The Word in Youth Ministry - A CPYU Podcast

Kyle Hoffsmith welcomes Greg Stier to the podcast. Greg is the founder of Dare 2 Share Ministries and author of the new book Radical Like Jesus: 21 Challenges to Live a Revolutionary Life. Greg passionately shares how important it is for discipleship and evangelism to go hand in hand and not be separated. Kyle and Greg talk about equipping and encouraging kids to share the Gospel in our youth ministries so they can make an impact in their world.

Kyle Worley, Lead Pastor at Mosaic Church in Richardson, TX, joins the podcast to discuss his book Home with God. We use his book to lead us into a discussion about how to teach about the doctrine of union with Christ to students. He tells us about some misconceptions about this important topic, and helps us address these misunderstandings. Kyle gives us insight into how the truth and beauty of union with Christ helps students when they're wrestling with topics of acceptance, identity, and difficult home lives.

Kyle invites his co-worker and CPYU Research Fellow Josiah Rios to co-host this episode. Leslie Schmucker, author of Broken Children, Sovereign God: Rejoicing in God's Goodness Amidst Childhood Mental Health Struggles joins them and together they discuss ministering to children, youth, and families who are struggling with mental health concerns. Leslie encourages us to elevate Scripture over everything as we care for them in our churches. She also emphasizes the need for prayer. They also discuss practical ways we can support struggling families when even the act of making it to church on Sunday mornings can turn into such a big deal for them.

Pastor Chris Polski joins the podcast to discuss the importance of using physical Bibles. Kyle digs into an article Chris wrote for The Gospel Coalition titled "Don't Give Up On Physical Bibles." Chris talks about the obvious benefits of limiting digital distractions, but also talks about the example, the stored history, the value to the next generation, and other benefits that using a physical Bible can have.

Kyle invites Doug Franklin of LeaderTreks on the podcast. They discuss the idea of "happathy" within our youth groups, what it is, and how we can combat it. How do we intentionally invest in discipling the next generation so they don't experience happathy? Doug emphasizes the importance of being "small" and that in order to do so, we must put a priority on developing our volunteer staff and training them to be relational.

CPYU Research Fellows and Youth Pastors Josiah Rios and Mike Terry join the podcast. We all know that ministry to middle school students can be challenging. Mike and Josiah help us take a look at barriers to teaching the Bible to middle schoolers and how to break through them. How can we teach middle school students in a way that keeps their attention without sacrificing the substance of the message? Mike helps explain the differences of teaching simply vs. teaching superficially. Josiah helps us realize the importance of prayer and letting our passion and excitement for the Gospel genuinely shine through. We are also encouraged to stay true to the text of Scripture.

Youth Pastor Billy Evans joins the podcast to discuss theology with Kyle. Specifically, they have a great discussion about how to teach theology to our students. Billy walks us through how he taught through doctrinal statements at his church. They discuss special revelation as well as general revelation and the ways in which God has revealed himself. Are there any barriers that need to be overcome in order to address theology with our students? Billy helps point out some of those barriers and how we can work through them. They also discuss differences between systematic and biblical theology. They mostly focus on systematic theology and Billy helps us think through how to approach this in terms of scope and sequence. We even get into a discussion about whether to teach opposing views and how to do this well.

Do we minister to teens shaped more by the cultural narratives around us than the Word of God? Are we influenced or worried about what our students or teens will think about us? Are we aiming for relevance or truth? Tim helps us reflect on these tough questions and encourages us to lean into the truth as found in God's Word. Tim helps us wrestle with issues of fear, with believing lies (even ones we tell ourselves), and confronting our misplaced desires.

Kyle invites youth ministry professor Duffy Robbins on the podcast. They discuss ways in which messages are delivered poorly, as well as ways in which they can be delivered well. Duffy helps point out traps we might fall into so that we can avoid them. He encourages us to keep preaching the Word and provides ways to keep filling our own wells. Kyle and Duffy discuss whether or not the way we should approach teaching to teens has changed at all since the advent of the smartphone.

Kyle invites CPYU Research Fellows Kerry Trunfio and Jason Engle to joint the discussion for this episode. We take a look at questions that have been submitted by e-mail from our listeners. The three of them take the time to answer questions about Bible engagement, a "Simple Church" model, and more.