Jesus Was a Youth Leader with Matthew Arrowood

Episode Summary

In this episode, the hosts and guest, Matthew Arrowood, dive into the vital role of youth ministry, shedding light on how youth leaders have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the church. They challenge cultural misconceptions about youth in ministry and discuss the power of engagement, patience, and understanding in leadership. Through personal stories and insights, the speakers highlight how young people can make a meaningful impact in their communities and churches right now, not just in the future. The conversation also introduces the upcoming book, Jesus Was a Youth Leader, aimed at inspiring and equipping youth leaders for their transformative roles.

Key Takeaways

• Youth leaders are pivotal in shaping the future of the church.
• Jesus Was a Youth Leader emphasizes the importance of youth leadership.
• Youth ministry is not a stepping stone but a vital, impactful ministry.
• Young people can make a significant difference in their communities today.
• Engaging with youth requires patience, understanding, and presence.
• A sense of purpose is key to thriving in youth ministry.
• COVID-19 created unique opportunities for deeper connections.
• Youth leaders must model healthy relationships and consistency.
• Perseverance is essential to seeing the lasting impact of youth ministry.

Get the book here in paperback, ebook, or audiobook formats.

Find Matthew online at https://www.matthewarrowood.com/

Listen to our other episodes featuring Matthew Arrowood: Why Men's Conference? and Technology and the Future of Evangelism (Live at The Tabernacle)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Two Pentecostals and a Microphone. I'm so
glad that you decided to listen to today's episode. It is
a special episode with our guest who is no stranger
to the podcast. I want to welcome Matthew Arawood to

(00:21):
the podcast. If you are listening to this episode, the
day that is released great news. Today is the day
that Matthew Erawood releases his new book. It is on
Amazon and Audible. Please go check it out. As call
Jesus was a youth leader. I hope that you will

(00:44):
listen to the rest of this episode. It would encourage
you to go out and buy a copy of Matthew's book.
We're excited to have him on today's episode of Two
Pentecostals and a Microphone. Welcome back to Two Pentocostles and

(01:11):
a Microphone. Very excited to be back. It's been been
a little bit. Today we have a we have a
special guest. Uh he's no stranger to the podcast. He's
been on before and we're excited to have him back.
Welcome Matthew Arrowood to Two Pentecostals and a Microphone.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Thank you so much, glad to be on.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thank you welcome back, glad to have you. Is this
your what maybe third time between the episode we did
with you and the Pentecostal Perspective and then we did
oh yeah, yeah we had one I think when there
was one with you and your grandpa as well. That
was kind of a cool episode.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Okay, so you're back, welcome back, thank you, yea nonor.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
And you're back because you have well for many reasons
but one, but you have a book coming out and
I am super stoked about the book.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
So well, I'm just primarily here to say hello.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Well, of course, of course, of course, but there is
a book.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yes, there is a book. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, So I think the title is really interesting, like
it catches your attention. And I've talked to you a
little bit about the concept before, so I know a
little bit about it, but I think it's an interesting concept.
You want to just tell us your title and kind
of the concept and where this is coming where this
book is coming from.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah. So the title is Jesus was a youth leader,
and the idea comes from a series of conversations and
interactions I've had with several people over what's been years.
The book is not if you were to pick up
the book, it would not really be reflective I think
of years of pondering, But for me it has been.

(02:55):
And what I realized is that when people visualize, not everybody,
but it seemed to be a lot of people when
they would visualize the Apostles and their relationship with Christ.
A lot of times it was this image that had
been produced by Renaissance art and Hollywood, and people had

(03:16):
gotten this image of the Apostles as being you know,
thirty forty fifty. I mean, I've even seen movies, I
mean where they've got gray hair and they were walking
around with Jesus. And I genuinely this is one thing
I've been trying to think about here lately. I don't
know when the moment was, but had a conversation somewhere

(03:38):
with somebody and came upon the thought these there is
no way that they could have been a bunch of
elderly men. These had to be this had to be different.
So it started doing some digging both in the Bible
and also in history, you know, the culture during that
time and how things were, and came to the conclusion

(04:00):
and that these Apostles, these were not a bunch of
elderly men as art and movies portrayed, but these were
young people and with that in mind, it completely changes
your entire perspective on the Gospels and the journey that
Jesus had with the apostles. Instead of it being what

(04:20):
you see so much portrayed, I mean, is the you know,
these almost un know they're not even human like they
seem like gods themselves apostles where no, they were in
fact what seems to be. They were in fact a
bunch of teenage boys that were following their youth leader

(04:42):
to change the world. And the oldest apostle it seems
to be the oldest a possible it would have been
around twenty to twenty one years old, and the youngest
possibly I mean this is debatable, but the youngest being
around thirteen to fourteen years old, which completely transforms the
perspective and it gives new light and new life to

(05:03):
the story. But also the ultimate goal of the book
is to show youth leaders. This is not a stepping
stone in your ministry. This is one of the greatest,
most beautiful opportunities that you have ever been given, the
opportunity to do what the King of kings chose to do.
When he came to Earth, he came as a man
to reach the world, and he chose to spend his

(05:24):
three and a half years of ministry with teenagers. And
that was his choice. And when you've been given that opportunity,
you need to understand just how beautiful and exciting it is.
And that's the that's the purpose of the book is
to bring life to the story, but also to help
youth leaders understand that this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Wow, it really is. I yeah, I couldn't agree more.
I think you're really onto something. You know, from a
historical perspective and cultural perspective, it all makes sense. But
you know, most of our like most things, most even Christians,
are influenced more by, like you said, Renaissance art in
Hollywood than actual like scripture or historical context or anything

(06:10):
that actually makes any sense.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, also it's I look into this just a little bit,
but also cultural context because I wish I could have
touched on this more. But they the term teenager hasn't
even existed that long, and the whole idea of the
teenage time frame in a young person's life that that

(06:35):
has not existed very long, where it has developed into
this time of life where you basically you be you,
and you in some cases you know, you do whatever,
you explore yourself and you find the true self within you.
And it's like, no, this is this is a time
in a person's life where they grow and develop into

(06:56):
the man or the woman that they are going to be,
and that they grow in. It's a time for them
to grow in their relationship with God. And so that's
part of the reason I believe that so many people's
perspective on the Gospels has been skewed as well, is
because of our cultural perspective where teenagers, you know, you're
in the youth group, you're in school, you need to

(07:17):
be doing your homework, which that's all important, but also
I mean looking from this cultural perspective, and you can
even see other cultures in the world that still practice this,
where at this age, at the ages of twelve to eighteen,
eighteen to twenty five, this is a time for you
to tackle your ministry, not necessarily maybe on a platform,
maybe not being the pastor of a church, but teaching

(07:39):
Bible studies, witnessing to the lost, reaching your friends, reaching
your family. And so again, the point of the book
would be for youth leaders to understand that and to
have a higher, a greater perspective on what their youth
can accomplish at this time, not in the future.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head too,
And I'm really glad that, yeah, it's being said, because
I think it's so much of a problem within the
greater Church, not not even just in the Apostolic movement,
but in just Christianity in general. But the idea that

(08:21):
youth ministry is is a somewhat of a a lower
form of ministry, if you will, And and as you said,
it's a it's not really a stepping stone, you know,
to greater ministry. You know, I had a youth leader
when when I was in youth group that I think

(08:45):
that was their career. They weren't. They didn't have aspirations of,
you know, becoming a minister. In fact, I had a
I had a woman youth leader in my the church
I grew up in our organization frowned upon women and ministry.
So there was always a point of contention in our
church between the pastor and the youth pastor. But but

(09:08):
she absolutely had no aspirations of becoming a pastor that
was that was she wanted to work with kids in
the youth and that's that was her thing. So I
think there was a lot of a lot more focused
ministry to our youth group, if you will, then maybe
some others. When I moved to Seymour, the first church

(09:32):
I went to was Cornerstone, and if you know much
about their youth group, it's it's a fairly large group.
I mean we were always one hundred and fifty two
hundred kids all the time. And uh, but it was
it was like, I don't know, it was hard to
maybe build connections a little bit because everybody's just going

(09:56):
everywhere being crazy and as as youth do. But but then
again it was the church culture very similar to what
you said it was. You know, this is really a
stepping stone too, you know, perhaps becoming a pastor greater,
greater ministry. And now I see that in the music

(10:17):
ministry as well. You know, I don't know, I mean,
I don't know what it is. Maybe there's this spirit
of ah, like this ego, the ego that comes over
you if you will, that you know, I'm better than this,
and and it's I don't know, it's really sad. So

(10:39):
I'm really glad that's somebody saying it, especially you, and
you wrote the book on it, and it's and it's perfect.
It's perfect timing, I think too, for the church to
wake up now more than ever. I mean, look at
today's culture and the schools and these things that these
kids are going and I you know, I'm not directly

(11:01):
involved with youth ministry. I am in the children's ministry
and I see the stuff that's going on there and
you know, and that's you know, these are the kids
that are getting ready to go in the youth. Then
they have a pretty messed up life at home situation,
a lot of them. And you know, and I know,

(11:22):
you know, as a teenager myself wants I had that
angst as well. I had that If I didn't have
people in my life that helped me to to channel
my emotions better or learned how to channel my emotions better,
you know, who knows where I would end up. And

(11:43):
it's so vital. Youth ministry is so vital. I don't
think we should ever look at it as a inferior
ministry at all. And there's a I mean, it's kids
and yours. They do amazing things, and they could do
amazing things for God, and it's incredible thing. Yeah right,

(12:08):
we don't have to wait. I can remember it too.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
I sat in a meeting one time. This was a
weird situation I was in with so the church. Without
going into a lot of details, there was a church split.
I followed the church that actually split off. I went

(12:33):
with that for a little bit. And there was a
situation where it was actually a friend of mine was
wanting to marry someone that was underage a little bit.
It was kind of a weird thing, and I said,

(12:54):
for some reason, I sat in this meeting with them,
and the minute there was like a It wasn't even
the minister in the church, it was the minister in
the organization because it had something. I had some weird
connection there. But I can remember the youth person just

(13:14):
arguing back and forth with them about you know, and
it may not have been ready for marriage, you know
who when you're seventeen, you know tart to say. I mean,
I personally would would wait till I'm thirty, but I
was twenty eight when I got married. So but anyway,

(13:37):
they were arguing back and forth and the whole time
that this older guy, he was like pretty big deal
in this organization, kind of the headquarters, you know, and
he was just saying, you're way too young to make
these kinds of decisions. You haven't even gone the seminary yet.
How do you know? How can you pretend to know

(13:59):
more about local and godly things than I do? You know,
that's what he said. It was very pompous that it
came off, you know, and then again that teenage eggs
comes out, like who are you to tell me that?

Speaker 2 (14:11):
You know?

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, just some old dudes, but yeah, yeah, but it is,
it's very much looked down upon something.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
There's that idea like, yeah, yeh know, I I know
everything because I have experience and experiences is there's a
lot to be said for experience except for education that matter.
But the other hand, that that attitude that looks automatically
looks down on people just because they're young, you know,
and uh, you know, they say it, what is it?

(14:40):
Youth is wasted on the young, But the opposite is
also true, that wisdom is wasted on the old.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
So you know, I mean, and I think part of
this is that I don't want I don't want anybody
to think for a moment that I would be saying
because I don't think I ever hint at this in
the book. But I don't want anyone to think that
I'm saying that young people need to be usurping the
authority of the elders and the leadership, but more so

(15:09):
for leadership to understand youth leaders especially, but for them
to understand what you know, maybe you could possibly be
missing out on some of the greatest leaders that are
growing up in your church. And you don't have to
look elsewhere. They're right here and they can make such
a difference right now. And you know that I can't

(15:31):
remember who said this, but and I'm gonna paraphrase, I'm
gonna butcher it, but to you know, they were saying,
to the extent, you know, the elders the leadership, they
are the ones that provide the guidance, the direction. But
then the youth they are they're the they're the muscle,
they're they're they're the they're the legs on the mission
and they make it happen. And it's not just reserved
for the young adults. It's for the youth too, And

(15:51):
so they.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
And leadership has to give them a little a little
bit of leash to.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, to do some well, the opportunity to make a difference.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
All should have a voice, and you know, we should,
you know, from young to old be heard, you know,
just because I'm a you know, I feel like I'm done.
I'm in that weird age group where in your forties
where no, I'm just I'm they call me boomer even
though I'm not a boomers on you that year old

(16:24):
to the point where you know, the music's too loud
now I'm just kidding, but ever.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Going deaf though, so it bounces out.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
And part of part of it. Yeah, it's great. Nobody
cares about forty year olds I have. I can't wait
un till I'm like seventy. Then I become a you know,
important again.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
But it would be a shuge.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Right, Well, I think I was thinking listening to what
you're saying about youth leaders and youth pasters. Yeah, I
think that's that's the books targeting to really is has
given him that perspective. But also I'm just thinking in
terms of like all the people in the church. So
our church, we We've talked about this a little bit

(17:11):
before the recording, but our church Bryson and my church,
which is your I guess home church where your grandpa
is a pastor and and your your dad is the
pastor elect, so you're very familiar. Yeah, it's changed a lot, though,
I mean, and you you've been gone for a little
while and came back recently and and and preached at

(17:32):
a youth service we have, and that the demographics have
completely changed. It's growing, the youth group especially is growing
really quickly, and it's exciting. But what I've what I'm
seeing is and and I'm not this is no shade
at any of the people in our church necessarily. I
think our church is probably further along as far as

(17:54):
this goes than most churches that I've been a part
of or even visited. However, there's still is this kind
of prevailing attitude. I feel like that that the youth
are a bother, you know that, because they are rambunctious,
and they're they break things, and they do things they
shouldn't do, and they say things they shouldn't say, and

(18:16):
they are wild sometimes yeah, and they're inconsiderate. You know,
there's just they're they have all they have youthful energy,
and that can be annoying at times, But I think
there's this attitude sometimes that the church can get it.
They're not careful where it's just like, oh, why why
do we have to w many kids here? You know,
why do we have to have this many youth here? Whatever?

(18:36):
The teenagers are kids either way, And you know, Jesus
is very clear like leave them alone, you know what,
don't don't interfere with them, don't let them come to me.
You know, he was the Kingdom of Heaven. Is is this?

Speaker 1 (18:49):
So?

Speaker 3 (18:50):
I think we as a church as a whole needs
to take a page from this this book and like
and and really come to terms the fact that not
only is this the future of the church, but this
is the church now. And like there there is no
less regardless of whether or not they pay ties, or
whether they clean up after themselves when they make a mess,

(19:11):
or whatever the case may be, they are the church
just as much as anybody else.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Easily a youth group can become the bane of a
church's existence. I mean, they can cause havoc, but so
can the rest of the church. And I mean, I
mean you both could probably recount multiple situations where you've
seen churches absolutely come apart because of saints that weren't
being led. And when youth aren't lead, yeah, it's gonna

(19:40):
get It's gonna get bad. Now even when even when
kids are gonna are being led, things are gonna go wrong.
Even when churches are being led, things are gonna go wrong.
But I don't know, I mean, I think of it like,
you know, like like a like a bullet. You know,
you have to on its own, it could just explode
and cause so much damage. But the moment you put

(20:00):
it into a gun and you and you allow you know,
that that system to aim it in the right direction
and you you accomplish something with it, or you know,
or electricity. You know, that's probably a better analogy, you know,
where it could be chaotic, but when you put it
in the right space, it can accomplish beautiful things, like

(20:21):
you know, those drone light shows. But but with youth,
I mean, what I've seen and what I've read about
what I've heard what I've seen is teenagers that don't
have a leader, it can turn into a mob and
it can and it can become destructive, not not just
to the church but also to themselves. And it's sad.

(20:43):
It breaks my heart. But when you can take the
insane energy of a group of kids and you can
focus it, they will absolutely transform not just their church,
but if you let them loose, they'll change that, they'll
change their community absolutely. I mean in every maid. I
mean the major revivals that we've seen across America over

(21:06):
the last one hundred or so years started by young
people and college students led by a diligent teacher or
youth leader or university professor. Somebody was there guiding them.
But because of that guide, because of that person, that
remained faithful through the insanity movements that completely transform the

(21:28):
face of our country. And and that all happened because
of diligent youth leaders that had high expectations for their
youth and also, like Christ, had the ability to be
patient and merciful and loving and be able to work
with them through the process. In the book I mentioned,

(21:49):
you know that Christ is about to ascend. He he's
about to be glorified. And the apostles that he's been
with for three and a half years, diligently teaching them,
sitting with them, eating with them, you know, just spending
quality time with them non stop, demonstrating to them his plan,

(22:12):
telling them his plan word for word. They then go, so,
when will the Kingdom of Israel be restored? Right arm?
And I can just imagine Jesus going He's like, yeah, right,
and you know, I would probably be like what I

(22:32):
told you over and over, but no, what does Jesus do?
He calmly is just like, Okay, you're gonna go to
Jerusalem and you're gonna wait, and I'm gonna give you power.
And it's like, wow, I wish I could be a
youth leader like that that. I mean, I spend ten
minutes explaining something to my kids in the classroom and

(22:54):
then they raise their hand and say, what's the homework
assignment again? And you're like, oh, yep. But Jesus spends
three and a half years. And then that's not even
including all the time, you know, the thousands of years
before that that he's been working with the children of Israel.
And then here we see God in flesh being so
patient and so loving. And because of that, that little

(23:15):
group went to Jerusalem and they literally changed the world
and they flipped it upside down on the day of
Pentecost and beautiful and that was all because of the
patient and loving and merciful leadership of Christ. And youth
leaders need to be that way. They need to be
patient and loving and be able to work through that
process of difficulty and you know through you know, the

(23:39):
broken windows and the and you know the uh the
kids that stay out too late, and you know, the
fights and and all that stuff and whatever it is
that you might go through as a youth leader, need
to be able to be patient and allow yourself to
get through that because at the end of this, you
have the next global missionary in your youth group. You

(23:59):
have next pastor, you have the next evangelist, you have
the next person that's going to change the world, and
they're sitting in your classroom and it's it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, And sometimes it's not the ones you would expect.
A lot of times just that maybe the ones that
are the troublemakers. I think probably the biggest troublemakers in
the worried about in the New Testament might are the
biggest problems. At least might have been Saul or the
apostle Paul. And then among the disciples would have probably
been Peter, who's ye cutting people.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
To the sons of thunder.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
You know that all those problems.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
You know, the guys that Jesus says, get the behind me, Satan.
You know those those those guys they changed the world.
And again that's where it comes back to the whole.
You know, not not to not to come at anyone
in the Catholic Church, but I would just one thing
that bugs me is the way that we deify them.
And Simon Peter was a rambunctious young adult who changed

(24:57):
the world because God you him, not because he was perfect,
not because he was a saint, but because he was
willing to be used. And when Christ said get thee
behind me, Satan, he didn't run off, but instead, I mean,
I don't know how Peter reacted in the moment, but
he didn't leave. And I mean we see in scripture

(25:19):
even where you know, the thousands of people do walk
away after Christ says you have to drink of my
blood and eat of my flesh. And then turns of
the apostles say well, you're going to go too, and
they're like, where do we have to go? And you
know they understood being right there with their youth leader
that was that was the best place for them to be.
And that was because Christ had been so patient, so
loving with them.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
And constantly, constantly engaged. I think I think it's so important,
Like I because I see it every week because I
do work with the youth quite a bit, and it's
I think it's if the youth are not any and
I'm thinking, you know, eleven to eighteen, especially though eleven
to sixteen year olds, like there's a lot of energy

(25:59):
there and if they're not pretty much constantly engaged, mentally engaged,
you know, I mean, and they need they need a
lot of attention. They do. They take a lot of
resources financially for a church and they're like to have
a good youth program. It is a lot of emotional energy,
spiritual energy, financial energy that goes into that. But but

(26:22):
it pays back in spades because the the energy of
that of that group, if it's focused and if they
are engaged by somebody like you said, a youth leader
who is who is passionate and compassionate and loving and
patient and engaging, then they are going to engage in
a way that is incredibly good for the church, just
like elders in the church can if they are in

(26:45):
the right you know, mind frame, the right spirit and
doing the right things. They bring something completely unique and
extremely valuable to the church. The youth do as well,
and they and I've seen some of the rapid growth
that we've seen in our youth group and in our
church as a whole with even bringing you know, adults
in and family members, but especially bringing you friends like
they will. They will say, Hey, you need to come
to church with me, and they're not afraid. A lot

(27:07):
of times adults are afraid to ask somebody to go
to church with them, but they're not. They'll ask their
friends from school and next thing you know, there's a
new kid this week, and the next event there's another
new kid, and it just grows and snowballs and we
have to we have to engage with that energy or
to be wasted on something else.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, that's right. And so with that the one thing
I look and I delve into in the book. And
again this is where with this book, I won't I
haven't told many people out this outside of my wife
and probably my dad, that there's been moments with this book.

(27:49):
I haven't wanted to publish it because I'm twenty five
going on twenty six years old in two weeks, and
my extent of ministry experience, I would say is nil
compared to others. But one thing that I've noticed is
that youth groups that don't spend time together, that a

(28:13):
youth leader that doesn't spend that quality, compassionate time with
their young people outside of the church space, you're not
going to grow. And I'm not just saying numerically, I'm
saying spiritually, you're not going to grow because it doesn't matter.
And I would say this dand a youth pastor maybe
or a youth leader that's working with you know, ten kids.
Jesus had twelve, okay, well, and then one of them

(28:37):
didn't quite you know, work out, which Christ knew that
all the while, right, which is all it's But even
Christ himself had twelve and then one walked away. And
I don't care if you have five, four, three, two,
I don't care how many youth you have. They need
that quality, they need that quality time. And this is

(28:57):
this is a this is a place in the book
where I put down, I put my heart on the line,
and I'm sure somebody somewhere at some point is going
to come back at me for this, But I suggest this.
I kind of break down mathematically first, of all, the
amount of time that young people spend on their phone,
it's unbelievable. I mean, I think I quoted the American

(29:19):
Academy of Psychiatry something like that, and the numbers that
they put out there, it's unbelievable. Six seven, eight hours
a day that teenagers are spending on their phone. And
then you add that up over a week. How does
that compare to the two hours the hour you spend
with them on Sunday and then on Wednesday if you

(29:42):
have a youth class on Wednesday, how does that compare
to the amount of time to spend on their phone?
And then how does that compare to the amount of
time that they spend at school. If they're going to
a Christian school, that's a different story and we can
talk about that too, But if they're going to a
public school, how does that compare? And then the amount
of time they spend doing sports, the amount of time

(30:03):
that they spend watching you know, movies, television shows, that
they're on social media. That the list goes on. My
challenge to myself and to other youth leaders would be,
I think we need to sit down and ask ourselves,
do we really think we're having the kind of impact
that we want to have when we're spending when we're

(30:27):
only spending a couple hours with them, and then we
spend and then the amount of time they spend. I
actually I need to pull it up because it's here.
It is, yeah, here it is. So while social media
has a great deal of our youth's attention to the
American educational system is the great school master of our

(30:49):
young people. Education Week states a typical US student spends
eight eight and eighty four hours over nine years to
complete primary and lower secondary education. It's nearly thirteen hundred
hours more than a full school year, more than the
average for other countries in the report. This is approximately
thirty hours a week. So they're in the classroom thirty hours,
and then they spend all the time on their phone homework. Yeah,

(31:12):
it's not counting homework. That's not the phone.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
They're in their phone on their phone in class at
the time, let alone outside of class. Yeah, it's it's
mind boggling. So sorry, go ahead, thirty thirty hours in class.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, and then this is where this is where I
kind of bring it down to the challenge. So, with
all that being said, so they spend up to about
nine hours on their phone every day, so that is
approximately sixty three hours a week. Conversely, if we as
youth leaders have a service with their youth every Sunday,
a service every Wednesday, and a three hour youth event
on Friday, we will be with our youth for around

(31:46):
five hours a week. Based on the national average. That
is only about eight percent per week. Yeah, eight percent
per week of what our youth spend on their phone.
If you're having youth events every single Wednesday or every
single Friday Saturday day. Right Ever, if you're having a
youth class every Wednesday, if you're having a youth class
every Sunday.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
And I would add that, let me just think about
our church for a minute, because I know what we do.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
We do.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
We do Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays, every Friday. There's a youth
event this Friday. I believe we're gonna be going to
houses and delivering. We took a queue from the refuge Brice,
so we're gonna do the youth is gonna do the
same thing. We're gonna go to houses. We're gonna take
like you know, gifts or snacks or whatever, and meet
the families and try to engage because a lot of

(32:33):
these families aren't coming to church. The kids are where
the teens are. But at any rate, there's some kind
of event every Friday. So yeah, we're doing this three
times a week. But it's not a lot of engaged
one on one time with any of the leaders because
if you have a youth group like ours is probably
about one hundred and twenty five to one hundred and
twenty eight something like that. If in that scenario, you

(32:57):
don't have a lot of time for one on one.
If you have let's say we have an event where
eighty five kids show up, which is not unlikely, and
we have you know, maybe ten to twelve adults, that is,
there is no one on one there unless something dramatic
is happening, possibly and you're pulled to the side. But uh,

(33:19):
there's not a lot of real engagement even in those scenarios.
It's it can easily still be hurting cats if you're
not careful. So you do need and I think it's
we're starting to do it more. Schedules are busy, but
I just saw this week where itska our what youth

(33:39):
pastor's wife, you know, she has her two little kids,
and then she had two of the girls from the
youth group at her house making cookies and they were
just hanging out and they made walk them ale and
they're and they're just having fun. They're sending pictures to uh,
they sent to my wife and saying, oh, look what
we're doing. You know, so like they're having a blast.
And these are kids whose parents are not in church.

(34:00):
The kids, actually her parents don't even know. I don't
know if they've ever met anybody in the youth on
these team until hopefully this Friday they will. But it's
but the engagement, that kind of engagement, I would argue,
that kind of engagement has to happen, and that wants
to be.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
To say like, yes, church is important. Yes, that hour
on Sunday is important. Yes, that hour when important. Set
three hours on Friday is important, But more important is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
Yeah absolutely, And you know, yeah five hours really it's

(34:44):
not a lot. And you know, and I mean I've
gone to a couple of Friday night things and it
is chaotic and you cannot it's hard to do one
on one with anybody, and you know, so that leaves
technically any kind of spiritual guidance to the hour on

(35:07):
Sunday and that hour and Wednesday, and so it's so
vital to do things. Now I was going to say too,
you know, giving youth the sense of purpose I think
is really key to their growing in the church and
growing in grits. And what I mean by that is,

(35:30):
you know, we at our church, specifically at the Tabernacle,
you know, we allow youth to be a part of
the media team. And then they're also you know, every
the months that have the fifth Wednesday, the youth are
leading worship service and just getting them engaged in doing things.

(35:50):
And you know, and I would say too, you know,
when we haven't, I don't know how many opportunities we
have to do these kinds of things. But let's say,
for instance, you know we're talking about the refuge kind
of Thanksgiving thing we used to do and Christmas gifts
and stuff. Having youth go along with you to that, yes,

(36:11):
and you know, helping to pass out the you know,
the gifts, and you know, it's just giving them a
sense of purpose one and gets them away from their
phones for you know, another another hour or.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
So, and you know, and then you give them, you
give them purpose. Yeah, I had, I had a situation.
Let's see, it's been.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Well, so you guys both know Lindsey, she's been coming
to church for I can't even count how many years now,
probably six maybe years. I don't know. She's sheid the
Holy Ghost for several years. Fine, I don't know if
I even know this, Matthew. But I was a I
baptizer a couple of months ago and that was one
of the most incredible, that's awesome things of my life.

(36:59):
I didn't know what's ever going to happen. She was
a little apprehensive about baptism because I think that she
understood that it was a commitment, you know, that that
she was making. So anyway, after several years of coming
to church, she had learned how. I taught her how
because she always wants to do whatever I'm doing. So

(37:20):
I taught her how to set up the interpretation stations
for our Spanish and French interpret her Haitian Creole interpreters.
And the last two weeks, like last week, I was
really busy and I was like, can you do you
think you could do that on your own? And she's like,
oh yeah, she goes and does it, comes back it's

(37:40):
set up, ready to go, no problems. It ran smooth.
Then she's like, that's my job. Now I'm like, okay,
that's your job. Wow. And it doesn't take her out
of service. You know, you know the media, we have
to be careful because you know, if we don't want
them doing it week after week after week because it
takes them out of service. But but with this, you know,
it's it's ten minutes before service. But she has a

(38:01):
purpose and she knows that she needs to be there
and be engaged, be on time and has something to do,
and she's proud to do it. And we've had we've
had kids that were one kid, I'm thinking out of Santiago.
She probably remember him from downtown. He was a problem.
He was always a problem until you give him a job.

(38:22):
Gives Santiago a camera or let him run the overhead,
and he learns it like that and he is happy
as can be and is no longer a problem because
he's engaged. Yeah, and they do need that, they need
they need a little bit of like of I guess purpose, Yeah,
they need they need purpose. They have something to contribute.

(38:42):
You know.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
It was important for me and you know, and I
one of the worst things that ever happened to me. Uh,
I guess mentally in my mental life was I had
It was one of the very first times I played
guitar and sang a song in front of herch and

(39:08):
I didn't have a guitar stand to look my acoustics.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
So remember this story.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
I laid it. I laid it against the wall that
had some kind of ivory kind of stuff going on,
So it was really badly on it tune. I hit
that first cord and I was like, this is absolutely
horrible in the ministry. Yeah, And so I proceeded to
tune my acoustic guitar in front of everybody watching me.

(39:37):
I just like, you gotta give me a minute. And
so the minutes feels like, you know, five hours, and
I'm trying to tune this thing, and and then you know,
I get it somewhat right. It's like a bad dream
or something. You know, I don't know, Matthew, you're a
guitar player, if you ever dreamed guitar dreams at all, Like,

(39:59):
h I get himember once in a while, where you know,
I'm trying to I'm trying to hit guitar pedals or something.
And it's just not I can't get him, it's not working.
It's like I forget how to do everything. Anyway, it
felt like that, and I'm I fumbled through the song

(40:20):
and you know, it is what it was, and people
were nice and stuff. But I had a guy come
up to me that said the worst sentence to ruin
my psyche for for the rest of my life was
you have a lot of good potential there. Son. I
just like, I don't know. I know we met well,

(40:44):
but it was like it it stuck with me, and
obviously it still is with me, but so I always
feel like I'm trying to measure up to whatever that
potential was. You know, I would love for him to
watch our live stream one time, see how far have
come along. But you still got a lot of potential.

(41:10):
But anyway, I said that to say that, it was
really important for me to feel like I was a
part of it, part of things happening. And you know,
when you're just a spectator and you kind of go
through the motions of church's it's it's really easy to
fall through the cracks. But when you have a purpose,

(41:34):
when you have something to do, you're a part of it.
This thing is happening because of that one thing that
I do. If I didn't do it, if if Lensing
didn't set up interpretation that day, none of the Haitian
Spanish people would understand whats going on.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
So it was important, you know, yeah, exactly. I remember
reading David Wilkerson's book. I'm pretty sure it was The
Crossing the Switchblade where he talks about asking when he
was working with the gangs in New York and he
had some of those teenagers who were gang members take
up the offering at one of their crusades. I mean

(42:10):
that's risky. I mean, these guys are these guys are
are like certified killer gang members New York City. And
the one guy, I guess the story went, the one
guy tried to steal money out of it. He's like,
this is a great gig, you know, we could just
take this money. And the leader, one of the leaders
of the gang was like pulled a knife on him
or something and he's like, no, you put that back.

(42:31):
That's the preacher's money. And like he had a sense
of purpose, like he's like this is he knew they
were doing something good even though he was living this
life of crime. Whatever he could see the good that
was trying to be done and he wanted to he
wanted to be a part of it, and he felt
like he was a part of it and he had
ownership in it, and those I mean the change, and
that was I think that might have been Nicki Cruz.

(42:52):
He wrote the book, the other book, Run Baby, Run,
incredible stories. But that was part of what I think
made that revival among gang members happen, was the fact
that he gave them a little bit of purpose and
ownership when they probably hadn't earned it yet. But sometimes
you got to give that ahead of time, like have

(43:13):
a little faith that, yeah, that that people will catch
a vision and will and then God, you know, there's
grace for the rest.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah, being able to help young people understand that they're
just not a spectator, they're not just a bench warmer.
They're they're a part of this. Now. It will, it
will spur forward what will become not just a great
ministry in the sense that we think, but they too
will be the one like you on that platform or

(43:43):
you driving that van. They will be They'll be you
and you're emulating what they want to become. And and
that only can come from you showing that to them
a lot, right, uh, I this is another thing in

(44:03):
the book that I say, and I'm like, I don't
know what people are gonna think. But the greatest gift
that I ever had with my youth group was COVID.
As frustrating as it was, COVID gave me the opportunity
to spend more time with my youth than I had
ever spent with them before. My the the pastor of

(44:25):
er Tabernaculo, he owned or owns currently, the brother Luis Morales,
owned a tortilla manufacturing shop and they sell a bunch
of other stuff too. But I worked for him, and
being there, though they had we had large swaths of

(44:48):
time where there would be no there would be no clientele,
but they would come in early in the morning, and
then they would come in later in the evening. So
we had all this time where we could work. You know,
I could just work on homework, I could relax if
I wanted to. But with that time, I realized, Wow,
all my youth are stuck at their houses. Why don't

(45:09):
they just come and hang out? And I asked the
pastor if it was okay. He was fine with it,
and our youth group had reached eventually reached around twenty
or so, and we even got farther than that at
some point. But the core group, and I don't know

(45:29):
if we can have a conversation about that, but this
core group that I spent time with was about one two, three, four, yeah,
four four kids and literally no breaks for thirty days straight.
They were with me every single day. Wow, which anyone

(45:50):
I think would look at that and go, that's stupid,
you know, like there's no way, Like I can't, I
can't do that. And then I say that in the book,
I'm like, you know, yeah, I get it. You. There
are people I didn't have kids, I didn't have a wife.
I but God gave me this opportunity and because of that.
There I'm not saying it's not what I did, but

(46:11):
I had the opportunity to give them time where and God,
I believe, blessed us with time where they were not
with their teachers, they weren't at public school. Instead they
were sitting with me, and we would open up the
Word every day. But we wouldn't just read the Bible
and we wouldn't just pray, but we would laugh and

(46:32):
we would be stupid and we would go to McDonald's
and we would talk about nonsense and just be funny
and make silly videos and you know, just all kinds
of stuff. After that, that group, they except for one
of them, they were already going to the private school,

(46:53):
but the other three, along with others, went to the
Christian School and they're still there and a bunch of them,
some graduated last year, some are going to graduate this year.
And it was during that time that they began to
see what they could be. And it was during that
time that they began to be involved not just in

(47:15):
the Spanish congregation, but in the English congregation. And they
also started to get involved with other stuff around the
district and around the district, being with camps and other stuff.
But that all happened because I really want to be
careful about saying it was me. What it is is
that God opened up a door for them to be

(47:36):
able to see what they were capable of, and because
of that, he gave them an anchor. And my prayer
is is that anchor will carry them into the future.
But in that time they grew so much, and their
families changed too, because parents began to see what their

(47:58):
kids were doing. And then it it pricked their heart
a little bit, and then they began to do more.
And but it was that quality time. And it is
in Christ demonstrated that we see he is in the
house of Simon Peter healing his mother in law. He
was present enough to see. I mean, he's God in flesh,

(48:23):
but he was present enough to be able to see
that one of his disciples mother in law, was sick.
And then he was present enough that the sons of Thunder,
James and John, their mom was comfortable enough with Jesus
to be able to say, well, my are my kids
gonna you know, I can just I know she didn't
talk like this, but I can is almost imagine like
are my kids gonna stay next to you in heaven?

(48:45):
You know, like are they going to get a special seat?
But she was that comfortable with him. That and that
I believe that all came from he was present. He
is with them, and we see it too. He's not
just preaching to them all the time. He know, he's
just he's just spending time with him.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
And it's not his it's not his uh. I don't
know if it's right word, but it's not just his
godship it's it's like a human it's the humanity of
the relationship, which shows that that we can be used
in that way as well, because it's not it's not
the fact that he was all knowing or anything like that.
It was the fact that he was he was there
and he was engaged, and I think he loved them. Yeah, exactly.

(49:30):
And I think me and An have talked about this before,
but it's actually I talked to your mom about the
same thing. It's not so much like trying to think
of things to do to entertain teenagers. What what is
really truly valuable and and we've tried to do this
is if we're going somewhere and doing something already is
to let's let's take somebody with us. Like let's say

(49:53):
we're going to McDonald's, take a teenager with you. Take
don't take two of them, don't take ten. That's I
don't that it's a problem.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
But their youth leader calls them and says, you want
to get out of the house. Yes, it's like they
don't care.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
And I would even say, like the people in the
church who are not necessarily on the youth team, or
are the youth leaders if they're engaged in discipling somebody,
especially a young person, that yeah, they're going to be
super excited to go along. And in a lot of
cases they don't have a good model of a godly
adult in their life or a healthy mother and father

(50:31):
and husband and wife relationship.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
That's that's that's another thing. The average tenure for a
youth pastor specifically is eighteen months. That's awful.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
And I'm sure that fluctuates based on denomination. However, I mean,
I've only been I've only been on this earth for
twenty five going on twenty six years, and I've seen it.
It just they don't last. And yeah, there's a there's
so many reasons why. But the there was one person

(51:07):
I quote in the book that put it like this.
They were saying, you got these kids that they're in this,
they're in this four years four years or so time
of their life where it is chemically chaos.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Absolutely, everything's changing. They're changing, Their surroundings are changing, the trajectory,
you know, the responsibilities are shifting, societies expectations of them
are shifting. They need consistency, yes, And the sad part
about about our society is that if you have a
youth group. Very few of them have mom and dad

(51:43):
in the house. And so you and if you're married,
you and your spouse are the only consistency they have, right,
And so when you aren't consistent, and when you aren't
there for them, nobody is.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
You're absolutely right.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
And and so again I think unrealistic, maybe unfathomable expectations.
But brother Bryce, you already mentioned you know you're youth leader,
so this is possible. I mean, my dad served as
a youth leader for nineteen years, dear lord, like what
the world, but like.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
A long time. He was my heath master for like
the last year of my teenage years.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
He was yours, he was mine. It's like it's it's insane,
but it's if your youth are gonna grow. They need you.
They need you not just on the platform. They need
you next to them. They need you at They need
you at the funerals, They need you at the birthday parties.

(52:45):
For me, they needed me at the kinsinetas they needed they.
They need you there, and you got to keep reminding
them that you love them. And when you do that,
you are being christ because yes, you're demonstrating that. They're like, oh,
I had a kid. The other day, I was sitting
with and he I'm gonna butcher what he said, but

(53:06):
he basically said, I know I'm wasting your time. And
maybe I got a little too intense with him, but
I put my hand firmly on the table. I said,
you do not waste my time, said you are my time,
that I love you and you are everything to me. Yeah,
and that I live to help you and other young

(53:27):
people like you. And that's not to say anything about me,
but my God has been so and I was just
thinking about this a couple of days ago, with situations
where I lose my patience and I want things to change.
I want things to shift, and I think back, Wow,
how patient Christ has been with me, and how patient
he was with the Apostles. Dear God, I've got to

(53:48):
be patient with these young people, and I have to
love them the way he loved He loves me, and
I need to love them the way that he loved
his apostles, his youth group. Right, absolutely, that is It's difficult.
It's a tall order and I Lord knows I failed

(54:08):
over and over and over again. But man, I just
I learned that. You know, I had one young person
that it was basically every Sunday in it every Sunday
they would run up and say chicken nuggets. Oh yeah,
And I was like, yes, yes, ma'am. Yes, And whole

(54:29):
group of us got in the van and went to
McDonald's and at those and you know, I'll tell you
what I think. You know, when you're preaching, you're talking
at them, and writ you're at McDonald's, they're talking to you.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Yes, And I yeah, I agree hundred percent. And some
of the most valuable time that I've ever had in
being able to be engaged with someone is driving a van, yeah,
and or being McDonald's similar place like that orange leaf McDonald's,
but driving a van, and it's only the problem is

(55:02):
it's only the person beside you and maybe the one
in the middle on the road behind you that are
right there that you can really engage with. And then
you have to be really careful because the rest of
the van might be climbing out the back door who knows.
But you have those moments where you can actually have
a connection and like and talk about serious issues and
and and those moments they those matter so much. And

(55:25):
we have we have experiences well this just this past Sunday,
I had a phone call from a kid who's twelve
and and and it was, you know, a situation where
I didn't want to go to church. I don't think
I'm gonna go today. I told my mom, and you know,
my mom said I needed to. And I agree with
her mom one hundred percent. You know, you've made a commitment.

(55:47):
You got baptized, that was a commitment to that you
were going to go to church, and that was part
of it. But then you know, she said, well, yeah,
her her stepdad had made a commitment to stop drinking.
She said, well, he said he was gonna stop drinking
and have it, and that he was I think he
was drunk when this conversation was going on. And there's

(56:09):
so much instability. You're right, It's it's either there is
no mom or there is no dad. In a lot
of cases are no dad, or there's a stepdad who
is not really dad to them, you know, or there's
a dad who's coming gone and he's when he's home,
he's drunk. You know, there's there's so many, so many things,
so much instability. But when they see you and your

(56:32):
wife and and you're doing whatever, you're just you're just
having a normal, stable life together, you know, and not
perfect by any means. It's not perfect, but stable. But
putting God at the center.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
You become the example for what you do they're going
to become because they're not gonna, in Jesus' name, they're
not going to repeat the mistakes of their.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
And I hope him pray no.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Probably one of the moments that and in the when
I was writing the book, I mean it, I mean,
there were so many times writing this I cried a
lot because I remember at one girl in our youth group.
She's she's graduated now in college, and her English is
still a little rough, and it's because she was in

(57:23):
Mexico for so long, but when she came back she
couldn't she could speak English, she learned English, but thick accent.
And the kids, for the fun of it, I don't
I don't remember what started it. They all started calling
me father. She couldn't say the thh, so she called

(57:46):
me fodder fodder and all the kids started calling me that.
And in that moment, my entire perspective shifted because I realized,
oh my god, I'm not their youth leader anymore. I'm
I'm playing a role that some of them don't even have.
And yeah, you want to talk about pressure, and oh yeah,

(58:09):
I'm I mean at that time, I was twenty or
twenty one, and I I'm not qualified for this. I like,
I don't have the I don't have the experience for this.
But you've got these beautiful, you know, young people that
love you so much, and they're they're you know, they're

(58:29):
they're riding on the trust that they are putting in you,
and you know, they're telling you their secrets, they're telling
you everything because they they trust you, they love you.
And there was a there was a book that I
read called Twelve Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson, and
Jordan Peterson said, uh, basically, don't don't raise your children
to be someone that you won't want to spend time with,

(58:52):
that you will despise. And I realized that I am.
I am now I'm responsible for how these young people
are growing up. And I'm not. It's not that I
was usurping the authority of their parents or anything. I mean,
they still spent you know, unbelievable amounts of time with
their parents, and that's that's so important. I'm not saying

(59:12):
the youth pastor needs to replace the parents. But what
I am saying is that as their spiritual role model,
that you you are demonstrating to them what they are
to become. That you don't just lead from a platform,
but you lead by demonstrating them to them and showing
them with your life what they are to become. And
and I'm sure there's a youth leader out there that
you've gotten that close with your your youth that they

(59:34):
have they've adopted some kind of familial You've adopted, You've
you've you've you've inherited some kind of familial position in
their heart, and that they don't look at you as
a youth leader, they look at you as more And
oh my god, you know you look at the disciples,
and dear Lord, you see John laying on the chest
of Jesus. You see after the resurrection, Simon Peter. They're

(59:58):
on the boat and they re it's Jesus. And what
does he do? Like a young boy jumps out of
the boat and starts swimming towards him. And then what
do they do? They cook up fish and they sit
around and talk and it's just like, yeah, that's that's
the kind of relationship you could have with your young people,
not just a text here or text there, or Sunday

(01:00:20):
here on a Wednesday here, but looking for every opportunity
to be a part of their life, whether it's a
basketball game, a volleyball game, or or or a birthday party,
whatever it is, every single one of those moments is
a teaching moment. Maybe you're not maybe you don't have
a curriculum, maybe you're not speaking from a pulpit, but
you're there showing them what faithfulness and love is all about.

(01:00:42):
And you you're teaching them that while showing that to
them just out of the godly love that pours out
of you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
And you mentioned you mentioned a ball game, like I
mean a ballgame or a choir concert or a band
concert means so much there. And I know, and it's
hard because you have to pretend because you'll go to
watch somebody you know because you knew they were it
was their band concert. And then like in my case,
like there'll be ten other kids there I know, and

(01:01:10):
I didn't know they were in the band too, but like, yeah,
I'm here to see you. But some of the so
half of them, their parents are there and they're proud
half of them. Their parents are not there and and
you are the person who came to see them, and yeah,
it matters, It really really matters.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
And then while you're there and this this is what
happens at birthdays and funerals and those events too, is
not only do you begin to not only are you
showing those young people that I care about everything in
your life. I care about everything. I don't just care
if you're at the altar. I don't just care if
you go under the waters of baptism and speak in tongues.

(01:01:47):
I care about your basketball game your parents their parents
see that too, Yes they do. And then their parents
will start to fall in love with you, and doors
will open, yes, and they will begin to ask questions,
and then they will find themselves alters, and then they
themselves will be changed. And then stepsisters and step brothers

(01:02:08):
that you knew nothing about they'll start coming along. And
then and then friends, like when you go to those events,
friends that you knew nothing about, They're going to pull
them over and say, Hey, this is my youth pastor hi,
and they'll be like, oh, hey, hey, you want to
come to youth Friday. And when you're consistent and faithful,
You're able to say stuff like that because they know
every single Friday, every single Wednesday, every single Sunday, whatever

(01:02:30):
it might be, they know you're going to be there
and they're able to and and so many people are
able to get involved and get pulled in, from the parents,
to their friends, to their cousins to that. You know,
for me, one of my young people, I got extreme
still very close to them today. I didn't know how
many siblings they had because of divorce, and then I

(01:02:56):
started meeting them. How they're all in church.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
It's amazing, isn't there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
It's so cool. It's like, and then there and they're
in the Christian school. Wow, it's just it's so in
in parents too, or or in church that weren't and
it's just wow. But that would have never happened if
we hadn't just gone to McDonald's.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
Yeah, and and God, and I've seen God orchestrate things.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Bryce.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
We talked about this because of, you know, situations with
two situations I'm thinking of with kids going into foster care,
and we didn't know in both cases, you know, one
of them being David. But another situation recently where you
know she got the Holy Ghost. She got baptized this
past Sunday. Her brother, who was not with her but

(01:03:47):
ended up being foster care in a different home with
and with an Apostolic family, got baptized the sanctuary.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
A couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
Columbus got in the Holy Ghost and wasn't even I
don't think I think he was interested in church. I
think he was kind of against it and doing a
Bible study at home. He said it just out of
the blue, he said, I'm gonna go to church this week.
I'm gonna get a Holighosts and guess what it was?
The church And he gets to Holighost and gets baptized,
and then he comes to the tabernacle after that service

(01:04:16):
at the sanctuary, comes to the tabernacle with his sister
and with with this foster mom and uh, and he's
he's there. I mean, he's been in church all of
maybe two weeks, call it two weeks. And he's at
the altar, laying hands on people. I mean, just he is.
He's teaching a Bible study to his to his uh,
his mom's boyfriend, and just he's he's like on fire,

(01:04:39):
you know. And but you don't see God orchestrating like
getting him to where he is now. I never saw
that coming, like I was praying for that somehow. Never
could have seen that coming because he wasn't connected. His
sister was, but he wasn't. Other other scenarios where I've
seen like God moving almost a chessboard, you know, like

(01:05:01):
to give opportunity to people. However, you know, so so
does he need me specifically? Not necessarily, But I want
to be a part of it, like I want, I
really want to be part of what God's doing because
I've been on the sidelines and it's not it's Being
on the sidelines is no fun, No being on the
sidelines is kind of depressing, like well why even be

(01:05:24):
there at all? But being in the game, like I
want to. I want God to use me and I
want to be a part of it because what's happening
is so incredible and exciting.

Speaker 2 (01:05:32):
It's incredible. It's and it's and that's and that's that
That's what's at the core of this book is I
think beyond just young people or youth leaders not seeing
what could be, they're also they're missing out on what
could be. And I mean, who doesn't want to use

(01:05:55):
growing and thriving and blossoming. Who doesn't want that? And
and and I think if there were some youth leaders
that would take a step of faith and make some
serious sacrifices, and that that's the thing is I you're
calling for serious sacrifice. This is unbelievable. I mean, I
know it got hard. There were Yeah, there were there

(01:06:16):
were days I did not want to do it. There
were days I just wanted to go eat pizza with
the young adults. I didn't I didn't want to do it.
But when you are able to, because there are days
you do want to do it, But when you're able
to to say, okay, I can do this, this is

(01:06:37):
all right, It's going to be okay. Because there's days
it gets exhausting. But when you can press through the
the reward is so beautiful. When you see everything that
they accomplish and everything that they become, it's so rewarding.
And then at the end of the day, this is
this is And I think you're an example of this, Jared,

(01:06:58):
of that you you become not you. You you eventually
grow up and you become an adult and you're still
in the church. And so someone like my Dad is
able to look at you and be so happy about
seeing what you're doing, and I can't wait for that.
I I had an experience this the other day. One
of my young people. She oh, she was the first

(01:07:20):
person I baptized.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
And now she works in a law office, she's going
to church, she's it's so, it's so amazing, and she's
one of those people it had no reason to be
where she is, and but I get to see that
now and I'm and I'm so proud of her, not
to me proud of her, because God is manifesting so

(01:07:46):
much in her and it's so beautiful to watch that.
And so I'm this book isn't just a challenge, it's
an invitation. It's it's a it's My hope would be
is that it would be an encouragement and maybe it
would be a little boost to maybe a youth leader
that's ready to throw in the towel and say you're

(01:08:07):
there's something there's if you would just climb a little
higher on the other side of this hill, the other
side of what may feel like a mountain, there there
is an incredible thing that you're about to experience, and
just don't give up.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
Don't give up before you hit the peak. That's we'll
give up. No, no, yeah, And I think that's what
happens to people will get exhausting and they give up
right before, like right before they hit what they were
climbing after the whole time. So yeah, now I'm excited
about the book. The book is Jesus was a youth Leader.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Jesus was a youth leader.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
Yepy by Matthew Hearwood. You're gonna want to get that.
It's going to be available everywhere that you buy books.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
On January twenty eighth.

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
January twenty eighth, twenty twenty five. Ye, you are super
excited about that. And that is also going to be
available as an audiobook. Right at what point would audiobook
be available A little day Sanuary twenty eighth. Yep, it'll
all come out on January twenty eighth. Great, that is awesome. Well,
I'm looking forward to it. I know that we're gonna

(01:09:10):
be blessed. Everybody's everybody picks a book up is going
to be blessed by uh by that and challenge hopefully
by it. And I hope that it's a shifting perspective
for the church at large. Let alone you know, youth pastors,
youth leaders, because I do believe that the youth are
under utilized often and misunderstood and and under engaged, and

(01:09:33):
they have so much more potential for for the church
at large.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
They do, they do. Thank you so much again. Hey,
this is this is it. I don't know if you
guys have seen it. This is what it looks like.
And it looks great due to the cover. I'm sure right,
the cover looks great. Yeah, yeah, so I don't know
if you can tell youth leader Jesus. Yeah, but yeah,
Thank you so much again. Thank you really appreciate the opportunity.

(01:09:59):
You guys are amazing. You've inspired me and it's I'm
spoiled to be able to come on here. This is.
This is wonderful.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
Thank you so much, No problem, We're glad to have
you anytime.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Absolutely, thank you. Yep, thanks for listening to two Pentecostals
and a microphone. We hope you enjoyed today's conversation with
Matthew Airwood. Be sure to check out his upcoming book,
Jesus Was a Youth Leader, should be out today. If
you're listening to this on a later day, it's out
right now head over to Amazon, head over to Audible.

(01:10:33):
If you're not a physical book reader, it is on there,
and as I always, stay connected with us for more episodes.
You can download us wherever you listen to your podcast.
Until next time, keep the faith, keep growing in God,
and we'll catch you on the next one.