The Student Ministry Podcast | Youth Worker Resources | Leadership Development

Kara Powell is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute and a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary. Named by Christianity Today as one of “50 Women You Should Know,” Kara serves as a Youth and Family Strategist for Orange, and also speaks regularly at parenting and leadership conferences. Kara is the author or coauthor of a number of books, including Growing Young, The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family, Sticky Faith Curriculum, Can I Ask That?, Deep Justice Journeys, Deep Justice in a Broken World, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World, and the Good Sex Youth Ministry Curriculum.

Get the Book: Growing Young

Follow Kara on Twitter: @kpowellfyi

Check out the 'Churches Growing Young' Website

Sometimes being a leader means that you need to have some tough or challenging conversations. In the world of student ministry, that often means you will be faced with having to confront a volunteer leader or you may need to challenge a parent in a manner that may feel uncomfortable.

In this episode, Kenny interviews veteran student pastor Ben Markham about how to tackle and navigate moments when we need to resolve a conflict or have a tough conversation with one of our leaders or with one of the parents of the students we care about. Ben shares great wisdom and insights from his years in leadership and pastoral ministry. Ben has been in student ministry for more than 15 years. Ben currently is the Lead Student Pastor at Discovery Church, a multi-site mega-church in Orlando, FL.

Podcasting has become a very popular medium that can be effectively utilized by churches and non-profit organizations for messaging, training, and for a variety of ministry purposes.

In this episode, Kenny interviews Todd Cochrane, the CEO of RawVoice (parent company of Blubrry), about all the important things any podcaster ought to know before launching a podcast and how to continually get better as your show grows.

E-mail Todd at [email protected]

Follow Todd on Twitter @geeknews

Check Out Todd's Podcasts:

Geek News Central

New Media Show

Conferences:

Proclaim

Podfest

Podcast Movement

Microphones & Accessories:

Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB

Blue Yeti

Pop Filter

Software:

Audacity

Adobe Audition

Garage Band (Mac-only)

Auphonic

Hosting Systems:

Blubrry

Spreaker

Wordpress Plugins:

Powerpress

Jetpack

Yoast SEO

Disqus

Articles About Podcasting:

The Most Important Podcast Directories of 2017

Blurbrry Podcasting Manual

Skype Recording Software:

Almoto

Evaer

Ecamm Recorder (Mac-only)

Other Recording Software:

Uberconference

Call Recorder for iPhone

Royalty-free Music Sources:

BenSound

Premium Beats

Podcast Players:

Blubrry Native Player

Simple Podcast Player

Pat Flynn's Smart Podcast Player

Tune-in Radio Player

Tune-in Player Embed Code Generator (Embedly)

 

In this episode, Kenny interviews Jeremy Zach to talk about the importance of being relational and personal in student ministry, and empowering other leaders to do the same.

Jeremy was a full-time youth pastor for nine years before joining the staff team at the reThink Group working with the XP3 Orange team. Jeremy gets to spend most of his days connecting and resourcing student ministry pastors all around the country. Jeremy earned his M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Georgia with his wife and two daughters.

Check out Jeremy Zach's Blog

Check out the Orange XP3 Blogs

Follow Jeremy Zach on Twitter

In this episode, our host Kenny interviews leadership expert (and personal friend) Kenneth Freire about the importance of engaging students in such a way that they will develop in their leadership abilities, as well as how to effectively train our students to be the future leaders of the Church. He gives us four steps:

1) Ignite students' hearts with Gospel-centered purpose

2) Allow them to ask the hard questions

3) Give them meaningful responsbilities

4) Teach them how to learn

Kenneth Freire has a Bachelors degree in Biblical Studies from Liberty University and an M.Div. from Regent University. He has more than eight years of experience with leadership development, having trained over 500 men and women in leadership and theology. Kenneth Freire currently serves as a part of the ministry leadership team at Bethany Global University in Minneapolis, MN where he serves as a professor as well as serving as one of the Directors of their Lead Internship gap-year program.

Read Kenneth Friere's Blog: www.kenfreire.com

Follow Kenneth on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kenneth.freire

Check out the Lead Internship: www.leadintern.com

In this episode, Kenny interviews one of his previous students, and now personal friend, Meg Monson about the values of a gap-year program. She tells us about her experiences as a student in YWAM-England's Discipleship Training School (DTS), her life lessons learned living in Europe, and why she believes every young adult should do a gap-year program before heading off to college.

Gap-Year Programs Endorsed by Kenny Ortiz:

LEAD Internship

Fusion (Midwestern)

Link Year (Kanakuk Kamps)

Focus One

Atlanta Leadership College

Impact Africa Internship

EMBARK Internship (Youth for Christ)

Impact 360 Institute

In this episode, Kenny interviews author and international speaker Ajith Fernando about the importance of Christian leaders having a healthy family life.

Anyone involved in Christian ministry knows how challenging it is to balance ministry and family responsibilities, but it is essential that we master this balance. Mr. Fernando provides us with a healthy and God-centered understanding of family that can help us cultivate to a flourishing home.

Mr. Fernando was the National Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka for more than 35 years; today serves as their Teaching Director. He has also traveled extensively worldwide training and counseling leaders within the Youth for Christ movement. Mr. Fernando has written 16 books and many more booklets and articles, published in 20 different languages worldwide.

Get a Copy of Ajith Fernando's Newest Book: The Family Life of a Christian Leader

Follow Ajith Fernando and Check out his Resources: www.ajithfernando.com

Each ministry has an identity, and whether you realize it or not, you are sending a message to the world about your identity. The problem we often observe is that many ministries are not nearly as intentional in communicating their identity as they should be. That's where branding comes in. Design, communications, and utilizing your digital footprint are all essential elements of branding; communicating your identity to the world.

In this episode, Kenny interviews design and branding expert Tiffany Kelly about the essential elements of branding. Tiffany starts the interview by giving us the heart behind why she does what she does; the theology and philosophy of the branding and design.

Tiffany points us to Exodus 28:2 wherein God commands Moses with these words: “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.”

After those thoughts, Tiffany gives us four great steps to greatly enhance the branding and design of our ministry.

1- Promote an Identity, Not a Product

2- Be Consistent

3- Stay Current

4- Be Inclusive

 

Recommended Resources:

Animoto.com (Video Editing Website)

Over (Smartphone App)

Ripl (Smartphone App)

Visual Church Media (Facebook Group)

Great Blog Post: Summer Camp: How We Planned a Great Week-Long Off-Site Event

 

Social Media Influencers:

@vouschurch

@hillsongyoungandfree

@rivervalleyyth

@gcyc_fl

@shereadstruth

@mosaicstudents

 

Connect With Tiffany Kelly:

Blog: designworship.org

Instagram: @tiffany.m.kelly

E-mail: [email protected]

To be an effective leader, you need to be a quality thinker as well as become an efficient problem-solver, and there is no better way to solve problems than to proactively stop them before they ever even occur.

In this episode, Kenny dives into one of his favorite illustrations for leadership and proactive problem solving. Kenny has often challenged the people he has worked with to be a "thermostat" instead of just being a "thermometer." To be effective leaders in any ministry context, we must be leaders that can set and change the "climate" of situations, not just reflect or observe them.

Recommended Resources

Habitudes (by Dr. Tim Elmore)

 

In 1979, Bill Walsh became the Head Coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He went on to become one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. In this episode, Kenny talks about some of the great leadership lessons we can learn from Bill Walsh:

1) Develop a successful team-oriented culture

2) Develope a system that maximizes the gifts of your team members

3) Teach people to hate mistakes, but not fear failure

Recommended Resources

The Score Takes Care of Itself (by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison, and Craig Walsh)