February 3, 2025 • 69 mins
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Through her inspiring personal story, CIY Director of Digital Resources Katelyn Adams shares how a high school camp experience ignited her calling to serve, and how the mentorship from her youth minister shaped her spiritual path. This episode promises insights on how to create supportive environments where students can confidently discuss their ministry aspirations with parents and mentors, and highlights the growing importance of digital literacy in church roles today.
We'll also explore how identifying and encouraging potential leaders early can make all the difference, featuring real-life stories of students at Calvary Christian Church in Omaha, NE. Their experiences shed light on the power of mentorship and practical ministry opportunities in guiding students towards their callings. This conversation underscores the crucial role of local churches in preparing students for their ministry journeys.
Calvary Christian Church sets a remarkable example of investing in future church leaders through intentional prayer, educational resources, and the removal of barriers to ministry training. We discuss the complexities and victories in building new ministry programs, celebrating student achievements, and adapting to real-world feedback. Offering encouragement to those embarking on similar initiatives, we stress the importance of starting, learning, and maintaining motivation. Tune in for an episode filled with inspiring narratives, practical advice, and a heartfelt commitment to equipping young leaders for their spiritual vocations.
Want to connect with us? Here's how!
- www.ciy.com
- youtube.com/christinyouth
- @christinyouth on Instagram
- CIY Community Facebook Group
- Email us at podcast@ciy.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Brad Warren and this is Beyond the Event, a
youth ministry podcast presentedby Christ in Youth, where we
help you maintain momentumBetween the mountaintops.
Today we are following up onour conversation that we started
last week with Jason Frenchabout helping students follow
through on faith decisions thatthey make in their life.
A little bit later, we're goingto be talking to Matt Stevens.
(00:24):
He's a student pastor atCalvary Christian Church in the
Omaha, nebraska area.
Matt's a great guy and they'redoing a lot of really, really
cool things to help thesestudents not only follow through
on their decisions, butactually come to a decision
about what it looks like to stepinto this life of vocational
(00:45):
ministry.
So I hope you will stick aroundfor that conversation, for sure
.
But before we do that, we getto talk to an absolute legend,
cioi's Director of DigitalResources, caitlin Adams.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Caitlin, hey Brad, how are you Thanks for having me
on Doing great, Doing great, hicaitlin, hey brad, how are you
doing great, doing great?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I am so thrilled to hear that you might be the first
ever ciy co-host that we havehad zoom in.
Oh, well there you go, becauseyou live in oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
You were gonna say the first ever co-host with a
cold.
I couldn't tell you how to callit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
This is what you sound like all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, no something like that.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
No, it's not Sorry.
Uh, you know what Tis theseason?
Yeah, you have two littlerugrats in your household.
I do.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I'm sure they are just little germ bombs.
Man so many germs.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yes, it is a problem, it is a problem.
But you know what I respect you.
I respect that.
It hasn't stopped you, ithasn't slowed you down.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
We're still here, we're still podcasting.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Here we are, it's happening.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Caitlin, you are on our last episode with Jason,
actually kind of like teased youbeing here this week because
you are, as our director ofdigital resources, kind of
spearheading a lot of thisinitiative for CIY to equip
(02:21):
students to follow through ondecisions that they make to be
kingdom workers, to be invocational ministry, to repent,
whatever it may be.
We're focusing really heavily,to start with, on helping
(02:41):
students follow through on thedecision to go into vocational
ministry.
I want to know how you got intoministry, cause I honestly have
no idea what your.
How did it happen?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, I uh, I had a moment, um summer before
ninth grade I went to highschool camp for the first year
and sat in the next to the backrow on you know, one night of
camp that the speaker made acall for those interested in
(03:17):
going into ministry.
And you know my story I had beenthrough just some tough seasons
the year before that and soreally found safety and
belonging in the church andfound just a lot of life at camp
that week in particular andbelonging that when he made that
(03:42):
call I stood up and had one ofthose stand up and say yes
moments, which is a cool thingto look back on, and also had no
clue in the moment what thatexactly meant.
But my youth pastor was lookingat me and and and excited, and
(04:04):
you know, pumping her, pumpingher fist in the air and um, and
so yeah, so, so walking forwardfrom that moment was, uh, just
doing life near ish, my youthminister, who also did not know
necessarily what her move wasgoing to be or how to raise
somebody up into ministry and um, so it was very um, organic and
(04:28):
and just came with, um, youknow, watching how, how others
were doing it and um, kind ofhaving a continual moment, not
not really believing that thisis a, this is a viable career
choice, but this is something Ican actually do with my life and
just loving it.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So here you are.
It's a viable career choiceyeah exactly.
So did you have like the youdidn't go to Bible college, did
you?
I did it.
Yeah, how did that yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So this also informs some of the work that we're
doing as well, in a way, becauseI I have wonderful, super
supportive parents and Godhonoring family, but when I went
home and told them I wanted togo into ministry, they were
scared, and my parents are ateacher and a police officer, so
(05:24):
you know not that they thoughtI was going to make a ton of
money or anything, but theywanted, they wanted me to be
secure and anyway.
So they, they sent they.
They really had it in theirmind.
I was going to go to a stateschool, so they wanted me to
quote unquote get a real degreeis what they told me.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And so I think in their defense, I went to Bible
college and got a degree from aschool that no longer exists.
So that's just in defense of.
Mr and Mrs More.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
More yes, yeah, no, that's fair and truly.
I mean, when we had thatconversation at the time, it
also made sense to me and Ididn't have friends.
I grew up in a Methodist church.
I didn't have friends going toBible college.
You know they would go toschool and then go to seminary,
so everything was a seminarytrack and I took that path.
(06:20):
So I got a degree in graphicdesign because I knew I could
serve the church that way.
So I got a degree in graphicdesign because I knew I could
serve the church that way.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Um, and that the church needed a lot of help in
that area.
And then every youth pastor isa graphic designer.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Exactly, exactly, so got some skills in that, in that
realm and um, and then went onto seminary.
So it was, it was, you know,just a different um, a different
path.
So but I think that's that'sinformed a lot of.
You know, as we see studentsmaking this decision, wanting to
equip them for thoseconversations with, with parents
(06:55):
and youth ministers.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So yeah, but you talking about, like your, your
student pastor, um kind ofcelebrating you in that moment
when you stood up and her notreally like.
It's like okay, I guess we'regoing to figure this out.
I think that is an overwhelmingthing for a lot of youth
pastors and feels like a veryheavy weight where it's like how
(07:18):
in the heck am I supposed to dothis?
Prepare this person for thelife that they've chosen?
To take the right next step inorder to get there to hear the
Holy Spirit and how he'sclarifying his will for their
life, and that's just a lot.
And I think well, I know,because I've talked to you about
(07:42):
it that it's your heartbeat toalleviate some of that burden
for student pastors and I wantchurches to know how, in what
ways, you're excited to be ableto serve them as they kind of
figure some of that stuff out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolutely, Absolutely kind of figure some
of that stuff out, Absolutely,Absolutely Well, I um, yeah
again, I think so much of mystory has informed this process,
but not only that, as, as we'vetalked with churches and youth
ministers and students as well,and just heard from um heard a
similar story um, around a lotof tables, Uh, I am excited to
(08:26):
be able to say we're creatingresources, you know, real
tangible things that are going.
I believe really that they'llhelp alleviate some of that for
youth ministers, Some of thequestions around what do I do
next or how do I equip avolunteer mentor or volunteer
(08:49):
small group leader to be able tohelp a student walk through
this when they're not inministry either, I mean some of
those things.
Just that it's not one morething to juggle when you get on
the van to get the students backhome, thing to juggle when you
get on the van to get thestudents back home.
So a couple of those things,truly, that will just be, I
(09:14):
think, helpful.
We've worked through sort of aphilosophy around what things we
have learned are integral in astudent, taking those next steps
and closing the gap.
So we've seen students getcalled into vocational ministry
at our events by the thousandsfor years, for decades, and so
the fact that the pipeline isdrying up and that student
(09:37):
pastors are hard to find andfill spots for is just mind
blowing for our organization.
We sit around and we're like butI just watched 2000 of them
raise their hands just sixmonths ago, you know.
And what is happening?
Um, exactly.
And so so we've we've sort ofbeen circling around three
(09:59):
things that we believe will helpa student move from that
calling moment into a commitment, into this, the next step,
whatever that might look like,um, and they're, they're easy,
and they're just because we'vecontinued to hear them, uh,
repeated from others asresources, relationships and
reps.
So, resources, meaningful waysto um to learn uh about god,
(10:23):
about themselves.
Relationships, you know, caringadults who can walk alongside
them.
And then reps being ways forthem to serve and lead in and
outside of the church and justget started, just practice.
And that was the thing that myyouth minister was great at is
she gave me the keys and waslike, all right, you're doing
(10:43):
this now, you know, and that wassomething she needed help with
and it made sense.
But it also built this trustand it built this opportunity
for me to just start right whereI was.
And some ministries lendthemselves really easily to that
and some, you know, some don'tanymore.
The, you know, particularly ifyou're a larger scale ministry,
(11:04):
it may be harder to hand overthe keys to the AV booth to
whatever kid walks up, but tobuild in service opportunities
is huge, I think.
So we've identified aphilosophy around that and now
we're building out resourcesthat are going to help churches
walk students through those Onein particular I mean the one I'm
(11:27):
the most excited about is arelational discipleship app,
really Like it's a learningmanagement system that is going
to help a student connect with acaring mentor and walk through
some of those thingsstep-by-step.
So we're really excited aboutthat, and others that are going
(11:47):
to help help a church really getset up well to utilize
something like that.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, so I'm going to ask a leading question here,
but I think it's important.
What's the price point on allof this?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, Brad, I hate to break it to you, but it's
completely free.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I know, but like I think it's important because
people hear us talk about thesethings and they're like, oh
great, how much is this going tocost?
And it's like organizationally.
We believe in this so much.
And it's like such a huge partof what we do that it's like you
, pay for these incredibleexperiences, and we are going to
, as part of that experience,give you what you need in order
(12:30):
to follow up on the commitmentsthat your students are making.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Exactly, and I think that's something that you know
we have really again as anorganization.
I'm sure Jason talked aboutthis, but we have felt the
weight of stewarding thosedecisions.
We're we're putting thosedecisions in front of your
students and we need to supportyou as a church, as a youth
leader, as a volunteer leader,as a bi-vocational leader we
(12:54):
have got to create.
This was just.
This is just something we oweyou guys 100%.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Well, I'm excited to get to dig into that
conversation with you and withMatt here in just a little bit
um, you having kind of the CIYexpertise and Matt having kind
of already put a lot of thesetypes of things that we're
talking about into practice andjust kind of hopefully inspiring
um student pastors in in theirjourney to help provide these
pathways for their students.
(13:23):
But before we do that, michael,it's time for the mailbag.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Oh man, Okay, Caitlin .
So I have a question from, uh,from from our old pal Casey
Lanier.
Um, and.
I'm gonna, I think I'm.
I'm gonna maybe sort of openthis question up to be a little
bit more broad than than what itis, because I think I think
(13:50):
everyone is a little bitdifferent in in what.
I'm not gonna try and set thisquestion up.
I'll ask the question and thenwe can expand.
Okay, are you ready?
Um, so casey basically isasking with all your travel this
summer, how many minutes ofmusic showed up in your spotify
wrapped and who were your topartists?
(14:11):
I listen to apple music yeahhonestly, when I'm traveling, I
actually spend a ton of timelistening to podcasts over music
and so like I think really, youknow, if, if, if you're, if
spotify is your main thing andyou have wrapped numbers to pull
, great, can't wait to hear themif not I would love to know
what are your like travel,pastime activities and what is
(14:32):
maybe your favorite thing thatyou listened to, experienced,
etc.
All right.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, I appreciate the out that you're giving me
because, as mentioned previously, I have two rug rats it's just
all paw patrol my rap is ninjaturtles and followed by all of
(15:01):
the um monster truck, all of theHot Wheels and Monster Jam
Monster Truck theme songs.
So that is not a fair questionto me, casey, but I appreciate
what you're getting at.
I will give this plug.
Also, on my top played songsare the Lullabies from Christy
(15:23):
Douckles album, which you guysaren't gonna care about this,
but I do have to say this ifyou've got kids, the christy
knuckles lullabies album isincredible.
I love it.
It makes, I mean, my kids welisten.
We have five little songs on itand they listen to it every
night and they go to sleep andif we're in the car it puts them
straight out and it's thesejust beautiful, virtual.
(15:45):
Oh, it's just great.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
So, um, let me, let me see if I can, if I can add
one more sort of like addendumor something to this question.
Oh gosh, you, you work remoteand you travel to Joplin.
I don't know how often do youcome, like two to three times a
month almost.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Uh yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
One, once or twice a month if I don't have another
trip.
Yeah, and that drive is likeit's not long Hour and a half.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
But, it's not really short either, so like what do
you put on in the car wheneveryou're like do you have a
podcast that you're like time tostart making some real headway
on this one?
Uh, well, I, I do use that timeusually to catch up on beyond
the event, so that's on mypodcast playlist, obviously,
(16:38):
obviously, um, I am a big fan ofoh great, so great.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Oh good.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
So great.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
What a relief.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I'm more in.
I listen mostly to podcasts orbooks through the Libby app.
Those are my go-to Really over.
I feel like I'm so far out ofthe music scene now that I don't
even know what to turn onanymore.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
It's like is Missiott still doing things.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, three albums that I like to just put on
rotation out here.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I just don't even michael michael and I have some
significant podcast overlap ohyeah, okay that's uh.
You still listen to smartlessmichael oh yeah, smartless is a
great podcast.
Uh, there's a movie podcastcalled the big picture that we
both listen to.
Smartless pico.
Oh yeah, smartless is a greatpodcast.
Uh, there's a movie podcastcalled the big picture that we
both listen to.
Yep, uh, do you do rewatchablestoo?
(17:31):
I've listened to it like onceokay, all right, well, anyway, I
love podcasts.
I love true crime podcasts.
Uh, hot wreck for a podcast.
Right here I just listened to apodcast called the good whale.
It was about the whale whoplayed uh willie in free willie,
and every episode of it made mecry actual, real tears.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I'm, I'm, dead serious it is so emotional ah
okay, but if you need that if?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
you need that.
Release the good whale.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
That's what you gotta listen to alright, let's do one
more quickly, one more we havea question from Matt Berry
rolling out the red carpet forMatt.
Matt wants to know what shouldwe be doing as youth pastors to
get our leaders ready to kill itat CIY events?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
that's so good as youth pastors to get our leaders
ready to kill it at CIY events.
That's so good.
That's so good, um, man, I mean, I think prepping leaders, uh,
get, get some rest before youcome, um, but I think the main,
yeah, the main, the main thingfor, yeah, the main, the main
(18:48):
thing for for leaders is to beuh, to to be full in heart and
mind coming into the week andready to pour it into students.
So I think getting, you know,making sure that they are
feeling like they're in a goodplace, that they have
authentically spent their owntime with the Lord before coming
in there, um, you know, readyin those ways, uh is is the most
that they can do to prepare.
(19:09):
Um, you know, so many of us are.
Uh, it's much easier to get thepacking list ready and make
sure everybody's got all thesnacks that they need and
everybody's in the right spot.
But, um, spending, spending, uh, spending time in prayer,
having them ready, get them thelist of your students, have them
(19:31):
pray for them by name, set areminder on their phone the week
leading up.
I mean, some of those justrhythm reminders would be a much
better investment than even asnack list.
Also.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
I will say this episode comes out on February
the 3rd.
It's February the 3rd.
Happy February 3rd, everybody.
If you don't know, who yourleaders?
are yet for Move Mix, get on it,because those people are going
to have to request off time fromwork and the whole thing and if
(20:09):
you like some people startrecruiting, you know, in march
or whatever it's like, if yougive yourself the extra two
months, are you gonna have acouple people that are gonna
drop off because something comesup and they can't be there?
Yes, but are you going to be ina way better position than if
you start late?
Also, yes, so getting themsigned up, that's a big one.
(20:33):
That was a hard one for me.
Always They'd be like June, Idon't know.
Can you ask me then?
I'm like no.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Tell me now.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, anyway, all right, thanks Michael.
Thanks, matt, tell me now.
Um, yeah, anyway, all right,thanks michael.
Thanks matt.
Thanks casey.
Uh, thanks caitlin.
Uh, we're gonna go talk toanother matt, not matt berry.
Uh, we are gonna go talk tomatt stevens.
Uh, matt, thank you so much forbeing here, hey.
(21:11):
So if we're talking abouthelping students follow through
on decisions to go into ministrytoday, if a student comes up to
you after move, after camp,after anything, on a random
Wednesday night and they sayPastor Matt, I want to be a
minister someday, just like you,what happens at that point?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Well, I can say up until a little while ago it
would have been pretty reactiveto say, hey, let's sit down,
let's talk, let's meet, let'skind of like hear your side of
how you feel called to ministryand then kind of figuring out a
plan forward to help preparethem for that and walk alongside
them in that calling that theyfeel like God has placed on
(21:55):
their life.
But we've found just over thepast year or so just to be a
little more proactive on thatand asking questions of so just
to be a little more proactive onthat, and asking questions of
hey, who's considering the call?
And then developing some thingsto help them grow in certain
(22:19):
things that we think wouldprepare them best for that call
that God's placed on their lifeor vocational ministry.
So I think just starting thatconversation with them and just
help preparing them for the daysahead for life of kingdom work
and uh, and just help preparingthem for the days ahead for life
of kingdom work.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
So that's part of your normal language is just
talking about like hey, thismight be something that God is
calling you to and we want to beout ahead of that a little bit,
rather than just waiting for astudent to stand up and move and
be like I want to go intoministry and you'd be like you
really Okay, um, so what doesthat?
I mean?
I that sounds I Caitlin hastalked to a lot more people
(22:48):
about this than I have, but thatsounds different to me than
what I think most people do.
Is that, would you?
Would you agree with that,caitlin?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So tell me, like what, how doyou identify a student who's
who's considering a call, maybebefore they've had that camp
moment?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
yeah, it's, it's part of next steps conversations, um
, whether that's through amessage or or a devotional, or
if we do go on a trip, um,simply asking the question has
has has provided a lot of fruitfor us.
Like, who here is consideringvocational ministry and just
kind of impressing that idea ofwe need more workers for the
(23:32):
harvest?
And you know, data today justshows we have far more people
leaving ministry and steppingout of it than we do stepping
into those roles in ministry.
And so I think we've mayberelied on others training them
up for too long and sending themoff stepping into those roles
in ministry.
And so, uh, I think we've,we've maybe relied on on others
training them up for too longand sending them off and kind of
farming that out to say, hey,we'll let our Bible colleges do
(23:53):
that, and um, and and now we'reat this place where it's like we
as a local church have aresponsibility to help be a
feeder for those, those Biblecolleges, because they play such
a vital role in thateducational piece and preparing
them.
But just those next stepsconversations of hey, some of
you in the room might your nextstep might be putting your faith
(24:17):
and trust in Jesus, but forsome of you that next step might
be hey, I feel God kind ofstirring in my life to call the
vocational ministry andsometimes just asking that is
like, yeah, I think that is whatGod might be calling me to, and
just helping them discern thatcall is really we found a lot of
fruit in that lately of justbeing intentional on asking that
(24:39):
question regularly and sayingwho here is considering a life
of kingdom work in a vocationalministry setting.
And we've had far more peoplerespond than we ever imagined
and I think just being moreintentional in the way that we
approach and ask has almostforced us to create some systems
rather than being reactive butto say, hey, we've got something
(25:02):
for you.
We'll still sit down and talkwith you, but we have things
that we can share with you rightnow that can get you plugged
into discerning that call andkind of training you and
educating you and walkingalongside you as you figure this
calling out for your life.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I definitely want to.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I think that's.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Sorry, I definitely want to hit on the system stuff
at some point because I do wantto get way into the nitty gritty
on all of this, but I'm curious, as you were saying that, the
thought that popped into my headwas twofold.
It was interesting that you saidyou're actually getting more
students who are expressinginterest in vocational ministry
(25:43):
that way.
But also I'm just thinkingthrough some of the experiences
that I've had with students whohave said that they want to go
into full-time ministry and alot of times it's a light switch
type of moment, like oh, Ididn't, I wanted to be a lawyer,
and now I'm seeing that youknow kind of thing.
But I'm wondering if the waythat you guys do it actually
(26:06):
prevents some of the drop-offthat we've observed and seen and
Jason talked about a little biton the episode a couple weeks
ago where we're seeing a lot ofstudents say initially like yes,
I want to go into ministry, butthen that not always having a
lot of legs.
Have you noticed anything withthat?
(26:27):
I know that was kind of a longrambling thought.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
No, I think for us, what we've kind of heard from
the students that say, yeah, Iwant to go into ministry, is
they might feel like they wantto be a teacher or that they
want to invest in the lives ofyoung people in some way shape
or form.
And then when we start to talkabout it after we're like, hey,
are you interested in vocationalministry?
And they start to kind of layout like I feel God calling me
(26:53):
to reach young people, then someof that like epiphany or light
switch is like maybe I feelcalled to youth ministry or kids
ministry, and so then we canhave those conversations with
them to kind of say, hey, theseare some great opportunities for
you to kind of like discernthat call and get some
experience and be like is thiswhere God really wants me to be
(27:15):
serving in a vocational ministrysetting?
And so does that answer thequestion?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, no, I think so.
Caitlin, I kind of cut you offearlier.
What were you going to say?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You're all right.
You're all right.
I just think I think that, uh,you're doing something that, um,
that a lot of youth ministersaren't necessarily thinking
about yet, or that that I wasn'tin my time in ministry of um,
of making students aware of theneed, um of the, the, the
pipeline shortage of ministers,that that is coming for us, that
(27:50):
there are more youth ministryjobs available than we have
people to fill them, um, butyou're consistently putting that
in front of them in thosemoments, not just after a
particular experience, butongoing um, in a way that is is
consistent and um, andcontinually just just asks the
(28:12):
question, and I think that'shuge, um, I just think that's
huge.
So I think, what, what wouldyou?
What advice would you have forum a youth minister who, who
maybe isn't doing that at themoment?
What's the instigating factor?
What's the easiest way to startputting that into their
language more regularly?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah, that's a great question, I think, a simple ask.
I don't think it has to bepretty or beautiful, just asking
the question, like, have youever considered the call to
vocational ministry?
We found that even askingmiddle schoolers like we've had
middle schoolers raise theirhand.
We took a group of students forthe first time down to Getaway
(28:58):
at Ozark Christian College thispast fall and we just asked the
group.
We said, hey, are any of youhere considering the call to
vocational ministry?
And we had seven kids raisetheir hand, and so I think just
a simple ask is is a great placeto start.
Just ask them are youconsidering vocational ministry?
(29:18):
Um, but, but I think maybe alittle more intentional to go
back is is this is somethingthat is not just, you know, the
heartbeat of our youth ministry.
This has really been theheartbeat of our church and at
every level, from next gen toour senior pastor and our elders
, I mean this is a whole churchinitiative that we have said we
(29:41):
want to invest in the lives ofthe next generation of church
leaders, and so it's somethingthat's prayed about, it's
something that we talk about,it's in our language, with each
other, and it's really somethingthat we all try to participate
in, and so it's not just oneministry trying to say, hey,
we're doing this on our own,this is really the whole church.
(30:03):
And so I would say, if youhaven't had a conversation with
your church leadership, then itshould start with that Saying
hey, how are we doing at raisingup the next generation of
church leaders?
Are we asking the question, arewe coming alongside them?
Are we resourcing them inthings?
I think, as I mentioned earlier,more often than not we've been
(30:26):
very reactive with it, and it'sjust by accident that if most of
us were like, hey, I've gotthis kid in my ministry who said
I want to go into vocationalministry, then, man, we would
celebrate that.
But it would be like what do Ido now?
And, uh, yeah, so just to be alittle more intentional on the
(30:48):
front end, where these aren'thappening by accident, but we're
being intentional on, onhelping direct and point them
towards vocational ministry soyou guys have made it part of
the dna of the entire church,which I think is really
important thing.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
You mentioned something interesting, which is
the eldership, and it was thefirst time that I've ever really
thought about this, because I'man ignorant person in general,
but, um, that it's like theelderships, like that's their
job, is to take care of the like, spiritual health and longevity
of of that body of believers.
(31:22):
If anybody should have a vestedinterest in seeing Calvary
Christian Church raise upTimothys and get them into
vocational ministry within thechurch, it should be that group
of people Are they tell me aboutyeah, just tell me about their
involvement in all of this,because that's such a cool thing
(31:44):
that I don't know that a ton ofpeople think about.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah, they play a huge role in it.
Like CIY, you know, we've sentpictures.
I have one elder and our seniorpastor that I usually send a
picture and say, hey, these arethe students this week that have
raised their hand and said Iwant to go into vocational
ministry, and so we'll get agroup photo with them.
(32:08):
We'll send the names and I'llsay, hey, here's the students,
here's the names of them, andthey say, great, we're going to
share this with the rest of theelders, we're going to pray for
these students, we're going tocome alongside of them, and so
they've really played.
I mean, they're the ones drivingthe shit on it and and we're
just getting to do kind of thefollow through and the tangible
(32:31):
side of things.
But really, this is somethingthat, um, they they've done an
excellent job on making surethat this is a priority for us,
that it's it's put in front ofus and everything that we do,
but also that we are.
We are putting our resources inthat as well, from educational
things to money to help withgetting them those resources,
(32:52):
scholarships, all of thosethings to help them remove some
of those barriers that might bein place or going to Bible
college or training up forministry.
They just try to make thatprocess as smooth as possible,
and so just the prayer is a hugepart of it, just the amount of
time that they spend togetherjust praying over these students
, praying over the kids who havemade that decision.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
So Super great.
All right, I want to get intothe practical side of this.
Like, I know that not everychurch is going to want to or be
able to replicate exactly whatCalvary is doing, but I have
heard and we actually haven'thad a chance to talk about this,
(33:36):
but I've heard that Calvary isdoing a lot of really neat
things when it comes to some ofthese practices and guidelines
that you put in place and eventsthat you do and all kinds of
stuff in order to help theseindividuals kind of follow
through on this calling thatthey've received from the Lord
(33:56):
about vocational ministry.
So let's kind of circle back tomy first question, but I'll ask
it in a different way, becauseyou've very lovingly and
graciously told me that thepremise of my question was
stupid.
Um, uh, what?
So, like what infrastructure isthere around these students?
(34:20):
So yeah, at the you get to theend of a sermon, you're talking
next steps, You're saying maybeyou want to get baptized, maybe
you want to start serving, maybeyou want to tell a friend,
maybe you want to go intovocational ministry, right, and
somebody comes up to you afterand says you know what I
actually do, really have a heartfor kids and I serve in the
(34:41):
nursery with my mom on Sundays.
I serve in the nursery with mymom on Sundays, and this is
something that I really thinkmight be something that God is
calling me to.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
So what happens at that point?
Good question we have hijackeda number of ideas from a lot of
different people in churchesdoing different things and kind
of assessed those things and howthey would best fit our
(35:17):
ministry context here inNebraska, and so I'll kind of
back up.
I will answer your question,but I'll back up a little bit.
We decided, following up fromCIY, that we were going to have
this event called Mark theMoment, and so in August we
didn't want to wait too longafter they got back from CIY we
went through the rhythms journaltogether.
But those students that said Iwant to go into vocational
ministry, and then ones that wehad on our radar that didn't
(35:38):
come to CIY, we put aninvitation out and said, hey, we
want to mark the moment of youmaking this decision to go into
vocational ministry.
And so we had an event that wasa whole church thing.
We had it on a Sunday evening.
We had a meal and just a timeof sharing with them and just
(36:01):
kind of celebrating thisdecision that they made.
And then we laid out some thingsthat we had been developing for
what that follow-up would looklike not just celebrating those
decisions that they made, but toput something in front of them.
And so we had come up with afew things.
We took some things from CIY,just kind of the four legs of
(36:23):
that table.
If they ever go to that nextlevel course at any of the CIYs,
I encourage, if you havestudents interested, go to those
courses.
But just having character,skills, experience and education
just being those four legs thatare going to help sustain you
for life of ministry.
(36:43):
And we've kind of like justsummarize that into we want to
help them build character andcompetency.
And so if that's a goodstarting point is, if they
haven't been to a mark themoment, we want to get them to a
mark the moment, but we don'twant them to wait.
So within those four pillars orthose four legs, we've come up
(37:04):
with some different things.
So every month we have kind of askills gathering.
We have one of our residentswho kind of heads up that time
where after we meet for youthgroup time for 30 minutes to an
hour, they'll gather and we getthem all together and it'll be a
different topic for the month.
(37:24):
That's a skill that will helpthem prepare for vocational
ministry.
So really it's hey, here's ournext one.
It's the second Sunday of themonth, they know right after
youth group that's a gatheringtime for that.
So we would point them towardsjumping into one of those skills
training portions.
We definitely want to make surethat they're serving and giving
(37:46):
them experience in whateverarea that they feel God calling
them to.
And sometimes those experiencesfor those going into ministry
they need to be a little moreunique than just that regular
opportunity to serve.
And so with Super Start comingup, we've got a number of our
students who want to go intovocational ministry and they're
(38:09):
going to help lead, like ourfourth and fifth graders that
are going in.
So asking them to do things likethat, educational pieces I mean
we want to get them down to ourBible colleges and get them
exposure and experience to knowhow important it is to prepare
yourself educationally forvocational ministry.
And then that character piece isreally that's something that we
(38:33):
can't do as a church, but wecan lead them to scripture and
help them grow their character,in the sense that we're not the
one transforming them, but yourtime with God is what transforms
you, and just that relationshipthat you have with Jesus and
then developing that mind ofChrist that Philippians talks
about, that it's really it's anattitude that begins to change
(38:57):
and that changes our actions,and so we just encourage them,
walk alongside them in how toread their Bible, how to study
it in context and how tointerpret those things and apply
it in their life, just to helpthem with that character piece,
because, really, if you're notbuilding your character and
competency, if one's lacking man, it's really tough in whatever
(39:19):
field you're going into,especially ministry.
And so we don't want to neglectany of those areas, because if
we're sending them off tochurches, at the end of things,
hopefully you know they're goingto be kingdom workers all
throughout the US or allthroughout the world.
We want to, we want to preparethem best for that, in both
(39:39):
their character and theircompetence side of things.
So Caitlin.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
That's incredible.
I have a question Somethingthat has come up a lot in our
conversations with churches andBible colleges and others who
who care deeply about thesestudents in particular, who
making it from that moment ofcalling into some next
commitment.
(40:06):
Something that's continuallycome up has been around
relationships.
So one thing that we found inresearch and surveying students
who had answered this call at aCIY event, who did pursue
ministry in some form, theyconsistently answered that
someone in their church believedin them, and that was this
(40:29):
instigating piece of their storyIn particular.
Yes, yeah, A caring adultbelieved in them.
And so what does mentoring looklike?
How do you train leaders aroundthese concepts?
Are there?
Are there, you know, caringadults of some form who are
walking students through each ofthese resources?
(40:50):
And then I would even tack onyou know, parent conversations.
What is, what does all of thatlook like in this world for you
guys?
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Yeah.
So we developed kind of to helpus track these kids.
We were just walking throughthem this morning in our student
team gathering and we have 47students who are in our pipeline
and we kind of have differentstages of where we place them,
based on where they're at inthat commitment.
(41:21):
And so you know, our initialone is Kingdom Work.
Those are the ones that haveraised their hands and said, yes
, I would like to pursue kingdomwork in a vocational ministry
sense.
Next would go into our mark themoment have they gone to one of
our mark the moment eventsmentorship have they been
(41:45):
plugged into a mentoringrelationship in whatever area of
ministry or somebody that bestfits that student?
And then we have, I have tothink for a second mentorship
Bible college interest is next.
So if they've showed interest,maybe they're applying for Bible
colleges, they would go intothat next category.
(42:07):
And then those who have applied, we have interns, if they've
done an internship or residency.
And then we have placement, andso we've been able this year to
have a couple that are nowplaced in churches and in full
time settings.
We've got some that are internsand residents right now.
(42:31):
We've got some that are at everystage, and so we just kind of
looked and assessed where iseach kid on this, just to make
sure that we're serving themwell or wherever they're at in
this process.
And so those mentoringrelationships are so important,
just the emphasis we make withour small group leaders too,
(42:55):
just the importance of havingadults that reinforce this
conversation, that care for themas they walk through life and
as they walk through thesedecisions.
It's not just pastoral ministryfolks here at Calvary that are
ones doing mentorship In factmaybe a few of us are doing that
(43:15):
but many of them are smallgroup leaders that they see
every week.
They're the ones that hopefully, like if they get a
life-changing event, likethey're their first phone call,
not us, and so I think thoserelationships that they develop
with them are so important,because that just helps us have
(43:39):
a second voice in it to say hey,um, uh, I really see this in
you as well and and justreinforcing that, that call to
ministry.
And so, um, yeah, thoserelationships matter so much in
it.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
What, uh, can we, we can you tell like a story of a
kid that you feel like hasbenefited really well from this?
Because you're laying it allout and I'm like this is so cool
.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
I just want to know about, uh, some of your students
tell me about somebody thatthis has like been a big, big,
big win for them in their, theirjourney oh yeah, um, man, it's
hard to pick just one, becausewe have we have a number of
students who, uh, it's just beenso awesome to see, from the
time that they committed and, uh, just some of the efforts that
(44:27):
we we've made to pour into them,just the leaps and bounds, um,
that they've grown through it,uh.
But I'll probably pick one.
It's one of the recentgraduates.
He just finished his year and ahalf into school.
His name's Landon and was justkind of like really on the fence
of like he was going intofinance at the University of
(44:48):
Nebraska and had raised his handat some point like I'm thinking
about ministry, and so webrought him on as an intern to
kind of help flesh that out andgive him a taste of what
ministry could look like.
And he just I don't want tonecessarily celebrate, but he
dropped out of LincolnUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
(45:11):
and we were just able to bringhim on as a part-time intern.
He just enrolled in Biblecollege online and so he's been
with us for a couple of weeksnow this is week two and looking
forward to vocational ministryand so just kind of helping them
navigate those decisions oflike, hey, I did this, but I
(45:33):
don't feel like I'm being calledto this, of like, hey, you know
I did this, but I don't feellike I'm being called to this,
and just kind of comingalongside and saying, hey, we're
going to help you discern thiscall in your life and I am
giving them opportunities to seeif this is really what God is
calling them to.
And now we get to be a hugepart of training him up, and I
know he's going to go do amazingthings, uh, in whatever church
(45:56):
that he's going to beministering at.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
So, um, we have a lot of stories like that of
students who so wait a secondthough I want to talk about
landon for a second um, becausethat's a really interesting one
that you chose, because I don'tknow if I've got like the
timeline right in my brain ornot, but it sounds like there
(46:18):
wouldn't have been like a movemoment where it's like stand up,
declaration, everybody clap,like this guy's going to do the
thing right now, kind of is nothis story.
It's very much like existingfor most of the time in like the
back of his mind.
(46:38):
How easy is it for a studentlike that to just keep moving
with their finance degree?
And if you guys never start theconversation, then it's never
more than just like a thought inin the back of this kid's mind
that he suppresses and pushesdown because it's like oh well,
I'm already on this path at unland you know whatever.
(47:02):
Like that's such a, that's sucha cool thing.
Yeah, I don't know, that's whatI got that made me really happy
.
It is really cool, and what areais he interning in?
Speaker 3 (47:20):
He's interning with me in youth ministry, student
ministry.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
That's so cool, oh man what an awesome thing.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
That's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
All right, let's do another one more.
This is my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Yeah, one would probably be every Tuesday.
So today is Tuesday.
We have a student, he's afreshman and he's homeschooled,
so he's got lots of flexibility.
We pick him up every Tuesday,we grab lunch and we do Bible
study and I feel like now thatwe've kind of walked alongside
of like, uh, you know, we, we doan inductive bible study
(47:57):
together where we talk about,like what's the context of the
passage, we use the coma method,uh, observation, meaning and
application, and I feel like heteaches me as much as as as I've
taught him.
And just to watch his growth, um, over the past year and now
saying like I want to be, I feel, called to vocational ministry
(48:20):
and I don't know whatnecessarily he's going to do.
Maybe it's student ministry,maybe it's pastoral ministry.
But this last semester we satdown with him and helped him
prepare a message that he gaveat youth group and and I was up
there with him and and we justkind of did a back and forth,
(48:42):
but he did most of the teachingand and it was just so awesome
to see the response.
I think kids get a little numbto hearing the same voice over
and over, but, man, when theyhear a peer get up and share or
be in front of them.
It brings a whole nother leveland so just the feedback that
(49:03):
everybody gave on it, fromstudents who were like that was
amazing.
Thank you for sharing theinsights.
But just to see his growth andwe've really tried this is like
a big dream that we've got is iseventually to have an
opportunity for juniors andseniors who feel the call the
(49:23):
vocational ministry, that wecould bring them on for a few
hours a week in like a studentinternship just to kind of give
them some opportunities to growon that.
And you know he's been a biginfluence on on just thinking
and dreaming of that.
So his name's Ephraim.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
Ephraim killing it, that's so awesome.
I think that this is such a bigdeal though and, caitlin, I want
to ask you to speak into thisas well, because I emphasized
this on our last episode that wedid with Jason.
This isn't stuff that we madeup.
This isn't like our programmingteam sitting down and being
like what's a fun way that wecan say this and make an impact,
(50:03):
for whatever this is data thathundreds and hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of peoplewho have made this decision gave
us and told us, and Caitlinalready mentioned one of the
common threads having an adult,a caring adult, in a mentoring
relationship.
What's the other big one,caitlin?
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Serving, serving.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Serving and practicing.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
You guys are doing it like you're doing the whole
thing, Ah, it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Anyway, do you want to speak?
Speaker 3 (50:33):
to that at all.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Caitlin, I don't know , I'm just kind of putting you
on the spot.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
I mean, I was just thinking well, I was just
thinking the same thing and I'mgoing to ask you another
question about it, matt.
But that's, yeah, that's been ahuge, huge thing.
That's come up over and overand, I think, consistently,
where we see churches sending alot of students into ministry,
we're seeing that they were ableto give students opportunities,
meaningful opportunities, topractice serving and practice
(51:00):
leading and whether that'sgiving the message or writing
small group questions orspeaking into what the program
is going to look like for otherjuniors and seniors to get
involved and to intern I meanthose types of things for them
to own the ministry and for themto own those experiences is is
huge, and you know more thanit's great to have your ministry
(51:22):
kids make your Sam's run, butbut it's more than that.
It's like the meaningful, themeaningful moments of, of
practicing.
So that was my, you know.
My next question, too, is justfor those students who are at
that point in your pipeline ofserving what?
What are some other ways thatyou are equipping them?
Are they in other ministryareas, in the church?
(51:43):
Are they doing things at school?
You know, giving messages?
What is that looking like?
Speaker 3 (51:50):
Yeah for sure.
We wouldn't be able to do whatwe do as a church without our
students serving and beingengaged in those areas.
We have so many thatparticipate in kids ministry on
Sunday mornings.
We also have a midweek programfor kids that we have a group
(52:16):
that serves.
In those special events, I mean, man, they come in full force
VBS.
I think we had, oh gosh, we hadlike 120 students around there
that had served in VBS, servedin bbs, um, and so just giving
(52:40):
them opportunities in the greenlight, um, and encouraging,
encouraging them to serve, um,and our, our middle schoolers
actually really stepped to theplate on that, like that.
Well, there are so many middleschoolers that serve, and, uh,
and some of our high schoolerslike, uh, we decided that we
were going to celebrate.
You know, our mission here isto live and love like Jesus.
They hear that over and overand over again, from Sunday
(53:01):
mornings to Sunday nights tomidweek.
It's just language that theyhear over and over to live and
love like Jesus.
And so we started celebratingthose, you know, in our parent
communications, like here's astudent who is living and loving
like Jesus, and highlightingthem where they're serving.
Some of them had been, likethey posted.
We do an invite night once amonth in student ministry and
(53:24):
you know, one of our studentsgot permission for the handout
card that we had for it to puton their school's event board,
and so you know, she sent apicture in and was like hey,
look what I got to put on myevent board.
And so you know, she sent apicture in and was like hey,
look what I got to put on myevent board.
And so you know, we want tocelebrate and highlight those,
uh, which, whatever youcelebrate, you know that it's
going to be replicated.
And so if we can celebratethose students who are serving
(53:49):
or who are living and lovinglike Jesus, not just at church,
um, and through the ministry,that programming that happens,
but also at school and in yourcommunity, if we can highlight
those things like those are,those are things that, that that
are like wildfire that justgrow and grow and grow.
So we definitely want tocelebrate those things but also
(54:10):
give them the opportunities tobe able to do that to be able to
do that.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
That's really cool, and so I want to.
We're going to have to kind ofwind down our time together here
a little bit, but I want to askyou another question because I
think I hope if CIY, if thiscalling that God has given CIY
(54:35):
is authentic and I believe thatit is and if churches are going
to begin stepping up to theplate and helping their students
next three to five to eightyears who are going to be
building things like what youalready have in place at Calvary
(55:04):
, which I think is cool.
I think you guys are way aheadof the curve on some of this
stuff.
So I want to give people whoare looking to do something like
this in the future a leg up alittle bit.
What's been hard about this foryou guys?
Or like, is there something youlook back on and you're like,
(55:24):
oh yeah, wish we would have donethat differently or didn't need
to do that, or what you know,whatever it may be like, is
there?
Cause I know this isn't alljust like smooth sailing and
every single thing we do as awin and every meeting is fun and
you know those kinds of things.
So help me understand what thechallenges have been for you
guys at Calvary.
Speaker 3 (55:46):
Yeah, I would say, a lot of it feels like we're
building the airplane in the airand it's been it's been it's
been kind of a process just tolike brainstorm and figure out
how are we going to best servethe students and not just the
students, but you know, ouryoung adults and others who are
(56:07):
saying I want to go intovocational ministry.
There's been times where we'vejust been at standstills and
we're reaching out to churchesacross the U?
S and trying to find, um, hey,what are you guys doing that's
working, what's not workingbecause, uh, you know, nobody
wants to, nobody wants to messup, and uh, and sometimes that
(56:28):
just leads us to like astandstill, paralysis, where we
don't yeah, we just don't doanything, and so, um, we've had
moments where we've stalled alittle bit just trying to figure
out, like, how are we going todo this?
And it's been nice becausewe've had so many pieces of our
church not just our studentministry but from our eldership
(56:50):
and senior pastor down that arehelping drive this forward, and
so we've needed that at timeswhere it's like, hey, where are
we at on this, like, where havewe made a decision on on how the
mark, the moment's going tolook how are we going to?
How are we going to, you know,follow up with them from the
mark the moment things, and sojust the process of like
(57:14):
developing a plan has been hasbeen kind of tricky at times and
and some things have had to beadapted.
Some things are like, hey, thisisn't working, so, like our
skills meetings that we do itwas 30 minutes this last
semester and and going throughit it was like, hey, this isn't
(57:34):
enough time, and so we'readapting and shifting it now,
and so just trying to stay fluidthrough it.
I was like, hey, this isn'tenough time, and so we're
adapting and shifting it now,and so just trying to stay fluid
through it.
But just trying to find whoelse is doing this has been a
little hard.
And then figuring out, like, isthis going to work for us?
Sometimes you just got to do itand see if it works, and if it
doesn't, then you shift fire andyou try something else, and so,
(57:58):
um, for us that's probably beenthe biggest hangups is just, um
, wanting to do something well,and sometimes that's led to a
little bit of of just stallingin the process, of, of of
getting kids through thispipeline that we've been
thinking and dreaming up, so andit is.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
I mean, it's a very disciplined thing.
So, just like I can imaginestaying motivated through this
for several iterations and justI don't know, like the train, I
think I can, I think I can, Ithink I can just like trying to
get the thing moving, and goingis is hard work, but I'm glad
(58:38):
you guys are doing it.
Um Caitlin, what would yourencouragement be, from the seat
that you're in, to um Matt, topeople like him who are are at
the beginning of this, and alsoto those who are listening, who
don't have something like thisin place yet but are thinking,
(59:00):
wow, this sounds really great,um, and I want to make this a
priority, but I have a lot ofhard work ahead of them or sure.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
Well, I think, like matt just said, I mean, I think
just start, um, you know I, Ithink you can, you can adjust as
you go and your advice at thebeginning I think is huge to
start talking about it tostudents.
Start presenting that questionjust casually, just make it part
(59:28):
of your language around nextsteps and application, coming
out of a message and coming outof a weekly rhythm or out of a
big event as well, and justpresenting that as an option, as
an opportunity and as a viablecareer path.
I think you mentioned thatyou're asking your middle
(59:51):
schoolers this same question andI think you know middle
schoolers in school are getting,they're taking an exam that
tells them what career path theyshould choose and they're
beginning to be set on thosecourses and so the church should
be in that conversation.
So start, you know, in middleschool and make this falling and
(01:00:19):
career option realistic andviable.
And the other thing I would say,you know we again just hitting
a little bit on that researchthat we had done, really there
were three pillars that stoodout.
We've already hit on two ofthem Relationships, repetition
is what we're calling, that kindof serving and leading
(01:00:39):
opportunity.
Just reps, get the reps in,just start having them practice.
And that third just being toresource students, and so, you
know, really just getting growthopportunities in front of them.
You know what you guys arecalling these skills labs.
You know opportunities to startpracticing and, um, and learn
(01:01:00):
more about God, about his church, about themselves and how he's,
how he's knit them together and, and, may you know, maybe
creating them to serve incertain ways.
So, um, I I think just um, pullyour, pull your students
together, I would say, and havethem start to put together, you
(01:01:23):
know, practice right away.
Have them start to put togethera pipeline that Matt's kind of
talking about around what nextsteps realistically look like.
And then start talking, youknow, in the same ways, to your
leaders and have them equippedand ready to to follow up with
(01:01:44):
these students so that they canfollow through, so that they can
take those next steps.
Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
Yeah, my biggest takeaway from what you had to
say, matt, was you do not haveto have all your ducks in a row
to start.
you know, we still, we stilldon't have our ducks I don't
even know where the ducks are,uh, but yeah, it's like you,
don't like you.
You can start taking that likeright next step right now, and
(01:02:11):
figure it out as you go, um, andyou could end up with a
beautiful, fruitful thing, likewhat you guys have ended up with
.
I'm going to ask you one morequestion, and then we got to cut
you loose.
I've always wanted to know thisDo you like living in Nebraska?
Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
Oddly enough, I do, Do you really?
Is that a real thing?
People want to live there.
Is that a real?
Thing, People want to livethere.
Yeah, it's kind of strangebecause they call middle America
flyover country and Nebraskatheir Nebraska Department of
Tourism came up with thistourism slogan.
Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
There's a Nebraska Department of Tourism.
Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
Wait till you hear this.
So their slogan, their sloganthat they came up with which is,
I think, still like the mainNebraska Department of Tourism
slogan, is Nebraska it's not foreverybody and it is not for
(01:03:17):
everybody.
Speaker 4 (01:03:20):
and they even have a commercial.
Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
One of the commercial they have, like the migratory
sand hill cranes that comethrough and they're the sky yeah
, one of their uh, one of theircommercials they have are like
some say say that Nebraska isflyover country and these birds
stop in the middle of the statefor a couple of weeks and people
come from all over to see thesesandhill cranes.
(01:03:44):
I don't care about the sandhillcranes, but they're like but
it's not flyover country forhundreds of thousands of
sandhill cranes.
It's like well, nobody caresabout sandhill cranes, we're
talking about humans.
The humans aren't coming here.
Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
This is a very strange way to tell me that you
enjoy living in Nebraska.
Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
We have a good zoo.
The people are nice.
We have a good zoo.
Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Hey man, I like coming there for two days every
year.
We'll have some ice cream.
Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
We have the best ice cream in America here.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
I can confirm.
I'll just throw this out there.
Second sentence on VisitNebraska website no one ever
said we were trying to appeal toeveryone, but they are still
leaning in.
Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
That is the funniest thing I've ever heard so what do
you think the odds are?
They're the only person who'svisited that website today
strong.
Speaker 4 (01:04:47):
Michael, you had something to contribute on the
topic of the zoo, there's achance.
There's a chance, brad, that wemight stay in in uh in omaha on
saturday after that superstarevent is done and pending the
weather very hard to make thatnot happen we can have a
(01:05:11):
conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Okay, we can get off mike, we can talk about it.
I will say best ice cream ever.
I would love say best ice creamever.
I would love to get ice creamwith you, matt.
We'll have to do that.
Um, there's also in omaha thisplace.
It is like takeout, only youcan't eat there and it's just
pizza and wings.
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
(01:05:32):
I forget what it's called pizza.
Yeah, you can't eat there.
You drive up and you get yourfood and you leave, and it's a
wings place.
Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
And the people.
Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
No, it's actually cool.
I'm trying to hype up Nebraskaright now, I'm not kidding Best
wings I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
I will say Omaha has major metros in the US.
They have more restaurants percapita than any of the major
metros.
Actually, the food here is topnotch.
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
I won't give that the food is top notch.
I bet Christy Biebermeyertexted it to me Uh uh.
This is not.
This is not good radio.
Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
This is not good at all um, hmm, I'll take you to
this unique place calledChipotle while you're here.
Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
I love Chipotle I got dumped in a.
Chipotle, once, that's a fun.
Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
That's some fun grad lore.
Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
By once.
I mean less than a year ago.
All right, everybody, we'regoing to go ahead and jump off.
Hey, thanks for being here, man, it was really great talking to
you.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, you're great man,appreciate all you guys are
doing at Calvary.
So excited to see your crew atSuperstar Nebraska here very
(01:07:03):
shortly and best wishes to youguys as you continue to kind of
flesh out this vocationalministry pathway for people.
Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Yeah definitely.
Meanwhile, we will be readingup on sandhill cranes I am uh
super excited to see where thisproject goes.
Uh, with matt and with calvary,I think they are doing a really
good thing by saying hey Idon't really know what's going
(01:07:33):
on, but we're gonna.
We're gonna do it.
We're gonna start down thisroad because it's an important
road to walk down and I hope youwere inspired by him and by the
work that they're doing thereat Calvary to take whatever the
next step is for you in creatinga pathway for students who are
called into vocational ministry.
I'm going to read our blessingand then we'll get out of here.
(01:07:56):
May God show you grace andbless 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.
(01:08:20):
Today's episode was produced byMichael Hester, lauren Brian and
myself.
Thank you a ton to Caitlin forhanging out with us today, and
also thanks to Matt for hangingout as well.
I feel like that was just areally, really fun conversation.
Be sure to subscribe to thispodcast on YouTube or wherever
you listen to podcasts so thatyou don't miss anything Coming
(01:08:41):
up.
In a couple of weeks we aregoing to be talking to Dr James
and Ginger Della Ripa.
They have a ministry dedicatedto supporting blended families.
They are a blended family andyou have blended families in
your ministry, so I think it'sreally important that you get to
(01:09:02):
hear from their expertise whatthey have to say, and they have
some really cool resources thatyou can use as well.
So that's in two weeks.
In the meantime, feel free toreach out to us on the community
facebook group or by email atpodcast at ciycom.
We'll see you next time, thankyou.
Hi, I'm Brad Warren and this is Beyond the Event, a
youth ministry podcast presentedby Christ in Youth, where we
help you maintain momentumBetween the mountaintops.
Today we are following up onour conversation that we started
last week with Jason Frenchabout helping students follow
through on faith decisions thatthey make in their life.
A little bit later, we're goingto be talking to Matt Stevens.
(00:24):
He's a student pastor atCalvary Christian Church in the
Omaha, nebraska area.
Matt's a great guy and they'redoing a lot of really, really
cool things to help thesestudents not only follow through
on their decisions, butactually come to a decision
about what it looks like to stepinto this life of vocational
(00:45):
ministry.
So I hope you will stick aroundfor that conversation, for sure
.
But before we do that, we getto talk to an absolute legend,
cioi's Director of DigitalResources, caitlin Adams.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Caitlin, hey Brad, how are you Thanks for having me
on Doing great, Doing great, hicaitlin, hey brad, how are you
doing great, doing great?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I am so thrilled to hear that you might be the first
ever ciy co-host that we havehad zoom in.
Oh, well there you go, becauseyou live in oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
You were gonna say the first ever co-host with a
cold.
I couldn't tell you how to callit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
This is what you sound like all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, no something like that.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
No, it's not Sorry.
Uh, you know what Tis theseason?
Yeah, you have two littlerugrats in your household.
I do.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I'm sure they are just little germ bombs.
Man so many germs.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yes, it is a problem, it is a problem.
But you know what I respect you.
I respect that.
It hasn't stopped you, ithasn't slowed you down.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
We're still here, we're still podcasting.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Here we are, it's happening.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Caitlin, you are on our last episode with Jason,
actually kind of like teased youbeing here this week because
you are, as our director ofdigital resources, kind of
spearheading a lot of thisinitiative for CIY to equip
(02:21):
students to follow through ondecisions that they make to be
kingdom workers, to be invocational ministry, to repent,
whatever it may be.
We're focusing really heavily,to start with, on helping
(02:41):
students follow through on thedecision to go into vocational
ministry.
I want to know how you got intoministry, cause I honestly have
no idea what your.
How did it happen?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, I uh, I had a moment, um summer before
ninth grade I went to highschool camp for the first year
and sat in the next to the backrow on you know, one night of
camp that the speaker made acall for those interested in
(03:17):
going into ministry.
And you know my story I had beenthrough just some tough seasons
the year before that and soreally found safety and
belonging in the church andfound just a lot of life at camp
that week in particular andbelonging that when he made that
(03:42):
call I stood up and had one ofthose stand up and say yes
moments, which is a cool thingto look back on, and also had no
clue in the moment what thatexactly meant.
But my youth pastor was lookingat me and and and excited, and
(04:04):
you know, pumping her, pumpingher fist in the air and um, and
so yeah, so, so walking forwardfrom that moment was, uh, just
doing life near ish, my youthminister, who also did not know
necessarily what her move wasgoing to be or how to raise
somebody up into ministry and um, so it was very um, organic and
(04:28):
and just came with, um, youknow, watching how, how others
were doing it and um, kind ofhaving a continual moment, not
not really believing that thisis a, this is a viable career
choice, but this is something Ican actually do with my life and
just loving it.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So here you are.
It's a viable career choiceyeah exactly.
So did you have like the youdidn't go to Bible college, did
you?
I did it.
Yeah, how did that yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So this also informs some of the work that we're
doing as well, in a way, becauseI I have wonderful, super
supportive parents and Godhonoring family, but when I went
home and told them I wanted togo into ministry, they were
scared, and my parents are ateacher and a police officer, so
(05:24):
you know not that they thoughtI was going to make a ton of
money or anything, but theywanted, they wanted me to be
secure and anyway.
So they, they sent they.
They really had it in theirmind.
I was going to go to a stateschool, so they wanted me to
quote unquote get a real degreeis what they told me.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And so I think in their defense, I went to Bible
college and got a degree from aschool that no longer exists.
So that's just in defense of.
Mr and Mrs More.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
More yes, yeah, no, that's fair and truly.
I mean, when we had thatconversation at the time, it
also made sense to me and Ididn't have friends.
I grew up in a Methodist church.
I didn't have friends going toBible college.
You know they would go toschool and then go to seminary,
so everything was a seminarytrack and I took that path.
(06:20):
So I got a degree in graphicdesign because I knew I could
serve the church that way.
So I got a degree in graphicdesign because I knew I could
serve the church that way.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Um, and that the church needed a lot of help in
that area.
And then every youth pastor isa graphic designer.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Exactly, exactly, so got some skills in that, in that
realm and um, and then went onto seminary.
So it was, it was, you know,just a different um, a different
path.
So but I think that's that'sinformed a lot of.
You know, as we see studentsmaking this decision, wanting to
equip them for thoseconversations with, with parents
(06:55):
and youth ministers.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So yeah, but you talking about, like your, your
student pastor, um kind ofcelebrating you in that moment
when you stood up and her notreally like.
It's like okay, I guess we'regoing to figure this out.
I think that is an overwhelmingthing for a lot of youth
pastors and feels like a veryheavy weight where it's like how
(07:18):
in the heck am I supposed to dothis?
Prepare this person for thelife that they've chosen?
To take the right next step inorder to get there to hear the
Holy Spirit and how he'sclarifying his will for their
life, and that's just a lot.
And I think well, I know,because I've talked to you about
(07:42):
it that it's your heartbeat toalleviate some of that burden
for student pastors and I wantchurches to know how, in what
ways, you're excited to be ableto serve them as they kind of
figure some of that stuff out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolutely, Absolutely kind of figure some
of that stuff out, Absolutely,Absolutely Well, I um, yeah
again, I think so much of mystory has informed this process,
but not only that, as, as we'vetalked with churches and youth
ministers and students as well,and just heard from um heard a
similar story um, around a lotof tables, Uh, I am excited to
(08:26):
be able to say we're creatingresources, you know, real
tangible things that are going.
I believe really that they'llhelp alleviate some of that for
youth ministers, Some of thequestions around what do I do
next or how do I equip avolunteer mentor or volunteer
(08:49):
small group leader to be able tohelp a student walk through
this when they're not inministry either, I mean some of
those things.
Just that it's not one morething to juggle when you get on
the van to get the students backhome, thing to juggle when you
get on the van to get thestudents back home.
So a couple of those things,truly, that will just be, I
(09:14):
think, helpful.
We've worked through sort of aphilosophy around what things we
have learned are integral in astudent, taking those next steps
and closing the gap.
So we've seen students getcalled into vocational ministry
at our events by the thousandsfor years, for decades, and so
the fact that the pipeline isdrying up and that student
(09:37):
pastors are hard to find andfill spots for is just mind
blowing for our organization.
We sit around and we're like butI just watched 2000 of them
raise their hands just sixmonths ago, you know.
And what is happening?
Um, exactly.
And so so we've we've sort ofbeen circling around three
(09:59):
things that we believe will helpa student move from that
calling moment into a commitment, into this, the next step,
whatever that might look like,um, and they're, they're easy,
and they're just because we'vecontinued to hear them, uh,
repeated from others asresources, relationships and
reps.
So, resources, meaningful waysto um to learn uh about god,
(10:23):
about themselves.
Relationships, you know, caringadults who can walk alongside
them.
And then reps being ways forthem to serve and lead in and
outside of the church and justget started, just practice.
And that was the thing that myyouth minister was great at is
she gave me the keys and waslike, all right, you're doing
(10:43):
this now, you know, and that wassomething she needed help with
and it made sense.
But it also built this trustand it built this opportunity
for me to just start right whereI was.
And some ministries lendthemselves really easily to that
and some, you know, some don'tanymore.
The, you know, particularly ifyou're a larger scale ministry,
(11:04):
it may be harder to hand overthe keys to the AV booth to
whatever kid walks up, but tobuild in service opportunities
is huge, I think.
So we've identified aphilosophy around that and now
we're building out resourcesthat are going to help churches
walk students through those Onein particular I mean the one I'm
(11:27):
the most excited about is arelational discipleship app,
really Like it's a learningmanagement system that is going
to help a student connect with acaring mentor and walk through
some of those thingsstep-by-step.
So we're really excited aboutthat, and others that are going
(11:47):
to help help a church really getset up well to utilize
something like that.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, so I'm going to ask a leading question here,
but I think it's important.
What's the price point on allof this?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, Brad, I hate to break it to you, but it's
completely free.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I know, but like I think it's important because
people hear us talk about thesethings and they're like, oh
great, how much is this going tocost?
And it's like organizationally.
We believe in this so much.
And it's like such a huge partof what we do that it's like you
, pay for these incredibleexperiences, and we are going to
, as part of that experience,give you what you need in order
(12:30):
to follow up on the commitmentsthat your students are making.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Exactly, and I think that's something that you know
we have really again as anorganization.
I'm sure Jason talked aboutthis, but we have felt the
weight of stewarding thosedecisions.
We're we're putting thosedecisions in front of your
students and we need to supportyou as a church, as a youth
leader, as a volunteer leader,as a bi-vocational leader we
(12:54):
have got to create.
This was just.
This is just something we oweyou guys 100%.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Well, I'm excited to get to dig into that
conversation with you and withMatt here in just a little bit
um, you having kind of the CIYexpertise and Matt having kind
of already put a lot of thesetypes of things that we're
talking about into practice andjust kind of hopefully inspiring
um student pastors in in theirjourney to help provide these
pathways for their students.
(13:23):
But before we do that, michael,it's time for the mailbag.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Oh man, Okay, Caitlin .
So I have a question from, uh,from from our old pal Casey
Lanier.
Um, and.
I'm gonna, I think I'm.
I'm gonna maybe sort of openthis question up to be a little
bit more broad than than what itis, because I think I think
(13:50):
everyone is a little bitdifferent in in what.
I'm not gonna try and set thisquestion up.
I'll ask the question and thenwe can expand.
Okay, are you ready?
Um, so casey basically isasking with all your travel this
summer, how many minutes ofmusic showed up in your spotify
wrapped and who were your topartists?
(14:11):
I listen to apple music yeahhonestly, when I'm traveling, I
actually spend a ton of timelistening to podcasts over music
and so like I think really, youknow, if, if, if you're, if
spotify is your main thing andyou have wrapped numbers to pull
, great, can't wait to hear themif not I would love to know
what are your like travel,pastime activities and what is
(14:32):
maybe your favorite thing thatyou listened to, experienced,
etc.
All right.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, I appreciate the out that you're giving me
because, as mentioned previously, I have two rug rats it's just
all paw patrol my rap is ninjaturtles and followed by all of
(15:01):
the um monster truck, all of theHot Wheels and Monster Jam
Monster Truck theme songs.
So that is not a fair questionto me, casey, but I appreciate
what you're getting at.
I will give this plug.
Also, on my top played songsare the Lullabies from Christy
(15:23):
Douckles album, which you guysaren't gonna care about this,
but I do have to say this ifyou've got kids, the christy
knuckles lullabies album isincredible.
I love it.
It makes, I mean, my kids welisten.
We have five little songs on itand they listen to it every
night and they go to sleep andif we're in the car it puts them
straight out and it's thesejust beautiful, virtual.
(15:45):
Oh, it's just great.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
So, um, let me, let me see if I can, if I can add
one more sort of like addendumor something to this question.
Oh gosh, you, you work remoteand you travel to Joplin.
I don't know how often do youcome, like two to three times a
month almost.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Uh yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
One, once or twice a month if I don't have another
trip.
Yeah, and that drive is likeit's not long Hour and a half.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
But, it's not really short either, so like what do
you put on in the car wheneveryou're like do you have a
podcast that you're like time tostart making some real headway
on this one?
Uh, well, I, I do use that timeusually to catch up on beyond
the event, so that's on mypodcast playlist, obviously,
(16:38):
obviously, um, I am a big fan ofoh great, so great.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Oh good.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
So great.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
What a relief.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I'm more in.
I listen mostly to podcasts orbooks through the Libby app.
Those are my go-to Really over.
I feel like I'm so far out ofthe music scene now that I don't
even know what to turn onanymore.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
It's like is Missiott still doing things.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, three albums that I like to just put on
rotation out here.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I just don't even michael michael and I have some
significant podcast overlap ohyeah, okay that's uh.
You still listen to smartlessmichael oh yeah, smartless is a
great podcast.
Uh, there's a movie podcastcalled the big picture that we
both listen to.
Smartless pico.
Oh yeah, smartless is a greatpodcast.
Uh, there's a movie podcastcalled the big picture that we
both listen to.
Yep, uh, do you do rewatchablestoo?
(17:31):
I've listened to it like onceokay, all right, well, anyway, I
love podcasts.
I love true crime podcasts.
Uh, hot wreck for a podcast.
Right here I just listened to apodcast called the good whale.
It was about the whale whoplayed uh willie in free willie,
and every episode of it made mecry actual, real tears.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I'm, I'm, dead serious it is so emotional ah
okay, but if you need that if?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
you need that.
Release the good whale.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
That's what you gotta listen to alright, let's do one
more quickly, one more we havea question from Matt Berry
rolling out the red carpet forMatt.
Matt wants to know what shouldwe be doing as youth pastors to
get our leaders ready to kill itat CIY events?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
that's so good as youth pastors to get our leaders
ready to kill it at CIY events.
That's so good.
That's so good, um, man, I mean, I think prepping leaders, uh,
get, get some rest before youcome, um, but I think the main,
yeah, the main, the main thingfor, yeah, the main, the main
(18:48):
thing for for leaders is to beuh, to to be full in heart and
mind coming into the week andready to pour it into students.
So I think getting, you know,making sure that they are
feeling like they're in a goodplace, that they have
authentically spent their owntime with the Lord before coming
in there, um, you know, readyin those ways, uh is is the most
that they can do to prepare.
(19:09):
Um, you know, so many of us are.
Uh, it's much easier to get thepacking list ready and make
sure everybody's got all thesnacks that they need and
everybody's in the right spot.
But, um, spending, spending, uh, spending time in prayer,
having them ready, get them thelist of your students, have them
(19:31):
pray for them by name, set areminder on their phone the week
leading up.
I mean, some of those justrhythm reminders would be a much
better investment than even asnack list.
Also.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
I will say this episode comes out on February
the 3rd.
It's February the 3rd.
Happy February 3rd, everybody.
If you don't know, who yourleaders?
are yet for Move Mix, get on it,because those people are going
to have to request off time fromwork and the whole thing and if
(20:09):
you like some people startrecruiting, you know, in march
or whatever it's like, if yougive yourself the extra two
months, are you gonna have acouple people that are gonna
drop off because something comesup and they can't be there?
Yes, but are you going to be ina way better position than if
you start late?
Also, yes, so getting themsigned up, that's a big one.
(20:33):
That was a hard one for me.
Always They'd be like June, Idon't know.
Can you ask me then?
I'm like no.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Tell me now.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, anyway, all right, thanks Michael.
Thanks, matt, tell me now.
Um, yeah, anyway, all right,thanks michael.
Thanks matt.
Thanks casey.
Uh, thanks caitlin.
Uh, we're gonna go talk toanother matt, not matt berry.
Uh, we are gonna go talk tomatt stevens.
Uh, matt, thank you so much forbeing here, hey.
(21:11):
So if we're talking abouthelping students follow through
on decisions to go into ministrytoday, if a student comes up to
you after move, after camp,after anything, on a random
Wednesday night and they sayPastor Matt, I want to be a
minister someday, just like you,what happens at that point?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Well, I can say up until a little while ago it
would have been pretty reactiveto say, hey, let's sit down,
let's talk, let's meet, let'skind of like hear your side of
how you feel called to ministryand then kind of figuring out a
plan forward to help preparethem for that and walk alongside
them in that calling that theyfeel like God has placed on
(21:55):
their life.
But we've found just over thepast year or so just to be a
little more proactive on thatand asking questions of so just
to be a little more proactive onthat, and asking questions of
hey, who's considering the call?
And then developing some thingsto help them grow in certain
(22:19):
things that we think wouldprepare them best for that call
that God's placed on their lifeor vocational ministry.
So I think just starting thatconversation with them and just
help preparing them for the daysahead for life of kingdom work
and uh, and just help preparingthem for the days ahead for life
of kingdom work.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
So that's part of your normal language is just
talking about like hey, thismight be something that God is
calling you to and we want to beout ahead of that a little bit,
rather than just waiting for astudent to stand up and move and
be like I want to go intoministry and you'd be like you
really Okay, um, so what doesthat?
I mean?
I that sounds I Caitlin hastalked to a lot more people
(22:48):
about this than I have, but thatsounds different to me than
what I think most people do.
Is that, would you?
Would you agree with that,caitlin?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So tell me, like what, how doyou identify a student who's
who's considering a call, maybebefore they've had that camp
moment?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
yeah, it's, it's part of next steps conversations, um
, whether that's through amessage or or a devotional, or
if we do go on a trip, um,simply asking the question has
has has provided a lot of fruitfor us.
Like, who here is consideringvocational ministry and just
kind of impressing that idea ofwe need more workers for the
(23:32):
harvest?
And you know, data today justshows we have far more people
leaving ministry and steppingout of it than we do stepping
into those roles in ministry.
And so I think we've mayberelied on others training them
up for too long and sending themoff stepping into those roles
in ministry.
And so, uh, I think we've,we've maybe relied on on others
training them up for too longand sending them off and kind of
farming that out to say, hey,we'll let our Bible colleges do
(23:53):
that, and um, and and now we'reat this place where it's like we
as a local church have aresponsibility to help be a
feeder for those, those Biblecolleges, because they play such
a vital role in thateducational piece and preparing
them.
But just those next stepsconversations of hey, some of
you in the room might your nextstep might be putting your faith
(24:17):
and trust in Jesus, but forsome of you that next step might
be hey, I feel God kind ofstirring in my life to call the
vocational ministry andsometimes just asking that is
like, yeah, I think that is whatGod might be calling me to, and
just helping them discern thatcall is really we found a lot of
fruit in that lately of justbeing intentional on asking that
(24:39):
question regularly and sayingwho here is considering a life
of kingdom work in a vocationalministry setting.
And we've had far more peoplerespond than we ever imagined
and I think just being moreintentional in the way that we
approach and ask has almostforced us to create some systems
rather than being reactive butto say, hey, we've got something
(25:02):
for you.
We'll still sit down and talkwith you, but we have things
that we can share with you rightnow that can get you plugged
into discerning that call andkind of training you and
educating you and walkingalongside you as you figure this
calling out for your life.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I definitely want to.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I think that's.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Sorry, I definitely want to hit on the system stuff
at some point because I do wantto get way into the nitty gritty
on all of this, but I'm curious, as you were saying that, the
thought that popped into my headwas twofold.
It was interesting that you saidyou're actually getting more
students who are expressinginterest in vocational ministry
(25:43):
that way.
But also I'm just thinkingthrough some of the experiences
that I've had with students whohave said that they want to go
into full-time ministry and alot of times it's a light switch
type of moment, like oh, Ididn't, I wanted to be a lawyer,
and now I'm seeing that youknow kind of thing.
But I'm wondering if the waythat you guys do it actually
(26:06):
prevents some of the drop-offthat we've observed and seen and
Jason talked about a little biton the episode a couple weeks
ago where we're seeing a lot ofstudents say initially like yes,
I want to go into ministry, butthen that not always having a
lot of legs.
Have you noticed anything withthat?
(26:27):
I know that was kind of a longrambling thought.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
No, I think for us, what we've kind of heard from
the students that say, yeah, Iwant to go into ministry, is
they might feel like they wantto be a teacher or that they
want to invest in the lives ofyoung people in some way shape
or form.
And then when we start to talkabout it after we're like, hey,
are you interested in vocationalministry?
And they start to kind of layout like I feel God calling me
(26:53):
to reach young people, then someof that like epiphany or light
switch is like maybe I feelcalled to youth ministry or kids
ministry, and so then we canhave those conversations with
them to kind of say, hey, theseare some great opportunities for
you to kind of like discernthat call and get some
experience and be like is thiswhere God really wants me to be
(27:15):
serving in a vocational ministrysetting?
And so does that answer thequestion?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, no, I think so.
Caitlin, I kind of cut you offearlier.
What were you going to say?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You're all right.
You're all right.
I just think I think that, uh,you're doing something that, um,
that a lot of youth ministersaren't necessarily thinking
about yet, or that that I wasn'tin my time in ministry of um,
of making students aware of theneed, um of the, the, the
pipeline shortage of ministers,that that is coming for us, that
(27:50):
there are more youth ministryjobs available than we have
people to fill them, um, butyou're consistently putting that
in front of them in thosemoments, not just after a
particular experience, butongoing um, in a way that is is
consistent and um, andcontinually just just asks the
(28:12):
question, and I think that'shuge, um, I just think that's
huge.
So I think, what, what wouldyou?
What advice would you have forum a youth minister who, who
maybe isn't doing that at themoment?
What's the instigating factor?
What's the easiest way to startputting that into their
language more regularly?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah, that's a great question, I think, a simple ask.
I don't think it has to bepretty or beautiful, just asking
the question, like, have youever considered the call to
vocational ministry?
We found that even askingmiddle schoolers like we've had
middle schoolers raise theirhand.
We took a group of students forthe first time down to Getaway
(28:58):
at Ozark Christian College thispast fall and we just asked the
group.
We said, hey, are any of youhere considering the call to
vocational ministry?
And we had seven kids raisetheir hand, and so I think just
a simple ask is is a great placeto start.
Just ask them are youconsidering vocational ministry?
(29:18):
Um, but, but I think maybe alittle more intentional to go
back is is this is somethingthat is not just, you know, the
heartbeat of our youth ministry.
This has really been theheartbeat of our church and at
every level, from next gen toour senior pastor and our elders
, I mean this is a whole churchinitiative that we have said we
(29:41):
want to invest in the lives ofthe next generation of church
leaders, and so it's somethingthat's prayed about, it's
something that we talk about,it's in our language, with each
other, and it's really somethingthat we all try to participate
in, and so it's not just oneministry trying to say, hey,
we're doing this on our own,this is really the whole church.
(30:03):
And so I would say, if youhaven't had a conversation with
your church leadership, then itshould start with that Saying
hey, how are we doing at raisingup the next generation of
church leaders?
Are we asking the question, arewe coming alongside them?
Are we resourcing them inthings?
I think, as I mentioned earlier,more often than not we've been
(30:26):
very reactive with it, and it'sjust by accident that if most of
us were like, hey, I've gotthis kid in my ministry who said
I want to go into vocationalministry, then, man, we would
celebrate that.
But it would be like what do Ido now?
And, uh, yeah, so just to be alittle more intentional on the
(30:48):
front end, where these aren'thappening by accident, but we're
being intentional on, onhelping direct and point them
towards vocational ministry soyou guys have made it part of
the dna of the entire church,which I think is really
important thing.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
You mentioned something interesting, which is
the eldership, and it was thefirst time that I've ever really
thought about this, because I'man ignorant person in general,
but, um, that it's like theelderships, like that's their
job, is to take care of the like, spiritual health and longevity
of of that body of believers.
(31:22):
If anybody should have a vestedinterest in seeing Calvary
Christian Church raise upTimothys and get them into
vocational ministry within thechurch, it should be that group
of people Are they tell me aboutyeah, just tell me about their
involvement in all of this,because that's such a cool thing
(31:44):
that I don't know that a ton ofpeople think about.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah, they play a huge role in it.
Like CIY, you know, we've sentpictures.
I have one elder and our seniorpastor that I usually send a
picture and say, hey, these arethe students this week that have
raised their hand and said Iwant to go into vocational
ministry, and so we'll get agroup photo with them.
(32:08):
We'll send the names and I'llsay, hey, here's the students,
here's the names of them, andthey say, great, we're going to
share this with the rest of theelders, we're going to pray for
these students, we're going tocome alongside of them, and so
they've really played.
I mean, they're the ones drivingthe shit on it and and we're
just getting to do kind of thefollow through and the tangible
(32:31):
side of things.
But really, this is somethingthat, um, they they've done an
excellent job on making surethat this is a priority for us,
that it's it's put in front ofus and everything that we do,
but also that we are.
We are putting our resources inthat as well, from educational
things to money to help withgetting them those resources,
(32:52):
scholarships, all of thosethings to help them remove some
of those barriers that might bein place or going to Bible
college or training up forministry.
They just try to make thatprocess as smooth as possible,
and so just the prayer is a hugepart of it, just the amount of
time that they spend togetherjust praying over these students
, praying over the kids who havemade that decision.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
So Super great.
All right, I want to get intothe practical side of this.
Like, I know that not everychurch is going to want to or be
able to replicate exactly whatCalvary is doing, but I have
heard and we actually haven'thad a chance to talk about this,
(33:36):
but I've heard that Calvary isdoing a lot of really neat
things when it comes to some ofthese practices and guidelines
that you put in place and eventsthat you do and all kinds of
stuff in order to help theseindividuals kind of follow
through on this calling thatthey've received from the Lord
(33:56):
about vocational ministry.
So let's kind of circle back tomy first question, but I'll ask
it in a different way, becauseyou've very lovingly and
graciously told me that thepremise of my question was
stupid.
Um, uh, what?
So, like what infrastructure isthere around these students?
(34:20):
So yeah, at the you get to theend of a sermon, you're talking
next steps, You're saying maybeyou want to get baptized, maybe
you want to start serving, maybeyou want to tell a friend,
maybe you want to go intovocational ministry, right, and
somebody comes up to you afterand says you know what I
actually do, really have a heartfor kids and I serve in the
(34:41):
nursery with my mom on Sundays.
I serve in the nursery with mymom on Sundays, and this is
something that I really thinkmight be something that God is
calling me to.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
So what happens at that point?
Good question we have hijackeda number of ideas from a lot of
different people in churchesdoing different things and kind
of assessed those things and howthey would best fit our
(35:17):
ministry context here inNebraska, and so I'll kind of
back up.
I will answer your question,but I'll back up a little bit.
We decided, following up fromCIY, that we were going to have
this event called Mark theMoment, and so in August we
didn't want to wait too longafter they got back from CIY we
went through the rhythms journaltogether.
But those students that said Iwant to go into vocational
ministry, and then ones that wehad on our radar that didn't
(35:38):
come to CIY, we put aninvitation out and said, hey, we
want to mark the moment of youmaking this decision to go into
vocational ministry.
And so we had an event that wasa whole church thing.
We had it on a Sunday evening.
We had a meal and just a timeof sharing with them and just
(36:01):
kind of celebrating thisdecision that they made.
And then we laid out some thingsthat we had been developing for
what that follow-up would looklike not just celebrating those
decisions that they made, but toput something in front of them.
And so we had come up with afew things.
We took some things from CIY,just kind of the four legs of
(36:23):
that table.
If they ever go to that nextlevel course at any of the CIYs,
I encourage, if you havestudents interested, go to those
courses.
But just having character,skills, experience and education
just being those four legs thatare going to help sustain you
for life of ministry.
(36:43):
And we've kind of like justsummarize that into we want to
help them build character andcompetency.
And so if that's a goodstarting point is, if they
haven't been to a mark themoment, we want to get them to a
mark the moment, but we don'twant them to wait.
So within those four pillars orthose four legs, we've come up
(37:04):
with some different things.
So every month we have kind of askills gathering.
We have one of our residentswho kind of heads up that time
where after we meet for youthgroup time for 30 minutes to an
hour, they'll gather and we getthem all together and it'll be a
different topic for the month.
(37:24):
That's a skill that will helpthem prepare for vocational
ministry.
So really it's hey, here's ournext one.
It's the second Sunday of themonth, they know right after
youth group that's a gatheringtime for that.
So we would point them towardsjumping into one of those skills
training portions.
We definitely want to make surethat they're serving and giving
(37:46):
them experience in whateverarea that they feel God calling
them to.
And sometimes those experiencesfor those going into ministry
they need to be a little moreunique than just that regular
opportunity to serve.
And so with Super Start comingup, we've got a number of our
students who want to go intovocational ministry and they're
(38:09):
going to help lead, like ourfourth and fifth graders that
are going in.
So asking them to do things likethat, educational pieces I mean
we want to get them down to ourBible colleges and get them
exposure and experience to knowhow important it is to prepare
yourself educationally forvocational ministry.
And then that character piece isreally that's something that we
(38:33):
can't do as a church, but wecan lead them to scripture and
help them grow their character,in the sense that we're not the
one transforming them, but yourtime with God is what transforms
you, and just that relationshipthat you have with Jesus and
then developing that mind ofChrist that Philippians talks
about, that it's really it's anattitude that begins to change
(38:57):
and that changes our actions,and so we just encourage them,
walk alongside them in how toread their Bible, how to study
it in context and how tointerpret those things and apply
it in their life, just to helpthem with that character piece,
because, really, if you're notbuilding your character and
competency, if one's lacking man, it's really tough in whatever
(39:19):
field you're going into,especially ministry.
And so we don't want to neglectany of those areas, because if
we're sending them off tochurches, at the end of things,
hopefully you know they're goingto be kingdom workers all
throughout the US or allthroughout the world.
We want to, we want to preparethem best for that, in both
(39:39):
their character and theircompetence side of things.
So Caitlin.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
That's incredible.
I have a question Somethingthat has come up a lot in our
conversations with churches andBible colleges and others who
who care deeply about thesestudents in particular, who
making it from that moment ofcalling into some next
commitment.
(40:06):
Something that's continuallycome up has been around
relationships.
So one thing that we found inresearch and surveying students
who had answered this call at aCIY event, who did pursue
ministry in some form, theyconsistently answered that
someone in their church believedin them, and that was this
(40:29):
instigating piece of their storyIn particular.
Yes, yeah, A caring adultbelieved in them.
And so what does mentoring looklike?
How do you train leaders aroundthese concepts?
Are there?
Are there, you know, caringadults of some form who are
walking students through each ofthese resources?
(40:50):
And then I would even tack onyou know, parent conversations.
What is, what does all of thatlook like in this world for you
guys?
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Yeah.
So we developed kind of to helpus track these kids.
We were just walking throughthem this morning in our student
team gathering and we have 47students who are in our pipeline
and we kind of have differentstages of where we place them,
based on where they're at inthat commitment.
(41:21):
And so you know, our initialone is Kingdom Work.
Those are the ones that haveraised their hands and said, yes
, I would like to pursue kingdomwork in a vocational ministry
sense.
Next would go into our mark themoment have they gone to one of
our mark the moment eventsmentorship have they been
(41:45):
plugged into a mentoringrelationship in whatever area of
ministry or somebody that bestfits that student?
And then we have, I have tothink for a second mentorship
Bible college interest is next.
So if they've showed interest,maybe they're applying for Bible
colleges, they would go intothat next category.
(42:07):
And then those who have applied, we have interns, if they've
done an internship or residency.
And then we have placement, andso we've been able this year to
have a couple that are nowplaced in churches and in full
time settings.
We've got some that are internsand residents right now.
(42:31):
We've got some that are at everystage, and so we just kind of
looked and assessed where iseach kid on this, just to make
sure that we're serving themwell or wherever they're at in
this process.
And so those mentoringrelationships are so important,
just the emphasis we make withour small group leaders too,
(42:55):
just the importance of havingadults that reinforce this
conversation, that care for themas they walk through life and
as they walk through thesedecisions.
It's not just pastoral ministryfolks here at Calvary that are
ones doing mentorship In factmaybe a few of us are doing that
(43:15):
but many of them are smallgroup leaders that they see
every week.
They're the ones that hopefully, like if they get a
life-changing event, likethey're their first phone call,
not us, and so I think thoserelationships that they develop
with them are so important,because that just helps us have
(43:39):
a second voice in it to say hey,um, uh, I really see this in
you as well and and justreinforcing that, that call to
ministry.
And so, um, yeah, thoserelationships matter so much in
it.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
What, uh, can we, we can you tell like a story of a
kid that you feel like hasbenefited really well from this?
Because you're laying it allout and I'm like this is so cool
.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
I just want to know about, uh, some of your students
tell me about somebody thatthis has like been a big, big,
big win for them in their, theirjourney oh yeah, um, man, it's
hard to pick just one, becausewe have we have a number of
students who, uh, it's just beenso awesome to see, from the
time that they committed and, uh, just some of the efforts that
(44:27):
we we've made to pour into them,just the leaps and bounds, um,
that they've grown through it,uh.
But I'll probably pick one.
It's one of the recentgraduates.
He just finished his year and ahalf into school.
His name's Landon and was justkind of like really on the fence
of like he was going intofinance at the University of
(44:48):
Nebraska and had raised his handat some point like I'm thinking
about ministry, and so webrought him on as an intern to
kind of help flesh that out andgive him a taste of what
ministry could look like.
And he just I don't want tonecessarily celebrate, but he
dropped out of LincolnUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
(45:11):
and we were just able to bringhim on as a part-time intern.
He just enrolled in Biblecollege online and so he's been
with us for a couple of weeksnow this is week two and looking
forward to vocational ministryand so just kind of helping them
navigate those decisions oflike, hey, I did this, but I
(45:33):
don't feel like I'm being calledto this, of like, hey, you know
I did this, but I don't feellike I'm being called to this,
and just kind of comingalongside and saying, hey, we're
going to help you discern thiscall in your life and I am
giving them opportunities to seeif this is really what God is
calling them to.
And now we get to be a hugepart of training him up, and I
know he's going to go do amazingthings, uh, in whatever church
(45:56):
that he's going to beministering at.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
So, um, we have a lot of stories like that of
students who so wait a secondthough I want to talk about
landon for a second um, becausethat's a really interesting one
that you chose, because I don'tknow if I've got like the
timeline right in my brain ornot, but it sounds like there
(46:18):
wouldn't have been like a movemoment where it's like stand up,
declaration, everybody clap,like this guy's going to do the
thing right now, kind of is nothis story.
It's very much like existingfor most of the time in like the
back of his mind.
(46:38):
How easy is it for a studentlike that to just keep moving
with their finance degree?
And if you guys never start theconversation, then it's never
more than just like a thought inin the back of this kid's mind
that he suppresses and pushesdown because it's like oh well,
I'm already on this path at unland you know whatever.
(47:02):
Like that's such a, that's sucha cool thing.
Yeah, I don't know, that's whatI got that made me really happy
.
It is really cool, and what areais he interning in?
Speaker 3 (47:20):
He's interning with me in youth ministry, student
ministry.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
That's so cool, oh man what an awesome thing.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
That's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
All right, let's do another one more.
This is my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Yeah, one would probably be every Tuesday.
So today is Tuesday.
We have a student, he's afreshman and he's homeschooled,
so he's got lots of flexibility.
We pick him up every Tuesday,we grab lunch and we do Bible
study and I feel like now thatwe've kind of walked alongside
of like, uh, you know, we, we doan inductive bible study
(47:57):
together where we talk about,like what's the context of the
passage, we use the coma method,uh, observation, meaning and
application, and I feel like heteaches me as much as as as I've
taught him.
And just to watch his growth, um, over the past year and now
saying like I want to be, I feel, called to vocational ministry
(48:20):
and I don't know whatnecessarily he's going to do.
Maybe it's student ministry,maybe it's pastoral ministry.
But this last semester we satdown with him and helped him
prepare a message that he gaveat youth group and and I was up
there with him and and we justkind of did a back and forth,
(48:42):
but he did most of the teachingand and it was just so awesome
to see the response.
I think kids get a little numbto hearing the same voice over
and over, but, man, when theyhear a peer get up and share or
be in front of them.
It brings a whole nother leveland so just the feedback that
(49:03):
everybody gave on it, fromstudents who were like that was
amazing.
Thank you for sharing theinsights.
But just to see his growth andwe've really tried this is like
a big dream that we've got is iseventually to have an
opportunity for juniors andseniors who feel the call the
(49:23):
vocational ministry, that wecould bring them on for a few
hours a week in like a studentinternship just to kind of give
them some opportunities to growon that.
And you know he's been a biginfluence on on just thinking
and dreaming of that.
So his name's Ephraim.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
Ephraim killing it, that's so awesome.
I think that this is such a bigdeal though and, caitlin, I want
to ask you to speak into thisas well, because I emphasized
this on our last episode that wedid with Jason.
This isn't stuff that we madeup.
This isn't like our programmingteam sitting down and being
like what's a fun way that wecan say this and make an impact,
(50:03):
for whatever this is data thathundreds and hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of peoplewho have made this decision gave
us and told us, and Caitlinalready mentioned one of the
common threads having an adult,a caring adult, in a mentoring
relationship.
What's the other big one,caitlin?
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Serving, serving.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Serving and practicing.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
You guys are doing it like you're doing the whole
thing, Ah, it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Anyway, do you want to speak?
Speaker 3 (50:33):
to that at all.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Caitlin, I don't know , I'm just kind of putting you
on the spot.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
I mean, I was just thinking well, I was just
thinking the same thing and I'mgoing to ask you another
question about it, matt.
But that's, yeah, that's been ahuge, huge thing.
That's come up over and overand, I think, consistently,
where we see churches sending alot of students into ministry,
we're seeing that they were ableto give students opportunities,
meaningful opportunities, topractice serving and practice
(51:00):
leading and whether that'sgiving the message or writing
small group questions orspeaking into what the program
is going to look like for otherjuniors and seniors to get
involved and to intern I meanthose types of things for them
to own the ministry and for themto own those experiences is is
huge, and you know more thanit's great to have your ministry
(51:22):
kids make your Sam's run, butbut it's more than that.
It's like the meaningful, themeaningful moments of, of
practicing.
So that was my, you know.
My next question, too, is justfor those students who are at
that point in your pipeline ofserving what?
What are some other ways thatyou are equipping them?
Are they in other ministryareas, in the church?
(51:43):
Are they doing things at school?
You know, giving messages?
What is that looking like?
Speaker 3 (51:50):
Yeah for sure.
We wouldn't be able to do whatwe do as a church without our
students serving and beingengaged in those areas.
We have so many thatparticipate in kids ministry on
Sunday mornings.
We also have a midweek programfor kids that we have a group
(52:16):
that serves.
In those special events, I mean, man, they come in full force
VBS.
I think we had, oh gosh, we hadlike 120 students around there
that had served in VBS, servedin bbs, um, and so just giving
(52:40):
them opportunities in the greenlight, um, and encouraging,
encouraging them to serve, um,and our, our middle schoolers
actually really stepped to theplate on that, like that.
Well, there are so many middleschoolers that serve, and, uh,
and some of our high schoolerslike, uh, we decided that we
were going to celebrate.
You know, our mission here isto live and love like Jesus.
They hear that over and overand over again, from Sunday
(53:01):
mornings to Sunday nights tomidweek.
It's just language that theyhear over and over to live and
love like Jesus.
And so we started celebratingthose, you know, in our parent
communications, like here's astudent who is living and loving
like Jesus, and highlightingthem where they're serving.
Some of them had been, likethey posted.
We do an invite night once amonth in student ministry and
(53:24):
you know, one of our studentsgot permission for the handout
card that we had for it to puton their school's event board,
and so you know, she sent apicture in and was like hey,
look what I got to put on myevent board.
And so you know, she sent apicture in and was like hey,
look what I got to put on myevent board.
And so you know, we want tocelebrate and highlight those,
uh, which, whatever youcelebrate, you know that it's
going to be replicated.
And so if we can celebratethose students who are serving
(53:49):
or who are living and lovinglike Jesus, not just at church,
um, and through the ministry,that programming that happens,
but also at school and in yourcommunity, if we can highlight
those things like those are,those are things that, that that
are like wildfire that justgrow and grow and grow.
So we definitely want tocelebrate those things but also
(54:10):
give them the opportunities tobe able to do that to be able to
do that.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
That's really cool, and so I want to.
We're going to have to kind ofwind down our time together here
a little bit, but I want to askyou another question because I
think I hope if CIY, if thiscalling that God has given CIY
(54:35):
is authentic and I believe thatit is and if churches are going
to begin stepping up to theplate and helping their students
next three to five to eightyears who are going to be
building things like what youalready have in place at Calvary
(55:04):
, which I think is cool.
I think you guys are way aheadof the curve on some of this
stuff.
So I want to give people whoare looking to do something like
this in the future a leg up alittle bit.
What's been hard about this foryou guys?
Or like, is there something youlook back on and you're like,
(55:24):
oh yeah, wish we would have donethat differently or didn't need
to do that, or what you know,whatever it may be like, is
there?
Cause I know this isn't alljust like smooth sailing and
every single thing we do as awin and every meeting is fun and
you know those kinds of things.
So help me understand what thechallenges have been for you
guys at Calvary.
Speaker 3 (55:46):
Yeah, I would say, a lot of it feels like we're
building the airplane in the airand it's been it's been it's
been kind of a process just tolike brainstorm and figure out
how are we going to best servethe students and not just the
students, but you know, ouryoung adults and others who are
(56:07):
saying I want to go intovocational ministry.
There's been times where we'vejust been at standstills and
we're reaching out to churchesacross the U?
S and trying to find, um, hey,what are you guys doing that's
working, what's not workingbecause, uh, you know, nobody
wants to, nobody wants to messup, and uh, and sometimes that
(56:28):
just leads us to like astandstill, paralysis, where we
don't yeah, we just don't doanything, and so, um, we've had
moments where we've stalled alittle bit just trying to figure
out, like, how are we going todo this?
And it's been nice becausewe've had so many pieces of our
church not just our studentministry but from our eldership
(56:50):
and senior pastor down that arehelping drive this forward, and
so we've needed that at timeswhere it's like, hey, where are
we at on this, like, where havewe made a decision on on how the
mark, the moment's going tolook how are we going to?
How are we going to, you know,follow up with them from the
mark the moment things, and sojust the process of like
(57:14):
developing a plan has been hasbeen kind of tricky at times and
and some things have had to beadapted.
Some things are like, hey, thisisn't working, so, like our
skills meetings that we do itwas 30 minutes this last
semester and and going throughit it was like, hey, this isn't
(57:34):
enough time, and so we'readapting and shifting it now,
and so just trying to stay fluidthrough it.
I was like, hey, this isn'tenough time, and so we're
adapting and shifting it now,and so just trying to stay fluid
through it.
But just trying to find whoelse is doing this has been a
little hard.
And then figuring out, like, isthis going to work for us?
Sometimes you just got to do itand see if it works, and if it
doesn't, then you shift fire andyou try something else, and so,
(57:58):
um, for us that's probably beenthe biggest hangups is just, um
, wanting to do something well,and sometimes that's led to a
little bit of of just stallingin the process, of, of of
getting kids through thispipeline that we've been
thinking and dreaming up, so andit is.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
I mean, it's a very disciplined thing.
So, just like I can imaginestaying motivated through this
for several iterations and justI don't know, like the train, I
think I can, I think I can, Ithink I can just like trying to
get the thing moving, and goingis is hard work, but I'm glad
(58:38):
you guys are doing it.
Um Caitlin, what would yourencouragement be, from the seat
that you're in, to um Matt, topeople like him who are are at
the beginning of this, and alsoto those who are listening, who
don't have something like thisin place yet but are thinking,
(59:00):
wow, this sounds really great,um, and I want to make this a
priority, but I have a lot ofhard work ahead of them or sure.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
Well, I think, like matt just said, I mean, I think
just start, um, you know I, Ithink you can, you can adjust as
you go and your advice at thebeginning I think is huge to
start talking about it tostudents.
Start presenting that questionjust casually, just make it part
(59:28):
of your language around nextsteps and application, coming
out of a message and coming outof a weekly rhythm or out of a
big event as well, and justpresenting that as an option, as
an opportunity and as a viablecareer path.
I think you mentioned thatyou're asking your middle
(59:51):
schoolers this same question andI think you know middle
schoolers in school are getting,they're taking an exam that
tells them what career path theyshould choose and they're
beginning to be set on thosecourses and so the church should
be in that conversation.
So start, you know, in middleschool and make this falling and
(01:00:19):
career option realistic andviable.
And the other thing I would say,you know we again just hitting
a little bit on that researchthat we had done, really there
were three pillars that stoodout.
We've already hit on two ofthem Relationships, repetition
is what we're calling, that kindof serving and leading
(01:00:39):
opportunity.
Just reps, get the reps in,just start having them practice.
And that third just being toresource students, and so, you
know, really just getting growthopportunities in front of them.
You know what you guys arecalling these skills labs.
You know opportunities to startpracticing and, um, and learn
(01:01:00):
more about God, about his church, about themselves and how he's,
how he's knit them together and, and, may you know, maybe
creating them to serve incertain ways.
So, um, I I think just um, pullyour, pull your students
together, I would say, and havethem start to put together, you
(01:01:23):
know, practice right away.
Have them start to put togethera pipeline that Matt's kind of
talking about around what nextsteps realistically look like.
And then start talking, youknow, in the same ways, to your
leaders and have them equippedand ready to to follow up with
(01:01:44):
these students so that they canfollow through, so that they can
take those next steps.
Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
Yeah, my biggest takeaway from what you had to
say, matt, was you do not haveto have all your ducks in a row
to start.
you know, we still, we stilldon't have our ducks I don't
even know where the ducks are,uh, but yeah, it's like you,
don't like you.
You can start taking that likeright next step right now, and
(01:02:11):
figure it out as you go, um, andyou could end up with a
beautiful, fruitful thing, likewhat you guys have ended up with
.
I'm going to ask you one morequestion, and then we got to cut
you loose.
I've always wanted to know thisDo you like living in Nebraska?
Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
Oddly enough, I do, Do you really?
Is that a real thing?
People want to live there.
Is that a real?
Thing, People want to livethere.
Yeah, it's kind of strangebecause they call middle America
flyover country and Nebraskatheir Nebraska Department of
Tourism came up with thistourism slogan.
Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
There's a Nebraska Department of Tourism.
Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
Wait till you hear this.
So their slogan, their sloganthat they came up with which is,
I think, still like the mainNebraska Department of Tourism
slogan, is Nebraska it's not foreverybody and it is not for
(01:03:17):
everybody.
Speaker 4 (01:03:20):
and they even have a commercial.
Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
One of the commercial they have, like the migratory
sand hill cranes that comethrough and they're the sky yeah
, one of their uh, one of theircommercials they have are like
some say say that Nebraska isflyover country and these birds
stop in the middle of the statefor a couple of weeks and people
come from all over to see thesesandhill cranes.
(01:03:44):
I don't care about the sandhillcranes, but they're like but
it's not flyover country forhundreds of thousands of
sandhill cranes.
It's like well, nobody caresabout sandhill cranes, we're
talking about humans.
The humans aren't coming here.
Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
This is a very strange way to tell me that you
enjoy living in Nebraska.
Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
We have a good zoo.
The people are nice.
We have a good zoo.
Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Hey man, I like coming there for two days every
year.
We'll have some ice cream.
Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
We have the best ice cream in America here.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
I can confirm.
I'll just throw this out there.
Second sentence on VisitNebraska website no one ever
said we were trying to appeal toeveryone, but they are still
leaning in.
Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
That is the funniest thing I've ever heard so what do
you think the odds are?
They're the only person who'svisited that website today
strong.
Speaker 4 (01:04:47):
Michael, you had something to contribute on the
topic of the zoo, there's achance.
There's a chance, brad, that wemight stay in in uh in omaha on
saturday after that superstarevent is done and pending the
weather very hard to make thatnot happen we can have a
(01:05:11):
conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Okay, we can get off mike, we can talk about it.
I will say best ice cream ever.
I would love say best ice creamever.
I would love to get ice creamwith you, matt.
We'll have to do that.
Um, there's also in omaha thisplace.
It is like takeout, only youcan't eat there and it's just
pizza and wings.
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
(01:05:32):
I forget what it's called pizza.
Yeah, you can't eat there.
You drive up and you get yourfood and you leave, and it's a
wings place.
Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
And the people.
Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
No, it's actually cool.
I'm trying to hype up Nebraskaright now, I'm not kidding Best
wings I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
I will say Omaha has major metros in the US.
They have more restaurants percapita than any of the major
metros.
Actually, the food here is topnotch.
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
I won't give that the food is top notch.
I bet Christy Biebermeyertexted it to me Uh uh.
This is not.
This is not good radio.
Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
This is not good at all um, hmm, I'll take you to
this unique place calledChipotle while you're here.
Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
I love Chipotle I got dumped in a.
Chipotle, once, that's a fun.
Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
That's some fun grad lore.
Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
By once.
I mean less than a year ago.
All right, everybody, we'regoing to go ahead and jump off.
Hey, thanks for being here, man, it was really great talking to
you.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, you're great man,appreciate all you guys are
doing at Calvary.
So excited to see your crew atSuperstar Nebraska here very
(01:07:03):
shortly and best wishes to youguys as you continue to kind of
flesh out this vocationalministry pathway for people.
Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Yeah definitely.
Meanwhile, we will be readingup on sandhill cranes I am uh
super excited to see where thisproject goes.
Uh, with matt and with calvary,I think they are doing a really
good thing by saying hey Idon't really know what's going
(01:07:33):
on, but we're gonna.
We're gonna do it.
We're gonna start down thisroad because it's an important
road to walk down and I hope youwere inspired by him and by the
work that they're doing thereat Calvary to take whatever the
next step is for you in creatinga pathway for students who are
called into vocational ministry.
I'm going to read our blessingand then we'll get out of here.
(01:07:56):
May God show you grace andbless 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.
(01:08:20):
Today's episode was produced byMichael Hester, lauren Brian and
myself.
Thank you a ton to Caitlin forhanging out with us today, and
also thanks to Matt for hangingout as well.
I feel like that was just areally, really fun conversation.
Be sure to subscribe to thispodcast on YouTube or wherever
you listen to podcasts so thatyou don't miss anything Coming
(01:08:41):
up.
In a couple of weeks we aregoing to be talking to Dr James
and Ginger Della Ripa.
They have a ministry dedicatedto supporting blended families.
They are a blended family andyou have blended families in
your ministry, so I think it'sreally important that you get to
(01:09:02):
hear from their expertise whatthey have to say, and they have
some really cool resources thatyou can use as well.
So that's in two weeks.
In the meantime, feel free toreach out to us on the community
facebook group or by email atpodcast at ciycom.
We'll see you next time, thankyou.
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