Are you and other members of your staff wracking your brains to figure out ways to get everything done?
Are you trying to scale your ministry because of the growth you’ve experienced in recent years?
Have you wondered how you can give your middle school and high school students a lasting faith that goes beyond seasonal programs and short-term mission trips?
What if there was one, simple solution to answer all these questions?
In today’s episode of the Think Orange podcast, we’ll discover what it would mean for your church, community, and the students you serve each week to become active participants — rather than mere spectators — in leading your ministry.
Topic Timeline:
Podcast producer, Kevin Jennings, introduces today’s podcast idea (2:40)
Kevin introduces today’s guests, Greg Bradford, high school pastor at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, and author and speaker, Stuart Hall, who helped launch Orange’s XP3 curriculum, and who has coauthored three books (3:57)
Greg talks about how we underestimate students’ abilities and God’s calling on their lives (6:15)
Greg says ministry leaders have to make serving a big deal in student ministry (9:19)
If we don’t empower students to lead, we are shortchanging the discipleship process of their entire generation (11:24)
Greg talks about how ministry leaders can identify who or what is holding them back from letting the next generation lead (12:37)
Greg talks about the importance of evaluating your current ministry structure (13:06)
Don’t underestimate the power of your communication through your messages to students (14:27)
Building a culture by investing relationally in students helps encourage leadership (15:18)
Why making a big statement to signal the values of your student ministry is critical (17:42)
Greg talks about activating — or equipping — students to lead (17:49)
Why giving students full ownership of their ministry idea helps strengthen their leadership abilities (19:06)
Greg shares a story of how God placed a ministry for special needs kids on a student’s heart — a ministry Greg and others had already been praying about (20:50)
Stuart Hall introduces himself (25:25)
Stuart answers what role the church plays in developing the leadership abilities of the next generation (26:48)
Stuart shares what podcast listeners can do to make a difference in students’ lives (33:32)
What can parents do to help their kids become next generation leaders? (39:00)
How parents’ overprotection can stunt the growth of future leaders (45:31)
Dave makes a comparison between parents’ rigid boundaries for their children and the Israelites struggle with leaving captivity (54:19)
Investing in the growth of our youth’s leadership abilities now has the opportunity to change the course of history (59:10)
Kevin offers closing remarks (1:01:03)
