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Episodes
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Tuesday Jan 31, 2023
Faith and Doubt are topics every youth worker needs to help students navigate. These seasons of doubt and be long and unsettling. So what does it look like to patiently endure with these students and what does discipleship look like in the midst of it?
Matt Bellefeuille served as a youth pastor for about a decade before starting a ministry called Truth Snack, which supports and ministers to doubting Christians.
Could you share with us your own story of faith and doubt and how that’s shaped your current ministry?
What’s a good first response when you talk with teenagers who are navigating doubt?
Obviously, there’s no “one cause” behind doubt and deconstruction. Are there a few factors or themes that youth workers could keep in mind as they listen to students and try to discern what’s at the root of their doubts?
What does faith look like for students (or youth workers) who are working through their doubt?
Sometimes it can feel like doubt will last forever, but it doesn’t need to. Can you give us some hope and confidence as we wrap up this conversation with a word about the gospel for those who are facing doubts?
Learn more about Matt's series, Faith, Doubt, and Everything in Between.
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Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Every parent and every youth pastor wants their teenager to continue walking with Jesus throughout adulthood. But that’s increasingly not the case. What leads to that and what can we do about it? In this episode, we talk with youth ministry veteran, Danny Kwon. Discussion includes,
What are some trends you’ve observed that you suspect play into teenagers leaving behind their faith during adulthood?
How can a youth ministry prioritize making lifelong disciples over settling for big-impact events right now?
How do you think church attendance (not just youth group attendance) plays into this concern?
Is there a way for youth pastors to have hard conversations with parents when they observe patterns that seem to de-prioritize faith to their kids?
For the young youth workers listening, especially those who don’t have kids… how can they meaningfully come alongside parents in a way that supports passing down the faith?
Danny Kwon is the youth and family pastor and adjunct youth ministry professor outside of Philadelphia. He’s the author of multiple youth ministry books - Mission tripping (a guide to youth ministry missions) and A Youth Worker’s Field Guide to Parents.
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
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Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Some people say contextualization is a compromise of the gospel. Others say it’s just unnecessary, and we just need to preach the gospel. Both of those opinions misunderstand what contextualization actually is. In this episode of the YPT Podcast, we’re focusing on the gospel and culture, and discussing contextualization as an expression of faithful gospel proclamation in your particular culture.
What is contextualization, and what are some common misunderstandings people can have about it?
What is the unchanging gospel?
I’ve heard you talk about the Eastern, Western, and Tribal cultures and how those cultures lead to different types of gospel presentations. Could you share a little about that as an example of what you mean by faithful contextualization?
Are there a few basic principles that can help youth workers avoid over-contextualizing and under-contextualizing?
What does gospel contextualization look like in youth ministry?
Clark Fobes is the Associate Pastor at First Church of San Francisco. Clark is also one of the co-hosts of the Thanos to Theos podcast, along with Mike and Kevin Yi
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
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Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Tuesday Jan 10, 2023
Every youth leader knows how challenging it can be to facilitate meaningful and deep conversations. It can be so discouraging to prepare for meaningful ministry only to receive one-word answers and silence. In this episode, we're joined by two of our regular blog writers to discuss how we can learn to ask better questions that prompt meaningful conversations.
What makes for a good question?
What are some lessons you’ve learned the hard way about asking good questions?
After you’ve prepared your message or small group lesson and it’s time to develop questions, how do you go about crafting those?
What’s your favorite go-to question to ask students when you’re trying to strike up a conversation?
What advice do you have for youth workers who are either socially awkward or just not good at question-asking?
Joseph Bradley is the student pastor at Second Baptist Church of Arkadelphia in Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Nick Hartman is the associate pastor of students and discipleship at Mt Carmel Baptist Church in Cross Plains, TN
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Follow YPT on Instagram: @youththeologian
Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Tuesday Dec 20, 2022
Should youth workers prioritize their message preparation to help students discover God, or should we become guides who empower students to grow by serving him? This question gets to the heart of what we mean by "top down" and "bottom up" approaches to youth ministry. In this episode, Gareth Crispin and Robin Barfield join us from the UK to reflect about a whole-person approach to student discipleship.
What is the state of Youth Work in the UK? What are some of the major differences between Stateside YM and what it looks like there?
What do you mean by "Top Down" and "Bottom Up" approaches to youth ministry, and can you provide some examples?
How does this middle way differ from what’s been called “Incarnational Ministry” for decades?
How can our listeners use this model to evaluate their ministries?
Gareth Crispin is Lecturer in Practical Theology at Cliff College, which is in Darbeshire, England. Follow Gareth on Twitter at @garethcrispin.
Robin Barfield is Associate Ministry of children and families at Christ Church in Winsford, England, and visiting lecturer at Oak Hill and Union Colleges. Follow Robin on Twitter at @robinbarfield78.
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
For all the discussion about Family Ministry, there's a lack of consensus about what FM encompasses. In this episode, Mike talks with Jared Kennedy about ways for youth pastors to think about family ministry and how to effectively minister to students' families.
Jared Kennedy is the founder of Gospel-Centered Family and Ministry Editor at The Gospel Coalition.
Follow Jared on Twitter @JaredSKennedy
View and order Jared's books
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Follow YPT on Instagram: @youththeologian
Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Who is Jesus? That's a good question. But one of most important but unasked questions students will answer is "what is Jesus?" It's common for church kids (and even youth workers themselves!) to grow tired of the same old Christmas message. Maybe that's because we've lost sight of the mystery and beauty of Christology - the study of who Jesus is and what he's done. In this episode, Griffin Gulledge helps us dig into the doctrine of the Incarnation and Hypostatic Union with students in a way that leads them to behold Jesus Christ, our Savior.
This episode expands on YPT’s recent article on the same topic. Our discussion includes:
Could you share a little bit about why you’re focusing your Ph.D. studies on the Trinity and how does that connect with today’s topic?
What is the Hypostatic Union, and how would you explain that to a normal teenager?
How can youth workers talk meaningfully and biblically about the Incarnation?
What are some pastoral applications of the humanity/deity of Christ?
What are some common misunderstandings you’ve come across about what it means for Jesus to be fully human and fully divine?
Griffin is the Pastor at Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Georgia and is nearing the completion of his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology in Trinitarian Hermeneutics from SEBTS. You can find his writings all over the web in various sites.
Follow Griffin on Twitter: @GriffinGulledge
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Follow YPT on Instagram: @youththeologian
Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Most of us know the entire Bible finds its fulfillment in Christ, but how should that effect the way we study Scripture and teach students? In this episode, we talk about Christ centered exegesis and highlight some excellent resources for youth pastor theologians. Conversation topics include,
Could you share with us about Spoken Gospel - what is it and what are you trying to accomplish through this ministry?
As you prepare a new series for Spoken Gospel, how are you selecting books of the Bible and what’s your team’s process for breaking down books of the Bible for the series?
How does the gospel shape the way you practice exegesis while building a series, and then how do you move from exegesis to preaching and teaching?
What recommendations do you have for youth pastors who want to teach through a book of the Bible but don’t know how to build a series of their own?
Seth Stewart is the Director of Theology with Spoken Gospel.
Spoken Gospel is working towards Christ-centered resources on each book of the Bible, on three different levels: an overview video, a series of devotionals on the different sections of the book, and a deep-dive podcast episode. This is an astounding resources for youth pastor theologians to bookmark and references as you prepare your teaching series.
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Follow YPT on Instagram: @youththeologian
Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Youth Ministry is theological ministry. But what's this actually mean, and what's it look like? Kevin Yi joins the podcast to share what he's learned about theologically grounded youth ministry.
This episode features the following discussion:
You live in Southern California surrounded by many flagship attractional churches. Without being unnecessarily critical, could you share how that’s shaped your own convictions about the role of theology and the gospel in youth ministry?
Can you walk us through how you decide whether or not it’s worth digging into a theological question or if that’d be a distraction from teaching the big idea of the text?
What have you learned the hard way about teaching theologically?
How can youth workers teach theologically without posing as theology professors in the youth room?
Mike and Kevin co-host another podcast along with Clark Fobes, called Thanos to Theos - a podcast about comics, culture, theology, and youth ministry. Thanos to Theos is part of the Rooted Ministry podcast network. Even if you aren't into comics or superhero movies, it'll help you launch into meaningful conversations with students in your ministry.
Kevin Yi is the College and Young Adults Pastor and Education Director at Church Everyday in LA county. He's also the Video Producer for the Rooted Ministry and a contributor to The Gospel I Wish I Knew in High School.
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Follow YPT on Instagram: @youththeologian
Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Youth pastor theologians know that persuasion is an important element of their ministry. Students are faced with so many opposing worldviews and doubts, it's important for us to take an apologetic approach when teaching the Bible and theology. But what's that mean and how do we do it? In this episode, we're joined by two of YPT's regular contributors to discuss the intersection of theology and apologetics.
Why is it important to lead ministries that prioritize theology and apologetics?
What’s the difference between teaching theology and teaching theologically? What’s that really look like in your own ministries?
Does youth ministry focus too much on apologetics?
How do the affections shape the way we teach the Bible, and how can apologetics help us with that?
What are some recommendations for someone who wants to read or study more?
Joseph Bradley is the student pastor at Second Baptist Church of Arkadelphia in Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Nick Hartman is the associate pastor of students and discipleship at Mt Carmel Baptist Church in Cross Plains, TN
Visit Youth Pastor Theologian's website
Join YPT's Facebook group: @youththeologian (make sure you answer the membership questions)
Follow YPT on Twitter: @youththeologian
Follow YPT on Instagram: @youththeologian
Please consider sharing YPT's podcast and our articles with your friends, and leave a rating/review on your podcast subscriber. You can contact us with any questions and recommend both topics and guests on our website's Submissions Page.
Theology... in youth ministry?!
Theology and youth ministry don't tend to go together. But they should. Students are asking hard questions and they're growing up in a culture where living as a Christian makes you an outcast. We need more than easy answers and lots of fun if we're going to make lifelong disciples.