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Vitals for Youth Ministry
Welcome to the Vitals for Youth Ministry Podcast. Vitals for youth ministry is a biblical framework based out of Acts 2:42-46, developed by Lead The Generation that trains youth leaders to build a local church youth ministry focused on developing students into healthy disciples.
In this podcast we will focus on the topics and issues most relevant to leadership in Youth Ministry. The Vitals for Youth Ministry Podcast is hosted by Eran Holt, founder of Lead The Generation & Caleb Leake, Youth Pastor at Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Vitals for Youth Ministry
The Discipline That No One Sees, Seasons of Stretching, & the Platform You Didn't Pray For
Ever notice how you can tell when someone has been with Jesus? There's something different about them—a presence, a peace, a perspective that stands out in our chaotic world. In this transformative episode of Vitals for Youth Ministry, National Youth Director for the Assemblies of God Austin Westlake reveals how consistent spiritual disciplines create the foundation for effective ministry and personal transformation during life's most challenging seasons.
Austin takes us on his remarkable journey from a third-generation minister who grew "casual to the things of God" to finding his calling at a National Youth Convention, and ultimately facing a rare male breast cancer diagnosis that would transform his relationship with God. With raw authenticity, he shares how years of established morning devotional habits carried him through chemotherapy, surgery, and the birth of his third child during treatment. "When you're walking through the deepest, darkest valley of your life and you're still just getting up and spending time with the Lord because this is part of who you are—you give the Lord a chance to speak first. Before the negativity can hit you, before the reality of your diagnosis hits you."
The conversation reveals a profound truth for youth ministers: we reproduce who we are, not what we say. Austin observed that whatever he prioritized in his own life—whether sports, fashion, or spiritual disciplines—his students naturally reflected those same priorities. For leaders struggling to establish or maintain spiritual disciplines, his practical advice includes finding accountability partners who will check on your Bible reading, writing down specific time commitments, and recognizing that seemingly "unproductive" moments with God often prepare us for ministry moments we couldn't anticipate.
Perhaps most compelling is Austin's counter-cultural perspective on ministry influence: "I am terrified of stepping onto a platform I have not been anointed for." In a world obsessed with gaining platforms and followers, this refreshing outlook encourages youth ministers to seek God's timing and preparation rather than chasing opportunities prematurely. The most impactful leaders aren't necessarily the most talented, but those with a demonstrable, authentic relationship with Jesus—something students can immediately sense.
Ready to transform your ministry by first transforming your own spiritual life? Listen now and discover practical steps to model authentic spirituality that your students will naturally want to follow.
You know it wasn't like a discipline I implemented once I got a cancer diagnosis. I've been doing it for years. The Lord was shaping and molding me and weeding some things out of my life through that process, and it often happened in those early morning hours with the Lord. But when you're walking through the deepest, darkest valley of your life, when you're still just getting up and spending time with the Lord because this is part of who you are and what you do you give the Lord a chance to speak to you first. Before the negativity can hit you, before the reality of your diagnosis hits you, before whatever the world brings at you, before that hits you, you give the Lord a chance to speak. He will speak to you in a way that will mold you and help fashion you into who you're called to be, and that you will be sensitive and more pliable to what God wants to do. And I found that to be true in my life, hey everyone, welcome to Vitals for Youth Ministry.
Speaker 2:So glad you're a part of this episode, this podcast. It's going to be a great one. I'm Aaron, director of Leader Generation. I got Caleb Leak with me, youth pastor Allison Park Church, yep Five years.
Speaker 3:Just celebrate five years. Yeah, just celebrate half a decade, which feels insane. Are you trying to?
Speaker 2:make five years sound longer than what it really is.
Speaker 3:It does sound cooler, but it's true. I can say it.
Speaker 2:You can say it, man. We got an awesome guest today. We have Austin Westlake with us, who is the National Youth Director for the Assemblies of God. That's the movement, caleb, that you and I are a part of, and so, austin, so glad you're able to join us today as our guest.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part man, my honor, thanks so much for having me Glad to be a part of what God is doing, play a small part of what God is doing, and I'm just grateful that I get to be with you guys today.
Speaker 2:It's going to be fun. Hey, tell us a little bit just about yourself, your family ministry, especially for people that are new to you, haven't had a chance to connect with you yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I am a third generation Assemblies of God minister, so it's been a long time, a long time coming, but I am the 14th person, I think, in my family to go to Bible college, like between aunts and cousins and all these people in my family. But yeah, my grandfather he was the first and went to Central Bible College in Springfield, missouri, before it merged with Evangel. Obviously he went there. I would have been back in the in the late 50s and then my parents were also there and I ended up there as well. But I grew up in church, spent more time in church than I ever wanted to, you know, all along asleep under pews on pews. That was a real thing, you know. If I was off of school, sometimes I would just go with my dad to the office and my dad was a youth pastor and a family life pastor much of my life before becoming a senior pastor. So he had the fun job and there was always something crazy happening in the youth ministry. So I got to be a part of that growing up and at a very young age actually, I really felt called to ministry. Probably like seven years old I was praying with my children's pastor. We used to have Sunday night church. I was praying with my children's pastor. We used to have Sunday night church and my dad was on staff at First Assembly of God in Fort Myers, florida, at the time and we used to have Sunday night service and I was praying with my children's pastor on a Sunday night. His name was David Boyd and he was praying with me.
Speaker 1:When I was filled with the Holy Spirit Not long after that, I felt the call to ministry. But as I got older I was like I don't want to do that. I want to do my own thing and I had my own dreams and things I wanted to accomplish. Pretty quickly I realized my athletic dreams weren't going to be a reality and I wasn't going to be in the NBA. So I put that down. But I did have other dreams and aspirations, things I wanted to do, and I really grew not so much distant from the Lord. But I just grew so casual to the things of God because I spent so much time in church. I'd heard every sermon, I'd heard the best preachers, I heard the best worship, I'd been around the best worship teams and worship movements. It was crazy. So it just became so normal to me so I just grew rather cold to the things of God. It became so normal to me. So I just grew rather cold to the things of God.
Speaker 1:And then, when I was at National Youth Conference in 2007 in the RCA Dome it would have been National Youth Convention at the time and National Fine Arts Festival of the Assemblies of God we were there because it was a general council year, which is, for those of you who don't know, a general council is the gathering of all the Assemblies of God, ministers and their families.
Speaker 1:Everyone converges on a city and have a conference for a week, and it's such a cool place to be with friends and family from around the country, and so that's why I was there. I was there with my family as a 16 year old kid, excited to be around friends and family from all over the world, really, and I ended up in the youth services because my cousins were there. You know right, their parents were pastors and we're just there together hanging out, and I wasn't expecting to meet with God, but God was going to meet with me and he did, and I remember that night lifting my hands. I think it was like a Wednesday night, lifting my hands in worship for the first time in years in a youth service and sensing that God was calling me to ministry the national youth director at the time, this guy named Jay Mooney. He handed out what's called the Student Fire Bible, which I have to this day, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I remember that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, put a Bible in our hands, challenged us to be campus missionaries. I said, lord, wherever you want me to go, I'll go. Whatever you want me to do, I will do. And I said I'll be a campus missionary. I was not a good campus missionary. In fact, I made way more mistakes after I said yes to the call to ministry than I had ever made before. I said yes to the call to ministry but, uh, God, he had grace on my life and um, he was uh convicting me through his holy spirit and just continued to speak to me and draw me closer over the next several years. So I went to bible college, met my wife there pretty early on. She was a cheerleader. I was playing basketball there at Central Bible College. It works.
Speaker 3:One of the best things Bible college gives is a wife right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we met pretty early on and, crazy story actually, I see her at one of the games and she's wearing a sweatshirt and it said South Africa on it and I knew that the sweatshirt looked familiar and I was like man, the only place I know that gives out those sweatshirts are my parent, my, my, uh, my aunt and uncle, who are missionaries in South Africa. I wonder if she was there, went on a mission strip. So I asked her and, sure enough, when she was a student living in California while I'm living in Missouri, she went on a mission strip to South Africa and was staying in my aunt and uncle's house in South Africa, who were missionaries, and she didn't even know me. But years later she'd meet me in college and, um, we, uh, yeah, so we met and we um, ended up dating through through college.
Speaker 1:I'm a little bit off and on thanks to my indecisive and immaturity, but uh, got ahold of my heart and ended up getting married and jumping right into full-time youth ministry at my dad's church in inner city, kansas city. We were there for about five and a half years and then from there we ended up becoming the district youth directors in Southern Missouri Southern Missouri district of the assemblies of God and uh, did that, uh, for about four years and then accepted the national uh, national student discipleship role at the national office of the assembly of god and then, last december, was asked to be the national youth director. And a wild ride. We had, dude, for real, three kids, um, an eight-year-old, a four-year-old and an 18-month-old. And, um, yeah, it's, it's a blast, it's a wild ride. But, man, I love my family, they're my favorite people in the world and I'm just glad we get to do this together. So I'm the journey right there, man, yeah.
Speaker 3:How cool you get to be the National Youth Director when that was like a pivotal moment in your story at the National Youth Conference.
Speaker 1:Actually really interesting because most people and most rooms I go into, if I'm in a room of leaders, whether it's at a youth camp or a youth conference or wherever if I say, hey, how many of you were either saved, filled with the Holy Spirit or called into ministry at a youth camp, Raise your hand.
Speaker 1:Most of the room's hand goes out. It was at a youth camp that they were called, saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, or they had a pivotal moment in their life. But very few of them. If I said, hey, if you had that moment at National Youth Convention of the Assemblies of God, maybe a couple, but very few of them, I think, at least in my experience, would say, yes, that's where I was called or that's where I was filled. But for me that was the moment in my life that stands out with National Youth Convention, which is so unique because now I have a chance to lead it. So it's just very interesting because even the way that I was called and the way it's etched in my memory and what God did in my life that week, it was almost like even at that week he was creating a soft spot in my heart and creating vision in my heart for what I was gonna lead one day, so it was very unique.
Speaker 3:How special. It's so cool how God works that way no-transcript, but give us at least one. We'd love to hear a taste of that story you have in youth ministry.
Speaker 1:I'll say I'm trying to filter through all the ones that I can share. I try to bring bullets on an airplane. We have had police chasing individuals, fugitives, through our youth center during a message I mean as the youth pastor at my dad's church. The police were chasing literally somebody off the streets through the back of the room as I'm preaching. I can see them searching for the person in the back of the youth center. I'm wearing a gymnasium with wife and dream Seeing them go back and forth. But one of the craziest stories- what a tease.
Speaker 3:That was an insane tease of, like many stories. We need to bring you back for more.
Speaker 1:But one of the most wild stories that I still just I cannot believe is this was when I was a student. Our youth group took a missions trip to Mexico and I didn't even go on the missions trip. Okay, so I'm a student, right, I'm at church on a Sunday. The team is getting back from the Mexico missions trip and there was like a few middle schoolers, but mostly high schoolers Like if you were eighth grade, you were allowed to go on the trip and they get back and I kid, kid you, not a middle schooler gets off of the bus from this missions trip. They had taken to mexico.
Speaker 1:A middle schooler, while they were shopping in a market, broke off down a side street and got a tattoo in mexico while he's on the trip shows back up to the thought his mom was going to. Yeah, I'll just say I thought his mom was going to. She was losing her mind because her middle school son got a tattoo, a real tattoo. That's amazing. Another country on a mission trip. It was a disaster. I mean you can just imagine, like how many conversations and meetings had to be had do you remember?
Speaker 2:like what the design?
Speaker 3:was what was the tattoo?
Speaker 1:totally a pair of boxing gloves, because he was like a boxer. There's a pair of boxing gloves that were like supposed to be hanging on his arm, but it looked like a pair of deflated balloons, like it was not. Oh, man. He was one of like four guys who got tattoos.
Speaker 3:That's a memory. Right there Was there a leader who, like, was with them when that happened?
Speaker 1:No, they just went and did it. They broke off themselves. But he was the only one who was in middle school and I started thinking back. I'm like yo if my kid came home with a tattoo in middle school just trip and not even a cool tattoo.
Speaker 2:Not even a cool tattoo.
Speaker 1:It was a bad tattoo. It wasn't a shop Like. There's so many things that I'm just oh, and you can get dude.
Speaker 3:you can get some crazy diseases from, like, tattoo shops that aren't clean. There's like a big process you have to follow. Oh wow, Not the youth pastor, though. So that's it, you can. You can just be like I don't know what that guy was thinking.
Speaker 1:He was not a youth pastor, I was just a student in the group.
Speaker 3:Wow, amazing.
Speaker 1:Pastor ones as well. But uh, that was. That was one of the more crazy.
Speaker 3:That's the first we've had a kid getting a tattoo, so that's you know. Thanks for we can check that.
Speaker 2:We're never going to forget that mission trip.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he'll never, yeah, he'll never. He'll always have memory of it. It's always, it's always there. It's right there the balloons.
Speaker 1:Why do you have?
Speaker 2:balloons on your arm. Where'd you get that? When I was a student, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Oh well, again, Austin, thanks for being on. We call this podcast Vitals for Youth Ministry Podcast because it complements a resource that we have through our ministry, lead the Generation, called Vitals for Youth Ministry. If you're new to the podcast or you're new to the Lead the Generation family, vitals for Youth Ministry is a framework for training youth pastors out of Acts, chapter two. So you have five vitals that you see in Acts two. You have biblical truth, spiritual transformation, healthy community, missional living, leadership development, and so you can go to our website check all that out leadthegenerationcom. It's all 100% free about 70 training videos, coaching, roadmaps, online assessment tools you can use to assess your ministry, your leadership just a ton of stuff there. So this podcast complements all of those resources.
Speaker 2:And, austin, we wanted to kind of specifically take some time and drill down with you on the vital of spiritual transformation, and that's what we love to do when we bring guests on is just pick one of the vitals and just say let's just talk, you know, and kind of do a deep dive. And so we'd love to kind of just start the conversation by just getting some of maybe your overview thoughts when you think about spiritual transformation or even like the spiritual formation of a believer, whether the adult leader, or whether you know our students in our ministry. What are just kind of some of your first takeaways when you think about spiritual transformation?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I think spiritual transformation, essentially you break it down spiritual, so being like of the spirit, right your heart, your soul, of your spirit, but then transformation, it's the changing from one thing to another thing. There's a transformation. If you remember back to that show that was on when we were kids, that eventually they made movies about transformers right, it was literally one thing but then transform into another thing. And I feel like in the life of the believer you're always consistently transforming into another thing, like it's so popular for for people to get, uh, canceled or to get shut down if, if they're changing their mind or if they're changing their view. But truly, if we're really experiencing transformation throughout our lives, becoming more like Christ, we're always going to be changing our mind about certain things and growing more mature and maybe having differing opinions, a different opinion, as we get to know Jesus better and know his word better and we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly as we get more mature. It's like we're constantly changing. It's interesting that in so many circles it's like, no, you can't change right. It's like we don't like other people to change. We kind of, at times, like them to stay the same as they are, at least relationally at times. Our culture doesn't doesn't enjoy that. But following Jesus, you're going to change, you're going to transform, and that you're going to have a have the ability to change your mind as, as you grow and as you mature in Christ.
Speaker 1:And so I think, just knowing that that spiritual transformation, man, it's not just a one-time thing, it's not just a sometimes thing, if you're following Jesus, it's an all the time thing. It's an all the time thing. It's an all the time thing. And I think we see that in the life of the disciples. Right, they only spent three and a half years walking with Jesus in, you know, in bodily form, but if you look at their interactions with him and their time with him and when they would break away and just get alone with Jesus and they were they were just always changing and growing and maturing and they looked drastically different at the end of their time with Jesus than they did when, when he first called many of them, um.
Speaker 1:And so I just think I think we've got to keep that in mind that it's not a sometimes thing, it's not a one-time thing, it's a whole of the time thing. You're always transforming and growing and changing and, um, you know that's, that's something I know. You both would probably attest to this that the more you know Jesus man, the different, more different you look. You're looking more at him and you're learning things about yourself and maybe finding some things in your life that, oh that can't go with me where God's calling me. I gotta let that go or I've gotta lose this if I wanna get to where God wants me to go. So there's always this changing and the Holy Spirit convicts and you know he burns up the chaff in our lives, the excess, the things we don't need, and so I think we just know that, like it's all the time, it's an all the time thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's the process of sanctification, right Like? Justification is instant, sanctification takes a lifetime.
Speaker 2:I can.
Speaker 3:For me, it hasn't stopped and I'm realizing every year there's something new, because I'm already there, bro. Yeah, sanctification for you is the thing, but no, yeah, it's that whole process. And so for youth ministry, what breaks that down for us as far as, like, spiritual transformation, what practical steps do you take to begin to instigate that in students or in leaders' lives, or even in your own life as a leader, you know, if it's an always thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I think you know, for me I'm a big, I'm a big spiritual disciplines guy. So I'm I'm big on like man. I have a time and a place every single day where I meet with the Lord. And that wasn't always the case, you know, when I was in college, especially my first two years, I didn't really I didn't really do that at all, like I'd said yes to the call to ministry and I was all in but I wasn't there yet as far as some of my spiritual disciplines go. And so I started implementing that really like my junior year, and for me there was transformation, literally like one week I looked this way, the next week I looked that way because I implemented spiritual disciplines.
Speaker 1:And so I think in the life of a leader, spiritual disciplines have to be a part of this Spending regular time with Jesus. You're not going to get to know him better if you don't spend time with him. You need to know his word better if you don't spend time reading his word. You know you've probably heard it many, many times People say you can't say God is silent if your Bible is closed. That's a thing we've all heard, but it's absolutely true. You know, we want something from God. We want a word, we want clarity, we want vision. We're like why won't the Lord speak? Well, oftentimes this isn't open, and if this isn't open, you're not going to hear everything God wants you to hear. See what he wants you to see. So I think spiritual disciplines are are massive Um and so for me that that changed my life and in fact, I was actually filled with the Holy spirit. I was refilled when I was in my I think I was in my first semester, senior year of college at central Bible college. I mean, I'm less than a year from starting full-time ministry and, as in the Holy Spirit again, I hadn't really spoken in tongues all that much for quite some time and I was refilled with the Holy Spirit and I attribute so much of that to the time that I was spending with the Lord in private. It happened in a worship service, but I'd been spending hours with the Lord in private before I ever got to that worship service. So spiritual disciplines really helped me and I think it's also going to help students.
Speaker 1:But as a leader, we have to model that, we have to demonstrate that. We have to talk to students about that and talk to them about getting into the word and spending time with Jesus alone and hearing the Holy Spirit speak, and there's so many voices speaking into their life. We need to remind them of the importance to get alone with the Lord. And one of the things that I noticed looking back on my time as a youth pastor is that so many of the things that I would prioritize, I found that I was actually perpetuating those things in my youth ministry in my students' lives. So if I prioritized sports and talking about sports all the time, I found that my students they talked about that every time they came around me.
Speaker 1:If I prioritized getting a new pair of shoes or whatever the new pair of shoes was that was coming out, I found my students like talking to those things, talking to me about those things, or if it was fashion or whatever it could be that someone might be interested in, and I'm all for that. Like get the cool shoes, wear the cool clothes. Like talk about sports, all that that's great. But if that is such a high priority in our life as we're leading and discipling students, we start to perpetuate that in their lives and we see that in them as well and it's like okay, if you're gonna build something into someone's life, build a disciple.
Speaker 1:Do you want them to have an obsession with sports or do you want them to want to talk about the word of God, to be in the word of God, to talk about what the Holy Spirit spoke to them that week? So I literally saw that start to happen between me and my students this relationship with my students and I and our leaders, our adult leaders and myself as well, that I prioritize and valued. They started to prioritize and value. So I think that as we prioritize our own spiritual formation and from the Holy Spirit right, getting good mentoring, having people who can coach us, speak into our lives, godly wisdom as we prioritize those things the people whom we're leading, if they're really following us, we will start to see them prioritize those things as well. You know, there's still going to be some times we have to encourage people in a very direct way, but I definitely think that we, we reproduce who we are right. We don't use what we say. We reproduce who we are. So it's got to start with us as the leader, in my opinion.
Speaker 3:It's interesting because it's really easy, as I would say. Even in youth ministry I've been doing it for five years but for me, like it's easy to almost, because I'm pouring into students and trying to help them take steps. It's easy to almost ignore myself sometimes and almost become I don't know who said this but it's like I'm a human doing rather than a human being. So it's like, rather than just being with God, it's like I'm doing for God and it's like that takes the place of like the actual, just like spending time in his word and taking time to, you know, to again just be and live in the presence and abide in the presence of God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the thing we have to remember too is that people can tell when we've been with Jesus, yeah. Yeah, I don't know if you have any friends like this, but now I think I'm more sensitive to it now than I've ever been. Yeah, I can tell when someone has been with Jesus. Hell, when someone has been with Jesus, yeah, like if I spend enough time around somebody, I'm like man, this guy or this lady, man, she spent time with the Lord, yeah, so I know that what she's saying or what he's saying today is actually it's just a result of the conversation she already had with the Lord today, or he already had with the Lord yeah, something that they say at the National Office of the Assemblies of God is our leadership will often say that the most important meeting that we will have we have a lot of meetings at the national office.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you there's 500. It's a it's a big organization. We've got a lot of meetings. I say the most important meeting you're going to have is the one you have before you get here, because it's what you've had with the Lord and you know we have. We have just taken that on and said you know what? That's absolutely right.
Speaker 3:We need to meet with God before we meet with man, before we meet with people, yeah, and I want to be around those people too. Every time I'm around someone, it's like I end up getting a word from them, or I end up getting encouragement from them, and it's just pouring off of them. And even for students, the things that they'll remember the most is the times it's like you gave a Holy Spirit inspired word or word of knowledge or prophetic word, or you pray for them very specifically, and that only happens, that only happens when you've been abiding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, cause God will give you a timely word, and it's even says in scripture a number of times that the Holy Spirit will teach us what to say. Yeah, well, when does he teach us? I think he teaches us, yes, in an instant, in a moment he can give us words, but a lot of times it's the overflow and the output we've already received in our time with him. And so I just think it's vitally important that we spend time with the Lord, and I know that one big stressor for youth leaders and youth pastors and really any minister of the gospel who's preaching and communicating regularly, whether it be on a platform or to their leadership team or their staff we've always got to have something to say. Right, we've always got to have a word. We've always got to have a word for the table we're leading, for the staff we're leading. For the team we're leading. For the students we're leading. We've got to have a word, and I can say from personal experience, but also from the people that I get to be around, like our leadership in the AG, that it's much easier to get a word from God for the people you're leading when you've been with the Lord. It's crazy how the Lord is so good. He's given me a word every time I've ever needed it.
Speaker 1:And I was actually talking with our superintendent, superintendent Doug Clay, and he was telling me about a recent time where he was on his way to speak somewhere and he felt like me about a recent time where he was on his way to speak somewhere and he felt like man, he had just he had shared all his best stuff. He's like I don't, I don't know, I feel like I didn't really have anything. I feel like I've shared all my best stuff. I've preached here a number of different times but then he said he just started receiving a word from the Lord in that moment, boom, boom, boom, and the Lord gave him this incredible list of things and content to share.
Speaker 1:And that happens because he's already been with Jesus. His heart is talking to the things of God, and so that was an encouragement to me to be like man, like even the general superintendent of the assemblies of God, which, whether we believe it or not, he's one of the most influential leaders in Christendom in the world right, meeting people all over the world that a lot of us don't even get to see. He has moments where he feels like man, I've got nothing but man. The Holy Spirit, his grace is sufficient. He gives me the word I need because I've been with Him so it's true for us as well.
Speaker 2:So, Austin, like take a couple minutes, kind of like put your coach's hat on for a second and coach youth pastors and youth leaders that are listening right now or they're watching on YouTube. They want to see the spiritual disciplines of the students that they're leading increase. So what are some practical tips that you could pass on to them, some things that they can kind of put into practice in their youth ministry to level up students when it comes to Bible reading and prayer and spiritual disciplines?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, and then we've we've really already addressed it. But, um, start with you, right, look in the mirror and realize that I need this every single day. Um, because again we reproduce who we are. So start, start with yourself, and then I think you'll feel a little bit more of a grace and a freedom to talk about it in your messages, in your sermon, when you're doing small group discussions. And my next one would just be talk about it and make it a matter of discussion. I'm not saying you flex on the whole group and be like, yeah, I spent this much time in my career, but talk about it Like if it matters to you, talk about it. Talk about it in your message. You know, let your students know hey, I spoke to the Lord this morning. He loves you, he cares about you. You know, be, be direct with them, let them know you speak to God every day, and they can have that kind of relationship as well. So I would just say talk about it. I would say, show them how to do it by spending time with them.
Speaker 1:So we used to do this gathering on a weeknight. It was separate from our youth ministry and for a while we were actually meeting in a movie theater and having a separate service for students who were out in the suburbs who couldn't get into the city for church. And eventually we moved it to more of like a small group model at a Starbucks. And so we'd meet at a Starbucks. Parents would either drop their kids off or the ones who could drive, because we were out there in the suburbs. You know, they can just drive around the neighborhoods and they jump in their car, they drive over and we would spend time just going through a passage of scripture together and I would show them. This is how you read scripture, this is how you break it down, this is how you pull thoughts out for yourself, for your life, so demonstrating it. And I also think it's important that we show them a way to use it. And I also think it's important that we we show them a way to use it.
Speaker 1:I would show them how to use scripture. It's not. If they don't know why they're taking all this in and why this is valuable to their life and how they will be using this in everyday life, then I think they're a lot less likely to to want to engage with scripture. But when they know that, hey, word of God at the right time gives you peace. This is when you quote the scripture in the middle of the night, when you can't sleep cause you're feeling anxious.
Speaker 1:Start quoting the word of God.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're you're feeling depressed and you're just feeling so down.
Speaker 1:Start quoting the word of the Lord and remind yourself that he gives joy unspeakable right.
Speaker 1:You can use this to encourage yourself in the Lord, as David did, and so showing them how to practically use it for their own life, but then also letting them know, hey, that whatever God's calling you to do, god's word and the word that God gives you in your prayer time is going to be, and should be, a vital part of that.
Speaker 1:And out of that, we had students who were called into ministry because we showed them, hey, you can actually use the study you're doing to preach a short sermon with Fine Arts, which is an Assemblies of God ministry that we have, which allows students to use and grow in their gifts, and so showing them that, hey, when you spend time in the word, you spend time hearing from the Lord and you might get a word that he wants you to share to other people, and you might end up doing it on a platform.
Speaker 1:You might end up starting a local going to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel, and so what you receive now is actually gonna lead other people to Jesus. So I think doing those things really helps. But then I also think that creating a healthy small group environment of some kind at your church and when I say at your church it just means specifically like a conglomeration of small groups so having a small group model of some kind where students are going through God's word together, a safe place for them to process and push back a little bit in the presence of a godly leader, that's huge, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:Caleb, you guys speaking of small groups, you just recently tweaked your small group a little bit to make it almost more like a Bible study.
Speaker 3:It really is just a Bible study.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's actually based off of, like when Terry Parkman had a model that he shared at a conference I was at, where it's the same four questions every week, but they read through a Bible passage and it's what sticks out to you know, what did it mean to the people back then?
Speaker 3:What's the main point for us? And then what are we going to do about it? And it's been transformative, you know, and I mean it is. It's funny how we can overcomplicate simple things and actually, really, it is like it's just the simple stuff that we then put in in by faith in God's hands to do that, the heavy lifting, where it's like, yeah, we read the word because we know that it like we want to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Um, and we, because we know that we want to be transformed by the renewing of our mind and we know that the truth will set us free. And so, yeah, it's been really cool to have students walk through the Bible. In an age where biblical illiteracy the rate is so high, I feel like we're really pushing back against that and we're watching the fruit of students begin to understand the truth and watch as their minds begin to be renewed. And and yeah, I feel like the rate I see students, um, actually taking their faith seriously and that really is what spiritual transformation is right. It's like they're learning what it means to die to themselves. They're learning what it means to take up their cross, um.
Speaker 3:But it's the simple stuff. It's not like my message that's going to solve it. It's not like whatever you know, the newest, coolest series I can do that will get more people in the room. It's actually simple stuff. It's not like my message that's going to solve it. It's not like whatever you know, the newest, coolest series I can do that will get more people in the room. It's actually just opening up the Word of God and taking time to honestly messily study through it too, because it's like it's messy a lot of times for students, but it's in that mess that they're learning what it means to read the Word of God and growing in that, and that's how I know we're actually truly making headway in that kind of thing. But it's easy to get sidetracked or overcomplicated like we need this new thing. But it really everything you've been saying here, austin. It's like oh, it's just read the Bible and be consistent and kind of the word of God says that to us as well, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think again it's like I don't want to oversimplify it, but for me, I'm just one of those guys that really believes that when we spend time with the Lord, we spend time reading his word, we spend time growing with other believers, we spend time allowing godly leadership to speak into our life, because that's another part of transformation is you need somebody who's further down the road right your life. But when those things are taking place, I think it softens our heart, prepares us, gets us ready it's our mind ready to receive what God wants us to receive. And what you find is then the difficult times you walk through. I think we become more pliable during those times, um, and more sensitive to the things of God, so that he can mold and shape us into what he he is desiring us to be, calling us to be when we're walking through difficult seasons. You know, um, for me one of the most difficult seasons of my life was was um almost two years ago not quite two years ago, but when I got a cancer diagnosis and um was diagnosed with stage two to stage three breast cancer, which is wild. I didn't know dudes could get breast cancer, but I got breast cancer and then I had to get a mastectomy. I definitely didn't know dudes could get a mastectomy and, you know, ended up becoming the youngest male breast cancer patient they've ever had in Springfield Missouri, according to a surgeon, and he did it for like 30 years surgery. So went through intense chemotherapy treatments Springfield Missouri, according to the surgeon, and he did it for like 30 years surgery. So, um, went through, uh, intense chemotherapy treatments because the uh, the aggression of the cancer. I mean it was a crazy like six month period. The whole thing was just completely wild, unexpected. My wife gave birth to our third child in the midst of all of that. So, like after my first chemo treatment, I'm becoming a father from two to three now, and I mean it just it was absolutely insane.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that I was really grateful for during all of that was that I had spent years waking up early and spending time with the Lord before I ever started my day, and there were days when I'd be reading through Leviticus and be like this doesn't feel like it's helping me. In fact, it's discouraging me. It's making me a worse leader, not a better leader. I'm like it's, you know it's, this is not good, um, and so there were days, of course, you're reading your Bible and you're like, how is this helping me? But when you're walking through the deepest, darkest valley of your life, yeah, yeah and when you're still just getting up and spending time with the Lord because this is part of who you are and what you do but you give the Lord a chance to speak to you first, before the negativity can hit you, before the reality of your diagnosis hits you, before whatever the world brings at you, before that hits you, you give the Lord a chance to speak. He will speak to you in a way that will mold you and help fashion you into who you're called to be, and that you will be sensitive and more pliable to what God wants to do. And I found that to be true in my life.
Speaker 1:The Lord was shaping and molding me and weeding some things out of my life through that process, and it often happened in those early morning hours with the Lord and that was just part of my routine. You know it wasn't like a discipline I implemented once I got a cancer diagnosis. I'd been doing it for years. But because it was a part of my life, the Lord shaped my heart and my mind. It was just transforming me through that process and I'll say this and then I'll shut up.
Speaker 1:But I know the Lord now in a way that I've never known him before, and the two days after I was diagnosed with cancer, my pastor called me and said hey, this Sunday we're going to pray for you and want you with oil. We're going to believe you're going to be healed. But even if you're not healed the way you want to be healed, either way you win because you're going to get to know the Lord in a way that you've never known him before. Um and my my pastor had been through cancer multiple times, so he was speaking from a place of experience, and that is exactly what happened. The way that I talk to the Lord now looks vastly different than the way that I would speak to him a few years ago Wow.
Speaker 3:So so for the, for the youth pastor that might find it first off, thanks you for sharing that. That was amazing and thank you for your vulnerability with that Um. For a youth pastor who might find themselves in a rut where they're like I'm struggling to either build the disciplines or they had it but they feel like they've lost it. What would you say to that? Obviously, you speak to tons of youth pastors and tons of people. I'm sure those people have come up to. What do you say to those people who are kind of struggling to get I don't know the engine started or be consistent with their disciplines?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you need you need to be doing it with someone else I don't mean somebody else in the room, but you need accountability Friends who are willing to do a Bible reading plan with you. You need friends who are willing to check you and be like hey, did you spend time in prayer today? Hey, did you do your prayer journal today? Whatever, whatever that looks like for you you. You desperately need an accountability partner, accountability friend and accountability friend group, because I can just tell you, even from like working out and athletics, it's so much easier to get out of bed and show up at the gym or get out of bed and show up at the track or at the court. If you know that there's someone who will be waiting on you to be there, expecting you to be there, it changes the game. Um, when you know someone else is depending on you and they're going to check on you, they're expecting you to be there. And so, for me, I had a friend. He's still a great friend of mine. His name is Steve Zoboda and he actually works in the called office at the Assemblies of God and he was a youth pastor for many years and an executive pastor in a few different churches. And great leader, great friend, but, man, he is an accountability partner who will say hey, how's the, how's the Bible reading going, how's the prayer going? Do you want to do a Bible reading plan with me? Anyone who knows him knows, like bro, if you want to do a Bible reading plan, call Steve, I'll do it with you. So you know for me, um, in in my responsibility, part of it is leading our district youth directors. We've got 66 district youth directors around the nation and we do a Bible reading plan together every single day, and so you can see which one of us is going through it and a place to put comments and questions. And we all need that. We need accountability. We weren't created to do this alone. I know it's a super simple answer, but it is a game changer. It is absolutely a game changer. So I think that's one.
Speaker 1:I think also writing down, putting something in writing, what you hope to do and accomplish, and writing down. I want to spend time with the Lord every day, get very specific. I want to spend 15 minutes reading my Bible and 30 minutes in prayer. I mean getting really specific, writing down some of these ideas and things that the Lord puts in your heart, some of these uh ideas and things that the Lord puts in your heart, some of these goals that you have for a given week. You know, maybe don't say, hey, I want to read the entire Bible in 30 days, 30 day shreds, but yeah, it is pretty wild, but it's like, uh, writing some of these things down. Um, I think is is helpful as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love the simplicity of what we're talking about here today. I think you know there are times where we can focus on the mechanism of youth ministry, the how-tos, the skill development. You know how do I become a better leader, how do I become a better preacher? You know all of that and that's all good, it's all important, but what you're bringing us back to Austin and this is what I'm so grateful for is is the foundation to all of that. Like you can, you can have the skill development, you can have the talent right. But if you don't have that foundation of spiritual transformation is has happened and is happening in my life as a leader on a regular basis right Then that's always going to be the lid. You know your, your talent is in charisma is only ever going to take you so far.
Speaker 2:Um, and I and I just reflected on something you said just a couple of minutes ago. You, you talked about how, um, you can tell when you're around somebody that they have a relationship with Jesus, that they've been with Jesus. That was the phrase that you used. I love that. That's true, and I think our students see that, especially this generation of students. I think that they can sniff that out so fast? The difference between the leader who just kind of knows the right thing to say in the right time versus the leader who's like no, this person has a genuine, authentic, intimate relationship with Jesus and I want what they have relationship with Jesus and I, I want what they have you know, and I'll say this too like in our culture, especially in leadership and youth pastors, youth leaders, there is obviously this desire to be known and have influence and get the platform and have the followers.
Speaker 1:and people can pretend like they don't want it, but let's be honest, our culture is still obsessed with it. Um, but I am terrified of stepping onto a platform I have not been anointed for. I'm terrified of stepping onto a platform that the Holy spirit didn't prepare me for in my time with him.
Speaker 3:Um.
Speaker 1:I want to be able to say, before I get up on a platform and I've said it a number of times, different platforms I've been on looking out at the crowd, right before I walk up, saying, lord, this was not my idea.
Speaker 1:In fact, I didn't pray for this, I didn't ask for this. Lord, this wasn't my idea. I'm a Holy Spirit, I need you, but, praying that, knowing, hey, this is not the first conversation I've had with the Lord today, this is not the time we've talked, um, I just I think we need to be careful or we pray for the platform and the influence and the breakthrough, but, um are, are we spending the time we need to with the Lord to have him download what we need for that moment? Yeah, um, I think oftentimes the, the ministry that that we put out from our church or our organization, it doesn't. I should say we're not praying enough, right, the amount of time spent in prayer isn't, isn't really adequate oftentimes for the amount of ministry we're putting out that's going out from our organization, our department, and I'm guilty of. I'm as guilty of that as anyone else.
Speaker 2:You know, and there's a level of confidence that we have confidence in Christ when we do have those spiritual disciplines in place. And so when, then, god does open certain doors for us to minister in certain places or in certain platforms, right, there's a much greater confidence when you are able to walk into that moment, knowing I might still have some nerves here, I might have some fear, right, but I have this inner confidence. I'm settled internally, I'm centered internally because I know that I have spent time with Jesus and he's transformed my life. What you just said a moment ago reminded me of one of my mentors said to me, probably about seven or eight years ago, when my ministry shifted and I started doing more traveling and speaking, and they said to me Aaron, I dare you to pray this prayer Pray God, protect me from platforms that I'm not ready for. And it kind of took me back.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, because normally we would pray God, give me opportunities, open doors for me. But his point with me was like like, allow God to open up the doors that he wants to open up for you, knowing what you're ready for and what you're not ready for, because if you put yourself on the wrong platform. It's going to expose character flaws in you that you're not prepared for yet. That spotlight will will eat you alive, you know, and but that's hard, it's hard to pray that way. But to your point, austin, if you're spending time with Jesus, all of that gets a whole lot simpler.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it absolutely does, and the crazy thing is, too, about some of this and spending time with the Lord is that sometimes the time we spend with the Lord in the morning will not feel productive at all.
Speaker 1:In fact, there are mornings where I sacrifice work that I know needs to be done early, before my kids get up, before the world really gets going. I know there's work that needs to be done. I know there's emails, we've got big deadlines coming up, we're planning this, we're planning that, but I need to spend time with the Lord. And there are days when I will spend time with the Lord and I'll be like that did not feel super productive, like I would have felt more productive if I would have knocked off these five things from my list before the world really got going today. But then what happens is when we're put into a moment of pressure, we realize and see that god was developing this in me. God gave me this this morning or yesterday or last week, and there's some things god's been doing in me and, oh, now I see why it was so important. But it doesn't always feel like we're productive. At least I don't.
Speaker 3:maybe, maybe you guys do but no, no I feel that yeah well, and that confidence is exactly right, the fact that I can feel like you know what, even if I'm I'm broken or I'm weak, like he's got me, um. And when I know I've been with him, it's like, okay, I can rest, knowing that he's going to take care of my inadequacies and my weaknesses and whatever I may, you know, not have. He's got it, um yeah. And that that confidence is, is it's worth its weight in gold, like it's like when you get up on stage or get up to lead people, it's like it's the only thing that sustains me through those moments and I know when I haven't spent time with God, I get to those moments it's like I feel like I'm I'm again, I'm pulling out of my own self, which is again weak and broken and not enough by itself, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think we could just sit here and kind of camp on this conversation for a long time, right, because it's so foundational to what we do in ministry, not just ministry to students, but just in general, and you know how we minister to people, how we encourage people. So, austin, thanks so much for just kind of bringing us back to like the roots here and the foundation of what it really means when we're talking about spiritual transformation. Right, because there's a lot of ways you can go with that particular vital or that conversation. You know, try this or preach this way, or do this small groups or you know this, whatever, and so I just I appreciate this, the kind of your genuine approach to like okay, let's just make sure the roots and the foundation in our own life as leaders is where it needs to be. It's it's it's very hard, if not impossible, for us to lead in a direction or to a place that we're not living in ourself or that we've never been in ourself.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I agree. And if you just think about the leaders that have had the greatest impact on your life in ministry specifically in ministry we're talking church ministry, youth ministry, next-gen ministry the leaders that have had the most impact on our lives, most of them maybe they were great preachers, maybe they were incredible strategists or fundraisers or entrepreneurial spirit or multipliers of campuses or whatever, but most of them, the ones who have had the deepest impact in our life oh hey, there's my daughters.
Speaker 1:They have a impact in our life. They have a very deep relationship with the Lord. Yeah, I just think back to the ones that have had the greatest impact on me. Oh, they knew the Lord, they were godly man, they had integrity and character, and those are the ones that had the deepest impact on my life yeah that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so good. Hey, thanks so much. This has been such an encouraging conversation. I know it's going to challenge a lot of leaders in a really good way. For leaders that would love to connect with you, what's the easiest way for them to find you out there online, social, where are you at?
Speaker 1:I'm on Instagram probably most frequently. I don't really do Facebook that often other than just to communicate with a few different people who I need to communicate with in different groups. But yeah, mostly it's Instagram. Obviously, you can also email us or call the national office. You know where to find us. Like you know, drag us down. We don't get too far without people there knowing where we're at Awesome.
Speaker 2:Good deal. That's awesome. Well, again, awesome Thanks for being on Vitals for Youth Ministry podcast today. Incredible conversation.
Speaker 2:I know it's going to encourage a ton of people and, um, if you are a regular listener some you know all that stuff um, you're part of the leader gen fam. We just encourage you. Uh, you know, hit, hit that like button, subscribe. Uh, ring the bell, whatever platform you're on, I don't know. Uh, put a review out there that will help us out. Uh, but we're glad you're part of this conversation. Pray that it encourages you, pray that it challenges you today. Again, thanks for being our guest today, caleb. Co-host Supreme.
Speaker 3:I'll take that title.
Speaker 2:I've said a lot of nice things in the last couple episodes we've recorded.
Speaker 3:I think, one of the other ones. I said that you were the face, the attractive one, the attractive one with hair.
Speaker 2:He's like let's go. But um, yeah, thanks for joining us today. We will see you on the next episode of vitals for youth ministry podcast.
