Your work as a ministry leader is hard. Each week, you give all of yourself — and then some — to reach those your ministry serves. Then, you do it all over again the next week.

Wouldn’t it be a shame that after all of your effort, you realized your hard work isn’t paying off? That the reason why you got into ministry in the first place, to make a difference, wasn’t happening?

This is a challenge many church leaders face: How can we make sure our effort is truly transformational? In today’s episode of the Think Orange podcast, James Ward and Tom Shefchunas discuss how you’ve got some untapped resources walking your halls right now — your students — and how you can effectively mobilize those students to help progress your ministry’s mission to serve and help them grow their faith at the same time.

Topic Timeline:

Podcast producer, Kevin Jennings, introduces today’s podcast topic (1:17)

Kevin introduces today’s podcast guests, James Ward, director of international programs at 410 Bridge, a missions organization that partners churches with communities in Kenya and Haiti, and Tom Shefchunas, director of student strategy at Orange (2:26)

James talks about his early years doing missions with youth (8:10)

James shares a story about a mission trip he took to Ecuador (9:47)

It’s your strategy, not just your mission, that ultimately determines your success (14:03)

James describes the process most churches and ministries experience without a strategy in place (16:32)

James talks about what it means to have a changed worldview (24:46)

Tom talks about what service means in a student ministry context (31:13)

Tom talks about the best age to start mobilizing students (33:15)

Why high schoolers should be doing weekly service (34:41)

What practical things student leaders can do now (35:00)

If we’re going to help develop leaders, we’ve got to take chances (37:49)

Tom shares five ways to effectively mobilize students (38:36)

How do churches, especially small ones, hold volunteers accountable? (42:25)

Tom talks about how celebrating shouldn’t define your ministry (46:00)

What is the starting point for churches and ministries to mobilize students? (47:13)

Tom talks about an experience at North Point Community Church (49:45)

Why modeling leadership is important (52:12)

Dave shares some wisdom he received during a mission trip in Israel (54:56)

You mobilize students by mobilizing adults (56:14)

Kevin gives closing remarks (57:38)