BTE4.12 Are We Ready for Gen Alpha? with Josh Celestin and Korey Klein

Mailbag questions or topic suggestions? Text us!

Get ready to explore the vibrant world of youth ministry with a special lens on Gen Alpha. Join us as we welcome the Emmy Award-winning preteen pastor Josh Celestin and CIY Director of SuperStart Korey Klein to unpack some extraordinary moments from this SuperStart tour. Listen as we detail the dedication of our ministry teams who balance the demands of full-time work while passionately energizing preteens for their spiritual journeys.

Our conversation uncovers the unique characteristics of Gen Alpha, a generation raised in the digital age, with insights from Josh's diverse journey from videography to ministry. We tackle the challenges and opportunities of growing up with instant digital access, and consider how AI and technology shape Gen Alpha's understanding of truth. 

Finally, we discuss how the church community can empower preteens, giving them leadership roles and responsibilities that foster confidence and spiritual growth. Through personal anecdotes and the introduction of resources like the "Start Strong" devotional, our episode underscores the importance of meeting Gen Alpha where they are, while encouraging them to develop lasting commitments to faith and service. Don't miss our exploration of these critical topics, and a look ahead to our next episode where we address mental health with guest Jordan Francis.

Want to connect with us? Here's how!

• www.ciy.com
• youtube.com/christinyouth
• @christinyouth on Instagram
• CIY Community Facebook Group
• Email us at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Brad Warren.
This is Beyond the Event YouthMinistry Podcast presented by
Christ in Youth, where we helpyou maintain momentum between
the mountaintops.
So glad that you're here.
Today we're going to talk aboutsome young people who we
lovingly refer to as Gen Alpha.
We're going to be talking aboutthem with Josh Celestin.

(00:24):
He is the preteen pastor atFirst Baptist Church in Orlando,
florida.
He's a great dude.
You probably not probably butyou may have seen him up on
stage hosting at one of ourSuperstar events over the course
of the past couple of years.
He does a really, really goodjob at talking to these students
and I think you'll see andlearn and hear that he does a

(00:48):
really great job of talkingabout these students in a way
that honors Jesus and the waysthat Jesus is at work in the
next generation.
But before we talk to Josh, I'mjoined by Corey Klein.
Hi, corey, I did talk a littlebit there, sorry to say.
Jim Alpha, right after you saidit Harshen my vibe.
You're welcome, corey.

(01:08):
We're about halfway through aSuperstart tour.
We are.
We're recording this.
This is not going to bereleased until early March, but
recording this Valentine's Dayyeah, valentine's Day weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Happy Valentine's Day , corey.
Happy Valentine day weekend.
Happy, happy Valentine's day.
Happy Valentine's day to youtoo.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Sorry, I didn't bring any like candy or it's okay,
you are sweet enough, um myheart Anyway.
So we don't have any eventsthis weekend.
Get a little break, um nottrying to make preteen pastors
compete with, uh, theirmarriages to go to Super Start.

(01:47):
So, anyway, how's the tourgoing?
How are things?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
It's been really good .
And I'm not trying to sound likea broken record, because I feel
like every year you have me onhere and I'm talking about how's
the tour going.
I say, brad, this is the bestyear ever.
The theme is just amazing.
What we're talking about, thescripture, proverbs 4.23.
I'm going to say it again it'samazing.
This really is one of thoseyears and I think what's

(02:09):
enhanced it more than anythingand what I've heard back is just
the teaching's been incredible,talking about what it truly
looks like to guard not yourphysical heart but your soul, to
guard your heart, to guard yoursoul.
Guard who you are as a humanbecause it determines the course
of your life.
Guard who you are as a humanbecause it determines the course
of your life.
And so I've seen fourth throughsixth graders come to these
different events and leave theseevents ready to share the

(02:32):
gospel with their friends, andI've seen them come out of it,
be like you know what, thethings I take in every day.
Maybe some of that it's not sogreat for me and I don't want
that in my life anymore and Iwant to be.
I think the biggest thing is Iwant to be shaping others to
look more like Jesus.
So we've heard those kinds ofstories and it's been really
cool.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I have not gotten to go to a superstar yet, but I'm
going to go to a couple.
I think, when this one.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
When this airs, you'll be at a superstar or
you're just be getting back.
I'll just be Nebraska, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'll just be Nebraska .
Yeah, I will have just gottenback.
Yeah, cause we released them onMondays.
So, that's right.
I'll be between my twosuperstar events.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Could you talk about what you think your brand had
just done in the Nebraska andlike how that was?

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Well, here's what I'll tell you.
Nebraska was awesome.
Yeah, it really went super well.
Um, I would say that, um, wehad some trouble with our audio
engineer, but besides that, youknow, pretty smooth event, yeah,
what were the troubles with theaudio engineer.

(03:35):
He's just lazy he just doesn'twork hard.
You know just kidding, it'sMichael and he works super hard.
I love him.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
I'd like to point out that the record date of this
episode is February 13th, whichis two weeks before the Nebraska
event, right?
So if you're speaking propheticwords, I'll be pretty upset by
the time.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know who to blame this on?

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, we're going to have a great time.
It's going super fun.
Stonebridge um going tostonebridge some of my favorite
people christy peepermeyer Ineed to have her you should have
her on the podcast, actuallyshould write it down.
Um, okay, anyway, we're gonnatalk about what's already
happened, though a little bit.
Yeah, um, we're, we're, we'reunderway here.

(04:24):
I want to hear I'm gonna behonest, we're on a little bit,
yeah, um, we're, we're, we'reunderway here.
I want to hear we're I'm I'mgoing to be honest, we're on a
little bit of a time crunchyou're good so I want to hear
one story, okay, really quickly.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
This was a few weeks ago in houston, texas.
You know this story.
Um, there is their church, theybrought the met, they brought
third graders, they were allowedto come to super start and so,
which is not Not normal, butsome come and that's totally
fine, and so they were invited.
So there was a friend at thechurch who was a preteen, a
fifth grade boy, who invitedthat third grader to come to
Superstart with him.

(04:53):
Does not go to church, hisfamily doesn't go to church.
That friend, who was in thirdgrade, came to Superstart.
At the end of it he was calledby our host.
Zach was talking about, hey,even the simplest things of
kingdom work is maybe you're onfirst base saying Jesus loves
you.
Maybe you're saying, hey, jesusloves you.
So that third grader leftSuperstar that weekend.
Later that night, went back tohis grandparents who he stays

(05:13):
with on the weekends, who arenot involved in the church
except for in the church in 10plus years, said, hey, I would
love to go back to the church.
I was just at tomorrow.
Will you come with me?
Well, grandparents came withhim to church that next morning,
got connected.
Grandpa got connected with acoworker he works with who's
been involved in church.
So now they're a part of thatsmall group and they're like,
hey, we're going to come back.

(05:33):
They went to service andthrough all that, the grandpa in
the lobby.
I got to meet him brieflybecause I was hanging out that
next day had a little guy namedGary the Potato in his front
shirt pocket and if you don'tknow you'll see him.
Gary the Potato is a part ofour tour.
He's silly, he's funny, a partof AMPA.
But what's really cool is, evenin the funny, silly moments of
Superstar it shows just likepreteens can be silly and funny,

(05:55):
what they are capable of, whichis doing amazing, big things
even in the small ways.
And so that preteen invited athird grader.
That third grader invited hisgrandparents to church and now
they're plugged in in a churchin the community.
And that's what Christ in youis all about.
That's what superstars it's allabout.
It's getting you plugged in toknow Jesus and be part of
community.
And that's my one story.

(06:15):
If you want to hear more, Idon't know.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
I could stories, and rad knows that he's probably
like oh, so many stories, cory.
Yeah, we're totally gonnarecord that later.
Um, that's incredible, though.
I mean preteens have no fear,which is great.
Yeah, they're just like yeah,I'll do that.
Um, they're great kingdomworkers they really are, and I
love that story and, um man, youjust never know the far
reaching impact that some littlething like that could have.

(06:48):
That's really incredible stuff.
So, that is one of many, manywonderful stories that have
already come out of tour.
Only a third of our events havehappened as of the recording of
this podcast, and so we'relooking forward with
anticipation that God is goingto continue to do many, many
more of those things throughoutthe remainder of our events, and

(07:10):
we're excited about that, butin the meantime, we are going to
do the mailbag.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Here's the mail that never fails.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
It makes me want to wag my tail Every time.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
When it comes.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
I want to wail, michael.
Oh, that was nice, cory, yeahremix.

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Um, you know.
So, speaking of nebraska,speaking of blues, clues, yes,
really quick.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
No, no, no steve burns pops up on my for you page
sometimes.
Oh really, he's a very intenseperson.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Really.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yes, he's become very intense.
In a good way or a bad way, ina weird way.
Okay, it's TikTok, right, yeah,but he's like hey, how you
feeling.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
Like that kind of intense.
It's because he knows hisaudience.
It's the.
It's his audience, is it?
It's the same audience as whenhe was on blues clues.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's true, yeah, but draw things with crayons.
I don't like that's what I want.
Okay, yeah, bring a dog around.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
I don't care, I'm just kidding what I want.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Okay, bring a dog around.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
I don't care, I'm just kidding Speaking of
Nebraska Okay.
I believe at the beginning ofFebruary we had Matt Stevens on.
We did and we talked a decentamount about how, just how
Nebraska is as a place to live.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
I feel like we spent a significant amount of time on
their tourism website.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
Yes, we did.
What is their?

Speaker 1 (08:47):
motto Nebraska, it's not for everybody.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
We have a statement, not a question from.
Seth Bates just saying Nebraskais a great place to live.
Period.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
All of it All Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Thanks for writing into the mailbag set yeah, thank
you, seth listen.
I said on that podcast thereare things about nebraska that I
love the zoo, the wings Ibrought up the zoo this is
amazing.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
I've not been, but it's, it's been on my list.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
You should go yeah, um.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Okay, we have a question from matt barry.
Thank you, matt, um thisquestion.
I want to ask this questionbecause, uh, we were just
talking about stories.
Um, cory, of all the people onour staff, I think is one of the
most active people telling,like bringing stories back to
our staff from events and tryingto present to our events.

(09:40):
So matt has this question um,what are the best ways for us to
tell the stories and wins thatwe had at CIY events and post
about it?

Speaker 2 (09:48):
you'll share it in every meeting and you'll maybe
make a video about it, but Ihonestly I don't know how your

(10:14):
setup of your Sunday morningsare there.
But here's the thing you knowyour rhythm, Matt, and what you
guys get to do every year as yougo to events and you take your
students in the summer to camps.
I would just be like, whateverthat meeting looks like with
your lead pastor and with yourchurch leadership, be like, hey,
it'd be awesome to have,whether that's the Sunday after
or later in the summer, justhaving a Sunday where we could

(10:36):
celebrate the stories of whatGod did, whether that's having
those few students who come upand they share about it and they
share their testimonies, or ifit is via video, but on the
other side too, I mean, it couldbe honestly as easy as an email
the following week, like on aMonday.
Be like, hey, parents, heyleadership, here's three quick,
four quick things that yourstudents got to experience

(10:58):
because of what Jesus did tothem and through them, at Move
or at Mix or whatever it is, andso I've seen people do that and
that's been a win.
I see it happen in preteenministry where after even a
normal week on a Sunday, theyget just an update on Monday.
Hey, parents, here's what yourstudents learned about today.
Here's how you can haveconversations, and so I think
that would be my two thingsWhether, maybe, that you find a

(11:20):
Sunday where it's just likehey's highlight what jesus is
doing in student ministry andwhat he did this summer.
Or, yeah, just honestly, assimple as an email, because
people still check emails, right, brad, yeah, the some yeah, do
you guys check emails?

Speaker 1 (11:35):
I do, I do.
Yeah, my little red dot, fairlysmall right now, only seven
unread emails, good job.
Um, what about you?
Yeah, I, I know a lot ofchurches that are doing like the
ciy celebration event, um,which I just think is a really
cool thing.
Um, I know, like creeksidechristian church in in st john's

(11:58):
, florida.
Um, my, my home church, thechurch that I was baptized.
Shout out, shout out, um elibirchfield's, a youth pastor
there, a really incredible dudeand they do like a worship night
after.
You can do something like thatwhere you like, play all the
songs that your students lovefrom CIY and have a few students
stand up and share theirtestimonies and invite parents

(12:20):
to that.
Even, um, I think, any like.
When I, when I read thisquestion, um, one of the things
that I think would justimmediately rose to the to the
forefront of my mind is yeah, ayouth pastor can tell parents

(12:40):
stories and that's awesome.
But how do we create situationswhere, like, students are
comfortable telling theirparents um story of what
happened?
Because so often kids get onfrom move and they're exhausted
and they get in the backseat ofthe car and their dad's like how
was move and they're like isgood, I'll tell you about it

(13:01):
later and then you know we neveractually circle back around to
that.
Um, anyway, it's a really greatquestion.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
That is a really great question yeah, I mean yeah
, and that could be a video formtoo.
It's just like hey, let's justsit them down.
It could either be, it could beon your iphone.
It's like you just film it andyou just share it.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Email is great too, though yeah, like hey, here from
move oh yeah hey, uh, lastnight was night one.
Here's what we talked about.
Yeah, during the week.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, that's a great point while it's still fresh on
your mind yeah, cool stuff.
Yeah, matt, thank you so muchwow thanks matt thanks matt.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
Thank you, michael, for that too.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, um, we also have aquestion for our friend, casey
lanier.
Um, I I like this questionbecause we're in the middle of
Super Start season and SuperStart is a unique rhythm
compared to our other eventseason in the summer, where we
are working our full-time jobsduring the week and then we go

(13:58):
on the road for the weekend andthen we come back for another
full week at work.
Casey is asking what keeps yousaying yes to showing up for
kids and teenagers every week,especially when you're worn out.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Jesus, yeah, that's like that's.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Jesus is true?
I think it's, and I know we'llhave a conversation here with
Josh Moore about Gen Alpha herein a moment.
But I think it's With who, josh, not Josh Moore.
No Moore here in a moment.
Oh, josh Moore here in a moment.
Sorry, josh, celestin Moore.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
We'll have Moore here in a moment.
Sorry, I yes.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
No, his name's not Josh Moore.
That's not my bad.
We'll have a conversation withJosh in a moment but really, for
me personally, it's the fact ofjust like their eagerness to be
ready and to know about Jesus.
And me personally too I havetwo kids who are in Genelfa.
One, my daughter, just turnedfour, and I'm thinking about man

(15:01):
.
She's going to be a 10 year oldso soon, and so I'm thinking
about these kids who truly, likeI was, like I want my daughter
to know Jesus and love Jesuswith all her heart, and I want
these students to do it too.
And even though I'm reallytired, this is what matters.
This is forever work.
I don't know about you.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
I mean it's kind of a cop-out answer, it's kind of a
Jesus juke.
It's kind of a Jesus juke, gofor it.
But I mean the Holy Spirit isthe only thing that can and does
sustain me through the summers.
Like it's, it's, it's there.
There's no other way for me toexplain it I may.
Chronically Michael is is agood friend of mine, he can tell

(15:40):
you this a chronically tiredperson, like even in just my
normal life.
I'm like oh, I worked eighthours today.
I need a nap.
This is crazy.
So like for me to go to eventsand be able to like get five
hours of sleep a night and haveall these very good but very
intense conversations and I get.

(16:00):
I get any cookout.
I get to the end of the summerand I'm like how did I survive
that?
The only answer is the HolySpirit.
That's all I got.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
No, that's not wrong, it's great.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
I know, but it feels like I'm I don't know, no the
Holy Spirit wins.
Holy Spirit wins.
All right, you brought up JoshMoore.
Let's go talk to Josh Moore,josh Moore boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom boom.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Josh, josh Celestin, josh Celestin, alright, let's go
.
Boom boom, boom, boom, boom,boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom boom boom ever to be onthis podcast.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
who has won an Emmy?
And I want to know this.
It's on screen.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
So people watching on YouTube are like why?

Speaker 1 (16:51):
does that guy have an Emmy?

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (16:53):
fake.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Is it?
Is it fake?
It's not fake.
It is not fake.
Can you grab it?

Speaker 1 (16:58):
real quick.
Can you give us a little?
Can you give us a closeup?

Speaker 3 (17:04):
I want to know why you have that.
Well, um, so it was actuallyprior to being in preteen
ministry.
Uh, I was a videographer, so Istill am, I do freelance
videography and, um, I got towork on a project, uh, with a
team of uh of other people and Iwas just a cinematographer on
the project.
My dude, sean uh, fellowvisuals does a great job with
all that stuff and I was just acinematographer on the project

(17:24):
my dude, sean uh, fellow visualsdoes a great job with all that
stuff and basically it was astory about this girl that had
down syndrome.
Down syndrome it was basicallyovercoming that and we got to
tell her story a little bit andI was one of the
cinematographers on there.
So that's what I want that foris for cinematography.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
That's the coolest thing I've ever heard.
Isn't that amazing?
I am in the presence ofgreatness.
What?

Speaker 3 (17:49):
was the name of the project.
Um the name of the project Igotta get.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
I didn't mean, I didn't mean to stop you.
I really didn't mean to stopyou.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Oh wait, wait, it's probably patricia's show, pat.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Patricia's show.
Yes, okay, I'm going to checkthat out.
Can I stream it anywhere?

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Absolutely, you'd be able to stream it.
I'll send you a link.
I think I'll send you a link.
Okay, I'll send you a link.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's really cool, okay, well, now we're going to
move on to our conversation withEmmy Award winning preteen
pastor Josh Ellison.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I don't think that's how you pronounce his last name.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
How do you pronounce your?

Speaker 3 (18:27):
last name, celestin.

Speaker 4 (18:28):
You're fine, celestin how did they say it when they
announced that you won the Emmy?

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Celestin, that's so good.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Adele Dazeem.
Okay, um, wow, god really gottashake off.
The I'm starstruck is trulywhat's happening.
Yeah, um, okay.
So gen alpha gen alpha arepeople who were born.
Um, we actually have anothergeneration now, a gen gen beta,

(19:06):
which we're not going to talkabout because they are a little
tiny babies.
Uh, gen alpha people bornbasically starting in 2010.
Um, so every buddy who is in uh,both preteen and junior high
ministry right now is is part ofthis cohort called gen alpha.

(19:28):
There's, like no research aboutthem yet because they're all
tiny people.
Actually, that's a lie.
I have a group of ninth gradeguys that I hang out with and
they're all taller than me.
You know, really, I mean, itdoesn't take a lot, but it's
kind of crazy.
So, gen alpha, all right.
So I want to know, josh, whatyour experience has been with

(19:54):
this generation of people,understanding that, like not, I
mean, we know that not everygeneration is like a monolith.
Not every single one of thesepeople are are the same.
But uh just kind of wanted tohave a uh, an open discussion
with you about what you'reexperiencing with this
generation of young people ascompared to uh, maybe the ones

(20:15):
that we were interacting with uhseveral years ago.
So I'm curious just high level,and then we can dig in and kind
of get into the nitty gritty.
What are some of yourobservations about these young
people that you are pastoringtoday?

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, I think, like you said, I think I am in a
specific area and a specificcontext, so some things may look
a little bit different, but Ithink overall, I think Genoffa
is still curious.
I think Jenoffa is stillcurious.
I think there are curiousindividuals and like they are
always seeking and looking fordifferent information.
I think they are plugged into.

(20:54):
It's like this weird wrestle oflike they're plugged into
internet more but like some ofthem still on the cusp where
parents don't want to kind ofgive them access yet, so like
they're in that weird space butlike they are not supposed to
have social media but theyprobably do have it and can
access it through somebodyelse's phone, but don't have a
phone to access it through rightlike um.
So I think they are ex, they'reextremely curious, they are

(21:19):
definitely internet savvy and Ithink just just the amount of
information I think we talkabout all the time where it's
just like man these, uh, thiscurrent gen alpha are like when
they're navigating fourth andfifth grade.
It's almost like me back thennavigating eighth grade.
Like the stuff that they'reexposed to, the stuff that they
see, it's just coming at themfaster.

(21:39):
So I think those are kind ofthe three things that kind of
stand out to me when I kind ofthink about uh gen alpha and
just like the uh uh at thedifferences between them and the
other kind of generation.
I think just the amount ofinformation that they're seeing
is just you can't compare itwell, that is terrifying, yeah,

(21:59):
uh.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
so let's, let's go ahead and and peel back some
layers of that and then maybe,uh, when I understand more, it
won't be quite as scary, becauseI mean, yeah, I mean, I see,
what you see, which is ageneration of people that can
know anything in a split second.

(22:21):
It's like, yeah, they can be anexpert on anything, um, in a
very short amount of time bypulling their phone out of their
pocket or grabbing theirfriends say they're digital
natives.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Now you know, that's a machine.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
That's who they are.
Yeah, that's so weird.
Like that expression is weirdbecause I think of myself as
being, like, a technologicallyfairly savvy person.
Yeah, but I did still have tolike, learn.
Like we had dial-up internetright when I was a kid.
I don't feel like an old man,but at the same time it's like I

(22:54):
had to wait for my mom to getoff the phone with her sister in
order to be able to get on aolinstant messenger and like
that's just a different like.
These kids have grown up withevery piece of information in
the universe at their fingertips.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
It's instant information.
And also, josh, I'm curious, asyou were talking about, you
know, maybe they don't have aphone, but they have a friend
with a phone or a digital device, whatever, but now they're in a
world too.
You know, you've heard the lastfew years, let's talk about AI,
where now digital natives,they're used to like surrounded
by a world of AI.
So have you seen that in a way,I don't know, affect your

(23:28):
ministry?
Have there been preteens,fourth graders, as they're a
part of your ministry?
Because, like, hey, what is thetruth, what's not true?
Are they wrestling with thingslike that too, because of the
world of AI and what we'resurrounded by, good or bad?

Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah, I think I haven't seen the full bleed of
AI and the usage of it, but Ithink for context.
This past Sunday I was leadinga fourth grade boys group and
one of the questions I asked thekid was like hey, man, what do
you like to do for fun?
What is something that you'redoing that you just feel like
you're good at?
He said well, I'm learningJavaScript.
That's computer programmingdude.

(24:06):
Like yeah, like oh, okay, likeyou're gonna completely lap me
in a few years, like it's justlike they're.
Like like uh, brad was saying,it's just like man, they're um.
Access to information, theirtech savviness, it's just like
they're growing up with it.
Ipads are second nature to them.
Touchscreen doesn't meananything.
That's like that was novel tous, but it's not novel to them.

(24:26):
They're in it and they're justliving it and breathing it.
Man.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
So I'm like I don't this is such a funny
conversation because everythingI think about saying I'm like
I'm going to sound so old.
I'm just going to sound like anold curmudgeon who's like well,
back in my day we knew how to.
Well, whatever, um, we're justgonna have the conversation and
and that's gonna be that.
How old are you, josh?

Speaker 3 (24:54):
I am 33 okay okay, sick, all right.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
So we're all, we're on the same page here, we're
like we're, we're vibing, okay,yeah.
So, um, it concerns me from afaith perspective, like for the
perspective of a student who isis gonna engage with with god
and follow jesus um, that I feellike students are losing the

(25:22):
ability to like intellectuallywrestle with things because,
everything just like has ananswer.
It's like there is no.
It feels like there's becomingless and less and less and less
gray area.
Uh, because of that ability togoogle, something is like oh

(25:43):
well, you know what's the whatis this?
What is this?
What does this mean?
What is it?
You know those types of thingsand I do feel like the christian
faith is lived in gray areas.
So I don't know what myquestion is, but I think it
might just be like how do weteach kids who feel like they

(26:08):
have access to all of thisinformation to ask good
questions and to think deeplyabout things and not just to
take something at its face value?
Do you know what I mean?
Does that make any sense?

Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's, I think's, I think
it's, it's a um.
I forgot what I said.
I think any sammy says it's atension to be um managed, not a
problem to be solved.
I think it's such a tough likebalance to that because I think,
like you said, there is, I seeit two ways.
I see it like even from astandpoint of just like and I'm

(26:42):
curious to see what cory mightsee on on this also but like I
see it from the standpoint of oflike there is AI and there is
all of these things where youcan go and get these answers
immediately and that in itselfcould become a crutch because,
like you said, the logic, thereasoning, especially preteens
at this age.
Right, that's what they're,they love to do, they love the
question, they love to try tofigure out, and I can see how

(27:03):
that can handicap that.
At the same time, I can see how, um, with the uh, with ai and
just some of the other things,being able to limit or shorten
some of the um minute things andget straight to the information
, I think it can help excel themto understand something.
So I I think it's a, I thinkit's a double-edged sword, but I

(27:23):
think it's.
I think it's it's person toperson man.
I think it it starts there andI think face-to-face is always
going to be a thing.
And I think, um, I think withpre-teens, what I like to do is
just, uh, challenge them,because they want to be
challenged and they want moreresponsibility.
So it's kind of putting forththat challenge in front of them
of like, hey, man, how are yougoing to navigate?
How are you going to navigatethis, how are you going to
access this?
And you get the choice to kindof decide what your life is

(27:45):
going to look like.
But yeah, I think it's theface-to-face, it's the
intentional conversations.
I feel like it happensone-on-one for sure.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, I agree, josh.
From my perspective, what I'veseen and what I've heard talking
to children's pastors, and evenour conversations and I over
the last couple years, I feellike because AI is so opposite
and like it's technical and itis instant gratification in a
sense of like what, what answersare going to get back and

(28:14):
whatnot.
But what's so beautiful aboutscriptures and about the gospel
is that it is also instant.
But also it's a journey and Ifeel like what I've heard from
children's pastors is kids ingen alpha whether that's a
journey.
And I feel like what I've heardfrom children's pastors is kids
in Gen Alpha whether that's afourth grader up to like seventh
, eighth grade they're actuallymore open to it because when
they hear the gospel they're notjust wanting to believe it but

(28:34):
they also think it's a goodthing.
Man, this is a good thing for me, and so I think there's beauty
in the pace and walking withJesus and that you can look
through scripture and Jesus hasalways been consistent and
always been there.
I feel like Gen Alpha, fromwhat I'm seeing.
Again, this is new territorywe're still figuring out and
we're going to be figuring outfor a long time.

(28:55):
Is they want to walk that pacebecause it is different?
It's not what they're used to,but it's kind of beautiful, and
so I feel like those areconversations I've been having.
I don't know, josh, for you,you know you've been doing this
for about four years now inpreteen ministry.
Have you felt that like whenyou're teaching on Sunday or
Wednesday?

(29:15):
Have you felt that, as you'reasking deep questions, knowing
that it is different and they'recoming from you know where a
lot of their learning came, postpandemic as well?

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Like, what's that been like?
Yeah, I think if they're.
If they're a lot of times, ifthey are one of the most nerve
wracking things.
What I like to do within ourlarge group spaces.
I am very call and response.
So I'm very like, hey man, likejust shout it out.
It's very free, flowing orwhatever.
So like at times at the end ofour Bible message we'll listen
to something and I'll be like,hey man, do y'all have any

(29:48):
questions?
And they will shoot out someoutlandish questions.
So it's just like I think itspeaks to again.
It speaks to their curiosityand their knowing.
But a lot of times also, someof the times, they know the
answer to the question already.
They're just trying to hear myperspective on it.
Right, they've already beenexposed to it, they've already
seen something else to it, theyalready know the direction they

(30:09):
want to go, but they want tohear what I'm going to say about
it.
So it's very interesting yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Is it also for you, like in your ministry and what
you guys are doing there inOrlando, do you feel like in
that space you're like?
I know I hear people likegiving their students like space
to fail in a sense, like to askquestions?
Do you feel like it?
Does that happen a lot, wherethey feel that openness to ask
questions, even if they're notashamed or afraid, even if they

(30:38):
think it's right?
You know we're just talkingabout with AI and whatnot Like
do they have that back and forthwhen they're like oh, maybe
you're right about that andwhatnot like do they have that?

Speaker 3 (30:44):
back and forth when they're like oh, maybe you're
right about that A hundredpercent.
I think one of the things wetry to key in on is like, hey,
man, this is a space and that wewant y'all to experiment and
figure out and ask thosequestions, right?
I think, a lot of times when Ithink for me, speaking for
myself, I grew up in church, Igrew up in a French speaking
Baptist church, but my faithdidn't actually become my own

(31:04):
until I graduated high schooland made a decision for myself.
I was just doing it for my,because my parents were doing it
and it just it was what it was,but that wasn't until I was in
high school.
So I think, giving them a spaceto, I think I think there are
four things that they kind ofthink about primarily.
I think they think aboutfriends, I think they think
about their choices, I thinkthey think about conflict and I
think they think about bullying.
I think they're experiencingthat at a high level.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
And I think, giving them chances to navigate.
Say those four things again,sorry.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
Nope, that's fine.
Friends, choices, bullying andconflict Okay, I think those are
the things that are likeprimarily what they're wrestling
with.
So giving them spaces to failat that on a Sunday morning.
We try to provide that spaceand I think they do feel safe.
They're starting to feel safeenough to talk about those
things and knowing that thosethings have consequences when

(31:52):
you do them wrong, and I willenforce the consequence.
But when you come back nextSunday, I still love you, like
my love has not left for you.
That's what Jesus does for us,right?
So I think that's the kind ofenvironment that we would like
to and in preteen at firstorlando, that's the kind of
environment that we're trying tocultivate okay, I want to talk
about three things.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
I want to make sure that we hit on three things, and
I'm going to let cory pickwhich one.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
We talk about first okay, great I want to talk about
what choose?
Your own adventure choose yourown adventure, choose your own
adventure.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Corey.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Here we go Gen alpha.
I want to talk about attentionspan.
I want to talk about emotionalvulnerability and I want to talk
about kingdom work.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Let's just go in that order.
Let's go in that order.
You want to go in that order.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
Let's go in that order.
Right there, you have seen a uh, a diminished ability to, like,
focus over long periods oftimes or to engage in
conversation, um, over thecourse of, you know, several
minutes or even an hour, um, andjust kind of like what that
experience has has been like foryou, or if it's maybe like

(33:19):
rebounded and gone the other way.
I have no idea.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think it continues to get
shorter.
I think, um, trying to speak,uh, speak a live message on
Sunday I try to be at like eightminutes, maybe nine minutes,
and even within that, it's likeevery two minutes.
I'm trying to call a response,I'm trying to break it up, I'm
trying to.
Okay, now let's look at theslide.
It's just like it's it'sfinding continuous ways to like

(33:42):
re-engage them.
You gotta think about I wasactually.
I saw something and it was likea gen alpha.
Actually, the top social mediaplatforms for them was.
This is where I felt old.
It was Tik TOK, it was Snapchatand then it was Instagram, and
then I was just like oh, soInstagram is like Facebook now.
Like I thought I was, I thoughtI was up on it.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
And Facebook is like a print copy of the washington
post.
So that's where we're at now.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, yeah a hundred percent.
So just in knowing that andknowing on tiktok, like it's
your, uh, the algorithm,algorithm is just like, curated
perfectly and like you'rescrolling and scrolling, and
scrolling and scrolling allthese micro videos.
So it's just like, yeah, Ithink attention spans, I would.
I would fast as you want it.
You can scroll as fast as youwant.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
You can hold down on videos and they'll play faster.
You can like you can getwhatever amount of information
in whatever timeframe you want.
But then there's also like aflip side of it, where tick tock
continues to allow videos to bemade that are longer and longer
form.
Like I think you can make atick toK video that's like five

(35:06):
minutes long or something.
Now, um, which is weird, likethat, that almost feels like
it's moving in the otherdirection to me, but it's
interesting to hear you say likeno, my experience has been like
I need to keep it under eightminutes and I need to keep
things moving and I need to keepthem engaged.
What are some of the thingsthat you do like from stage in a
large group, setting, um, tochange the vibe?

(35:30):
Maybe they don't, maybe maybeit's not actually changing, but
you're kind of like taking themon a little journey in order to
kind of keep them engaged.
What are some of your littlejust tricks and tips that you
kind of do to keep them focused?

Speaker 3 (35:44):
No, that's good, I think, for me.
So, uh, background, I actuallyused to do Christian hip hop for
a little bit and, um, my, uh,uh, my rapping performing skills
kind of come out in that.
So I think, uh, I say that tosay sound dynamics with your
voice.
So like I will start highenergy but then I will bring it
down and like I'll do this thingwhere it's just like if they're

(36:05):
talking and I'm in the midst ofsaying something, I would just
like stop talking and just wait.
Like I won't even, I will waittill I get all their attention
back and then I'll come back onit.
So it's just like I feel like,like you said, it's a
storytelling within the messagethat you're doing and bringing
them on a journey.
I think, oh, I think they lovestories.
Like they, like they lovestories you tell a story and

(36:28):
they are engaged and they lockin because I think their brains
also are starting to try toreason from, like K through
third their Bible stories andlike they know all of that.
So even when I'm telling it,they could finish the story for
me.
But now their brains are tryingto like reason to, okay, this
is the story, but like, what isthe life application in my life?

(36:49):
And I think they're starting toreason and wrestle with that.
So, um, so, yeah, so I thinkjust, uh, being able to be loud,
be energetic, be calm, beingable to tell a good story, as
you're kind of bringing thetexture or scripture to life and
, yeah, and I think, engagingthem.

(37:12):
So I like to do some thingswhere it's just like, even if
it's something as simple aswe're about to read this verse,
okay, I need three volunteers.
Y'all are going to read theverses when we're up on here, so
y'all got to stand right herewhen I tell you read, it's going
to be right there, you're goingto read it and it's just
breaking it up in different waysto try to do this.
Those are just some of thethings that we've seen work for
us.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Okay, I'm going to move on unless you have
something.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
No, I loved it.
No, we're good.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
My attention on a tour, cory on a tour, like
superstar.
Yeah, yeah, attention spans.
How does that influence?

Speaker 1 (37:49):
hey, how did?
Yeah, we asked the questionshere I was being curious I'm
sorry.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Yeah, no, you're good no, honestly, man.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Oh, were you gonna say something?
Yeah, before we move on, um,you're not.
You don't have have a Grammyfor a hip hop.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
You're the closest person to an EGOT that I know,
Can you get a Tony for superstar?
All right.
Anyway, I have a question,Corey how does the attention
span stuff play into how youinteract with students at
Superstar and how we programthat?

Speaker 2 (38:28):
So I'll be very honest with you.
It plays a big factor,especially pre-COVID.
You would hear differentstudies say every year of your
age is another minute ofattention span you have.
So when we work with a10-year-old at Superstar, this
is pre-COVID You're like, oh,you got 10 minutes of their
attention.
And I agree with you, josh,it's way less than that,
especially now.

(38:49):
I think you have half of that,okay, and I think you're totally
right.
So it's something we do.
If you've ever been to asuperstar, you'll see it, josh,
brad Michael is, when you comeand you hang out, almost every
two to three minutes, even inthe teaching, something is
changing, whether that's you'retalking about Samson's life and
you're throwing spaghetti onsomeone's head, or then you're

(39:10):
spinning like, hey, now that youhave spaghetti on your head,
can you read this verse up here?
Oh, now, actually in theaudience, everyone get on your
feet and we're going to helpGary the potato get through this
adventure.
Like there's things alwayschanging, and so I completely
agree with you, josh, but Ithink that attention span is way
, way less I agree with that,especially post-COVID than ever

(39:31):
before.
I don't even know a number, butwe used to say, you know, yeah,
if you're 10 years old, you got10 minutes.
I think it's half of that, Ithink it's half of that.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
The easy way to program is well, we're going to
worship and then a message, andthen have a video and then do
worship again.
It takes a lot more work to bea little bit more Catholic about
it.
It's like stand up, sit down,stand up, fight, fight, fight
whatever and kind of get themmoving around and shifting and

(40:04):
changing different things backand forth.
You know, but that is morelikely to like keep them engaged
over a long period of time.
Is there value in like?
Is church a place where we cantry to coach students to have

(40:26):
longer attention spans, orshould we just like meet them
where they're at?
This is what it is, you know,you're?
yeah, you know.
Do you understand my question,or is that I understand?

Speaker 2 (40:38):
I don't know I don't think it's silly, josh I.
I don't know what you guys dothere.
Orlando, I know if you look,look at different preteen
ministries.
I know growing up, when I wasin sixth grade too, what my at
the time junior high pastor didreally well and it still works
great with especially 11,12-year-olds I see a lot is they

(40:58):
don't mind things being longerwhen you give them ownership of
something or leadership insomething, when you're training
them?
Yeah, so I'm curious.
That's what I've seen Brad,josh for you talking about.
Yeah, does the church train andhelp them have long attention
spans?
I've seen it worked and it'sbeen beneficial for students
when they're like well, I'm apart of this, I'm taking

(41:20):
ownership of this and I get tohelp younger kids know about
Jesus, or I get to use my gifts,talents and abilities to let
people know about Jesus.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
I'm just concerned that we're heading to a world
where, like the NBA, has a 10second shot clock and TV shows
are six minutes long.
You know what I mean.
Or it's like are these peoplegoing to eventually figure?

Speaker 2 (41:42):
out Right, and so are you like.
Are we as a church?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know,Are we going to conform to that
?
Is that more what you're saying?
Are we just going to?
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
That's a good.
That's a good thought, brad.
I think I think about that too.
I think at times I just like toplay out the future and
sometimes the question Iengaging kids like this, like in
their kids, like as adults whatis that going to look like?
Like, what?
Like?
How does?
What are the bleeds of that?
What are the how does?
How does that practically look?

(42:11):
I don't know, like I reallydon't know, and I think I think
to your question about how wecan do we try to influence it,
do we try to coach them, I thinkit's.
I think it's tough.
I think it's tough because wehave them, for if it's 40
Sundays in a year, that's 40hours Like we had and and and
doing everything else at a superfast pace everywhere else.

(42:35):
So it's just like it is.
It's just, it's just a toughthing to kind of manage on that
and I don't, yeah, I it's, it'stough man.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
It's tough.
No, totally All right.
Um, um, what were the other twothings?
Emotional uh, I also have ashort attention span.
Um, here we are.
Uh, yeah, emotionalintelligence so this is a
totally a point of curiosityfrom my own experience.

(43:04):
I have talked ad nauseum on thispodcast about the group of
ninth grade hooligans that Ihang out with a couple of times
a week at Christ Church ofOronogo.
They're insane people and Ilove them.
They have no emotionalintelligence, absolutely none,

(43:24):
and I don't know why that is.
I don't know if it's specificto this group of people.
I don't know if it's a ninthgrade boy thing or eighth grade
boy thing.
I don't know if it's a genalpha thing.
What I know is, if you try toget them to talk about how they
feel about anything, it is likeyou are trying to ford the

(43:45):
pacific ocean and it's justimpossible.
So I want to know if I'm alonein that and maybe I am and
that's fine or if that's alsosomething you've noticed, and
how, like a pretty emotionallycharged gospel can relate to

(44:07):
people like that.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Yeah, I think the question I hear you asking is
how emotionally intelligent, howaware are pre-teenage and alpha
of their feelings?
Is that what I hear you asking,Like how aware?

Speaker 4 (44:24):
are they.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
Yeah, yeah, I think we actually just came off a
series where we were journalinga little bit and I think one of
the things that I saw actuallyto set this up and to tell a
quick story.
So when I came into pre-teenministry I was doing videography
before Pastor Heath, who's akids pastor at First Orlando,
kind of tapped me.
Basically was the one that kindof recruited me and brought me

(44:46):
in.
At first I was like man, Idon't want to do that.
And then I was like let me gosit with the kids.
I want to go sit with the kids.
And I was just like, oh, Iunderstand y'all, like I get
where you're at.
And here's why I understood them.
It's because they had a naturallike vulnerability to
themselves that like it theydidn't, but they weren't aware

(45:06):
of it.
Like preteens they'll snitch,they'll snitch on their parents,
they'll snitch on what they're.
Just they just talk and theydon't know, they're not aware of
what it is, but like they're inthat innocence of just like, oh
, like this is what I'mnavigating or this is what I'm
feeling or this is what,whatever.
So, to fast forward a little bit, we, a few weeks ago, we had a
series and we were journalingafter the series and one of the

(45:28):
kids I was talking to him and Iwas just like man, like how do
you, um, what's the hardest partabout sharing your feelings
with others?
And he's just like man.
Sometimes I just I just don'tknow how to put words to it,
right, I just don't know what itis so like.

(45:48):
I think that, uh, I think,naturally, what I've seen in my
experience is that they, theycan tend to be vulnerable, they
can tend to be aware, butthey're not, um, they're not
aware that they're actuallyaware, they're just operating
out of, just like this.
This is what I know, and Ithink some of that actually gets
quelched when they start goinginto middle school and high
school, because you start seeingpeople and this is how you

(46:08):
behave and this is how youbehave, so then they lose it
even more.
So I think it's something forsure one has to continue to
cultivate within them.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
But I think, yeah, there seems to be this natural,
just yeah, willing to saywhatever, maybe that is what I'm
experiencing a little bit isthat these guys are in middle
school and going into highschool and I don't think it's
cool for them to have feelings.
I really don't.
I don't think it's like if theywere to be like, yeah, I'm sad

(46:39):
in front of their friends, likeI think the expectations that
they put on themselves is likeI'm supposed to be fun and that
is the most valuable thing thatI can be to my friend group, and
to be sad is not to be fun, orto be scared is not to be fun.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
And honestly, I was going to say too it's like a
couple of years ago we got thespin.
Josh, you're part of this.
You brought preteens to it.
We were at your church, wetalked through emotions with Gen
Alpha, and we use this phraseof when you feel an emotion,
when you feel sad, when you feelanger, when you feel happy,
whatever it is to pause andremember that Jesus felt it too.

(47:22):
Actually, Brad's lookingthrough that book right now.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Yeah, actually, brad's looking through that book
right now.
Yeah, man, that thing wasclutch man, I think.
In just the giving the emotionsand then giving the definition
for what that is, I think it'ssuper duper helpful because they
just don't, like I said, theydon't have language.
Me as an adult, I found a bookand it talked about emotions.
I had to go through and like,oh this, give me words.

(47:46):
My wife makes for me all thetime when I'm just like man, I'm
not feeling right, should goread your book.
Just go read, go figure out whatyou're feeling because I don't
want to deal with it right now,like go figure it out yeah like
even as an adult, like I'mwrestling through that.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
So but like this, this book finding god in every
feeling, or we called it ourfeelings journal.
I think colloquially, um waslike one of the most
well-received things that ciyhas ever created.
I think, yeah, um, in my sevenyears on staff here, that, uh,

(48:19):
that particular program I thinkresonated with with preteen
pastors more than just about anyother program that we've done.
Um, and I think a huge part ofthe reason is because they saw
their students talk about theiremotions for the literal first
time.
Yeah, like that they had not,that they had not been able to

(48:42):
like engage in this way.
And I'm so grateful for thisbook and actually I had kind of
forgotten that it existed untilwe were having this conversation
.
I remembered that it was on theshelf behind me and uh, yeah,
part of me wants to hand this tomy ninth grade guys and be like
tell me, tell me what you'refeeling well, I'll say this,
josh, you mentioned about read abook, right, you're saying this

(49:03):
.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
I, I know personally.
I've literally used that bookon days when I'm feeling sad,
like I'm not kidding, when I'mjust like trying to wrestle with
things.
It's, you know, as we'retalking about gen alpha, it's
like we're all wrestling throughsomething.
So, yeah, you're ninth gradeboys, gen alpha.
It's like, hey, let's sit down,let's talk about these fears
that we have, let's talk aboutthis anger we're dealing with,

(49:25):
or talk about the fact thatwe're not even talking about our
emotions at all.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Yeah, yeah, and think about feelings.
Feelings dictate how you dealwith your friends, it dictates
how you deal with choices, itdictates how you deal with
conflict and it dictates how youdeal with bullying.
So it's just like man if that'sone of the major things that I
have to wrestle through and Idon't know how to wrestle that,
how are my friendships going tobe great?
How do I navigate dealing withbullying when I don't even want
to accept the fact that Iactually feel sad because I

(49:51):
don't want to feel sad, becauseI don't want to feel weak and I
don't want to like.
It's all intertwined.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
Absolutely.
Let's talk about bullying alittle bit.
I think that's an interestingone.
Part of the reason that I thinkit's interesting is because it
is timeless.
Um, I also worried aboutbullying when I was in junior
high.
In high school, um, like, whatdo you?
What are they thinking aboutbullying?

Speaker 3 (50:20):
um, so at the end of, I think, year two, year one or
year two, I was doing this and,um, there's this kid.
I brought kids up.
Like I said, I'm prettyspontaneous sometimes, so I
brought some kids up, it was theend of the school year and I
asked them hey, um, what issomething that you wish you knew
at the beginning of fifth grade?

(50:41):
That's what I asked my fifthgraders.
It was the end of the year whatis something that you wish you
knew at the beginning of fifthgrade?
And fourth grade was somethingthat you wish you knew at the
beginning of fourth grade.
And I'm asking you thisquestion because I want to give
these questions slash answers tothe people that are coming up.
And I brought this one kid onstage and said something cool.
Brought this other girl onstage, said something.
I brought this one kid on stageand he says I wish I knew that

(51:04):
Ralphie the bully would bully meall year and that just messed
me up.
And I think and just realizing,like man, how are we equipping
preteens Gen Alpha, how are?
That is prominent only because,now, I say only because I think

(51:29):
part of the reason because iseveryone's trying to find their
place in footing.
So, like Jaffa is still in aplace where it's like it's cool
to be you and like what you like, but you're about to enter
middle school where you're goingto be judged and made fun of
for if you don't like what youlike and bullying is just like,
it is a, it's just a foundationfor that to grow within that.

(51:51):
So, like, how do you?
How do you start having thoseconversations?
How do you start?
Like I said, I think it startswith identifying being more
aware of emotions and how one isfeeling and where boundaries
lie, being more aware ofemotions and how one is feeling
and where boundaries lie.
I think it starts with weactually created a devotional
talking about bullying andhaving those conversations and

(52:11):
parents having thoseconversations with their kids.
Because I think oftentimes someparents I feel like are
hesitant to even talk aboutbullying because they feel like
if they talk about it then itmeans it's going to happen to
them.
But, like the kids are probablyhave navigated some form of it
and just don't know what to do,like they just kind of shut down
on that.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Makes me sad, like how have we not figured this out
?
Yeah, it's been a thing forsuch a long time.
Yeah, you know you werehomeschooled.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
You don't understand.
I mean I was.
I bullied myself, so you know.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Michael also is homeschooled, but he had 11
siblings.
You're not wrong, though, butit is true, I go add more people
in his homeschool than I had inmy public high school, so
that's just a fun fact.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
And I really, as I joke about it, I'm curious to,
as we talk about, yes, beingbullied by others.
I like how you put it.
It's just like you come in,whether in, whether you're in
fourth, fifth grade, but thenyou're going to middle school,
junior high and it's like cool.
You have your own opinions onthis, but also here's our
opinion.
That's never changed.
But I do feel like, as I wasjoking, but it's true, I think
more and more students arereally bullying their own selves

(53:16):
.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
They're really bullying themselves even just as
much.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
Now I don't know if that makes sense or not, but
with the things and the lies wetalk about in our heads, what?
I don't know if that makessense or not, but with the
things and the lies we talkabout in our heads, what Satan
is throwing our way, you know, Idon't know.
Have you seen that?
I know I have, maybe at thechurch I serve at like, I've
seen students in sixth grade andit's just lies in their own
head and it's not what peopleare doing, but they're lying,

(53:41):
you know, letting the lies cometo their own head and they're
living that out and it's almostlike they're letting themselves
be bullied.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
100, I think it's.
It's the.
I think some of the foundationof that is the, the need to fit
in, the want to fit in right.
They want to fit in, they wantto be with their peers, they
want to be with their crowd.
I got a girl that plays flagfootball.
I'm saying, hey, girl, lean intothat man, play that flag
football like do what you dolike it may not be common, but
like you enjoy it, get out there, go, do what you do, like I
think.

(54:04):
Yeah, I think it's the.
I've just navigated, especiallyas we try to help.
Um, uh, I think we did a greatjob at our church trying to
figure out how we could createsome type of promotion strategy
to help the transition part ofit.
And, and still, even with that,one of the hardest things is
like when there's probably ahandful of kids that will not go
into student programming justbecause it's just like it is too

(54:27):
over, they're just not gettingit, it's too overwhelming, or
they don't feel like they'vefound a place for friends or
they.
They feel like they'll be, butlike it's just it's a lot.
So it's such a it's such asensitive thing to navigate yeah
, for sure yeah, all right, lastone do you remember this one?

Speaker 1 (54:43):
kingdom work, okay, um, cory, stop bullying me,
sorry read the book.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Read the book, it's okay.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
So I'm just curious.
It's always funny to me, like,when I reflect on my own time in
junior high and high school,thinking about the ways that I
like served in my church.
Many of them are obsolete now.

(55:11):
Like you can't do some of thethings that I did, for, like I
remember our worship pastorwould send me, like, the list of
songs that we were going tosing on Sunday and I had to type
out the slides in PowerPoint.
For, like, that was somethingthat I offered to do it was

(55:36):
PowerPoint, microsoft PowerPointand so like.
There would be misspelled wordsup on the screen or whatever,
and I would just be hiding myface in the back of the room
because, you know, I didn't knowhow to spell righteousness.
Anyway, all that to say, I'mcurious, as we, as we have this

(55:56):
conversation about increasedtechnology and awareness and
intelligence and access toinformation and AI and how kids
seem to be like growing upfaster and kind of all of the
different things that we've hiton in this conversation what

(56:17):
service in the church looks liketo this generation of young
people?
Because I know it's importantto you, josh, it's something
that's super important to CIY.
It's it's missional for us tofind ways for um, for students,
who are created in the image ofGod, to to find their kingdom
work, the good works that he'sprepared in advance for them to

(56:37):
do.
So, uh, yeah, I'm just curiousif if you've kind of noticed
anything with that, or if thereare unique service opportunities
, especially that you feel likeare available to this generation
of people that might not havebeen available to young brad who
didn't know how to spellrighteous young brad, it's that
middle e they're really alwaysit always r-i-g-h-t-e-O-U-S.

(57:03):
It shouldn't be there.
It was weird.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
It'll throw you for a loop?
Yeah, no, I think for us that'ssomething that we've been
curious about and trying to takemore next steps in.
I think, just for contextcoming in, I was probably like
the first real official kind ofpreteen pastor for the area, so
we've been trying to developcertain things and move it to

(57:26):
the aspect of the serving aspectand I think I think some of the
things I feel like by and farjust Gen Alpha.
I think that they are willingand want to serve.
I think what they want rightnow is responsibility.
Primary thing they want isresponsibility Give me.
I want to be able to do this onmy own.
I want to be able to do this onmy own.
I want to be able to do this onmy own.

(57:49):
I want to be able to do this onmy own.
I want to be able to do this onmy own, god forbid.
They're good at it, actuallyand and like just get out of my
way, kind of thing.
So I think they are so primedfor wanting to do things and
finding ways where they can dosomething and have a impact in
that Right, and I think it's soimportant, like you were talking
about, I think it's soimportant for them to step into
that and have opportunities forthat, because that's what Jesus
did Right and we're showing them.
Man, it's not about just cominghere on a Sunday morning and
hearing and playing games andall of those things, but like

(58:11):
it's living it out also.
So I think some of the thingspractically that we've explored
so far is just like some of the.
We don't really have a ton ofthem because we have our own
kind of preteen space and wehave our own large group, our
own small group, so we don'thave them actually participating
, doing like tech things andenduring service or whatever.

(58:33):
We try to push them to that.
But one of the things, one of.
So I'm on the kids team alsoand we're just an extension of
that, and one of the one of myteammates on the kid team
actually started, uh, this thingcalled kids jam and melissa and
basically they got anopportunity to basically kind of
do like it's kids worship kindof thing and they kind of get to
go up there and lead and Ithink it's cool because I think

(58:55):
when they get to go back and, um, when they're back in the space
that they used to be in andlike they're the older kids now
it does something for theirconfidence, right like it, it
automatically boosts theirconfidence and I think, like for
me.
I remember when I was in I thinkit was like in eighth grade and
I I don't, I don't know how ithappened I, I really think we,

(59:18):
we thwarted I'm pretty sure myteachers thwarted the votes, but
I won like vice president of myclass, right, and it should
have never happened.
But like for whatever reason,that gave me Uber amount of
confidence to be like, yeah, no,well, I did that, so I can do
something else Right, and I cando more.
So how much more?
When we started equipping themto do things and they start to
feel the pride of those things.
Well, they want to grow up anddo more of that for God and do

(59:40):
more kingdom work.
So I think, I think it's acrucial part of that strategy.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
And how like incredible that the church gets
to be the place where they haveconfidence.
Cause we were just talkingabout how they go to middle
school and high school and thatis like beat out of them, you,
you.
Middle school is aboutconformity, so much.
It is the place where kids,personalities go to die, and it

(01:00:05):
just makes me so sad, truly, andthe fact that you're talking
about giving them spaces andpushing them to do things that
may not come super comfortablyto them, but they give them a
lot of confidence.
It's like, yes, let's make thechurch the place where you can
come and just be yourself.

(01:00:25):
That's so cool.
I love that.
I don't know what do you think,corey?

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
No, I love it too.
I love it and I was justcurious.
Bouncing off of that, josh, Iknow some of your story you
talked about.
You shared with me growing upin the church, going through

(01:00:51):
being a preteen, being in middleschool, being through high
school and going through hoopsand whatnot.
Now you are serving withpreteen ministry.
That is your full.
You're devoted to that right.
That's your life's calling.
In this season, this is kind ofa two part, going off of what we
were talking about with kingdomwork.
God's using your kingdom workto expand and help fourth and
fifth graders know their callingin life to serve the kingdom
and do it in the church, likeBrad has mentioned.
What was that like?
Why preteen ministry for you?

(01:01:12):
What was that like to get tothat spot?
Because I'm also curious,because I feel like there's
probably people listening orwatching right now who don't
know a whole lot about this agegroup fourth and fifth grade.
They might be like man.
They smell weird or man.
I don't know how to deal withthem.
Are they in third grade?
Are they second grade?
No, like these are people, asyou mentioned, who are ready to

(01:01:34):
take on next steps.
You are ready to own whateverthat is, whether it's their
faith or responsibility.
And so could you just speakreally just about why you're
doing what you do today, likewhat that calling was like in
your life, and maybe, hopefully,that just speaks to those
listening now?
Maybe there's someone right nowlistening to your voice who
feels like calling from God tobe like maybe I should be a part
of this work, maybe that'stheir kingdom.
Work is to help fourth throughsixth grade know more about

(01:01:56):
Jesus.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
That's good.
That's good, yeah, I think,yeah, I got a shout out.
Like I said, he got a shout out, he, he, um, I think it started
with being recruited, someoneseeing something in me, right.
So I think, um, that's where itstarted because, like I said,
when he first mentioned it, Iwas just like, yeah, man, he's
like you should pray about it.
I was like, great, like I'llpray about it and, like you know
, sometimes you have thoseconversations and people don't

(01:02:18):
come back around.
He came back around the nextweek and said, did you pray
about it?
I said that I did not.
I'm not gonna let me goactually pray about it.
I said that I did not, let mego actually pray about it.
And I think, what, what happenedwhen I actually got up there
and saw the preteens?
I think what connected for mewas I had an opportunity to be
able to do a lot of work with,like college and young adults

(01:02:38):
and like a lot of what I wasseeing there was before doing
preteen and a lot of what I wasseeing there was just like man,
the mistakes have alreadyhappened, the the it's, the
brokenness is already there andwe're trying to restore so that
we can go on, and I thought whatwas so compelling about
preteens was, like man, it'spreventative work, like it's
like where we get them in aplace where they actually still

(01:03:00):
want to be influenced Right,like they still want to be
influenced right.
Like they like they'll come upand they'll be friends with
whoever it is that they see.
They just want to connect, theywant to relate and like they're
still able to be shaped no punintended, um, and so I think
it's just, it's such a I thinkthat was super compelling to me
and I think also, if I'm justbeing honest, I think I relate

(01:03:20):
to kind of their plight, alittle bit of like feeling
overlooked or wrestling withlike, um, can I just be myself
and all of those things Right,and it's just like I, I as I
start to navigate and overcomethose things, I'm just like man.
I doubled down on that and justlike, yeah, no, be you please.
Like be like fully you, who Godcreated you to be.

(01:03:41):
So I think I think it's alittle bit of that.
I think it's a little bit ofthat side of things and a little
bit of the side of just likeman.
I resonate with what they'renavigating through at this
current stage.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Yeah, that's awesome we got to wrap up here in a
minute but I do want to ask youyou are a preteen pastor, a role
that not a ton of churcheshonestly have Somebody just

(01:04:17):
dedicated to overseeing kind ofthis in-between elementary and
middle school kind of age groupthat we love to minister to at
Superstart.
So a lot of the listeners ofthis podcast are student pastors
.
They're people who overseemiddle and high school
ministries.
So they where you have kind ofbeen living in this Gen Alpha

(01:04:43):
world for a while.
They either are more new to it,um, if there's somebody who's
kind of living in the juniorhigh world or, uh, high, many
high schoolers most highschoolers are still, uh, gen Z,
um, and we've got kind of thisdivide, this shift, um, that is
coming up.
So I'm curious what you wouldhope for student pastors like as
they're receiving some of thestudents that are kind of

(01:05:06):
graduating out of your ministry,what you would hope that they
kind of take, take that batonand and run with when it comes
to how to interact with thesestudents, how to lead these
students, how to love thesestudents.
Well, you know all of thesetypes of things.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's good, I would say, as
we're wrapping into closing Brad.
That's good, I would say, um,as we're wrapping in the closing
Brad.
Thank you for having me.
Corey, mike, I appreciate ally'all for just even having this
conversation on Gen Alphabecause, like I said, even
talking about how sometimes itcould feel like it is, uh, just
over gloss, it's just in thisweird.
They're not teenagers yet, butthey are preteens and it's just
this weird awkward phase.
So I appreciate y'all havingthat conversation and and just

(01:05:45):
even the team of people thathelped me do it Cause it's not
just me, it's a ton ofvolunteers and it's another
staff member, dana, and justeverybody that did that Just
super grateful for that.
I think, for um, student pastorslistening to this, I think all
I can say is get ready.
I think, just being like beingprepped for, like, hey, man,

(01:06:07):
what worked before may not work,it may not work.
You may have to.
The playbook can, can stayintact, but, like the plays,
some plays may have to change.
Like it's, it's, it's adifferent crop of kids and I
think, I think, if we are and westay curious with that, I think
, I think that's the posturethat I would encourage is just a

(01:06:30):
posture of curiosity.
Um, because they, they do somethings that, again, I still
don't fully understand, but I'm,I think, as one stays curious
and just allows them to exploreand still bring truth and still
share the truth about Jesus andall of those things to them, I
think that's it.
But it's just a man, you, you,it's just it's going to unfold
as it unfolds.
So I I'm grateful for all thework that they do.

(01:06:52):
I have some sixth and seventhgraders that I see now and and I
they're navigating some thingsand some behavior issues and
this and that.
So it gets crazy.
I know it gets crazy as theystart navigating that, but, like
you said, brad, crazy.
I know it gets crazy as theystart navigating that, but, like
you said, brad, I think it'sjust a matter of posturing
yourself to like, hey man, whatmay have worked before may not
work with these set of kidscoming up here the times they

(01:07:13):
are a change in for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
Uh, bob Dylan, even today prescient.
We appreciate you, bob.
Okay, josh, this has been atreat.
I really appreciate the workthat you are doing with this age
group and I appreciate FirstBaptist of Orlando and the

(01:07:36):
impact that they have on acommunity that I love, and I
appreciate your work withSuperstart and that we get to
partner together in ministry,and I just think you're great.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
Thanks for being here , appreciate you, man.
Real quick I just want to umfor any preteen leader that may
be listening, if it's okay, justplug this devotional real quick
.
But I think we did a, like Isaid, we kind of talked about
those things, uh, friendships,bullying, conflict and choices
and just how all of those thingsplay a part.
So if y'all are navigating that, there's a devotional star
strong that we created.
You see how I did that.

(01:08:07):
You saw that right there.
Let me do that again.
There's a devotional starstrong that we created that you
can pick up on Amazon and itkind of explores that and it
gives, especially with the wholebullying thing.
I observe that, man, whenleaders are having conversation
with kids, there's so muchgrowth that happens.
What does it look like to putsome curriculum in the hand of
parents for them to have thoseconversations, because they're

(01:08:29):
with them so much more?
So I just think the feedbackthat we've been getting on that
and the parents navigatingthrough and having those
conversations early, it's justbeen great.
So if they're looking forsomething, I think that might be
helpful.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
Start strong.
Is that what it's called?

Speaker 4 (01:08:42):
Start strong.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Is that what it's called Start Strong, available
on Amazon?
We'll also link that in theshow notes.
Thanks a ton, josh.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Josh, you're the best .

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
Josh Celestin.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
Celestin.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
Every time.
Great dude Really loved thatconversation.
Gen Alpha wild thing to talkabout crazy.
Because I like, literally whenI look back on that conversation
I'm like, wow, brad, you are soscatterbrained, like, but it's
such a big topic that we don'tknow anything about and it's

(01:09:21):
like crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
This is the first really conversation on the
podcast you guys have had aboutgen alpha.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
No, yeah, absolutely this isthe first of many in the years
to come.
Like you know, we've talkedabout gen z for a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Now we're like maybe we have a graphs on what gen z
is, but this is just thebeginning, yeah but it was very,
very cool to even hit some ofthose big um 30 000 foot view
kind of points about, yeah, thisgeneration.
I think my biggest takeawayhonestly is just we.
We have to be, we have to knowthat we're on the cusp of a

(01:09:54):
change here.
Yeah, we're changing of theguard gen z handing the baton to
gen alpha when it comes tostudent ministry as we speak,
and being willing to analyze ourprograms and our strategies and
know that what worked in thepast has not worked in the
future.
I really love that.
He kind of threw that out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
I love that the playbook changes, but the thing
that doesn't is still theteaching of who Jesus is.
That 100%, but everythingaround that and how it points to
him yeah, just being flexibleand, as Josh said, get ready get
ready, Get ready.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
I want you to get ready to read that blessing.
I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
Okay, let me do that.
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 andgrace and that those you serve

(01:10:48):
would see Jesus in you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
Today's episode was produced by Michael Hester,
lauren Bryan and myself.
Thanks a ton to Corey for beinghere.
Thanks to Josh for being here.
It was a really greatconversation.
If you liked what you heard,please feel free to subscribe to
our show on YouTube or whereveryou listen to podcasts.
We're going to be back in acouple of weeks to talk with a

(01:11:12):
fellow named Jordan Francis.
We're going to be talking aboutmental health.
It's going to be a greatconversation, one that a lot of
us probably need to engage in,even if we don't really want to
Talking to you, brad.
So be sure to tune in in acouple weeks.
In the meantime, you can reachout to us on the CYY Community
Facebook group or by emailpodcastatcyycom.

(01:11:33):
We'll see you next time.
Thank you.