BTE4.03 Scaling for Growth: Trips with Tyler Lemmel and Mikey Sackrider

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Brad Warren.
This is Beyond the Event, ayouth ministry podcast presented
by Christ in Youth, where wehelp you maintain momentum
between the mountaintops.
We're back.
We're back.
I'm so excited.
Okay, a couple things.
One, if you don't know already,we're on video.
We're on YouTube, so check usout there if you want to watch

(00:26):
me be awkward, or just listen ifyou're driving.
Don't watch if you're driving.
That's my advice.
Also, today we're starting alittle mini-series about how to
scale for growth.
This is for everybody, whetheryou have five people in your
ministry and you would like tosee it grow to 10, or whether

(00:48):
you have 25 and you would liketo see it grow to 50, or whether
you have 100 and you would liketo see it grow to 500.
No matter what healthy thingsgrow and we want to have
conversations that can hopefullyhelp you gain to think about
what it would look like to seethat type of growth in your
youth ministry.

(01:08):
So today we're talkingspecifically about trips.
We'll be talking about it laterwith a guy named Tyler Lamel.
Right now I'm going to talk tomy good friend, mikey Sackrider.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Bradley.
Hi, mikey, so good to be here.
I'm really thrilled to have you.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Honestly, Great introduction, by the way, oh
thank you, that's so sweet.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Number one most encouraging person Mikey
Sackrider.
That's a real thing.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Here's the deal.
You just got done with yourfirst full CIY summer, first one
.
Yeah.
What do we think?
What surprised you?
What you know?
Like yeah how was it?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
man.
Uh, I know it's fun.
Last time I was on here wasbefore.
Obviously we're getting ready.
So now it's like how is mikeydoing afterwards?

Speaker 1 (01:58):
how are you, though?
I am doing great.
Thank you, I really am.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
It was an amazing summer.
Uh, honestly, like could nothave even imagined, uh, you know
what it was going to be likeuntil you do it.
And then I did it, and I mean,just looking back, I am still so
excited and so proud of ourteam.
I mean just knowing all thesteps that it took to accomplish
what we accomplished and forstudents to hear the message

(02:21):
that they heard and were thethings that we look at and want
to do better always Right, butlooking back, we're I'm just so
thrilled and excited to see what, what God did and how students
heard about rest through Jesusand um man, getting to be at
events, directing a couple andbeing an assistant director,
getting to connect with some newpeople, new friends.
It was amazing, um, so couldnot be more thrilled.

(02:44):
But now we're looking into 2025, which is crazy 2025.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Yeah, let's talk about 2025 alittle bit, because I know we've
brought up several times onthis podcast that the move cycle
is like an 18-month cycle.
So you guys have known whatwe're going to be talking about
in 2025 for for a while now, andnow that we're through 2024,

(03:14):
you get to really put your footon the gas, lean in and unpack
this, this new topic, this newtheme of in between in between
looking at the book of hebrews,that's it so how did you land on
hebrews?
I'm curious about that, becauseit's a little bit.
It is a little bit of a deepcut when you think about like
theme for camp it's like nobodyjumps to heap, you know what I

(03:37):
mean.
Yes, so we understand.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah especially as we've been exploring it, you
know, and talking about it.
Um, yeah, it is.
It is a kind of it really is.
It's not really one that we runto first.
There's many others that wewould usually go to first, but
no, I think really, when youthink about the context of
Hebrews and who it was writtentowards and what they were going

(04:01):
through, they were kind of onthe brink of like do we quit or
do we keep following Christ?
You know, is this is this reallyworth it?
Really, it's kind of thequestion they were asking in
coming off of this past summer,finding rest in Jesus, One of
the things that you know we knownot only students, but myself.
I've been here where you'refollowing Jesus, You're feeling
good about it.
You know, you have thismountaintop moment.

(04:21):
You, you have this mountaintopmoment.
You see what God can do in yourlife.
You go back home, you grow inChrist, but there's still that
moment where you either gothrough a trial or you kind of
just go through the motions andyou realize, man, is it worth it
?
Like, do I keep doing this ordo I quit, Do I back off?
And I don't know?
Hebrews is such a cool stage forus to get to talk about that
and say how do you strengthenyour faith?

(04:42):
So, even when there is thattrial, or even when you feel
like you've kind of hit aplateau, what is next for you?
What does Jesus have in storefor you, and what are you going
to hold on to?
You know, what are you going tohang on to it to find that
endurance.
And so one of the cool thingsis you know we have a resource
here over at Ozark.
His name's Chad Ragsdale.
He's awesome.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Maybe you know him His name's Chad Ragsdale.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
He's awesome.
Maybe you know him.
He has a lot to say aboutHebrews and we got to meet with
him and talk with him.
This was early on.
We first thought about Hebrewsand just hearing his heart for
it and hear him talking about it, it had that theme and that's
how we knew all right, we'regoing to go for it.
This is what we need to do.
We feel like God's what God hasin store.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
It's definitely like it feels very different from
2024 to me in a lot of wayswhich, by the way, the program
was incredible as a friend, notas a co-worker.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Thanks, bro, Really really loved it.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
So to you and all the many, many, many hands that
touched that it was just reallyreally great.
So tell me what you're like.
Why does this?
If you get up in the morningand you're like I'm excited to
go to work, I'm excited to diginto this Hebrews in between
theme, what is it that you'reexcited about, Like what's

(06:00):
getting you jazzed for 2025?

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Oh man, I think.
Well, first and foremost, justgetting to walk through a book
of the Bible it's kind ofrefreshing in and of itself.
You know, last year being thetheme of rest was phenomenal,
and getting to walk throughPsalm 23, I thought was really
really neat, and getting to seeJesus play that out.
But there's something a littlerefreshing about a difference
there where you're just allright, let's focus on this one

(06:24):
book, let's focus on theaudience, unpack the context of
it all.
That I think what's reallygetting me excited about it is.
I think it's taking on thatchallenge of it being an unusual
book, especially, I'm assuming,for students, and just
unpacking it for them and sayingyou are in the same boat, Like
you might not realize it, butthe people who are reading

(06:45):
Hebrews, who this is written for, like we're all in this boat
and let us explain this to youand let us encourage you in it.
One of the themes that we'rekind of finding is this theme of
like testimony right.
Obviously of Hebrews 11,probably the most popular
section of Hebrews, with thehall of faith.
Right yeah, and just theirtestimony of legacy and how they
followed Christ.
And the author is remindingthis audience of like hey, if

(07:09):
you are trying to focus on ifyou want to quit or not, look
back at these people who did notquit and look what happened.
And I think that's going toreally lead us towards some cool
moments this summer, maybe evenwith, like, adult leaders and
just their testimony to Christ.
And then a student being ableto say this is my testimony for
Christ, and just that theme oftestimony that right now is

(07:30):
making me very excited aboutsome of the stuff that we're
going to be able to do.
And it is a world I want to saythat, like this whole time
we've been thinking about andpraying about it, the in-between
is becoming like a place Likethat sounds weird, but it's just
.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's like this place Like the upside down.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
A little bit.
I know that's funny becauseI've thought that before.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Like I've had that thought of like what is the in
between?
Like, where is this place?
It's purgatory.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
That's what we're preaching about.
Yeah, you know, I don't thinkthat's what purgatory is.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
I thought it was about time.
Yeah, um, that's fantastic.
We're not talking about that.
Yeah, um, but.
But yeah, just that idea of thein-between and it has like a
lot of um, it's just so richbecause you're reaching back to
the old testament and you're,yeah, it's just going to be a
really cool place to live.
I'm very excited about it.
Yeah, I'm kind of nerding out alittle bit.
That's great.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
No, I can tell by listening to talk about it that
you're very passionate about it,which is awesome, um, like it.
You know you wouldn't want thethe move theme to feel like a
chore or something that's likeman, I feel like we need to talk
about this, but it's kind of aslog, like the fact that you're
so pumped about it makes mepumped about it too it is not a
slog and we like, uh, on ourlast episode two weeks ago, we
talked to Richie Shilladay andlike this theme.

(08:43):
You know, richie, yeah, thistheme of like story you know,
really really kind of rose tothe top of that conversation as
well.
Yeah and uh, yeah, the the ideathat our testimony is kind of
all we got.
Yeah, is.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
It's a big deal.
Yeah, I mean, it is a very bigdeal.
You can't mess with someone'spersonal right you know,
experience with what, with whatthey're going through, what
they've been through?
Yeah, it really speaks a lot.
I love it, yeah Well.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I cannot wait for 2025.
I love CYY Summers and I'm nota programmer, so it's always fun
for me to.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
You should be one for a day.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
You want to do that.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
I program the podcast .

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Oh, you're a podcast programmer, but I'm not a movie
programmer.
Yeah, I'll be a programmer fora day.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Take a good day yeah, all right, um, but anyway, all
that to say it's, it's, it's, uh, I get to like experience the
magic of it being revealed to me, kind of which is always fun,
so I'm excited to get to get tohave that happen with uh, with
this in between theme, so which,speaking of which, sorry, real

(09:49):
quick I didn't say this aboutthe difference between this
summer and last summer,hopefully even by the poster
that people have seen.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
There is a difference in just the way that this whole
thing feels.
It's supposed to kind of belike a breath.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
A breath, a fresh, a breath of fresh air yeah, um
maybe not as uh which last yearthe poster was designed to like
create tension.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
It was, and then this one is supposed to have a lot
of like breath and yeah, it's alittle more airy it was
intentional.
Um.
So yeah, but it's gonna be.
It is gonna be different, butin a really cool way.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I love it so for those of you that registered for
uh, for mover mix, we'll haveone of those posters on their
way to you real soon, I think,yeah if you don't already have
one so, um, anyway, uh, mikey,would love to have you answer a
couple questions from youthpastors.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Time for the mailbag that's the closest mail it never
, fails it makes me wanna wag mytail when it comes.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
I wanna well mill can we get like sued for that, or
how does that work?
I don't know.
Okay, that's a good question.
Do you think blues clues isgonna sue us?
He's coming for us, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Steve, is that his name?
Steve Steve Burns?

Speaker 4 (10:54):
well, and it's not Steve anymore well, it's not
Steve anymore, but like for thethree of us, it was when we were
children.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, it was Steve.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Yeah there's also, just like there's, a common
misconception um out there thatsteve burns died um.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
That is not true, in fact what if it's one of those,
like avril lavigne conspiracytheories, where it's like he's
dead and they've body doubledhim?

Speaker 4 (11:19):
well, except that, except that he is the one that
is like telling people Iliterally didn't die.
I don't know why people thinkthat I died.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
And it's not like a conspiracy thing that a person
who is covering for a deadperson yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
You can find him on Instagram.
His Instagram handle is SteveBurns Alive.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Shout out to Steve from Blue's Clues Did you make
that?

Speaker 4 (11:43):
up.
No, I follow him on instagram.
Okay, that's a real thing.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Anyway, we have a question from tim gray donovan's
a new one, by the way hey timgray.
Sorry, I love that guy, timgray, uh tim uh, tim has a fun
question.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
If you were going to get a tattoo on your forearm,
what would it be and why do youwait?
Do you have?

Speaker 2 (12:03):
tattoos.
I have one where's it at?
Uh bicep okay, yeah yeah, itsays wake up a sleeper, oh yeah
yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, it'sbiblical oh, just so you know.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Yeah, yeah, the.
The second part of thatquestion is if you already have
one on your forearm, what wouldyou add to it and why?
Oh, I don't have one on myforearm.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
If I were to get one oh man it's it would be a
reference to my, my kids, myfamily and my kids, um,
something very specific to them.
I mean, their names havespecific meanings, probably
something like that.
So, uh, olivia is my daughter,olive branch kind of from that,
so probably something with that,owens like a mighty warrior, so
maybe like a sword, I don'tknow.
They could all go together.
Oh yeah, totally so, somethingepic, it's not gonna happen but

(12:49):
what is eliana?
um.
Hers is light, so I don't knowhow you I'm getting an idea in
my mind oh hey, if you're anartist, you're listening to this
.
I probably won't get ittattooed, but if I ever did, you
want to draw it?

Speaker 1 (13:01):
best artist I know is Mikey's hat cried hair.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
I'm sorry that I'm your.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Wow, that's a low standard uh, I'll just sign
someone's tattoo.
It's not a low standard.
You are very talented.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
Mikey used to be on our design team.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
I did.
I didn't do hand-drawn stuff,though, but I could.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
I could figure it out you could, you could act it
someone got the with me wall.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
If you guys were at move this summer, one of our
events staff he got that with mewall, like just the words on
his forearm.
That was pretty cool.
So yeah, closest thing I canget to designing someone's
tattoo.
Is that right there?

Speaker 1 (13:35):
oh, but people do that.
People get ciy tattoos all thetime they do.
I just met a guy who had on hisforearm the like sewer.
Oh, that's a new one.
Yeah, that's a cool one.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Yeah, he's actually rightbehind you.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Or the year of contrast, thosewere some pretty popular a lot
of it.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Which good reason.
Those are, yeah, pretty sick.
They're awesome yeah I love itdo you have any?

Speaker 4 (13:57):
tattoos michael, I don't have any tattoos.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
I know that actually yeah, what would you get he?

Speaker 4 (14:02):
wouldn't?
Um, actually, no, I've beenthinking about it.
Oh really yeah this is uh mypublic announcement, I guess and
also your private announcementto me.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
I had no idea.
Yeah, that's true there's.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
There's probably four people that I've ever talked to
about this before.
Now and now we're just blowingthis thing wide open.
Amazing, um, I've been thinkingabout getting a tattoo, um,
straight out of rom.
Romans 5 8 from the NIV.
The whole verse says but Goddisplays his own love for us in
this, that while we were stillsinners, christ died for us.
And I'm thinking about justgetting God displays his own

(14:36):
love as just like text on my arm.
I've not decided yet if that'sactually what I'm going to do or
if I'm even going to followthrough at all, but that's what
I've been thinking yet, ifthat's actually what I'm going
to do or if I'm even going tofollow through at all but,
that's what I've been thinkingabout.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Great verse.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
by the way, it's a great verse.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
It's been extremely formative for me and has helped
me through a whole lot ofdifferent things.
I like to change out the whilewe were still sinners to, while
I was still fill in the blankwith anything and still say you
know, Christ died for us.
Um and that has helped methrough a lot of things, the
biggest probably being lowself-esteem.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Yeah, I love that dude.

Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah, you should do it.
That's a good tattoo.
I'm telling you, I'm thinkingabout it.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Comic sans I love it.
Yeah, Good idea Uh thanks tobrad.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Did you answer the question?
Uh, no, I do not have a tattooon my forearm.
I have several tattoos.
If I were to get a tattoo on myforearm, I would not probably
get a text of any kind.
I would do, I think I would geta bird.

Speaker 4 (15:40):
Oh, okay, there's a lot of different kinds of bird
in flight.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
So I have a couple of like favorite birds all right,
one is uh a great blue heron,okay very florida so very
florida of me.
The other is a sandhill cranethe raptor of the south.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, that's what that is.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
You can see straight through their nostrils when
they're looking away from you.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's so weird.
They're pretty crazy, I hatethose things you know.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
In like minnesota they hunt them.
They call them the ribeye ofthe sky oh yeah, florida hasn't
figured that out yet they'reprotected in florida there you
go.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, we did figure it out um great blue heron.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Uh, scissortail flycatcher is is one of my
favorite birds.
Michael took a beautifulpicture of a scissortail
flycatcher that I would love tohave can you print that for me.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
I can just on his arm I no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
I want to print out that picture.
Yep, um, and then also northerncardinal state, bird of
kentucky, yeah, and they're justbeautiful, they're striking and
lovely yep yep.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
so I don't know I'm with there, I don't know what
I'd do.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, great question Tim.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
We have another question, this one from Gracie
Bursak.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Gracie was an event staff for the last couple of
years.
For the last couple of years,yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
We're jingling all the way today this question.
I think this is an interestingquestion.
I don't know if I have ananswer for this question, but I
think it is very thoughtprovoking.
I am so ready.
What do you know about God nowthat you didn't when you started
this year or semester, orbefore the summer?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Whoa what Wow.

Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Different than Sand Hill Korean conversation, but a
good conversation.
So let me understand oh my gosh, different than the Sandhill
Crane conversation, but a goodconversation.
So let me understand this whatdid you not know about God?

Speaker 4 (17:30):
but now, a year later , you do what have you learned
about God in the last year?
I think there could be someflexibility to this question
it's not like head knowledge butlike what?
Is something that, like you,hadn't internalized or reminder
man, that's a beefy question.
It's a beefy question I have ananswer if you want to think
about it.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
I need some time there was a line actually in the
in the move director scriptthis summer where, um, we came
back out on stage after a, maybeone of the michael defazio
videos or something, I don'tremember okay, but we came back
out on stage and the first linein the script that you had

(18:10):
written, um, or somebody hadwritten, is that god is not
impressed by what you can do forhim.
Yeah, and it's like I'm a verybig doer and when things break,
like I want to fix them, yeah,and obviously I've known that.
You know, I, I I never wouldhave like refuted that statement

(18:31):
and on an intellectual basis,but something about this summer
in the programming and living inthat world of rest for two
months, um, was just reallyimpactful for me mine is is
similar meaning that it's withrest like for the summer and
it's also something that Michaelsaid in his video is walking

(18:53):
with Jesus, working at rest,just that whole concept of
working for rest.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
It seems so backwards , yeah, but when you really
start thinking about digginginto it, you're like, yeah,
that's exactly what Jesuspreached.
You have to work at this, youhave to, you have to, um,
establish this walk and rhythmwith him and then you will
experience rest because of that,like it's a result of how you
walk with him, and at first itseems so backwards.
You're like, wait, wait, wait,work to rest, right, and that's,

(19:19):
you know, obviously, the pointthat he was making there.
But yeah, that all summer I waschewing on that and thinking
about it and I hadn't reallybefore, honestly.
So that was a big, that was abig one for me.
Michael DeFazio, dude throwingheaters.
Well, and I'll tell you what manI mean, kind of behind the
scenes like being a part of that, that project.
He was a, If you know.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Michael, you know that is like not as far as the
nicest yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
No, that's what I was going to say.
Is he's just the real deal andjust the way that he, yeah, the
way that he unpacked.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
that was perfect, so, and he's like we're thankful
for as smart as he is and asgifted of a communicator as he
is to be that humble.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Is like insane.
Yeah, it's literally likeincomprehensible to me.
Yeah, and if you ever see him.
I was like, if I could talklike that, if I could explain
things like that, right, oh mygosh.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
And just for context, if you maybe it's a little
fuzzy for you.
He was in the video where withthe timer at the end it was
black and white.
That's Michael DeFazio.
We gave him a nickname thissummer.
You ready for this nickname?

Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yep wrestling name.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
It's official, so if you see him, please call him
that.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Does he know that?
He does, he does know that.
Yeah, it's amazing yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
All right, well, thank you Gracie, thank you Tim,
thank you Michael, thank youMikey.
Absolutely, let's go.
This is going to be a goodconversation that we're getting
ready to have.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Tyler's awesome.
We're talking to tyler lamel.
He is the next gen operationspastor at uh traders point
christian church in indianapolis.
So we've talked to ann wilson,who's like tyler's boss cool on
this podcast before beginning totalk to tyler about how they
plan for growth when it comes totheir trips.
Specifically, like our contextwould be move and mix, obviously
, but um, so, like they, theybrought 500 people to move this

(21:11):
year.
Mikey most of the peoplelistening to this right now did
not bring 500 people right, yeah, you know what I mean but it's
like so much of, uh, these ideasand these principles can be
scaled down to almost any levelof youth ministry and like, if
you're able to even take an ideaof an idea of one of these

(21:33):
things and put it into practice,it's, it's going to make
people's lives so much easier.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, you know, yeah, that'd be a good encouragement
as you listen to.
This is is try to try to findthe scalability for you.
What does this look like inyour context?
Because there is so much thereand I think it's just a matter
of figuring out how it wouldwork in your context whether
you're taking, you know, five,10, 100 or more.
So, yeah, and getting to see, Idid get to see Tyler this
summer and just get to see, like, how they operated and got to

(22:00):
get coffee with him.
I mean it is, it's reallyimpressive, really impressive.
I mean the intentionality andjust to the details and to their
leaders, uh, it was veryimpressive.
It was cool getting to see himin action.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
so, well then, let's go talk to him.
Let's do it.
Tyler lamelle, bestie, welcome,hey, there to be on the event.
Um, this is special for meright now.
This is a very sweet moment forme because Mikey and Tyler and

(22:30):
I all went to Florida ChristianCollege together.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
May it never cease.
May it never cease.
Did you plan this?

Speaker 1 (22:40):
It did in fact cease.
It's gone, but we are not thespirit of it has not ceased.
That's true, that's true.
So, anyway, it just makes mehappy that all three of us are
here together now, all theseyears later, doing a podcast you
know normal stuff.
So anyway, tyler, I looked upsome numbers that are kind of

(23:06):
wild.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
This is going to surprise, even you.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Okay, I'm sure it will.
So this summer you guys broughtlike 500 people to move.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
The number of churches that can relate to that
experience.
You can like count them on yourfingers Okay, it's not a lot of
people, okay.
You can like count them on yourfingers okay, it's not a lot of
people, okay.
Less than 10 years ago, in 2015, do you know how many people
traders point christian churchbrought to move?
no, I mean, I know how I vaguelyknow how many we brought, like

(23:39):
six years ago I want you toventure a guess as to how many
people you think Traders PointChristian Church brought to move
in 2015.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
I don't know, I say 15.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
You're very close 22 people, okay, 22 people.
So not a lot of people canrelate to the 500, but a lot of
people can relate to the 500,but a lot of people can relate
to the 22.
You are a literal expert in howto uh make sure that your trip
infrastructure is growing inproportion to the number of

(24:15):
people that that want to come uhon your events.
So the people want to know, thepeople want to know you know,
the people want to know how dowe uh prepare for growth when it
comes to our trips?
Because you never know, lookingdown the pike, you might be
bringing 22 people to move thiscoming summer.
In 10 years from now, you mightbring 500.

(24:36):
So that is just a wild stat tome.
What's the percentage?
Can we calculate that realquick?
What's the percentage growth onthat?

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Not really a big math guy.
I'll be honest with you.
I'm going to.
It's a lot.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
It's like Not me.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Hold on, hold on hold on.
I feel like Michael's the kindof guy that could do that in his
head.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
I'm not, you're not, I'm very much not.
All right, I also went to Biblecollege and did not take a math
course, so I took one.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
I believe it is 2,200% growth, that's if that's
a true thing, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
That's wild.
I went to Bible college, we allwent to Bible college.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
No one actually knows the right answer, but we're
going with 2,200%, 2,273%.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Which is insane, insane.
Yeah, that is an absolutelywild number.
So, anyway, that's crazy.
Your first year bringingstudents to move with traders
point was in 2019.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Let's talk about my, my first actually year was 2020
oh well, which I?
Don't know if we want to talkabout rest all Rest in peace and
peace.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Let's not talk about that.
Yeah, let's, let's skip thatguy.
Uh, cause nobody did move in2020 and let's talk about 2021.
What so?
Um, that was you know fouryears ago or whatever, uh, four
summers ago.
We'll say what do you, uh, whatdo ago?

(26:07):
We'll say what do you rememberabout doing that for?

Speaker 3 (26:08):
the first time, talk to me about 2021 move.
Okay, well, I was about to havea baby, so I didn't actually
even go Amazing but I plannedthe trip and it was a dark year,
I will say.
2020 came with its owninteresting circumstances,
though, because we were able tohost, mix at and move at, our

(26:30):
church.
Suddenly, those summer tripsthat had been very expensive and
just a really small group ofreally bought in students, like
all those parameters, were justgone because it was at our
church and so it was was $50 andit was like bring anybody you
want to bring, so the numberslike increased significantly in

(26:52):
2020.
And that was a pretty coolthing for us, because a lot of
people who had never seen asummer event got to experience
it for the first time, and that,I think, launched some momentum
with summer camps.
Not that I would wish 2020 onanyone, but it did do something.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, it was a catalyst for the future growth
for you guys.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah exactly Um 2021, we were still Brad.
Do you know how many people webrought in 2018?

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh yeah, I got it.
I got it on the lock.
Hold on, you got to riff.
Tell a story, mikey.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
How was your summer, mikey?
Tell a story.
It was great.
I was going to say do we wantto guess?
What?
Do you think it was, tyler, ifyou were to take a guess.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
I think, including adults, it was under 50.
Let's see how close he getsthat's a fun guy.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
You've got to riff more, more, okay, okay, well I
don't.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
I don't need to keep riffing, I will just keep.
Keep telling the story and youcan provide some context as we,
as we go along.
Okay, look that up.
So do you have it?
Are you just saying?

Speaker 1 (28:00):
okay, I've uh 61, 61, 61.
Okay, it's fast Okay, it's fastOkay.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
So we took 61 people and then in 2021, we took 136.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
I don't even.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
Okay, so those are More than double.
I mean more than double, yep,and we were not prepared for
that.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Okay, so wait, let's just lean into that a lot.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
I'm gonna just lean into that a lot what?

Speaker 1 (28:23):
is being not prepared for that look like.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
So we went to a venue we'd never gone to before and
we just showed up and expectedit to be fine.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
I'm guessing all of your expectations were met.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
I just wouldn't say that it was fine.
I just wouldn't say that it wasfine.
We brought group leaders andnobody else.
We had our youth team.
We were actually at mix andmove the same week, so like half
of our youth staff was at mixand half of them were at move.

(29:00):
Amazing, can't recommend that.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
And you were at neither Right either right and
we had.
Yeah, I think this version ofthis version of fine is like the
dog who's sitting in the firedrinking coffee, saying this is
fine.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
It's that kind of fine.
Yeah, yeah, it was that kind offine.
Um, we didn't do reallyanything outside of just
bringing group leaders for thosestudents, and we didn't do
really anything outside of justbringing group leaders for those
students and we didn't evenhave enough.
So it was like all of our staffwas also leading a group except
for one person.
That was like they're the tripleader and then everybody else
is there.
I don't know where to say thebreaking point is, but after a

(29:39):
hundred you definitely can't dothat.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, I think it's actually lower than that.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
It's.
I think it's actually lowerthan that.
It's.
Yeah, I think it'ssignificantly lower than that,
but one person leading the tripwas not enough people to run the
trip, right?
Um, in fact, one of our uhstaff members who was at mix she
just like jokes that sheremembers sitting in the car and
calling me and crying on theway to Walmart to buy two liter

(30:07):
sodas for like skip a meal day.

Speaker 4 (30:10):
It was like she just was so overwhelmed, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
So I would just say, like people are such an
important part of the wholething and you can't.
I mean that's it's obviouslywhy we're doing.
It is for the students thatwe're taking.
But it's like you can't run atrip that's getting large like
that.
The same way you run a trip for50 or 60 people.

(30:33):
The simplicity of like I mean,if you take 60 people, it's like
that's an easy group text withyour leaders and it's like
that's done.
You kind of need a differentplan for how to communicate.
You need different rhythms forlike meeting with people, cause
you're not all stayingnecessarily on the same floor
next to each other.
Um, you know, it's like there'sall these things that start to

(30:56):
kind of come out as you dig intowhat a larger trip looks like.
And we didn't do any of that.
We just like got themregistered, got their forms
turned in, got them on buses offthey went.
That was it.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
So I have so many questions I want to ask how did
that come back to bite you?
I guess is the first questionthat I want to ask.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
So you know, if you were a youth pastor during COVID
like you probably saw thatstudents were not doing great.
They were not well.
I mean, if you were a personduring COVID, you probably saw
that people weren't doing great.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
I was not well.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
No, who was well, but students were really, I mean,
having a hard time.
They'd all been pent up in theirhouses and they had a lot of
energy to get out, which cameout in some exciting ways.
I don't know what else to saythere, but there was just a lot
of behavior things that weregoing on.

(32:02):
There was a lot of anxiety thatwe were really unprepared for.
There was a lot of.
There were a lot of like mentalhealth crises going on, I would
say, and we'd also done verylittle to equip our leaders for
how to navigate the things thatstudents were facing.

(32:24):
So, um, yeah, there's a lotthere with that.
I mean, students werenavigating a lot of mental
health stuff and leaders hadjust gone through covid and like
I don't mean this in any way aslike shade toward adults, but

(32:45):
yeah, younger adults we werefinding were very much like
wanting to be therapists inthose situations and it's like
there were some older adults whowere kind of like yeah, right,
yeah, You're not a therapist,but they were like really afraid
to say, hey, I don't think I'mthe right person to talk to
about this, or like I want tohelp you.

(33:08):
So yeah, it's two o'clock in themorning and you haven't slept
in three days, but like let'sjust stay up till six talking
and then we'll just go eatbreakfast.
You know where do I say stopRight, and like when is that
Okay?
How, what do boundaries looklike?
Can you have boundaries withmental health?
Um, um, I just like don't evenknow what it's like.
You're anxious, so you'refeeling depressed, but like does

(33:31):
that equal this?
What?
How do I have a conversationwhen you are experiencing
suicidal thoughts?
Like what do I do?
We were just not prepared, yeah,and so that was like, honestly,
I took some notes of things Iwanted to hit on.
It was like that was one of thebig things up front was, we came
back from that trip and it waslike what are we doing to equip

(33:54):
our leaders to navigate thedifferent types of mental health
problems that students arefacing?
Because, you know, on any, anytrip, it's like some students
end up experiencing griefbecause somebody has recently
passed away, or like, worse,passes away while they're, you
know, on the trip.
Um, students are just anxious,people are anxious, um, people

(34:19):
are depressed, um, thoughts ofsuicide are just like a normal
thing for young people.
So what?
One thing that we did then toreact to that was we brought in
a therapist who helped createlike a mental health guide for
us, for students.
She trained our leaders onboundaries and like when it was
okay to kind of cut somebody offand you know, say why don't you

(34:42):
give them a positive next step,like why don't you go journal
about that and we'll connecttomorrow and talk?

Speaker 1 (34:46):
you know more about that and um, but, but uh,
situationally based like you,obviously, I only say that
because I wouldn't want somebodylistening to this to think that
you're saying, like someonewho's about like having suicidal
ideations, that you're tellingthem to go be by themselves in
journal.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
It's like situationally based appropriate
responses to certain situations,but yeah, exactly, and
sometimes it's like they'vegotten the whole story out and
now you've heard it three moretimes, and so she's like she
gave us tools, like once youstart hearing them repeat
themselves like they've said allthey're going to really say,

(35:24):
and so here's an appropriate wayto redirect some of that
conversation until the nextmorning.
So she actually wrote a mentalhealth guide for us so that when
a student's experiencing aspecific kind of mental health
situation, there are somejournaling prompts specifically
to help them work through that,and then you know the next step
is always to follow up the nextday if it's late at night.

(35:47):
I mean we want to give studentsspace to process, but talking
is only one way to process kindof what they're going through,
and so having a real tool forleaders to use in those moments
has been so valuable for ourleaders and it's given them so
much more um, so much moreagency in those situations to

(36:08):
and confidence, I'm sure yeah,yes just like you don't have to
sit there and wonder, like am Idoing the right thing?

Speaker 1 (36:15):
is this good, is this bad?
Is this exactly?

Speaker 3 (36:17):
it's like yeah, I know I need to deal with this
like urgent situation, and thisis when I need to bring in a
parent, this is when I shouldpoint them to a therapist.
This is, and so having a planfor what happens in those
situations was just so helpfulfor our leaders and was majorly
missing in 2021.

(36:38):
Right.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
And the reason I think this is important.
First of all, I want toapologize to Mikey really quick.
I didn't really prep Mikey forthis conversation at at all.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Um, he's here he's along for the ride.
He's hanging out.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
No, what I want to do is give you permission to say
absolutely anything that popsinto your mind at any time.
If you want to ask a question,ask a question.
If you want to say a thing, saya thing.
That's why you're here, becauseI super value your input.
You're just so good at what youdo, brad.
No, don't say that.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
I will.

Speaker 4 (37:06):
Sounds like Brad does not value your input.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
I value all of your input, except for that input Um
no, I, I just don't want you tofeel like you have to sit there
and just you know, part of thereason Mikey's here for those
listening and watching is notthat long ago you were also a
youth pastor at a growing youknow thriving church.
Every year, it's like when itcomes to trips, we're adding.

(37:30):
It's like, oh my gosh, what dowe do with all these?
kids but um, the, the, themental health pieces is, I think
, an important thing for peopleto think about, because it's
like if you bring a group of 22people to go back to 2015,
traders point, it's like you aremove and mix, create

(37:52):
environments where those typesof things can come to the
surface intentionally, that's agood thing, um, but if you have
a group of 22, that might happenzero times or one time on a
trip, and that might feel likereally manageable for like
whoever's the youth pastor,whoever's the trained person to
just like step in and kind of bethat person.

(38:14):
But when you kind of multiplythat exponentially as you get
larger and larger and larger andyou bring a group of 500 people
and now, all of a sudden,there's dozens of these
conversations happening all overcampus at any one given time,
that's when things can start toget like really overwhelming and
and feel really unprepared.

(38:34):
Um, so you, part of the reasonI say that is because I can see
somebody.
You've kind of mentioned thatwe only brought our staff team
and we only brought groupleaders, yeah, and I can see a
youth pastor hearing that andbeing like well, who else would
I bring?
You know what I mean.
Yeah.
And by a youth pastor, I mean me.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Yeah, like when I was in youth ministry.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
I would be like that's the people, those are the
people, that's who you bringWell, I mean 2021.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
Us could not imagine who else we would bring either.
Right clearly so what?

Speaker 1 (39:07):
how do you like scale for growth by in in what
personnel you're trying toidentify and bring on?
The trip and that kind of thingabsolutely so.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
I mean volunteers that aren't group leaders.
What are those categories?
Initially, safety was like ourbig thing and safety, like at
trader's point where I work,it's safety is its own ministry,
like part of, yeah, it's itsown department, yeah, and
there's, you know, a safetydirector and he oversees

(39:37):
volunteers.
Um, so he recruited volunteersto come along.
That included a medical person.
So if you're not bringingsomebody who's medically
inclined, I just can't recommendthat enough, because the number
of injuries and also like Idon't know how to say this
kindly like fake injuries thathappen at camp, it's like

(39:58):
there's, there's real injurieson summer trips, and there's
also like like the, I need tohave something wrong injuries.
Yeah, it's like could you pleasewrap my hand four times a day.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
It's like well, the guy that broke his foot got a
lot of attention, so yeah I justlike I need a.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Could I get in on that here?
What about a car wheel gonewrong, you know?
So just like somebody to helpnavigate some of that, because
it's kind of hard to be acompassionate group leader in
those situations sometimes, whenit's like okay, you're fake
injured, like right, move onright.

(40:36):
But leaders who, you know,adults who have some more
capacity to really just helpwith the real injuries and the
real issues there.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
But then also like identify what's real and what's
fake.
You know, yeah, I was like Idon't know.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
Well, there's no swelling, no bruising.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeahhaving bringing the safety team
has been really great for us andtheir, their support is just so
much about helping students.
And so I think, if you've got asafety or security team at your

(41:13):
church and there's people tobring along, I do think
sometimes I've seen wherechurches bring that team and
it's like all about security andthat's kind of not really the
vibe.
You know, there are elements ofthat making sure students
aren't sneaking out at night,like that is part of what they
do, yeah, but most of whatthey're doing is serving

(41:35):
students who are, you know, needsunscreen, need a band-aid need
their fake hand injury wrapped,or like need to go to the
hospital like it's them and ayouth pastor, you know who then
has the margin to take them andthe group leader is still able
to lead their group.
So that was huge.

(41:56):
Bringing the safety team.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
And then the other thing, before we move on from
that, yep, I think one thingthat's really important, because
I think that's one of thosepositions that kicks in at a
much lower tier like, honestly,if you're bringing 30 or 40
people to move or mix, it's likehaving a nurse or an EMT or
somebody that even if it is oneof your small group leaders.
Maybe you can't afford to footthe bill for one of those people

(42:21):
to come along with you.
But conversations that we haveat Move every single summer are
like hey, listen, the directorand the co-director in the EC at
this event, we're a bunch ofwashed up youth pastors.
We are not medicalprofessionals.
Like we can't, they'll come andthey'll be like my kid broke
his leg and I'm like I don't.
I mean, do you want me to callan ambulance, like what you know

(42:44):
?

Speaker 3 (42:44):
yeah, but.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
And then scale that all the way down to even like
needing band-aids or ice orthings like.
We really are the, the, thepowers that be, would not really
want us even distributing thosetypes of things yes yeah, um.
So like having a nurse who canmanage prescriptions and hold on
to the first aid kit and helpwith some of those.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
We've got so many students on medication.
You know, like we just spoke tothe mental health thing.
It's like so many of them areon medications to help regulate
their mood.
So many of them are onmedication for different you
know um things that they're bornwith.
Or you know asthma it's likethere's allard epi pens.

(43:27):
It's like there's so manymedications.
Like we've made the decisionthat, like we don't want
students to have medications intheir rooms that's probably good
yeah yep, but you know, likealso, there was a day when we
hadn't written that down notthat long ago.
It was kind of like yeah, thegroup leader will handle it,

(43:49):
it's probably fine.
You know, it was like very notfine.
Yeah, so just having a plan forjust like bare bones medication
and what to do if somebody getshurt.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
And one of the things I love about all that you're
talking about with safety teamand you know someone being there
for medication and like a nursekind of role is all you're
doing is you're you're lettingyour group leaders really be
group leaders, right, you'relike you're eliminating all
these concerns or anxieties forthem that might get in the way
of them being a group leader.
Hey, just just focus on yourgroup and build those
relationships.

(44:23):
We have people here who canhelp you.
It was awesome.
I got to actually hang out withTraders Point this past summer
and just seeing how you guys didall that and the people that
you brought and I getscalability.
Not everyone can do that, buthowever you can do that now, to
whatever extent that is, I thinkit only helps your group
leaders really focus in and leanin on their students.
So I think it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Well, they have so much to do, right.
It's like, yeah, group leadersare parenting, right.
Yeah, they're discipling.
Yeah, you know this group of 10kids or whatever, all week long
.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
It's like they're doing so much already.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Yeah, what can we do to make sure that they can do
that well, so that we can takecare of the other stuff?

Speaker 1 (45:01):
that's just like a pain, right right, okay, so you
were getting ready to kind oflike move on in your list there.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Yeah, yeah, so it's like connected to that.
Then this year we brought whatwe called our ops team and I
wish I'd brought more people,but I but it was a team of five
of us.
For how many people did webring this year?
I?

Speaker 1 (45:23):
don't know, 500.
I think was your final number,yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
I would recommend more than one per 100 people.
So, whatever that is, but justto help manage the logistics
prior to working at Trader'sPoint, I'd only ever taken a
group of like 30 people anywhere, so the number of things that I
just thought I could do wasvery inaccurate.

(45:49):
You know, yeah, um, like I'dalways been in case of an
emergency, I'll just like run tothe store, you know, and I'll
just go get that thing or go setup that thing, and I can just
go grab that and pass that out.
That's really hard when yourtrip gets bigger.
It's like, how do you pass outsailor cards?

(46:10):
How do you like make sure thatstudents have what they need for
the response moment in thesession in the evening?
How do you like, what do you dowhen a student forgot that it
was gonna be hot and they didn'tbring any shorts?
You know, like, are you goingto make them wear sweatpants all

(46:34):
week when it's 100 and there'sno air?
You know like, no, you'reprobably gonna go find a way for
them to get shorts, but like,that's not easy when you're also
taking care of 400 and someother people and so figuring out
like, how do you anticipate,like what I, what I would kind
of sum it all up as isanticipating the needs of

(46:54):
students and leaders.
So, like, what can you, whatkind of volunteers can you bring
, and things can you make partof your summer trip rhythm to
anticipate those needs?

Speaker 1 (47:07):
yeah, whether it's like setting a caffeine for your
group leaders in the morningsor like having afternoon celsius
, I don't know, you know yeah umand like to my thing that we
every single one of these thingsis just a way to like make the
group lead, like everything goesback to the group leader.

(47:28):
Like you, I don't, yes, wantanybody to hear in this
conversation that, like that'sstill the most important role
right like the person who'sinvesting in all of this is like
existing in this atmospherearound those people in order to
uplift them, empower them andmake sure that their job is as
easy as it can possibly be,which isn't that easy, right.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Right, it's such a difficult job and so bringing
people along to support that hasjust been such.
It's been game changing for usbecause, like now, leaders, when
a leader finds out that astudent only brought jeans
because like they can't, likethey just like don't own shorts,

(48:11):
because they only own two pairsof pants at home, like they can
just text somebody and it'shandled.
You know they're not.
Like how do I help this student?
Like, do I door dash?
Know I mean that's like a realthing that we've dealt with
before.
It's like, you know, a studentliterally didn't bring stuff
because they couldn't afford itand they didn't have it.

(48:33):
How do we take care of them?
And group leaders then go tolike the ends of the earth
trying to solve these problemsand they don't have to.
So we've got people that areable to support on the trip and
they've got a note in theirphone of things to buy that day
at the store and that's part oftheir routine is just, they go
to the store, they buy stuff,they get it to those group
leaders and that's that.
So anticipating some of thoseneeds it's like caffeine for

(49:01):
leaders has been a big thingthat our leaders have
appreciated a lot.
We realized that we hadstudents that were like bedtime
was really hard, like it waslike lights are out.
It was like, but I'm hungry, Igot to go to the convenience
store.
I got to go, I got.
I'm going down to the vendingmachine in the basement Cause I
got to go, I got to have a snack.
I'm not going to fall asleepwithout a snack, you know.
So we've started like buyingbedtime snacks for everybody
which seems so crazy, but it'slike they.

(49:25):
It was like an extra 45 minutesof the evening was just like
trying to get everybody to stopgoing to the vending machine.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
So, and we actually take away phones at bedtime, so
they turn them into their groupleader at bedtime and we they
turn in their phone, they get abedtime snack.
So some students don't care butsome are like, yeah, I'll turn
in my phone for a snack you know, so I would turn in my phone
for a snack and here's mycharger.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
I mean yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Yeah, you can throw it out the window for snacks,
yeah, uh, and then like extrasupplies.
Like I said, it's like the kidsthat forgets the students that
forget stuff.
We started extra supplies.
Like I said, it's like the kidsthat forgets the students that
forget stuff.
We started packing some of thattoo, so that toothbrushes and
toothbrushes, toothpaste,deodorant and sleeping bags,
pillows.
It's like we just have a stashof all of that that we keep in

(50:14):
the dorms now and so those opsvolunteers are able to just go
get that anytime a student islike I don't have this thing, so
it's been a great way to kindof help take care of group
leaders in moments where they'reprobably just you know,
exhausted and ready for bed.
Like nobody ever spills a waterbottle on their bed at like 2pm

(50:34):
, it's like 2am and it's likewhy are you awake?
Why is your bed wet?
It's like I need to go to thestore to buy a sleeping bag
right now.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Oh man, um, yeah.
So I think the personnel thingis funny, cause, um, it's just
something that I never wouldhave thought about.
But I can even think of storiesfrom when I was a youth pastor
and never, like we would take, Idon't know, 40 or 50 kids, um,

(51:09):
to move the like some of thethings you're describing would
have been absolute game changers, um, but I think money is like
a hang-up for a lot of people.
It's like okay, so we'rescaling for growth, which means
I probably need to bring amedical professional with me and
maybe I'll bring one additionallike right hand man or woman to

(51:33):
help with some of theselogistical things, whatever.
It's like okay, that's $700,$800 just in CLA registration
fees.
I can't find that in my budget.
Like, what is your guysapproach to all of that, ben?

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Yeah, I mean, I want to be really honest.
It's like the leadership of ourchurch believes in CIO.
Okay, so we've been.
We've asked for a lot moremoney than we used to ask for,
because students used to, whenwe were bringing, you know, 22

(52:08):
students or whatever it was like, we also charged 550 dollars
per student and so in 2015dollars.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
Yeah, yeah, it was like we were charging.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
We were charging everything that that trip cost,
like Trader's Point was notpaying a dime for camp you know.
And then as time went on, itwas like, yeah, there's a little
bit of expense involved withthis.
And then it was like, yeah,this is expensive, but it's also
expensive for students and likepart of our strategy as a youth

(52:43):
ministry is going to ciy eventslike we believe that's going to
help connect students to themission of our church and the
church like as much as anythingelse is going to.
So because we were able, likebecause we identified that ciy
is a huge part of our strategyas a ministry, we went to our

(53:07):
leadership and said that it'svery expensive, it's going to
cost us a lot.
What can we do to bring downthe cost for students?
That was a real conversation wehad.
What can we do to bring downthe cost?
But sometimes it's as simple asasking, like that was a.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
I mean, that was a real conversation we had, you
know what can we do to bringdown?
The cost, but sometimes it's assimple as asking it's like okay
, person who manages the budget,can we get some more money for
this?

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Yeah.
And it was like, okay, that's alot, but you know, I see the
plan here, plan here, and thenwe've been so we've been really
intentional about growing itthrough marketing and through
lowering the cost and how wetalk about it as a church.
It's like all those things haveadded up to bigger and bigger

(53:54):
events and like our leadershiphas continued to buy into what
is happening and like they seestudents come back and it's like
students are coming back andthey're getting baptized.
Students are coming back andthey start serving and engaging
in the life of our church.
Students are coming, they'rebeing kingdom workers.
You know it's like they'redoing exactly what we all pray
and hope will happen.

(54:16):
So leaders are, our leadershipis seeing that and it's like,
yeah, that is making thedifference that we want to make
in the lives of students.
So we want to invest in thatand I know that.
You know money is just like abig thing and it is will not be
that easy everywhere.
So I don't want to, you know,just say it's as easy as asking

(54:39):
sometimes, sometimes, sure, butlike even being willing to just
like be creative, you know yes,it's like yeah, I don't know if
you're bringing a hundred peopleto move and you're wanting to
bring you know one additionalleader spot.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
It's like there are creative ways to figure out how,
how to how to make that work.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Yeah, I'm, and the other thing that I found is like
there are some adults who wouldgo on the trip to do that and
would pay for themselves.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Yeah.
You know like which is likeevery you know we all want to be
able to foot the bill for that,but like that's a huge deal if
you can't afford it and you havea doctor in your church who's
like, yeah, I'll be the medicalprofessional, I'll go, I'll pay
for it, you know it's like, wow,the lord provide, provided in

(55:28):
that like really unique way heabsolutely.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
I think he definitely can, because the the kind of
person it takes to be an opsperson at camp.
It's like nothing can be aboveyou, you know, or you you can't
be above anything else.
You're, you know, everythingwould be beneath you if you
wanted.
It's like no, you're here towash disgusting feet so, and

(55:55):
like you know, it's just, it's areally hard, kind of gross,
stressful week, but the rewardis so high and what you get to
create for students is just likeincredible.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
So yeah, that's one thing I'm curious about.
Like, the financial piece isobviously one of one of those
parts, but also anothercomponent is just recruiting in
general.
You know somebody's thinkingabout like the, the type of
person or like is there like a,an audience that you go to for
that medical person or for thesafety team, like, is it?
Am I going to?
You know the group of retired,you know folks in my church and

(56:32):
asking them to be a part of this?
Is it like the safety team inmy church?
If we have that, am I askingthose Like so how did you guys
start with that?
Is it asking parents Like what,what does that process like?
As you got that started, whodid you go to?

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Well, so our safety director was the one who did all
the recruiting for our safetyteam, gotcha, I'll tell you that
two of the people that havecome every year since the very
beginning are both older retiredmen, and they got conned into

(57:03):
it year one, I think, and theygot done with the week and they
sent an email.
Like within seven days.
They'd send an email that saidas soon as you know the dates
for next year, let me know so wecan plan our vacation.
That's awesome it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
That's the good stuff , you know.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
It's like those two guys and they've come every year
.
Yeah Right, like they're thebest, andy and Reed, they're
going to.
You know they're going to bethere next year, reed Reed then
started coming to middle schoolcamp and then also kids camp.
So it's like he's here for move, he's here for move, he's here

(57:44):
for mix, he's here for kids camp.
Like you know, when you findsomebody that realizes how God
can use the things that they'regood at like for a kingdom
purpose, it's like that iskingdom work for those guys.
So I think that that's like whatI would say about recruiting is
sometimes, on the youth pastorend of things, it feels like
you're begging somebody to helpyou, but really what you're
doing is you're helping connectsomebody's gifts to the

(58:07):
opportunity for kingdom work.
And it's like there's tons ofpeople out there that are
passionate about disciplingstudents and their group leaders
and that's great.
But like there's also a lot ofpeople in your church that
really don't want to do that.
But it's like they see youngpeople, they see what they've
got to contribute and they alsoknow the gifts that they have.

(58:29):
And it's like, yeah, there'sprobably some organizational
project management guru outthere that would love to come be
your ops support for the weekwho would just love nothing more
than to check things off a thedo list every day and there are
probably medical professionalsat your church that would, you

(58:49):
know, like love the opportunityto get to connect like what they
do every day with their faith.
So that'd be my encouragement.
I was just like look for peoplethat already do those things
and then see what you can do toconnect what they're already
good at to the kingdom of God,Kingdom work some would say it's

(59:11):
almost like we've heard

Speaker 4 (59:13):
of this before.
Yeah, I love it.
That's awesome though.
Yeah, no, that is cool.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
So we talked about a little bit.
I don't know what you said,what you like, why what you just
said made me think of this, butit did.
We talked a little bit about,kind of the Venn diagram between
group leaders and some of thesesupport roles, and how like the
support roles are designed tokind of move things off of the
group leader's plate in order tolike free them up to do the

(59:43):
things that they're there to doreally, really well.
Um, I think there's also like avenn diagram between you and
ann and some of these supportstaff and the other members of
your staff.
Um, and some of these supportstaff, where they can take a few
things off of your plate aswell, um, that free you up in
some different ways.

(01:00:03):
I'm wondering how that's likebenefited you going back to 2021
.
How was the experience for youin 2021 compared to for you,
tyler lamel, in like 2022 and2023, after you made some of
these changes?

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
you didn't go in 21.
Yeah, you understand what I'msaying I didn't go in 21.
Well, yeah, understand what I'msaying, I didn't go in 21.
Well, yeah, so I mean, even thelast summer, it's like I was
doing, it was me and one otherperson doing everything Um, so I
think implementing you know,some of what I have have said we

(01:00:43):
like, did with, like mentalhealth and trips it's like that
was so valuable.
Is this, like this is whatyou're talking about, right?
I mean, it's like all thesechanges, or are you talking?
about people specifically.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
Well, no, all of the I think all of the changes and
just like how it's.
Like I want to know what I want.
As for a youth pastor listeningto or watching this, to see a
picture of, like if I were ableto make some of these changes
scaled to my own context, likeyeah, it could make my
experience better by fill in theblank.

(01:01:14):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Like a testimonial yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Yeah, yeah, a little before and after, a little
before and after.
Great so with mental healthstuff.
Like all of a sudden, leadersand students got so much more
sleep.
That was like game changingPeople are rested, which like
more sleep.

Speaker 4 (01:01:36):
It's a big deal Less mentees.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
You know, we're just like all that's mental
breakdowns, it is a mentee beeThank you for translating.
I got you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
Yeah, so reducing some of the level of crisis
around mental health has beenreally valuable, yeah, and has
just made such a betterexperience.
Related to all of this is likewith our safety team coming all
of a sudden, we created a lotmore rules and clarity around

(01:02:08):
like where students weresupposed to be and when, and
where they weren't supposed tobe and when, and so like having
rules.
I mean I know it sounds like sobasic, but yeah, just like
planning.
I mean CIY has rules and that'sgreat, but it is like a very
general framework.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
Yeah, no drugs, and don't go in the opposite
gendered rooms.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
Thank you.
Yeah, that it's like okay, butdepending on which campus.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Those are great rules .

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
They are great rules, but like also.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
But also don't go to Waffle House at 3 am.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
And like if your location is like this with off
campus, you know it's like oncampus, off campus, it's all the
same.
That Waffle House ispractically on campus.
It's across the street from thecampus.
You know some campuses you goto it's like this is the campus
and if you leave it's veryobvious and some are like what?
That wasn't on campus, You'rekidding.

(01:03:03):
So I think defining what thatwas has been really big and
helped reduce the amount ofshoplifting, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
For Trader's Point, that's amazing, I just pictured
shoplifting at Waffle House yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Well, it wasn't a Waffle House, why would?

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
we get shot if you do that.
It wasn't a Waffle House.
Okay, you know why would we getshot if you do that?
I don't know A lot of syrup, Idon't know if I'd find a
national Waffle House.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
I don't know where all we've shoplifted from, but I
you know a lot fewerconversations about that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yeah, let's not do incriminating things, that's
great.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Yeah, and then anticipating needs has also been
bedtime snacks, the extrasupplies, the drinks for leaders
has been just a naturaltouchpoint then with your adult
leaders during the day.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Yeah, and you're being way less like.
I mean it's stressful to livein a reactive space.
Yes, 24 hours a day, for fivestraight days or no matter what
you do it will be sure, but like, the more that you're kind of
the fewer things that you'regoing to have demanding your
attention because you've alreadythought about them ahead of

(01:04:18):
time and have systems in placeto like take care of those, then
the more attention you candedicate to the things that
actually need that attention andyou are creating just a better
mental space for yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
You know, and I love that you mentioned that this,
those rests sorry, excuse me,the rest thing, like getting
more sleep, like just by doingthese things.
That's such a small, you know,result, but such a big deal,
like leaders that have more restand you give them caffeine in
the afternoons, like that alonewill do so much for them and
their group.
And but it's like all thesesmall decisions that lead to
these results, so you might noteven think of that, create this

(01:04:51):
awesome domino effect well, andif students go to bed, then
you're really just right, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
That's all there is to do students going to bed is a
big deal and, and like I knowthat a lot of youth leaders want
to stay up late and play cardsand build relationships with
their students during that timeand and talk about things during
that time.
And you know, I I get that, butlike you can also talk about it

(01:05:19):
tomorrow afternoon during freetime and everyone can get sleep
and then there's a lot lesscrying and a lot less anxiety
you know, yeah, and theheightened emotions that happen
when you're exhausted, it's like, are we?

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
we like had to be really honest with ourselves?
Are we being emotionallymanipulative right now?
Like, yeah, we haven't slept atall and we're like trying to
make have them.
We're trying, you know, we'resaying we're helping them make
these life-changing decisions.
But it's like, can you make alife-changing decision when
you're that tired?
Should you be, you know?

(01:05:59):
And so it's like we wantstudents to, we want their lives
to be changed on a summer trip,and like we want them to be
able to comprehend what they'reeven doing when that happens, so
that they're not on some justexhausted high.
Yeah, and it's like events aremountaintop experiences, but you

(01:06:22):
know, god uses those allthroughout scripture, so I don't
think there's anything toapologize with it being that
kind of experience.
But we don't need to like fuelthe exhaustion and like the
emotional peace, right, you know, by just hanging out until
three, until 3am.
Yeah, I want to have like theirown, like their own, the brain

(01:06:47):
development to even, like, makea good decision about like I
should probably go to bed nowfor my own right.
They need my mental health inthree days.
They need to be better.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
If I go to bed now, yeah, yep one thing I want to
talk about before we wrap uphere is, um, something that I
never did when I was in youthministry or not never, but like,
not to the degree that you guysdo it, and I actually think
it's so good.
Um, and it's helped you guysscale really well, and
especially in these past fewyears, is you just write

(01:07:15):
everything down, like there arepolicies for everything, like
you are not putting yourselvesin a position where you're
having to make, like, decisionson every single crisis that pops
up yeah because, well, you'vegot this mental health guidebook
, but that's just one exampleand like the your policy of like

(01:07:38):
taking phones away and like youhave all of these things in
place, where I feel like a lotof people walk into trips with a
pretty like laissez-faireattitude, where it's like we're
going to do this and they kindof lean into the okay, no drugs
and no people in opposite genderdorms and like everything else
is fair game.
But you guys like really reallywrite everything down and and

(01:08:02):
cement it kind of in policy form.
Um, what would be yourencouragement to people who,
like maybe have not gotten intothat practice?

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
Yeah, I mean it's really hard to go into a week
with unclear expectations andturn that around with any group
of people, but a large group ofpeople over the course of five

(01:08:34):
days, yeah.
So what we've been sointentional about is like what
can we do to make sureeverybody's on the same page at
the beginning of the trip and sothat's been the whole approach
is just like what can we do tomake sure everybody here knows

(01:08:54):
what to expect?
Sure, Because when you don'tknow what to expect, like A,
that's kind of scary, yeah, Fora student, a parent anybody A
leader.
Right, yeah, scary, yeah for astudent.
A parent, a leader, right, yeah, yeah, an adult leader, yeah, a
staff person.
Like when you walk in andyou're just like it's probably
going to be all right, you'renot really planning on it being
that all right, I don't think,um, so we've just started

(01:09:16):
writing down, like we wrote acode of conduct and it's like
these are the actual rules andwe actually make students sign
them, like on check-in day, aspart of you know dropping off.
I understand that yeah, I'm, youknow, committing to this stuff.
We have a map in there and,like, in our map we've got a

(01:09:38):
like a border, like you can't go.
You know, we make a studentbook and it's like you cannot go
outside of this boundary.
Um, we make a schedule forstudents, like if, if you start
to create expectations forstudents to be anywhere, that's
not already on the ciy schedule.
We this past year, made it, madeour own schedule and like put

(01:10:01):
it in canva with a qr code so wecould just like update it as
things change because stuff doeschange, you know.
But we just had, like this livelink and then we were able to
change the schedule and it waslike you've got to be where
you're supposed to be whenyou're supposed to be there, and
that's like part of what they,that's part of the commitment
they signed, you know which, bythe way'm I'm concerned that

(01:10:22):
people might listen to this andbe like well, they're a church
of 500 people, they have theresources to do that, but like
what you just said is so easy,and like making a schedule in
Canva, for what do you guys like?

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
do you even pay for Canva, is it?

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
like $20 a month.
Month it's free for non-profitfree for non-profits you just
like if you take a yournon-profit non-profits under 50
users, you can take your likeyeah, non-profit 501c3 like
certification letter and send itto canva and they will give you

(01:11:00):
Canva for Teams for up to 50people for free.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
So that's really huge Doing that, creating a QR code,
having a schedule for yourstudents.
You could even upload a mapthere that has your boundary
printed out on it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
I mean our map this last year was from Google Maps.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
It was Google.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
Maps and markup on my phone.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
It's not fancy these things are so practical for so
many people yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
That's amazing.
Students just need to know whatto expect and leaders need to
know what to expect.
So outlining all those thingshas just been so helpful and I
would definitely encourage youas you think about the trip.
Just like, go through check-inday Once you get students in
your vans or on a bus, or onbuses, like what, what are you

(01:11:48):
doing for lunch?
And if you are bringing alarger group, it's like I've
talked to other youth pastorsand it's like they pick an exit
and it's like here's a fewrestaurants at this interstate
exit, you know, and if that'syour approach, it's like should
you call some of thoserestaurants ahead of time and
give them an ETA?
You know, like are you bringingenough people?
That that's going to stress outa restaurant.

(01:12:09):
Or like what one decision we'vemade is like to, you know, stop
somewhere planned and likecater food.
So you know it's like there'sso many ways to do all of that,
but it's's like what can youanticipate about every moment?
Yeah and I think that's what itcomes down to, because a lot of
people know.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
It's like they know, because they do it every year.
It's like we pull a charter businto the chick-fil-a parking
lot and it takes forever foreverybody to get their food and
it's like, well, that doesn'thave to be the way that it is.
You know, know, right, justlike being creative about how do
we like address these problemsand, like you guys, cater food

(01:12:48):
for your group.
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
I'm just curious, as you talk about this, like before
you guys leave for your trip,what does it look like as far as
getting parents and students?
You guys have like meetings.
It's like a camp meeting.
You have a separate meeting foryour safety team.
Like guys have like meetings islike a camp meeting, you have a
separate meeting for yoursafety team.
Like how does that all work outto make sure that everyone's
prepared?

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
uh, before you guys leave.
Um, we've done a lot of thingsand I don't know that they're
all the right things, so, uh,but I can say what we've done
and what we've learned.
Um, we've done several years ofleader trainings where it's all
together for mixed leaders andmove leaders all in the same
room kind of, and there issomething to like the vision of

(01:13:29):
what happens at trips.
That's the same, but there'salso so much that's different
because it's so scheduledependent that, you know,
depending on the size of thegroups you're bringing to, each
trip may or may not recommend itthat way.
You know, we break up and gothrough schedules.
So this next year we'llprobably do two separate nights.
You know, do whatever you wantwith that.

(01:13:50):
That's just for leaders.
That's just for leaders.
Yeah, um, we've done a lot withemail communication to parents,
just like a really quick video,and then, like we attach the
code of conduct that studentsare agreeing to by coming to the
camp or by coming to the, youknow, on the trip, we um, just

(01:14:11):
like the packing list is on ourweb page.
You know, it's like we've doneeverything we can to like get
everything on the web page andthen everything in parent
communication we have have neverdone, at least as long as I've
been here.
We've never done a parentmeeting, and I do think there's
something to that.
If you've ever hosted one andwant to reach out, my email is

(01:14:34):
just the email youth at tpccorg.
I would love to find out moreabout what you do in your parent
meetings with you knoweverybody, because I'm not sure
what that looks like yet, butwe've kind of identified that
that is something that weprobably should be doing.
Um, just what does that looklike exactly?

Speaker 1 (01:14:52):
I don't know I mean, that's part of the thing that I
love about your disposition,though, is and I don't mean you
as entitled ml, even though I domean you as entitled ml, I mean
trader's point as well is it'slike we're learning.
You know, we're figuring it out.
We've had to try stuff, we'vehad to fail at stuff, we've had
to, and we're still figuring out.
We still like we're gonna bringmore people next year than we

(01:15:14):
brought this year, and thatpresents new challenges that we
are all learning about togetherand trying to figure out
together.
Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (01:15:22):
I mean, that's just the reality of something like
this.
It's like you've got one groupof students that you're doing
this one thing with one time andyou're going to do it and
things are going to come up andit's like there might be things
that come up in 2025 that neverhappen again.
There might be, but there willbe, yeah, but also there might

(01:15:45):
be things that come up in 2025that, like you're going to see
again the next year and the yearafter that, and some of that
might just come with growth andsome of it's like cultural
changes.
But I would say, like, asthings grow, if your weeks are
growing, I would just anticipatethat there's going to be more
and more students who arejoining you, who aren't like on

(01:16:07):
mission with you, and so thatbrings new dynamics right of
like how parents do or don'ttrust you, how they do or don't
trust you and how they interactwith you, and like the things
that some students areexperiencing at home.
It's like what they're beingthrust into is like so different

(01:16:27):
that you've got to there's alot of like gray area, trying to
figure out like, why is astudent responding to something
this way?
You know, are they likewandering off?
Because they're like just truly, they're so used to being on
their own that this is likedisorienting.
So there's just some of that,that there's a lot of gray area

(01:16:49):
in it, but it's like what canyou do to anticipate what's
going to happen?
And then, every year, it's justlearning from it.
Everything we've done is becausewe've learned something
specifically like from somethingspecifically going wrong, or
talking to other churches andfinding things that they're

(01:17:09):
doing really really well andthen adapting them.
Everything I've said is we'velearned so much from so many
other churches and so I don'tsay any of this.
We've got it figured out.
There is still so much more forus to learn and so many other
churches, and so I don't say anyof this.
Like we've got it figured out,like there is still so much more
for us to learn, and there's somany churches that are doing
really really great things withtheir weeks of CIY, and so

(01:17:34):
learning from other churchesabout what they're doing it's
just been so cool and it's sofun to see, you know, the
kingdom of God and what'shappening all across the country
with all of this and um, kindof contextualizing that too for
me for a trader's point like uh,what's happening here and how

(01:17:57):
we can use those ideas to makeit better.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
So it's a better experience for everybody yeah,
well, um, you've given us a lotto chew on.
Appreciate you, uh, taking thetime, tyler, we gotta wrap
things up here, but, uh, I do, Ijust really love.
Well, I love you, my friend, andlove your heart towards this

(01:18:22):
like thing that um not a lot ofpeople who are, uh, predisposed
to youth ministry like to spenda ton of time thinking about,
like the logistics, the ins andouts, but uh, you've given us a
good jumping off point to tokind of think through those
things.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
So thanks for your time, tyler.
Thanks for what you do man.
Thanks for hanging out.
Thanks for what you do, man.

Speaker 1 (01:18:47):
Thanks for hanging out, mikey.
I'll tell you what I lovedabout that conversation.
Please tell me that it was withyou and Tyler, and we've been
friends for so long.
Oh man, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
But also it was just good stuff, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:19:01):
It really was, but also it was just good stuff.
You know, uh, like, I hope thatyouth pastors will have a
chance to just kind of sit onthat, because here's the thing,
everything that tyler said.
You come from a big church.
You know this.
Like you have to take it andcontextualize it in some really
interesting ways, but thephilosophy of behind what he

(01:19:22):
said is all really good, youknow yeah, absolutely the
scalability of it, yeah, isthere for sure?
like we're talking about, likesome of that you can do if
you're bringing a group of 40and then it obviously scales up
all the way until you'rebringing a group of 500 or
whatever it is that right thetrader's point brings.
But um, what was one, what wasone?
Uh, let's do this really quick.
I'm going to put you on thespot.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
Please do For Raider Youth.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
Ministry.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
Days.

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
One trip hack from Mikey Sackrider was one thing
that you guys did.
That was like this wasincredible.
This was unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
I don't know if this is really a hack.
I feel like this one's kind ofobvious.
We talked about it a little bit.
I mean, we just absolutely tookcare of our leaders.
Like we really made that a hugepart of our day.
Yeah, made sure that they knewwhat they were doing.
We would do, because we go toLee University every year.

Speaker 1 (01:20:09):
Shout out to Lee Lovely.

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
And they have a Dunkin' Donuts on campus.
So there were not every morning, but there were a couple
mornings where we felt like ourleaders really needed it.
We just say, hey, go to Dunkin'and we're going to buy you
coffee because we just are soglad that you're here and we're
thankful for what you do and wewant to make sure you have
caffeine, and so that's justlike one way of many that we
just wanted to make sure thatthey, that they felt like they
were championed, that webelieved in them and that we

(01:20:32):
were so thankful for them givingup their week to be there.
So, and it made all thedifference.
I mean, they were excited, theylooked forward to going back
the next year and, um, ittranslated into our sunday night
programming too, just havingthem, and so I don't know if
that's as much a hack, as it isjust like a cultural, cultural
thing, like for your church,like your culture and how you
treat your leaders and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:20:50):
But yeah, no, totally .
I think that culture isimportant to instill and even
worth um.
I personally am of the opinionthat, like it's worth it to
invest financially in that asmuch as you can, right, even if
you have to sacrifice in otherareas in order to make that
happen.
Like that culture of takingcare of the people who are

(01:21:12):
taking care of your students isa really big deal.
Youth pastors know that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:17):
They are the best.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
We love you guys.
Because we love you, I'm goingto have Mikey go ahead and close
us out by reading our blessingfor you.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
Yep, May God show you grace and bless you.
May he make his face shine onyou.
May you experience the love ofChrist, through whom God gives
you fullness of life.
May you be strengthened by hispower.
May Christ himself make hishome in your heart that you
would be full of his love andgrace.
Himself make his home in yourheart that you would be full of
his love and grace and thatthose you serve would see Jesus

(01:21:47):
in you.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
Today's episode was produced by Michael Hester,
lauren Bryan and me.
If you liked what you heard, besure to subscribe to our show
on the YouTubes or wherever youlisten to podcasts.
We will be back in a coupleweeks to continue this series
about scaling for growth.

(01:22:12):
We're going to talk abouteverybody's favorite thing your
budget and it's going to be sofun.
So if you don't want to missthat, make sure you subscribe.
In the meantime, you can reachout to us on the ci community
facebook group or by email atpodcast at cicom.
We will see you next time,thank you.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}BTE4.03 Scaling for Growth: Trips with Tyler Lemmel and Mikey Sackrider

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Dateline NBC

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

All Episodes

BTE4.03 Scaling for Growth: Trips with Tyler Lemmel and Mikey Sackrider

Dateline NBC