07:13):
Worst international airport?
Oh, Heathrow.
Heathrow in London, yes.

SPEAKER_02 (07:17):
You didn't even have to think about it.
I didn't have to think about it.
Okay.
Uh worst domestic airport?

SPEAKER_04 (07:22):
Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 (07:23):
I agree.

SPEAKER_04 (07:24):
Chicago O'Hare.

SPEAKER_02 (07:25):
Every Pikeel loves Chicago.
Really?
That's not what I would say.

SPEAKER_04 (07:30):
I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
Yeah, he flies up there sometimes just to hang out
at the airport, and then it'llfly back at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 (07:36):
But it is absolutely not my favorite.
Or not my favorite domesticairport.
Louisville.
Uh uh I would say Louisville'snot my favorite domestic airport
either.
Okay.
Well, way too many bats.
Now you're lightning around.

SPEAKER_04 (07:47):
So one story flying into Chicago with a team several
years ago, coming home from atrip.
Church was from Arkansas, uh,flights get delayed, delayed,
delayed.
We ended up renting vans anddriving from Chicago to get this
group home.

SPEAKER_02 (08:04):
Woof.

SPEAKER_04 (08:05):
Coming off of an international flight.

SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
Where did you say where they were going back to?

SPEAKER_04 (08:09):
Arkansas.

SPEAKER_02 (08:14):
Um okay, favorite international airport.

SPEAKER_04 (08:17):
Favorite international airport.
That's a good question.
Like connecting through orlanding and through.

SPEAKER_03 (08:32):
It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 (08:32):
It doesn't matter.
Um the nicest was in Singapore.
There was a movie theater in theairport.
Oh gosh.
Yes.
So had a little bit of a longlayover there.
And yeah, everything just feltvery comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 (08:51):
That's what you mean.

SPEAKER_04 (08:52):
I wouldn't say that that's a word that you would
always associate with anairport.

SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
No, but a lot of times on those trips to places
in Asia, you have like eight ortwelve hour layovers.
You know, like a long layover.
So it's nice to be like, I'mgonna go see Mission Impossible.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (09:07):
Uh Dublin Airport perks with so they have a
connection with the UnitedStates border control that you
can go through customs andimmigration in Dublin.

SPEAKER_03 (09:19):
Yep.

SPEAKER_04 (09:20):
So when you are coming home from a trip, you do
all of that in Dublin.
So when you land in the US, itis like landing on a domestic
flight.
Yeah.
You don't have to do that.
So nice.

SPEAKER_02 (09:30):
So and they have a weird yellow sculpture thing
that I like.

SPEAKER_04 (09:35):
The art piece.
Yeah.
Art.
It's called art.

SPEAKER_02 (09:40):
Um, okay.
Favorite international fooditem.
Like you get to have one meal.

SPEAKER_04 (09:46):
What is it?

unknown (09:49):
Brad.

SPEAKER_04 (09:51):
You're making me make decisions.

SPEAKER_02 (09:53):
Um, why is it beef low clock?

SPEAKER_04 (09:55):
It is pineapple fried rice, actually.
Okay, we've both been kimbotogether.
We're in the same country.

SPEAKER_02 (10:01):
We were in the same country.
That's so fun.

SPEAKER_04 (10:03):
Pineapple fried rice.

SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
I do love pineapple fried rice.
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
Okay.
Uh, favorite engaged missionpartner?
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (10:15):
Lightning round.
All of them.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (10:18):
I'll be all very special.
I love that you went to the DRand we're getting uh it's it's
been a couple years since we'vebeen there, but we're getting to
go back this year.
Has it been a couple years sincewe've been there?

SPEAKER_04 (10:29):
Um, we weren't there this last summer, but it's the
year before.

SPEAKER_02 (10:33):
Okay.
So yeah, two calendar yearssince we've uh been down there.
Yeah.
Great mission partner.
Gosh, I love them so much.

SPEAKER_04 (10:41):
Church is growing like crazy that we partner with
there.
So they I mean, since we havebeen partnering with them since
2016, they are in their thirdspace now for meetings.
Not in the movie theater.
So no, that's where they are.
So they were in two differentlike houses that had been
converted to churches beforethat.

(11:02):
Um, so now yeah, they arerenting a space.
It's in a mall, actually.
It's like the ballroom in amall.

SPEAKER_02 (11:09):
That's what it is.
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (11:10):
Where they meet.
Uh, but they're like growing outof that space.
That's so fun.
Kids' ministry is growing, youthministry is growing.
The during the service, kidsleave and they actually go meet
in the food court of the mall.
Um, that's like the largestspace that they can be able to
meet at.

SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
So it's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 (11:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
So and they are that's so like true to the
history of the church, too,though.

SPEAKER_04 (11:32):
Yeah, they are just such an out.
I was gonna say they're such anoutreach focused church.
Yeah.
And so they have startedpartnering with some other
ministries.
And so that's why I was downthere, was getting to meet some
of the other ministries thatthey are partnering with, yeah,
that then are engaged.
Within their communities, get toget to go and tag in and learn

(11:53):
from as well.
So that's so fun.
Yeah, I love that.
God is doing awesome things.
So God's such a good church.

SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
Speaking of food, when I've been to the Dominican
Republic twice with Engage, andevery time we get in a vehicle
in the Dominican Republic, Iwould make uh Christian
Corporan, our fearless leader,uh stop at a roadside stand so
that I could buy pineapples.

SPEAKER_04 (12:19):
Really?

SPEAKER_02 (12:19):
I ate probably one whole pineapple a day.

SPEAKER_04 (12:22):
Oh, did it like do things to your mouth with I just
are you like allergic to it?

SPEAKER_02 (12:28):
What is it?

SPEAKER_04 (12:29):
I when I eat too much pineapple, like fresh
pineapple, it starts to get likeI would buy three pineapples
every day.
Wow.

SPEAKER_02 (12:36):
And I would like eat one and then I would cut one up
two up for the team.

SPEAKER_04 (12:40):
That's I I mean I approve.

SPEAKER_02 (12:43):
It's like a different thing than what you
can get here.

SPEAKER_04 (12:46):
It's true.
Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 (12:49):
Oh, I missed it.
I almost texted you and had youbring me back a pineapple, which
is super illegal.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (12:56):
Um yeah.
No, this is this is funny.
It's a slash trip.
So producer Lauren was was onthis trip with me too.
I don't know if we're off mic,off camera, producer Lauren.
Yeah, producer Lauren.
Um we this normally doesn'thappen when we have teams there.
There's a lot of Dominican foodthat is eaten.
But we had our first meal therewas Chinese.

(13:17):
So Dominican Chinese.
Yeah.
And then we had Italian, andthen we had true Dominican food.
Um, and we had sushi.
And more Dominican food, I wouldsay, after that.

SPEAKER_02 (13:32):
Boy, I bet their sushi is there.

SPEAKER_04 (13:34):
It it felt like the international tour of the
Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_02 (13:38):
I love it.
I bet their sushi is so good.

SPEAKER_04 (13:41):
So it was good.
It was different.
Um they have chicken in theirsushi.

SPEAKER_02 (13:47):
Okay.
Which I mean, I'm open to that.

SPEAKER_04 (13:50):
Haven't seen it on a menu.
You can ask producer Laurenabout it.

SPEAKER_02 (13:53):
Very odd to hear you say those words in succession,
but I would try it.

SPEAKER_03 (13:58):
We did try it.

SPEAKER_02 (13:59):
Quick o' walking Phoenix foot for me.
Thumbs up, thumbs down.
What are we?
Thumb Oh.
Oh, thumbs up.

SPEAKER_04 (14:06):
Okay.
It wasn't terrible.

SPEAKER_02 (14:08):
Not terrible.

SPEAKER_04 (14:09):
I would not.

SPEAKER_02 (14:10):
You guys need to go to the Dominican Republic and
get some chicken sushi.

unknown (14:14):
I would not.

SPEAKER_04 (14:16):
There's better options.

SPEAKER_02 (14:18):
Like, I'm sure the seafood is great.
It is.
It is.
Um okay, anyway.
That is lovely.
Very excited for Engage.
Excited for what's coming thisyear.
We got like a million trips thatare happening.
Um, so many not in the summer.

SPEAKER_04 (14:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (14:37):
So many not in the summer.
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (14:38):
Yeah.
And I'm like super glad aboutthat.
Like that is the uniqueness ofEngage is that we have
opportunities to do uh tripsoutside of the summer when we
know that summer's gonna fill upand get so busy with camps and
BBS and stuff going on at thechurch and students taking
family vacations, and I meanyouth pastors taking family

(15:01):
vacations.
So summers we know can can getpacked.
And so when we can provide thoseopportunities um outside of that
during other breaks, it um Imean it even helps spread things
out through our mission partnersas well.
So can be a win-win in a lot ofdifferent ways.

SPEAKER_02 (15:21):
I count one, two, three, four, five spring break
trips that are definitelyhappening, right?

SPEAKER_04 (15:26):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (15:27):
That's probably the most we've ever had.

SPEAKER_04 (15:28):
So and then we'll Is that the most we've ever had?
Um yeah, most in in that in thattime period.
Yeah.
So and we uh we're actually thisyear doing a youth leader trip
that is also in the spring.
So what does that mean?
So we are so we're going toNorthern Ireland and providing

(15:52):
an opportunity for youth pastorswho have uh maybe been
interested in engage, but arestill trying to decide or really
want to know like what is engagelike?
This is a hey, come see it andexperience it for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 (16:05):
And so we're gonna be I apologize if I'm putting
you in an awkward spot rightnow.
Could could someone like reachout and be part of that?

SPEAKER_04 (16:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So space is limited.

SPEAKER_02 (16:16):
I did not have a little bit of a lot of people.
I did not know this washappening.
So yeah, that's lovely.

SPEAKER_04 (16:20):
Yeah, it's it's our first year running it.
So we haven't like fully, fullypublicized it way out in the
open.

SPEAKER_03 (16:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (16:27):
But we've yeah, been talking with some people about
it.
And yeah, there's there's stillsome spots left.
So if anybody hearing this isinterested, yeah, we can we can
talk about it.
But it's it's gonna be ahigh-level view of Engage.
So it's not we're going to riot.
That's what we're seeing, that'swhere it's being hosted at, but
it's not like only people whoare interested specifically in

(16:48):
going to riot, right?
We'll give an overview of thisis what you would experience on
on every Engage trip and walkingthrough our training and just
some of the things that makeEngage unique and how we partner
with ministries for lastingimpact and the the relational
side of ministry too.
And so gonna get to walk alonguh a few different youth workers

(17:10):
in Ireland as well.
So, even outside of Riot, get tolearn from just people who are
doing youth work there.
So, and then some rest andseeing some historical sites and
I was gonna say, will they getto go to St.

SPEAKER_02 (17:23):
George's Market and get a Belfast Bab?

SPEAKER_04 (17:26):
Absolutely.
Okay, absolutely wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 (17:28):
So worth the price of admission.

SPEAKER_04 (17:32):
And uh maybe some optional stuff like golfing, if
anybody is interested.

SPEAKER_02 (17:37):
Oh yeah?
You take in people golfing?

SPEAKER_04 (17:39):
I mean, Richie will take people golfing.
I don't think anybody wants meto take the page.
Um yeah, definitely have some ofthat more just like spiritual
retreat type stuff as well.

SPEAKER_02 (17:52):
Okay.
Well, that's amazing.
Yeah.
I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_04 (17:55):
People will be hearing more about these
opportunities in the future.

SPEAKER_02 (17:59):
I love that.
That's so amazing.
Um okay, Brittany, we no longerdo the mailbag.
In its stead, uh, we dosomething called Mic'ed Up,
which is where Michael gets totalk about anything he wants.
So it's time for anotheriteration.
Mic'ed up.

SPEAKER_04 (18:14):
I like this season of the podcast, I'll say with
getting to hear more of Michael.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (18:20):
Oh, thank you.
So a delight.

SPEAKER_04 (18:22):
I love it.

SPEAKER_02 (18:23):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (18:24):
Great addition.

SPEAKER_02 (18:25):
I had to make him do it.

SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
It's true.
Um, right around the corner,Christmas.
Celebrating the birth of ourLord.
Um, here's what I would like tohere's what I would like to um
hear about is growing up,favorite family traditions, and
looking to the future.

(18:49):
Maybe.
And if you don't have anything,it's okay.
Traditions you would like tocarry forward.
It's just to two single peoplewho have no kids.
I know.
Me too.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (19:00):
Literally everyone in this room.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (19:03):
Nieces and nephews that I love in a dog.

SPEAKER_02 (19:05):
Yeah.
So I have it on the way.
It's on Instagram, so I'veallowed to say it now.
It's so fun.

SPEAKER_04 (19:11):
Well, that's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 (19:12):
Okay.
That's exciting.

SPEAKER_04 (19:13):
The first one that comes to my mind with traditions
is like my whole mom side of thefamily.
So my grandparents, uh, mygrandpa was like oh, he, I mean,
he's still alive when I say was.
He just doesn't do anymore.
Um, he did a lot of woodworkingand so had had made us a bunch
of stuff, but um isn't quitedoing that anymore.

(19:36):
But they he would make ornamentsfor everybody in the family.
So everybody would have havetheir own ornament, and it would
look like, oh, this is a great,you know, snowman, Christmas
tree, whatever it is.
But somewhere in the ornamentwould always be a hidden roll of
cash or folded up.

(19:57):
So love cash.
That was the thing.
So you would you would walk in,we'd see, you know, all of the
same ornaments on the tree.
So we all know.
But every year we would, youknow, hand out the ornaments,
find the one with your name onit, and you know, all of us are
like, where is the the secretlittle spot here?
Where's the money?
And every year my grandpa'slike, no, you know, it's been a

(20:20):
hard year, and not every year wecan do this.
And then every and then westart, and then we're like
breaking our ornaments, youknow, like trying to find out.
So then they're like, Why areyou breaking the ornaments?
You know, so he had to do thatspiel every year.
Um, but we would always find thecash inside.

SPEAKER_02 (20:40):
So are you gonna take up woodworking to do this
for your nieces and nephews?

SPEAKER_04 (20:44):
Um maybe find some other ways, other ways to do it.

SPEAKER_02 (20:50):
Yeah, fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 (20:51):
Um, but that yeah, and I mean we still have all the
ornaments on our trees, and it'sfun when I go to cousins' houses
or aunt and uncle's house, youcan see those uh on the trees
too, and the other pieces thatgrandpa has made that we've torn
apart, but then hot click backtogether.

SPEAKER_02 (21:12):
Classic.

SPEAKER_04 (21:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
I love it.

SPEAKER_04 (21:14):
Great tradition.
That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 (21:16):
I love it.
Um mine is a w I think kind ofstrange.
Um, but I I I was born incentral Kentucky and then uh
moved to Jacksonville, Florida,and we would drive from Florida
up to Kentucky for Christmasevery year, as one does.

(21:36):
And um, I don't know how thishappened, but the movie that
like became a staple of thatdrive was the sound of music.
We had like a you know, one ofthose old TV VCR combo things
and like an inverter thatplugged into the car like
lighter.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (21:56):
We did this too.

SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
Yeah, yeah, you you had to.
Oh yeah.
And um I I think the sound ofmusic was on two cassette tapes.

SPEAKER_03 (22:05):
That sounds right.

SPEAKER_02 (22:07):
It's like a four-hour movie.
Still one of my favorite moviesto this day, but like uh to me,
the sound of music is aChristmas movie.
I watch it every year atChristmas time, and that's my
favorite attrition.

SPEAKER_03 (22:20):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
Is there a scene in the movie that is like a
Christmas like there is not.
Not a not a not a single one.

SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
I I just could not remember.
It's been a long time since Iwatched it.

SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Yeah, it's truly a very summer movie.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

unknown (22:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (22:37):
Great summer vibes.
At one point, Julie Andrews saysthis warm summer air is not good
for the children's voices.
I just don't remember like howmuch time the movie covers.

SPEAKER_01 (22:47):
That's true.
Yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_04 (22:48):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
Yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (22:50):
Michael, what are you?

SPEAKER_01 (22:52):
You know, I think I think there's there's a couple
that I could talk about.
Um one of the most treasured forthe Hester family is every
Christmas morning, my dad makesum spaghetti and eggs for
breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 (23:06):
Second mention of spaghetti and eggs on the
podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (23:09):
This season.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (23:10):
Oh, right.
You made it for somebody for oursmall group.

SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
And I just like it just I it's it I've it's been
better at home.
You know, like I've made abetter thing.

SPEAKER_02 (23:18):
Spaghetti and eggs is already weird.
Having it for breakfast is likeoh I I can't even ride.
It's like jumping the shark forspaghetti and eggs.
Yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 (23:28):
Add in some chicken sushi.
And it's just gonna make it.

SPEAKER_02 (23:33):
In sympathy for Tim and Margie Hester, they were
trying to feed 14 people.

SPEAKER_04 (23:37):
So that's true.

SPEAKER_01 (23:38):
Not just not trying, succeeding.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um with you know, bacon bits,tater tots.
It's a great it's a great littlebreakfast.
Um the other thing, and this isthis is pretty this is pretty
simple and straightforward, butevery Christmas morning we
always um read um from Lukechapter two.
Um and I don't remember if we dothat before we open our

(24:02):
stockings, which we do first.
It's always like stockings,breakfast, and then presence
under the tree.
Um I I think we do it beforestockings, but one or two times
it may have been after breakfastbefore presence under the tree.
Um but normally my dad is theone that would read it.
Um, the last several years, Ithink he's like kind of
delegated it out to um somesiblings.

(24:23):
But I can remember one or two ofthe recent years that my dad
would read it and him gettinglike very clearly and openly
emotional describing the sceneof the angels appearing to the
shepherds and just talking aboutthe good news.
Um or glad tidings, I guesswould maybe be the term.
I don't know.

(24:43):
Glad tidings of great truth.
Um but just like the I I there'ssomething about the example of
of my father um being vulnerableenough to just show that that
emotion about how important thestory of um Christ's coming is.
Um is uh it's just a great thingto have growing up.

(25:03):
And I don't I don't know thatvery many people actually get to
have that kind of thing um andexperience that, like the
blessing that that is.

SPEAKER_03 (25:10):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (25:10):
Um so I I think that I think that kind of like that
kind of vulnerability issomething that I want to like
continue forward.
Um is and you know, likeChristmas is so much there's so
much fun around Christmas andthere's so much um uh
excitement, but also um makingsure that we're keeping at the
center like how incrediblyimportant um it is that what

(25:33):
we're celebrating.
Yeah.
I love that.

SPEAKER_04 (25:35):
Amen.
Yeah.
That that is the tradition thathas continued in our family that
has changed with the nieces andnephews.
So reading out of loop two, dadwould always do it out of the
Bible.
It has now changed to the Jesusstorybook Bible with with little
kids in the family.

SPEAKER_02 (25:53):
We do a similar thing, but we read the account
of the birth of Christ fromRevelation.
Oh, yeah.
Where there's like a dragonwaiting for him.

SPEAKER_01 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, a little different.
When when I was at Ozark, thisis like the most like high-level
Bible college thing that I thinkI have ever conceived of.
I I really w had wished therewas like a version of Silent
Night that had an at an addedverse about like the dragon.

SPEAKER_02 (26:20):
My New Testament professor had like a Lord of the
Rings figurine or something thathe added to his nativity scene
every year.
Was it like smog?
I don't know.
It was like part of the nativityscene.
I think Shane Wood does the samething.
That's amazing.
Shout out.
Okay, well, speaking of dragons,let's go talk to Trevor.

SPEAKER_04 (26:38):
Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 (26:42):
Uh Trevor, so glad to have you here all the way
from beautiful Carthage, uh,Missouri.
Hey, um, so I love you and Ilove the the work that you do at
the bridge and am excited tokind of dive into this
conversation.

SPEAKER_04 (27:02):
This is why Trevor was brought on.
It's for Brad to tell him thathe loves you.

SPEAKER_02 (27:05):
Yes.
He's my advocate.
Thank you, Brad.
Yeah.
Um you're already threw you off.
I just called you like athoughtful person a second ago,
and now this is the world that Ilive in where I'm just being
like Why can't grown men justtell each other they love each
other?
I do, I do literally all thetime.
I say it all the time.

(27:25):
Um, it makes some peopleuncomfortable, but that's okay.
Like Peikel, Peikel, I love you.
I love you too, Brad.
He used to not say it back, andI had to be like, say it back,
Peikel, and then he said itback.
Oh, that's true.
Anyway.
Okay.
Um boy, that's a tough start tothis.

(27:48):
Sorry.
Um anyway.
Uh talking about junior high andhigh school programming, we're
gonna get into a little bit oflike the bridge, a little bit of
uh kind of the world that youlive in.
Um I I wanna start with though,just like what what do you guys

(28:08):
do for your junior high and highschool programming?
Um we'll start there and thenwe'll can kind of dive into why
it makes sense for you.

SPEAKER_00 (28:17):
Yeah.
So we we do our main programmingon Wednesday nights still.
Uh so midweek, midweekprogramming.
And our church is unique in thesense that I I think it's kind
of old school.
I'm not sure how many churchesin the area or around the nation
do this, but we still have likea pretty big family atmosphere
on Wednesday nights.
So we have kids' ministry going,youth ministry going, and then

(28:41):
we have a number of adult Biblestudies or small groups meeting.
So I think that's a really coolaspect within our churches.
You know, you can walk in on aWednesday night and see, you
know, ages from birth to to 80there on a Wednesday night, all
in the same area, um, doingdoing different studies,
different things.
And so uh we we've thought aboutnot doing the the Wednesday

(29:03):
night switching to a Sunday, butthat would take away a huge
family aspect that we have.
So we stick with the theWednesday nights, and then this
year within our student ministryspecifically, we've made a
pretty big change where uh we weswitch to like a one big night
program.
So the first Wednesday of everymonth, we have worship, sermon

(29:27):
as normal, and then the rest ofthe Wednesdays, the remaining
Wednesdays of that month, we gojust small groups.
So we'll have 45 minutes to anhour in small groups to kind of
talk through uh what studentsare going through in their faith
personally, what what's goingthrough in their lives, and then
also recap the sermon from thebeginning of the month.

SPEAKER_02 (29:47):
Okay.
So do you do anything onSundays?

SPEAKER_00 (29:51):
Yeah, we do uh so our main thing is we encourage
students to go to church withtheir families.
Uh we think that's a big deal uhto be with that.
And then we also have um someelectives that meet uh
throughout the week, throughoutthe year uh for high school.
So that's that is when weseparate, we separate high
school and junior high for thoseelectives.

(30:11):
That's a real cool idea.

SPEAKER_02 (30:12):
You like one like one-off things, or like, hey,
we're gonna do four weeksthrough this.
Do they happen every Sunday, oris it just like sometimes?

SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
Yeah, it's not not every Sunday.
So we this semester, we just gotdone going through uh the book
of Ephesians.
So we went through that for sixweeks and then we took a short
break, and now we're in SecondTimothy, and we're gonna be in
that until uh or through therest of November and then take a
break for December.
And so we kind of leave it up tothe students.

(30:41):
Hey, what's a what's a book ofthe Bible that you guys want to
go through, or what's a topicyou want to discuss?
And we we want that to be kindof like a smaller group setting
where we get to go throughtopics related to them or or
just books of the Bible thatthey want to go through.

SPEAKER_02 (30:55):
It's really interesting.
I don't think I've ever heard itbranded as like electives
before, but that's that thathappens on Sundays.

SPEAKER_04 (31:01):
Did you say when happens on Sunday mornings?
Yeah.
Sunday mornings, okay.

SPEAKER_02 (31:04):
So like primary goal, go to church with your
family.
Yep.
But also like the the electivesare available.
That's cool.
All right, so um for the one bignight, you junior high and high
school together, that's whatwe're gonna be kind of leaning
into.
Um, you alluded a little bit tothe bridge as like old school,

(31:26):
which um respectfully I disagreewith.
I've been there one time and Iwas like, they actually do some
kind of cool things here, umthat are different and fun, and
like the the family atmospherething plays out in some
interesting ways, um, that arereally cool.
So um just tell me a little bitabout the bridge.

(31:50):
You've been there for fiveyears, your wife has been there
for 30 years, yeah.
Uh born and raised.
Like, why and and we've talked,and you're like, no, this is
where I want to be.
Like, there is not a step upafter this, like we're happy in
Carthage, we're happy at thebridge.
This is great.
Yeah.
So tell me about the bridge andlike why do you love it?

(32:13):
What what is it about thatculture that you know draws you
to it?

SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
Great question.
Um, so it was just really coolbeing able to come back here.
Like, you know, Brad, you and Iworked at a church in Colorado
together, and uh, I neverthought I'd be back in the in
the area.
I grew up here in Carl Junctionand always kind of want to not
come back to this area.
But when it the opportunity cameback or arose to to come back

(32:38):
here, Court and I were prayingabout it.
And there's just somethingleading us to back back to home,
like both of us growing up herein the area.
It just means uh a lot more.
It's a lot more personal to us.
And I know especially for her,uh like growing up and spending
time at this church as astudent, as a kid, and still
having all those relationships,like she still has small group

(32:59):
leaders that she had when shewas in high school, who are
still small group leaders in ourministry today, which is like
super cool.
And it's just like this this ishome.
Um even even if I no longerworked at this church, this is
still where we would go tochurch because Carthage is home
and and we love this place.
Um and like as a as a church, uhkind of demographically

(33:22):
speaking, we we have about 700people uh that attend here uh
any given week.
And our demographic is is superinteresting.
I know, Brad, we've had someconversations about this, but we
have uh this really cool, uniquerelationship between law
enforcement and like pastcriminals.

(33:42):
And so um like there aremultiple stories I could tell of
like uh a police officer runninginto a member, be like, hey, you
look familiar.
And the guy would be like, Yeah,you arrested me like years ago.
Um, but now they're likeworshiping together in in small
groups together, and so it'sjust a really cool dynamic that
we're walking through.

(34:02):
Uh difficult for sure to todisciple um just the
discipleship process that thatleads us into, but super cool
demographic and opportunity thatwe have uh going on here at the
bridge.
So uh I guess that's a littlebit more about that.
Um, do you need anything else onthat?

SPEAKER_02 (34:19):
No, no, no, that's great.
Um it's like yeah, it's uh youyou you call it going home, but
Carl Junction to Carthage is apretty big step up.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (34:34):
Trevor, within within the youth group, are what
would you say likepercentage-wise, kids that are
coming, their families are alsocoming, and then kids that are
just coming with their families?

SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
Yeah, that's that's a good question.
Yeah, uh, we've had a lot ofconversations about that as as a
team, and I would say we'reright about like that 50, 50, 60
percent of our students, theirfamilies uh attend.
Yeah, and uh the rest of them donot.
And so that it goes back to thatfamily aspect, which is really
cool because we have all ofthose ministries kind of feed

(35:08):
into each other.
Uh, there'll be parents whoattend this church, but their
kids do not.
And then all of a sudden that wedo a study on Wednesday night
for adults that they want toreally want to be a part of.
And so they come to it as asadults and they say, hey, they
bring their kids around and theysend them up to to youth
ministry with us, and and viceversa.
We'll have kids who are cominghere and then invite their

(35:29):
parents or tell their parentsabout it, and then their parents
get connected uh with theWednesday night stuff.
And so it's really cool to seehow those those ministries feed
into each other.

unknown (35:37):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (35:38):
So I'm sure you put some thought into this idea of
like, okay, we're doing juniorhigh and high school Wednesday
nights.
Uh, we're really talking aboutonce a month at this point.
Um put put I'm sure I'm sureyou've put some thought into
like we're together, do we needto split them up?
Do we not?
Do like what you know.

(35:58):
Um what has like what have beenthe primary factors for you and
for the bridge that have likekind of informed that decision?
Like why why do they meettogether?

SPEAKER_00 (36:10):
Yeah.
Um so a lot of what determinedthis decision are things kind of
out of our control right now.
I would say the the first thingis space.
We don't have enough space to tosplit up, especially if we were
gonna do the same night andsplit up junior high and high
school.
Uh, we don't have that space todo that.
And also, like I I oversee bothjunior high and high school.

(36:34):
And so it would be difficult forme to kind of be in two places.

SPEAKER_02 (36:37):
We should have said that once like you you're the
only student ministry staff.

SPEAKER_00 (36:40):
Yeah, I'm the only student minister here.
Um and so that would kind ofstretch me pretty thin um to do
two nights a week.
And then again, going back tothat that family aspect, like
I'm sure there's there's anumber of families that we have
who have uh students who arejunior high and high school, and
so then having to take them totwo different places or having
two different nights out of theweek taken up for that um could

(37:03):
be difficult.
And so those are some of themain uh main thoughts that went
into this, and we realized it'sgonna be really difficult for us
to separate.
And so, how can we make the mostof this opportunity to have them
together?
Um, and so that's kind of likewhere we where we settled
instead of complaining of like,man, I wish we had more space, I

(37:24):
wish we could, you know, bringanother person on staff to
oversee a high school or juniorhigh and let it be more focused.
And that's just not in the cardsfor us right now.
So our thoughts sort of go intohow can we make this better?
How can we really pour into youknow our older kids just to see
this as an opportunity fordiscipleship and leading these
younger kids and not to see themjust as an annoyance or a

(37:47):
nuisance or something in the wayon a Wednesday night.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (37:51):
Yeah.
So can I follow up question onthat?
Like, how do you how do youpractically do that?
Like set that way.

SPEAKER_00 (37:57):
We don't really have like a we don't really have like
a student leadership team, butwe we expect our, especially
upperclassmen, to to just beleaders.
And you know, we we have thoseconversations with them um
within the small group time orwith within the one-on-one
moments that we have pouringinto them.
And because we we've had towrestle with that a lot.

(38:18):
Like high school kids do notthink sixth graders are very
cool, and you know, thatsometimes they're being there to
be.
I don't either.
Yes, yes.
Um, and I I should say too, wewe oversee like sixth through
twelfth grade is our ministry,so that's that's where we're at.
And so when we we actually justmade that change a couple of

(38:38):
years ago, and it was tough toto invite those sixth graders
into the ministry and watch someof our high school kids like
treat them like they had theplague or something like that.
And it was it was tough to walkthrough that, but it was also
cool to have those conversationsof like, guys, remember when you
were sixth graders or when youwere seventh graders and you

(38:58):
came in, you had older kids whopoured into you.
You had older kids who kind ofshowed you the example, and
they're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so they kind of that groupkind of caught on really
quickly, and it's really startedthis cool precedence or cool
example of hey, if you're anolder kid, if you're an
upperclassman, like part of yourjob isn't just to show up and

(39:19):
and get fed, it's to make surethese younger kids are being
discipled as well.
Um, there's a really cool storythat we had, I think this last
last last summer, end of lastschool year, where we invited
our our sixth graders into theministry for the first time.
And for that event, we try tokeep it just junior high only,

(39:40):
not to intimidate our our sixthgraders coming up.
But there were a coupleupperclassmen who were like,
Hey, can we come and uh and andref we were doing uh broom ball.
I don't know if you guys haveever played broomball before.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's it's awesome.
And so, like, hey, can we comeref?
I'm like, Yeah, that'd beawesome.
And so they walked in and someof our security.
Boys were like, who are they?

(40:02):
Like they looked up their smallgroup leader.

SPEAKER_03 (40:03):
Who are they?

SPEAKER_00 (40:04):
Like they were so enamored.
And their small group leader waslike, those are the juniors and
seniors.
And they were just like hookedautomatically.
And so I was like, that's supercool.
And I got to tell that to ourupperclassmen boys.
And they're like, Yeah, yeah, wewe have an opportunity here.
And so they took it and ran withit.
And so I I love opportunitieslike that that we've gotten to
have within our ministry becauseof that.

(40:26):
That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 (40:27):
So you're you're kind of um you you've scratched
the surface on what I'm about tosay a little bit, but I do want
to kind of lean into it.
Um you're talking a lot abouthow the high school experience
is kind of affected by this andsome of the really cool
opportunities that come alongwith that for leadership and

(40:47):
kind of calling them to a higherstandard and those kinds of
things.
When you made the sw were you atthe bridge when you made the
change from from sixth gradersfor sixth graders?
For sixth graders coming in,yeah.
Yeah.
Okay, that that's pretty recent.
Um uh I'm I'm curious how theirexperience, like the younger

(41:08):
kids' experience, has beenimpacted by having you know,
older kids around.
Do you feel like you've seen uma difference in maturity level
in what they're able to kind oflike their their Bible
knowledge?
I don't know, like has it beenhas it helped?

SPEAKER_00 (41:28):
I think yeah, I think so.
It's I I tend to focus more onthe on the high school
relationship because I think youknow they're a little more
affected by it.
I feel like the the younger kidsjust like show up and have fun
regardless of that matter.
Um yeah, but I I have seen uhsome of that growth.
Like, you know, when we when wefirst had those sixth graders up
there, they were treating itlike a kids' ministry, like

(41:50):
we're just gonna run around uphere, and like they were
literally running sprints likearound the room, and we're like,
hey, the older kids were like,hey, we don't really do that
here.
Stop.
Yeah, yeah.
And so like that's that's kindof like a shallow service level
example.
But um, along with that, and andthis is, I mean, it can be a pro
or or a con.

(42:10):
I go back back and forth on itall the time, but when when I
write down or sit down to writemy sermon, I I usually tend to
write it with a a sophomore orjunior in high school in mind.
And so that's kind of the levelthat we we teach to.
And obviously, our sixth gradersare are below that, you know,
maybe not as as theologicallysound as as a junior or a

(42:33):
sophomore in high school is, butwe that's why we've devoted so
much time to these small groups,and we really have that
opportunity for them to go intothat and be like, hey, we we
talked about this, and I'mhaving a real time, real hard
time like understanding what wasbeing said.
Um, and so our small groupleaders have a great opportunity
to kind of fill the gap betweenbetween that.

(42:56):
And um, we've seen a lot of alot of growth happen uh within
that.
Like our sixth graders rightnow, uh so FCS, we do FCS at
Carthage, it's basically FCA,um, just with a different title.
And so junior high and highschool both do that, but here at
Carthage, there's a sixth gradecenter, so it's just sixth
graders in this building.

(43:18):
And they're like, Man, we hearthe junior high kids and the
high school kids talk about FCSall the time.
Why don't we have one?
And we're like, well, you youguys need to start it if you
want one.
And so that happened this yearat the sixth grade center.
Like they saw these junior highand high school students.
They're like, We we want to havethis Christian club at our
school too.
And so they they talk to theirteachers and their leaders at

(43:39):
the sixth grade center and theygot it up and running.
And uh, so there's some examplesof how our older kids have have
led these younger kids in in thedecision making and discipleship
process as well.
Yeah, that's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 (43:53):
Um do I had a question and I lost it.
This is the earliest we've everrecorded a podcast.
I want everyone to know that.
So if you're listening andyou're like, Brad sounds tired.
Brad is tired.
Okay.
Walked in first thing thismorning.
It's like you have to be superon your game and and record a

(44:15):
podcast, but I'm not gonna saythat that's Britney's fault.
But I'm not gonna say that it'sjust not Britney's fault.
Again, go back to Brad'sscheduling habits that aren't
that great.
They're not.
They're not.
Um I have a question.

SPEAKER_04 (44:31):
So as far as like outside events outside of your
church, whether camp, whatever,whatever you guys do, is it
still common then for highschoolers to be um like leaders
with your with your middleschoolers?
Do you see that happening?

SPEAKER_00 (44:50):
We haven't, I don't think we've ever taken high
school students on like a a mixevent.
Like we we've never done that.
But we and and that's justsomething like I I don't I think
it's sometimes a little too tooclose.
I would have to you know I'dhave to be a really mature high
schooler uh for me to trust itto take them.
But what we do is like once youonce you graduate, then we and

(45:14):
you're sticking around, like weimmediately try to get you
plugged into that yet youngergroup of of students.
And so the last couple of yearswe've had the opportunity to
take some of our collegegraduates on on junior high
events and leaders for mixed andand things like that.
Um but when we do like juniorhigh specific events, I always

(45:34):
try to bring in um like like aone-night kind of a thing, not
not like camp experiences, butuh with a one-night junior high
event, I try to bring in highschool students who would be
willing to serve and and and bethere for that night.

SPEAKER_04 (45:48):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 (45:50):
I remembered my question.
It's a it's it's it's it's uh Idon't know if this is gonna go
anywhere or not, and it's fineif it doesn't.
But have you worked orcollaborated with the children's
ministry at the bridge at all,knowing that like when somebody

(46:10):
is making the transition fromfifth to sixth grade, there is
gonna be kind of this abruptchange in in the level that
they're being taught at.
You know what I mean?
Like did I I'm I I just wonder,I don't know, if if that's ever
been a conversation or ifanything's come out of that or

(46:31):
what.

SPEAKER_00 (46:31):
Yeah, I would say there's not as much uh
collaboration as we would liketo have.
Um but I I try to I try to beover there and and do things uh
at least a a handful of timesduring the year.
Uh once once the new year newyear starts, that's when we
really try to focus on uh thatthat transition stage.

(46:52):
And so uh we call it move upday.
And I'll I'll start, I'll I'llgo over there January or
February and just introducemyself to the to the fifth
graders and and talk about likeyou know, hey, we go on this
thing called called Mix.
Like you guys have been a partof Superstart for a couple of
years now.
And so Mix is the next CIY eventthat you guys will be going to

(47:13):
as uh as student ministry,ministry students, and um kind
of start start building therelationship then and then try
to go over there like uh once amonth or a couple times a month
to just continue to build thatrelationship and um and then
start reaching out to parentsand and inviting them uh to be a
part of our ministry and askquestions if they need to.

SPEAKER_02 (47:34):
So do they go to mix before they go to any like
programming stuff for juniorhigh?

SPEAKER_00 (47:43):
Uh so they yeah, we have our move up day is like end
of May.
Like as soon as school gets out,the next couple weeks, we we go
ahead and move up our fifthgraders uh into student
ministry, our incoming sixthgraders.
And so they spend the summerwith us.
And so they have the option togo to we go to Sayokamo with our
our kids.

(48:04):
Uh huh.
Uh so they have the option to goto Sayokomo or Mix or both if
they want to, uh that firstsummer.

SPEAKER_02 (48:11):
It has uh Mix seems like a great, I mean I guess,
you know, I'm I'm I'm pretendI'm not a employee of CIY, and
I'm saying that's okay.
Yeah, uh Mix uh seems like areally great aid to what you're
doing too, though, because um,you know, you got a fifth

(48:33):
grader, rising sixth grader, andthen they go away for four days
and have kind of a boot camp, arapid initiation into hey, this
is what junior high ministry isuh is like, and then you get to
kind of come back and build onthat throughout the course of
the rest of uh the summer andand going into the fall.

(48:56):
Has has that been yourexperience?

SPEAKER_00 (48:58):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Like it's uh I I I give thestudents an option for both, but
I push really hard to get themto go to Mix just because it it
it fast forwards their theirrelationships with not only each
other, but their small groupleaders as well.
Um and so we we saw this lastyear.
The students who you know did goto mix, um, they were the ones

(49:21):
who you know come August,September when we really started
hitting the ground with ourprogramming, they they already
knew like what student ministrywas about at the bridge.
They had a good relationshipwith their small group leaders,
they had that opportunity to youknow kind of bond and build
relationships at Mix.
And so they were ahead of thegame when it came to just
relationships and comfortabilitywithin the ministry, and those

(49:44):
who maybe decided not to go oror even went to Sao Kumo an
extra year.
And I don't want to say that oneis you know way better than the
other, but it just does it, ithelps when when an uncoming
sixth grader comes to comes tomix just with the comfortability
factor of it.
And um, that's why I love mixed.
You know, this isn't uh I knowthat you guys work for CIY, but

(50:05):
I'm a huge fan of Mix.
And um that that love for mixhas grown over the years because
of that, because it does such agreat job of like making it a
fun, inviting event for ouryounger kids, but then also not
being afraid to jump intobiblical truths um that that
maybe are a little too much forthem at the time, but lead to a

(50:29):
lot of growth.

SPEAKER_01 (50:33):
Is something weird happening?
Um I don't think it's anythingthat we can fix.
I think it's uh it's notanything I'm worried about.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (50:46):
Um just answer that question.

SPEAKER_01 (50:49):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (50:50):
Um okay, so thinking back to a couple years ago when
you made this decision to tobring junior high into it, how
how did the vision casting go toparents to other leaders?
And how was that received?
Like was there was there anypushback when combined.

SPEAKER_00 (51:10):
When we brought sixth graders into the ministry?

SPEAKER_04 (51:12):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (51:13):
Yeah, yeah.
So that was a fun time.
Um yeah, so there there were acouple of different factors that
led us to making that decision.
And I think the biggest one isuh I we kind of use the term
like age out, like we had a lotof kids who are aging out of of
kids' ministry, and especiallyas like sixth graders in that
ministry, they felt like theywere they were too old for it.

(51:34):
Um, and so we would lose a lotof kids to um from fifth grade
to seventh grade.
Um, they would just like loseinterest in in church
altogether.
And a lot of times it led tofamilies going somewhere else,
or families just stopped goingto church altogether.
And you know, as as studentministers and and children's
ministers, we we know the theimpact that our ministries have

(51:56):
on churches.
Like a lot of times kids decidewhere the the families go based
on where they want to go, wherethe kids' programming is the is
is good or where their friendsare going.
Um so we sat down and had someconversations uh about that and
uh and talked about it uh thebest way that we could do it.
And you know, that's when wekind of discussed well, do we

(52:17):
need to just have like apre-team ministry?
Uh because going back to the wayour school systems are, sixth
graders in general here inCarthage are just kind of like
they kind of feel like outcasts,you know, they're in their own.
They have their own, they're intheir own building, they're in
their own bubble.

SPEAKER_02 (52:33):
Yeah, that's something that I want to like
kind of hammer home for peoplebecause this is not a thing that
other people have to deal with.
No, yeah, like you are in aschool in Carthage from
kindergarten to fifth grade.
Yep, yep.
And then you go to a differentbuilding for sixth grade, the
intermediate school.
Yeah, and then you go to juniorhigh for seventh and eighth, and

(52:55):
then high school.
So yeah.
Um, which is like just kind of abizarre thing.
And I, you know, I'm sure thatthat was a reaction to something
that they had to likeaccommodate for growth or or
whatever it is, but it is asuper weird dynamic that you
have to deal with.

SPEAKER_00 (53:13):
Yeah, yeah.
And so I think that definitelyplayed a role in them feeling
like they were, you know, kindof too old to be around fifth
and fourth graders because theythey weren't in that that
building with them during thethe school days in the school
year.
Um so it's just that kind of aunique situation that we walked
through and you know, we weprayed a lot about it, we talked

(53:33):
a lot about it, we exhausted alot of options, and we just went
to the the decision, hey, wethink we need to move up sixth
graders into our ministry.
And uh there was there was somepushback.
Um I don't think there was anypushback with with the parents
as much as uh some of our smallgroup leaders, you know, were

(53:56):
really like, hey, this could beuh a big issue for our
upperclassmen, for our olderkids.
And they're really scared oflike we we could lose, we could
lose a lot of our older kidsbecause we're we're too young,
we're too immature.
Um and that was that was a big abig fear.
And then that's when we juststarted having those
conversations of like, hey, ifif you want like being being a

(54:18):
student in a student ministrymeans pouring into those who are
younger than you, whether you'rea senior and that's pouring into
a sophomore, or whether you're ajunior and that's pouring into a
sixth grader.
Like this, this is kind of youryour role in your faith.
And we see that throughout theBible.
We see that um, you know,throughout throughout the whole
Christian life of people whohave poured into those who are

(54:40):
are beneath them, coming upbelow them.
Um, and so thankfully we had areally good group of of juniors
and seniors that year who whoheld on to the vision and were
able to see it when we castedit.
And our small group leaders, uh,those who are given some
pushback were able to see it uha little bit of like, hey, we
have this really coolopportunity if we can speak into

(55:01):
it and and allow students to tosee the the importance of it.

SPEAKER_04 (55:05):
That's cool.
So um saw it and then believedit.

SPEAKER_02 (55:09):
Yeah.
Um so uh the proponents ofsplitting junior high and high
school, their big uh uh youknow, rationale, which I think
makes a lot of sense, is thatyou get to teach really
intentionally for the age thatuh you're you're you're talking

(55:30):
to.
Um because an 11-year-old, a lotdifferent than an 18-year-old in
some ways, maybe more similarthan they should be in other
ways.
Um, but you know, there's a hugelike intellectual intelligence,
emotional intelligence, like gapthere.
Um I know you spent some timethinking about this.

(55:53):
You even alluded to like, yeah,I teach like a sophomore junior
level.
I know that the younger kids aregonna miss some things, but we
have small groups to fill thatin.
Um what uh do you like how Idon't even know how to ask this
question.
Um, but what what is uh I thinkwhat I'm trying to say is uh how

(56:17):
do you make sure that everybodyis getting what they need out of
the ministry?
Like you personally, becauseyou're not you do oversee this
whole ministry, but you're notsitting in every single small
group, you know, making youknow, knowing whether and that's
true for any youth pastor, youknow, but yeah, um when you do

(56:38):
have to throw such a wide netwhen it comes to the teaching
itself, you know, how do youmake sure that everybody in that
room is getting what you wouldwant them to get out of an
experience at the bridge youthministry?
Yeah, um, that's that's a toughquestion.

(56:59):
So I only play hardball, Trev.

SPEAKER_00 (57:02):
Right, that's right.
I know, I know.
I had to have two cups of coffeebecause I know you're coming
down with the heat.
Um no great question.
So I I think when I sit down toto write a sermon, like I said,
uh I I do think about that,those sophomore and junior level
uh students and try to preachtheir level.
And uh, but also I try try tomake our our application section

(57:27):
like really really specific oror really um I just try to hit
heavy hard on the applicationpart.
And so we don't have a whole lotof time um to like dig into a
sermon.
You know, we have about 15, 15minutes to really discuss it.
And so I'll I'll share with themsome some biblical truth and

(57:50):
then just sit down and be like,hey, this this is what it means,
and try to give them three threereally clear points of like this
this is how this scriptureshould affect the the
environment that you findyourselves in.
And then uh from that, uh oncewe go into small groups the next
couple of weeks, all thequestions that we have in small
group will will dissect each ofthose application points.

(58:14):
And so that that first week insmall groups is like, all right,
here was the the first point ofapplication.
How does this look like in yourlife?
How does this look like in yourenvironment?
And then the next thing with thethe second week and the third
week.
Uh really just hit that.

SPEAKER_02 (58:27):
Are the questions different?
Like if I'm a sixth grade leaderor if I'm a senior leader?
Or no, they're they're all thesame.
They're all the same.
Okay, got it.
All the same.
But they kind of focus in onlike, hey, Trevor said this as
an application, like let's takethat and let's say, what does
this mean for a sixth gradegirl?
What does this mean for a juniorboy?

(58:47):
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
So you're exactly like that.

SPEAKER_00 (58:51):
Um, and so I think like, you know, I think it was
Orange Curriculum always said ifwe wanna, if we want to grow
big, we gotta grow small.
And and so that's what we try todo is like try to make those
small groups as uh as small aswe can, um, and as as close in
age as we can.
And that way, you know, thesermon or whoever spoke maybe a

(59:14):
generalized truth that we try toget across, then we can spend a
lot of time in those smallgroups and making that general
truth more specific and morepersonal to where each student
is at.

SPEAKER_02 (59:25):
Do you think that this we're gonna have to wind
down here a little bit?
But I like a zillion questions.
Um do you do you think that thiswhen did you make the switch?
Let me start here.
When did you make the switchfrom every week uh normal like
Wednesday night programmingworship sermon, small group?

(59:46):
When did you make the transitionfrom that to like, hey, we're
gonna do once a month and dosmall groups every other week of
the month?
Is that a new thing?

SPEAKER_00 (59:54):
Yeah, it's a new thing.
We started on September.

SPEAKER_02 (59:56):
Okay, begin the semester.
Because the way you'redescribing it is like Like this
makes so much sense.
Um was was this a response tosome pain points that you were
having in this area?

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:10):
Yeah, yeah before.
Uh this this could get uh thiswill get more fired up because I
love talking about this.
But um we we kind of wentthrough uh a tough time in our
our ministry uh end of last lastsemester and into the summer
where we really saw thedisconnect of our upperclassmen
and our our sixth graders.

(01:00:32):
And like it brought a lot oflike like I was just wrestling
through it personally.
I was like, man, we shouldn'thave done this.
Like this was a bad call.
We we shouldn't have let thesesixth graders come up here, um,
because it was just like thatthat big of a disconnect.
And so it was it was something Iwas really struggling with, and
um our our leaders were werefeeling that tension as well.

(01:00:54):
And so going into the summer, uha lot of us were really
discouraged because of that.
Um but like going through uh itwas just so cool, like God's
timing was so awesome as we wentthrough the book of Hebrews um
over the over the course of thesummer with like move, and we
even went through our own seriesof it before going to move and
mix both.

(01:01:15):
And like there's some reallyhard truths in the book of
Hebrews about um not being lazyand and not neglecting those who
are younger.
Like Hebrews 13, 7 was a keyverse that we went over uh with
our students this summer of likeimitate those who have gone
before you.
And so we were really able tohit that hard over the summer,

(01:01:37):
and we realized not just withthe disconnect between our
upperclassmen and our youngerkids, but disconnect between
like a lot of our students andleaders, our students to
students, like there just wasn'ta lot of consistency.
And so we're like, if we want toto make this ministry as
impactful as we can, we wereally need to go all in on

(01:02:00):
discipleship.
And so we're like, we can't wecan't build these relationships
if we have an hour on aWednesday night and 45 minutes
of that time is taken up withworship and sermon.
Like those things are great andnecessary, but only having 10 to
15 minutes in a small groupsetting isn't gonna build
relationships, it's not gonna beuh discipleship driven.

(01:02:23):
And so like I was ready to burnit all to the ground and just
like let's let's start over, uhlet's let's normally go to like
small groups and throweverything else out the window.
But through a lot of prayer andand discussions as as a team, we
we were led to uh this programthat we have right now, and man,
it's been so cool to see howimpactful it has been uh for our

(01:02:46):
students and just for therelationships that they're
they're building right now witheach other and with with their
adult leaders as well.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:54):
Incredible.
Um okay, we're coming to the endof our time together here.
Britney, you good?
You got anything?
No, you sit you sitting on anythank you.
Yeah.
Um well, Trev, I appreciate you,respect you a lot.
I think like what you're doingis uh just like uh an apex

(01:03:15):
example of playing with the handyou're dealt.
It's like this is what we havespace-wise, this is what I have
time-wise, uh this isn't reallyworking the way we wanted it to.
The number of changes thatyou've been willing to make in
order to kind of hone in onsomething that's right for you
guys is really cool.

(01:03:36):
And I'm encouraged that it'sthat it's kind of working.
So thanks for coming on.
Thanks for sharing all that withus.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No problem.
Thanks, Charlie.
Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:47):
Brittany, thanks for being here today.
We're gonna let you add somebodyto our unnamed wall of honor.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:55):
It has never been named.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:56):
It has never been named.
Who do you have?

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:58):
That's sad.
Well, I have Brittany Michaels.
Classic.
Britney picked a Brittany.
Not only does she have a reallygreat name, uh, Brittany is a
youth minister up in Iowa, greatstate of Iowa, Grinnell
Christian Church.
And I got the opportunity tomeet her at YMS this last year

(01:04:19):
at Youth Ministry Summit in SanDiego.
And just connected and just loveher heart for Jesus, for the
church, for her students, herfamily, her dogs, uh, all of it.
Uh she is just she's been therefor years at at this church um
in Grinnell, Iowa.
And just a constant, theconsistency, the commitment that

(01:04:42):
she has.
Um just really great to hear andlearn uh from her.
But then this summer when I wasat Move in Nebraska, uh got to
run into her again.
And then so get to see that fromjust spending time with her as
you know, in San Diego, astalking, talking ministry,
talking shop, and then get tosee her actually with her

(01:05:04):
students and how great of aleader she is.
Um, just was the icing on thecake.
So I love it.
Um super great to know her andjust love her heart for Jesus
and for students.
So add her to the board.
Brittany Michaels, what a name.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:19):
Brittany Michaels.
Is it spelled right?

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:22):
It is, yes, that is a very good question, Brad.
Uh she it is spelled right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:28):
This is the first edition to the board that I do
not know.
So I'm very excited uh and happyto learn about the ministry that
you're doing, Brittany.
Thank you.
Um also thanks to Trevor for thevery insightful and wonderful
conversation.
Thanks, Brittany, for beinghere.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:44):
Of course.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:45):
Today's episode is produced by Michael Hester,
Lauren Bryan, and myself.
If you like what you heard, besure to subscribe to Beyond the
Event wherever you get yourpodcast.
Uh, our next episode is going tobe not in two weeks.
It's gonna be after the newyear.
We're taking a little break forthe holidays, but when we come
back, you'll get to hear fromthe guy.

(01:06:06):
You'll get to hear from JasonFrench.
So if you don't want to missthat, like I said, subscribe.
We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_04 (01:06:14):
Merry Christmas!