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 Gospel Beyond the Altar Call, Turning Messages into Mission, and Igniting Root-Level Transformation
We explore how gospel fluency should be at the center of youth ministry, extending beyond just the moment of salvation to transform every aspect of students' lives and propel them into mission.
• Gospel fluency is often overlooked because we assume students already understand the basics
• Students live in a works-based world where they're constantly graded on performance, which is contrary to the gospel message
• The gospel is not just about the moment of salvation but applies to the entire process of sanctification
• True gospel fluency moves students from behavior modification to heart transformation
• When students truly grasp the gospel, they become mission-focused and actively share their faith
• The goal is to help students see Jesus not just as Savior but as Lord of their lives
• Every sermon topic should connect back to the gospel and lead students to active mission
• Youth pastors should focus on giving students practical next steps rather than just measuring altar responses
• Students need to develop spiritual ownership rather than depending solely on the youth pastor's teaching
And so I think a lot of times we view the gospel as so basic that it's not worth teaching on. I say that and I almost feel sacrilegious saying that. You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like ooh, I'm dodging that bull, you know. But I think that's how a lot of times I knew my mindset would go as a youth pastor, I would get so fixated on maybe like the topic or the hot topic combined with all the programming that we were trying to do to try to get kids into our youth group, that I would often view this idea of the gospel as something that well they're in church. Everyone already knows this.
Speaker 3:Hey everyone. Hey everyone, welcome to Vitals for Youth Ministry Podcast, a resource of Lead the Generation. My name is Aaron, director of Lead the Generation and co-host for this podcast. I got Caleb Leak with me today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not as cool as Aaron, but, you know, still a cool guy.
Speaker 3:Actually cooler, younger and you have hair.
Speaker 2:That's true. It doesn't make me cooler, though.
Speaker 3:I don't know. You wear it well. I'm also a pastor. I've been a youth pastor for five years. Yeah, and we got the dog in the studio here and, but most importantly, we got Johnny Mendoza with us today. Johnny is the district youth director for the state of Georgia and Johnny, thanks for joining us today. Glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1:Oh man, it is absolutely my honor and joy to get to be with you guys. Oh man, it is absolutely my honor and joy to get to be with you guys. You guys are awesome, excited. We love Vitals here in Georgia, and so just the opportunity to spend some time talking about it is really exciting for me. So thanks so much.
Speaker 2:Heck yeah. And Vitals for Youth Ministry. This is the podcast. We have an extended conversation about an amazing resource called Vitals for Youth Ministry. But before we get into all that, we love having youth pastors, youth directors, youth evangelists on here, because everyone in youth ministry has that one story of a youth pastor doing something stupid or a student doing something stupid. It's a plague that follows all of us and it's inescapable and so, johnny, you're our special guest of honor, and so we need to hear the story, the youth pastor story, that you have that every time at the dinner table.
Speaker 2:You're like all right, here's what we're sharing. Give that one story.
Speaker 1:Totally, and so I definitely went through my list.
Speaker 2:Good youth pastors do have a list. It's not one story, it's many stories. Of what should I choose?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And so you know, honestly, for us one of the things you know, we were youth pastors at our previous church before coming into this role as DYD and it was my first, like my first, event away with our students, and so we had to. You know, everyone has chair, hotel rooms and things like that, you know, and that's I always love events when with youth pastors and students, because that's where the memories really get made. You know, that's where, like, oh, do you remember that?
Speaker 1:you remember when you know, and it's great opportunity for community, but it's also great conversation and great stories so but this in particular, you know, I, I was, I was rooming with with three other guys, uh and we, we were going to sleep and uh and also, and I, just I wake up in the middle of the night to what what really seemed to me was just the most egregious snoring that I've ever heard, uh, in my life, like like it. It sounded like a bear was getting eaten by another bear, who also had his leg trapped in a bear trap, while another bear laughed in the corner.
Speaker 1:Like it was, just like it was it was just all of this was just like piled on top and I was just like there's no way, like, and I grew up I grew up with a dad who snored, so on family trips, stuff like that, like I knew how to handle that, like I I it was nothing new, but this was new. Like it was, it was something supernatural that was happening within that student and you know, I tried praying, I did. I'm a spiritual guy, like I just.
Speaker 1:I, I tried to, I tried my best and you know I put, you know, earbuds in, I'm listening to music. I'm like, you know, like Stephen Curtis Chapman, please, you know, help this guy. You know I had to age myself a little bit there, you know, by calling out.
Speaker 3:You don't even know who that is. Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2:Come on, come on, I'm diving in bro, yeah, you can come and get yourself.
Speaker 1:I'm just cranking up the worship music like something Like I just I need, you know, I'm not trying to be a jerk to this guy. Like you know, I'm new here, I'm, you know, whatever. It still wasn't working, so I moved into the bathtub. I literally yeah, like I got, we were in a hotel room.
Speaker 2:I went to the bathroom and I tried to sleep in the bathtub. Whoa, you bunkered in like it was like a storm coming.
Speaker 1:I did, I did, I mean it was louder than a storm.
Speaker 2:So like it was it was.
Speaker 1:you just felt I mean this would be twisters too. Like it was like literally, like I'm just, I'm in there and like literally I got no sleep that night. Like terror and I was I don't want to mention the guy's name, but like I was just like dude. I think you have a condition. Like that is that's you need to get this. You need to get this looked at. So, needless to say, that was the last time that that guy was in my room.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course so so what we?
Speaker 1:what ended up happening was that was how we hazed new male youth leaders in our youth group.
Speaker 2:So whenever we had a new, a new adult join our team and we were going away on a trip.
Speaker 1:We always knew where that student was going to be rooming, because they always had to room with the new guy. Uh, because that was that was how we were saying hey, because we just said, like, if they can endure that and they still want to be on the team, then we're like they're in it's a good test.
Speaker 3:Wow, it's a good test.
Speaker 1:Wow, that was. That was our litmus test for loyalty uh, well played.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dude, you know what's hilarious is just this past summer, I also had a conversation with a student where I was like, hey, buddy, I think you might have sleep apnea.
Speaker 1:You might need to get it checked out.
Speaker 2:So I think that might be just a youth ministry standard thing of that one kid who just snores like a Nissan Altima is being blended up Like it's like what's happening.
Speaker 1:Oh man, bro, Wow. And to turn it into a way to recruit leaders and wow, wow.
Speaker 2:And to turn it into a way to recruit leaders and wow.
Speaker 1:I think it's just you know. I think good leaders make the most of every opportunity. And so we just took it as you know we took lemons and made lemonade. So it was, it was, it was very important.
Speaker 3:That's amazing, that's great. You know, like I didn't know where it was going, like anytime you start telling a youth mystery story, when it was like I was rooming with three guys there's so many different paths that can happen. At that, like my mind is racing. Like which one are we going down for this story?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we took the sleep apnea route yeah.
Speaker 3:It's all good. It's all good. Hey, johnny, before we jump into our conversation today, real quick, just tell us a little bit about your family. I just always want people to get to know you and you know, like not just the role that you serve in, but a little bit about, like you know, your family. So just fill us in.
Speaker 1:For sure. So I'm married, been married for 19 years to my wife Ginger. Whoa, let's go, come on. Yeah, we met. I was was 13, she was 14 no way, you guys did it.
Speaker 1:That's crazy so I I definitely confessed my love to her when I was 13 years old, completely freaked her out and uh, and so she actually lived in another state, but she would come, uh, and spend the summers, uh, in my town where we were, uh, where we lived, and so, like you know, that was that's where you make all the fun memories, like youth group trips and stuff during the summer. So, um, so yeah, so we, we just we knew each other for for a really long time and then, uh, on March 1st 2005, we started dating officially, uh, and then got married.
Speaker 2:Is this college or is this high school? Where were you at when it was 2005?
Speaker 1:So we finally started dating. This was post-college Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, got it.
Speaker 3:Wow, you guys single-handedly busted every youth pastor's sermon on don't date as a teenager. It never works out.
Speaker 1:I tell this story because the thing is, we didn't date, because I told you I freaked her out. When I say I freaked her out like she was like like like you got on one knee, kind of thing. It was like oh, there was no, there, I didn't get on one knee, but I gave her a ring like no joke come on.
Speaker 1:I was 13 and went to a pawn shop in our town and was like I felt like you know it was like I felt like you know it was like 12 bucks and she still has the ring.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's amazing and uh and so, yeah, so I, whenever I tell this story to students, I say, look at your neighbor and say this is not advice, like so, I'm like, I'm like I'm just I'm just telling you my story like this, and you know God worked it all out and you know his timing was perfect. But, yeah, I was an intense 13-year-old and so, but yeah, god worked it out, man, and the minute we started dating, we just knew like we were gonna be married, probably within the next 18 months. So God worked that out and so it's been awesome and we have a 10-year-old son named Micah, and he's awesome man. We love getting to do life and ministry together. We were youth pastors since 2009. And then I became a district youth director here in Georgia in 2022. Nice, so for the last three years we've been doing this and, man, we just love, we love students. We love student ministry.
Speaker 1:It's you know it was. It was something that God really just developed in me, like it wasn't something that was even really on my radar. I grew up as a, as a, like musician, always felt like if I did anything for Jesus, it was going to be music. It was going to be something, you know something in that area. When I first got hired on, it was in my home church in Georgia and I was the youth and worship pastor. But I mean, I used to do everything I could to run away from things like preaching and stuff like that and I just had good leaders in my life, man that would see things in me that I didn't see in myself and just would give me opportunities to lead in that way. And I think that those are the things that really want made me want to stay in youth ministry, like I want to be able to do for students what, what leaders did for me, um and so, uh, so, yeah, so we, we love getting to do this.
Speaker 1:Man, we love the pastors here in Georgia. Man, we've just we've been uh, just really just enjoying the community and the fellowship and and just what we've been just really just enjoying the community and the fellowship and just what we've been able to do to come alongside them. And, like we mentioned with Vitals, man, vitals has been a huge part of it. You know, we last year we launched something called GYM Class, because GYM stands for Georgia Youth Ministry, and one of the key elements of GYM Class has been giving our youth pastors access to vitals and letting them kind of have those resources in them. So we love getting to do what we do. We love Aaron. Aaron's been to our camps and different events for us, and Caleb, I love you by association bro.
Speaker 2:And I take that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, no, we love getting to do what we do, for sure, heck yeah, amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, um, I love, we love the fact that that, uh, you're like one of the early adopters about of vitals, you know. And so you, you, you, you and I had kind of talked about what we were building while we were still building it, and then you're like dude, just like, give me backdoor access to stuff. I gotta get rolling here.
Speaker 1:So we didn't even really like send me everything yeah, access to stuff I got to get rolling here, so we didn't even really I was like send me everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we didn't even have the website up and I was like I was shooting Johnny links and so but so for those of you that are watching or listening and maybe you're new to the Lead the Gen fam and so you're like, what is this vitals thing you guys keep talking about? So go to our website, leadthegenerationcom. Check out Vitals for Youth Ministry, absolutely free, all of it, 100% free. And it's a training library to resource youth pastors, youth leaders, from the vocational leader to the volunteer leader and everywhere in between. And, johnny, you as a DYD, and several other DYDs across the country are utilizing it to help resource and train and equip youth pastors, using it as a coaching resource, and so there's a bunch of stuff there.
Speaker 3:I won't go into all the details, but the framework of Vitals and this is what we're going to talk about today. The framework of Vitals is five Vitals found from the book of Acts. So you got biblical truth, spiritual transformation, healthy community, missional living and leadership development, and all of those are found in Acts, chapter two, and they start there and kind of extend through the rest of the history of the early church, and so what we're teaching with vitals is that these are the five vitals we want to impart into the lives of our students. These are the five vitals we want to build our youth ministries around, right, and so, johnny, that's how you've been using it to train your youth pastors. And we wanted to kind of continue a conversation with you that you've been having with a lot of your youth pastors that would fall under the biblical truth, vital and really kind of talking about our ability as youth pastors to preach and teach gospel fluency well.
Speaker 3:Right, and I think that when we say that, you can have the response as a youth pastor of like how do you not teach gospel fluency well? I mean, that's kind of like the basic right. But I think this conversation will kind of help us take it deeper and also kind of challenge us as leaders in the way we present the gospel, the way we teach the gospel, the way the gospel interweaves into everything that we do and say in our preaching and teaching. So, johnny, kick us off, you know, just in this conversation when you're thinking about gospel fluency. What are some of the conversations you're having with your youth pastors, what are some of the topics that you guys have been challenging one another on. Just kind of break it down for us and help us jump into the conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. And so you know I, one of the things I did as a youth pastor, you know I would always have my teaching calendar right. It would be I'd get to the end of the year and I knew exactly what I wanted to share on, based on like what month it was right, Like January, new beginnings, February, relationships. You know we would do always do mission synthesis in March. April was our wild card, May we would do things like who do you want to be? Who's God calling you to be?
Speaker 1:Life and purpose, because students were graduating, you know, we would develop this framework based on where students were at, or we would even let students contribute to. Well, here are the topics that we want to talk about and things like that, and I think all of that is really good. Like we want to be intentional about what we're teaching on, so that it hits students, like where they're at and what they're going through and what they're experiencing, and so I think a lot of times we view the gospel as so basic that it's not worth teaching on. Yeah, you know what I mean? No, I do. I say that and I almost feel sacrilegious saying that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Like, ooh, I'm dodging that bull, you know. But I think that's how a lot of times I knew my mindset would go as a youth pastor. I would get so fixated on maybe like the topic or the hot topic combined with all the programming that we were trying to do to try to get kids into our youth group, that I would often view this idea of the gospel as something that well they're in church Everyone already knows this I did as a youth pastor, 100%.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm not proud of myself for being able to admit that, but like I viewed the gospel as like, oh yeah, that's at the end of my message, right before I give the altar call, and I mentioned that Jesus died on the cross. Boom, did it? Yeah, or?
Speaker 2:it doesn't always even fit the diagnosis of what you think is wrong in your current youth ministry and current youth ministry, and so it's like well, it's not going to address the things that I think either students are really going through or what students really need right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's only applicable to salvation. Again, that sounds blasphemous saying that. No, but that's why we're having this conversation. So, Johnny, back to you. Take us deeper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know. So what I'm wanting you know, so what I want students to understand and what I want youth pastors to understand is that, listen, the gospel is not just about how you're going to end your message, not, you know, I always want to make sure someone gets saved, but it's this idea we operate from the base camp of the gospel that the good news is that man, that God so loves us that he sent his son for us, not that just that we would believe, but that we would go and so really helping the students understand like man. There is so much more that if you would get down to, maybe like the root, so it's not just that, it's basic, it's that it's the root of what's going on is that you haven't fully really understand or understood what the gospel means and how it affects your life. You know and it's not just like a cute saying or you know the one Bible verse that everyone knows, like John 3, 16. You can hear me kind of quoting it when I said it earlier. You know, it's so much more than that. It's understanding that man.
Speaker 1:This isn't just, I think. I think Jared Berry said it where he said the gospel is it's good news. It's not good advice, you know. It's something that we that we really like live our life on Like when, like when I truly understand what God has done for me, man, it permeates into every aspect of my life, right, like man, I wanna live a pure life, I wanna have pure relationships. Why? Because God demonstrated that what a pure relationship looks like. God demonstrated what love was for me, and so I think really just helping students and leaders understand, like man, everything that we do permeates from that, from the idea of the gospel and what God has done for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think this is something that like everybody on paper is like absolutely I agree, like why wouldn't I?
Speaker 1:I hope so, right. Yeah, I hope so too I hope so too.
Speaker 2:So I think, where it can get like missed again I'm in youth ministry now I think it just gets missed in the actual practical application of like what does it mean for that to truly be like the epicenter of everything? So when I'm thinking about what I should be preaching, like I think you know. So when I'm thinking about what I should be preaching, like I think you know, like how do I practically now say, okay, everything needs to have this foundation of the gospel Again, not a groundbreaking thought, but it is easy to miss that. Why do you think it's easy to miss that in particular? And what's the practical solution that you would give to a youth pastor?
Speaker 1:You're probably just giving it to youth pastors now, obviously as the new idea of Georgia. So, yeah, I'd love to hear from you, so yeah, so I think it's helping them understand the idea of that what they have been experiencing, what they experience in everyday life, is not the same as the message of the gospel, and here's what I mean by that. Everything that they do is works-based, right, they're getting graded on everything, yeah, right, like they're getting there, you know, obviously, school, uh, uh, work things with parents, like they're. They view, uh, they view everything through this lens of achievement, right, if I achieve enough, then that is where, that's where I'm going to have the most success or I'm going to gain the most Right. And so I think oftentimes we that that is, we don't understand that that's actually, uh, that's a mindset that's contrary to the gospel, right, uh, that that the the gospel says no, it's not about how much you can achieve to get to God, uh, but instead it's recognizing that God wants to bring everything to you, like God wants to bring himself to you.
Speaker 1:And so I think we see it and when we understand the way this connects with, like, biblical truth, right, like I mean, we see it like all throughout the Old Testament, right, that people were keeping God at a distance.
Speaker 1:It was like God was too big, god was too scary Moses, you go talk to him, right?
Speaker 1:We don't want anything of that noise. And so, as you go through the Old Testament, god is constantly trying to connect with his people and he's doing it through people, because we were wanting to keep God at a distance. And so what I love is that I think that you know God finally says enough is enough and he sends his son to be Emmanuel God with us, because there was never anything that we could do that was going to achieve enough to get to him. But recognizing that like hey, he's going to send himself to us, and so helping students really begin to understand, like we understand, this life that you're living in right now. Like you will get graded, you will get judged on what you achieve. That is not the same as the kingdom of God. But then instead, god is sending himself. Like you will continuously fall short if you put it on your own shoulders, but instead, if you recognize, like hey, it's about me surrendering everything because he has given himself to me.
Speaker 3:And that's not only counter-cultural. Like you know, jesus flips the script or the gospel flips the script. That's not only like counter to our culture. Like you're graded and as a student, you're graded on your job performance. You know, and in some cases, you're graded by your performance at home as well. You know all these different areas, but this is one of the central differences between Christianity and every other religion in the world Right.
Speaker 3:Because every other religion is some form of works-based salvation or works-based righteousness that you and I earn, and this is a primary difference between Christianity and that which is no. No, this is not about you achieving. This is about what you can receive or God has already provided for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think probably even the fear I've had at times is like, am I preaching works-based messages and I think it was Jared Berry, I think, who talked about it where we're talking about behavior modification, am I just preaching that I would get fruit and students to adjust that, but not actually truly recognizing the need inside, which is I never. Never can I earn enough, you know, like my righteousness is rags before the Lord, like even the best of what I can give isn't enough because it's only Jesus who can qualify me. So have I been preaching, you know, works-based messages that are potentially unintentionally and with, hopefully, godly wisdom behind them, but potentially preaching in a way that might not actually be gospel-centered?
Speaker 1:Well, and I think too, like there's nothing wrong with works, right, like works and faith have to be paired together. Like we know that, right, that faith without works is dead. You, we, we know that, right, that, um, that, uh, that faith without works is dead. You know, like, we demonstrate our faith, but it's, it's, we don't.
Speaker 1:Um, how does Paul say it? He says, like I don't, I don't find myself worthy, uh, by by anything else but my measure of faith. And he says, like that in Romans 12, like I look at you know, I don't. I don't look at myself, I don't think of myself greater than I should, but instead I find my, my fullness, like I find who I am, based on my ability to trust God and and and really walk with him. And so I think you know, a lot of times, when we talk about things like you know you're, you're not going to be good enough, uh, it can.
Speaker 1:It can with with the culture that we live in right now, it can really cause us to, it calls students to like slip into almost like a depression, while I'm just never going to be good enough, uh, you know no, but that's, that's, uh, it's a realization that he is more than enough, and that God knew that that listen, in a, in a fallen world, you, you will only be able to go so far, and so he needed to come, he needed to arrive, and so there's nothing wrong with encouraging students and spurring students onto good deeds, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, we need to have those things paired, like the world will know who you are by your fruit and the things that you're doing for the Lord, but those aren't the things that are going to grant you access to his presence. The thing that grants you access right is when we surrender everything to the Lord and we say Lord, I believe you are who you say you are, and I know that you came and you died for me, and I know that I get to be reconnected with you, god, because of what Jesus has done.
Speaker 3:Well, caleb, you mentioned a moment ago like the one of the big differences in our preaching is preaching when we're gospel fluent and we're focused on, on applying, you know, the good news of the gospel to every area of our life. That's what we've used the phrase like, that's root-based preaching, right, rather than fruit-based, you know, which is which tends to lean more towards behavior modification. So I see something in the fruit, in the behavior of my students. I want to address it. Cool, let's cook up a little topical sermon series and let's go after that and let's get them to modify. You know what they're doing and what we're talking about. The gospel fluency is when you apply the gospel to the root. It affects everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've heard someone say it like this where it's like okay, there's flies around trash.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we're just killing the flies, but the trash is still there and you got to take out the trash for it to be dealt with, you know. So it's like okay.
Speaker 2:So that's actually where I want to go is, like you know, johnny, like how, for a youth pastor who's like man, I want to change the way I'm preaching, like get real, real practical, like coaching hat on, like what did you say how should our messages change? Because obviously you're saying we shouldn't just abandon, you know, everything else outside of that, like we shouldn't abandon the relationship series or stuff like that, but how should our preaching fundamentally change? Yeah, what do you tell youth pastors who are asking that question?
Speaker 1:uh, yeah, what, what do you tell youth pastors who are asking that question? Yeah, so, I think you know the, the. The big part of the gospel, I feel like, is, uh, this dependency, right, where we're saying like, listen, um, we, we are, uh, we are looking to accomplish these things that you know. Students want to live, live a a pure life, or students want to have, uh like, healthy relationships. Well, we have to go to who demonstrated that for us, right, like it's, it's this really I, I I'm often reminded, right, that I would constantly strive, like I would come up with all of the steps myself to say, like, if I was good, if I was struggling with something, okay, here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do A, b and C and that's gonna, that's gonna help me do better, that's gonna help me be better, and, and there's nothing wrong with having a plan, but I think oftentimes it's, it's this idea that we can really leave, leave Jesus out of it, yeah, and and and, not recognizing like, hey, we need his help, there is a dependency that is absolutely necessary and he will be the one to give you strength, right, like, if you're needing wisdom, like you have to, you need to go to him for wisdom. You need to ask him for wisdom, not, you know? And I would even say this as a youth pastor you know, like man, I'm going to be led by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to preach with conviction, but at the same time, I'm going to encourage my students like, hey, are you getting in this yourself? Right, like, are you, are you really digging into this? Or are you just listening to me every single week? To me every single week? Right Like, you can't be dependent on me, because if I give my life, it doesn't amount to the same thing as what God has given when Jesus gave his life. So, really, the steps that I'm encouraging our youth pastors to take is to say listen, we need our students to claim ownership of their salvation and their relationship with Jesus. Right Like, you gotta move away from. Well, when you ask someone about do you have a relationship with Jesus? Well, my mom goes to church, or I go to church, and so and it's where it becomes all about the attendance node like, but do you know him? Do you know Jesus? Do you have a relationship with him? Do you know Jesus? Do you have a relationship with him? Like, do you spend time in the word for yourself. Are you getting, you know, 20 minutes of a message and hoping that that's enough to fill your tank as you go through the rest of your week? And so you know, I think there's.
Speaker 1:There's this I always try to tell, like our students, whenever we're we're getting into the words or say, like, listen, like, we all love the idea of salvation. Salvation, it sounds really good. Who doesn't wanna be saved? Right? Like who doesn't wanna just spend an eternity in heaven? Right. But then this idea of like, well, jesus will be your savior, but will he also be your Lord? Right? Because if he's your savior, that's great man. I get my get out of hell free card and I'm ready to go, like, let's do this thing. But is he really your Lord? To where you're listening to, you're getting in the word, you're listening to his voice and you're walking out that relationship with him. I think the idea of ownership is something that's gonna be so vital for these students as they're walking out of their faith.
Speaker 3:Save me, but don't change me.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, I think.
Speaker 3:I heard kind of a crazy analogy but Dallas Willard said we become vampire Christians. We want the blood but we don't want the power that comes along with it.
Speaker 3:Whoa what? I've never heard that. I was like it's kind of a crazy illustration. That's awesome, but yeah, it's like it's kind of I guess that's kind of crazy, but but yeah, it's like. It's like give me the blood, cause I won salvation, but I don't, I don't want to. I don't want it to be applied in a way to the like the idols of my heart that are going to bring about transformation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think that's where I'm just speaking of my for myself now, as a youth pastor, my understanding of the gospel was limited to it. For myself now, as a youth pastor, my understanding of the gospel was limited to it's just the moment of salvation that we're talking about, which obviously Jesus provided through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. But when we talk about the gospel, that's what it is. It's just there.
Speaker 3:And I think what you're driving at, johnny, with your youth pastors, and what I've even had to kind of evolve and grow in my own theological understanding was like no, no, the gospel applies not just to the moment I receive salvation and forgiveness of my sins, but it applies to the whole process of me being sanctified and becoming more Christ-like right. And that's what you're. I hear you saying that when you say is Jesus just your Savior or is he also your Lord? Because lordship is an issue of sanctification, salvation. You know, savior is an issue of salvation and that's instantaneous gift, right? But lordship is like I'm going to spend the rest of my life, you know, fighting for this thing right here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think this is pinpointing something I felt too, where it's like moving students from the seeing salvation is just a moment that happens and it's done to. It's actually the start, it's day one of the entire process, the entire journey, and I love what you're saying of like moving them into a place of spiritual ownership and even spiritual independence, of like it could we be preaching that they are just so dependent on me and what I can feed them that I just have a bunch of spiritual babies that are like my three-month-old son who just like can't do anything other than like has to come to mom to get his food. It's like, how do I, how do I move them into? How do I, how do I change my preaching to be that getting into a place where they're a little more spiritually independent?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think too. I think anytime. If we're, if we're talking about things like salvation and we're talking about the idea of understanding the gospel, we have to understand the mission. Like you are, like you. When you, when you surrender your life to Jesus, he immediately puts you on mission. Right Like this. This, the gospel that has changed your life, is meant to go like hello it's the first two letters in gospel. Like you, like you, gotta like.
Speaker 1:I mean like go is literally in there, man, like, like you, like you, you've gotta, you've gotta take that and you have to. I mean, we need our, we need our students to be on mission. And so I think it for youth pastors, it's a and it's an exciting thing when you don't just have students who are just like, oh, that was a great message, oh, I really felt something you know to now, like they're coming to you and they're like what do I do? Yeah, you know what I mean. Like that is the next step in this journey of the gospel is the sharing of it. Sharing of it is the, the, uh, that's the. That next part in ownership is that man like you finally get to live out this purpose and this call that God has had for for your life from the very beginning. Like man, you, you were, you were, you were dead and now you're alive, like, let's get to this, like, let's, let's get into the, into the mission. So I think for youth pastors, man, we gotta be ready to have that, that next step and I'm not just talking baptism, which is obviously, you know, the next step in the, in the journey. You know, uh, but I mean really just, man, can you, can you have a, uh, like a, a roadmap for mission, like when, when a student, and when a student gives their life to Jesus, like to where you're, you're, uh, you're able to disciple them so that they can, in turn, share what you have just been pouring into them. And so that's really my heart for our youth pastor and really for our students here in Georgia has been man, can you really not just own this, but can you give it? Like, can you share it? Has it impacted your life enough that you would say how do I keep this to myself? Right, like, can you walk out the mission? Because you know, uh, I I shared this when we were talking, uh, before, before we started.
Speaker 1:You know, uh, man, our camps have been blown up. It is, uh, it's been absolutely awesome, like when, when Aaron came, uh, we had just moved into four weeks of camp and, uh, aaron spoke at our fourth week, uh, that that following year we had to add a fifth week. So we're currently in five weeks of camp, uh, 2,200 students and leaders coming through our, uh, our camps this year, which is, uh, just absolutely incredible. And you know, we, we, we try to.
Speaker 1:You know, look at some of these stats and it's uh, you know, uh, it's not always about the numbers, but numbers are still an indicator and so it's good to look at them. And so you know, we saw, you know I think our number was somewhere in the room of like 750 to 800 students rededicating their lives to Jesus, which is absolutely incredible. We saw over 300 students baptized in the Holy Spirit. Over 300 students say that the Lord was calling them into full time ministry. Let's go. And so I mean we look at all that. I mean we were celebrating it and we were so excited about it. And then we looked at our salvation number, like first time salvation, and it was 70, which I mean we celebrated. I mean that's 70 souls in the kingdom. That is nothing to you know, turn your nose up at or anything like that, but the numbers told a story for us and it was that man.
Speaker 1:We're doing a really good job of reaching church kids with camp, and that's again, it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1:But I think, really understanding like guys, like if you are saying God is calling you and if you're saying that God is filling you with the Holy Spirit so that you could go be a witness man, then you have to be so overwhelmed by the message of the gospel that you can't help but share it.
Speaker 1:And so, like we're trying to convince youth pastors and students, like saying, like hey, like man, utilize what really is a life-changing week for so many students, right, I mean, you know, to utilize this. It's like man, if you can get someone, not just like a friend student that you're trying to bring back yes, we want them, but can you get your student to say, man, if I can get my friend here, like, I know what it did for me and I know what the gospel means to me, so I'm going to do everything I can to bring this person who I know doesn't have a relationship with Jesus, to get them to have an encounter with him. And that's what the gospel, I feel like, should do. It should overwhelm us to the point where we're like man, I've got to share this with somebody.
Speaker 3:Well, and you're talking about like. So the fruit looks different when you and I are preaching gospel fluency, right. So like behavior modification, the fruit of that is what students stop doing or try to stop doing right Versus gospel fluency, and the fruit of that is oftentimes seen in what do we start doing? Start doing, and that's what I hear you saying. I want to see the fruit of gospel fluent students who not only are disciples themselves, but they become reproducing disciples, because a natural byproduct or the natural fruit of a healthy gospel fluent root Ooh Wow, drop a healthy gospel fluent root Ooh Wow, Put a little drop a little beat behind that the natural fruit of a gospel fluent root is is a producing disciple.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, like you should. You should see that produced. What are what are so? On that thought then, johnny Caleb, what are some other? What would you say are some signs in the life of students that gospel fluency is taking root in their life?
Speaker 1:So, you know, I think one of the things that we've even seen in our district, we have seen this increase of students on mission, especially through things like Youth Alive, and if you know, youth Alive it's basically it's a training apparatus for students to share Jesus with their friends.
Speaker 1:We've seen students who man just become so fired up about seeing their friends come to know Jesus, and we're seeing these little small town high schools of students that are reaching I mean, I'm talking like 200 students saved this year on a high school campus in Manchester, georgia, like it's things that are just blowing my mind right now and it's, but I mean we're.
Speaker 1:I think part of this, of the things that we're wanting to see, is, is man just this apathy beginning to just fall off of students? Cause I mean, I think, if you look at this generation right now, right, they have such this huge capacity for love and for caring for others, for compassion, and I think oftentimes what the world does is that it twists it to its own culture. And so, you know, I think what the gospel does, and when students really get ahold of the gospel, is that this love and compassion is directed in the way that says like man, I've learned what real love looks like. I've experienced the purest love that comes through what Jesus has done for me and man I'm going to, I won't quit. There's this one kid man who I've had a couple of meetings with him and I mean he is just so part of me. He's like I will not stop until my entire school is reached.
Speaker 1:And I'm just I'm like dude man, I was just trying to like pass like senior English, Like you know what I'm saying, Like I just I wasn't just like and not just because I'm Puerto Rican like like I honestly like I just that just wasn't in my brain, like I was so busy as a teenager just trying to make my parents happy and just trying to, you know, not get into trouble that I never really that switch and even though I was in youth group, I was, you know, I was, I grew up in church as a teenager but that switch never really flipped in my head of like man, this is my mission field. I truly believe that what God has done in my life is so that I can reach those that are around me and I think that's like that's where we're seeing is that the mindset of students is just kind of like opening up, their vision is expanding, yeah, because of what's happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you nailed it right on the head Like telltale sign is man, am I going out and doing something about what I've just heard? Yeah, and I think I was similar to you, Johnny. I grew up in church and I grew up as a Christian, but those things didn't hit me. Yeah, in high school my concern was probably what girl do I want to be with right now?
Speaker 1:Who do I think is trying to raise up a little bit?
Speaker 2:But that didn't hit me until probably when I was in college. And I'm like how do I get students to begin to grasp that now of like, oh my goodness, I am so broken and Jesus is so good. And like I have this crazy love now for God. And it's like how do I get students to catch that at an early stage? Because the more you know how good Jesus is, the harder it is to not just be like everyone needs to know about this, because people are stuck and hurting and broken and lost, and like that's actually my friends in high school, that's my neighbors, that's my coworkers, and so it really is like how can I get you to have that true encounter with not just a hype moment or an emotional experience or even good advice, but how do I get you to encounter what the gospel truly does, which is it makes you realize just how good Jesus is to us?
Speaker 2:It's a transformation of our heart.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's the renewing of the mind. Yeah, I think Keller, Jim Keller said something like we become what we behold.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, and that's, you know, that's when the gospel begins to grab our heart and transform us. You know, then, then we become, then we, we start that process of becoming, you know, more like Christ and then in, in the process of that, the idols of our heart, that which is held us captive, you know, those things tend to not tend, they, they get destroyed, you know, by by the root of the gospel. You know, in our life, you know which is.
Speaker 1:And I love. I think what I, what I'm constantly trying to get students to understand, is the idea of demonstration Right, I love. You know Romans, where it says that God demonstrates his love for us, come on, and that while we were sinners, christ died. And I think I'm always blown away by it because I'm like God didn't have to demonstrate it, he's God. He could have just played the authority card and just said I'm God.
Speaker 1:God didn't have to demonstrate it, he's God. He could have. Just, he could have just played the authority card and just said I'm God, love one another, do it, you know, and and and that's just trying to. But instead he chose to put it on display, he chose to demonstrate it for us. And so I think this, this idea of like man, what are the signs of a student really grabbing a hold of gospel? Fluency? Is the demonstration? Yeah, is that we're saying like man? They've seen and experienced what true love really is in the fact that, while before they ever made a decision to follow Jesus, before they ever got their act together or they started behaving right, jesus died for them.
Speaker 3:And so he gave his life, he demonstrated. So take us practical. Just, you know the last couple of minutes we have here with you, johnny, take us practical. You mentioned earlier that when you were youth pastoring you had you know you'd always have an annual calendar, like a preaching calendar, and different themes that you'd hit in different months. Knowing what you know now, how would you tweak that if you were youth pastoring again? I'm assuming you probably would not say, oh, I would throw away an annual teaching plan. You probably would still do that. But how would you tweak that preaching plan to increase gospel fluency in your preaching and teaching and therefore hopefully in your students as well?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you know, I think you know one thing that I'm trying, that I would try to do, is again give, give your, giving my students a mission, right, like after you know if I'm, if I'm teaching on on something, like, let's say, you know I'm teaching on relationships, then I'm giving them this practical step of man. This is how the gospel is demonstrated through healthy relationships. So this week, you know, do something today, like demonstrate a form of compassion for someone or someone. You know, if we're talking about things like God's will for your life, you know I'm connecting it back to okay, well, why did Jesus come? What was God's will for him? You know he said, not my will, but yours be done. So that was. He accomplished that mission.
Speaker 1:Again connecting it back to the gospel and saying what can you trust, god? What can you set to the side, even though this is your own desire and this is what you want, right? What can you set aside and say, Lord, this may be what I want, but not my will, but yours be done. Like I'm, I'm constantly like carrying it back to to mission. I think I got so locked in to the result of the numbers, like, well, how many kids came to the altar how many kids? But instead of really focusing on that after effect like what, what kind of uh next step can I give to my students after that, after that message, and then bring it back and give them an opportunity to talk about it, that that next week, like I wish I would have done more in the next steps and follow up than just in the uh in the result of the night, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:Are there? Are there any topics you can think of this? This might be a weird question, but, like looking through the lens of gospel fluency, like you're looking now, are there any topics that you used to preach about as a youth pastor, that you would now preach in a very different way? Yeah, like I said, I knew it was a weird question, but I feel like I don't know. I feel like it also might be an enlightening question too, because I think that, like if I sat down with that question and did like some mental homework you know, and I know I was a youth pastor a long, long time ago I'm a very old person before computers.
Speaker 3:If I went back through my scrolls that I that I wrote but I'm I'm pretty sure that, like there probably are some ways that I approach certain topics that, uh, I would probably through the framework of gospel fluency, I would probably hit them very differently. I don't know, Might just be a good question to think about, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and I do, and I think you know I hope it's not too repetitive, but I think, again, I go back to this idea of the mission, yeah, of mission, to this idea of the mission of mission. Like you know, I'm saying like, hey, like this is this call this? Even like going to things like the Great Commission and how he's called all of us to go and he's called all of us to make disciples and call all of us to teach others about what he has taught to us. I think I would, I think even in some of the topics, like I was trying to go through like my Rolodex of like different topics that I would do, like you know, we would do like evangelism in the fall, and so that's an easy one, you know, like, how do we? What's the next step on mission there?
Speaker 1:And I, but I think you know, the main thing that I go back to every single time is man. How can I get a student on on the mission of sharing the gospel? So, even if, even if we're talking about a thing like, uh, like, relationships, like, or if I'm talking about, uh, even if I'm talking about, you know, one of the one of the, the sermon series that we had the most attended, uh was when I did a rapture series, when I did a series on the end times and I was like man, students freak me out, like I don't like, like why is this the one that they were that they're so interested in? You know. But again, just going back to you, man, like every I feel, like every message or every series that I would do, I would get students on the, on the mission of man, who are you reaching Like? Who are you reaching Like? Who are you reaching Like?
Speaker 1:Even when we're talking about you know the end times. The main thing would be you know, but are you ready? Do you have a good, do you have a right relationship with Jesus? Like you're trying to figure out all the different details. Are you pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib? You know all those different things, but are you ready? And are your friends ready? Have you talked to a friend of yours, you know, who have you shared the gospel with? Who have you talked to with about Jesus so that they can be ready?
Speaker 2:Does that make sense, like I just like.
Speaker 1:I feel like that. Those would be the routes that I would take, and I just I do. That was just never so, man, I was just trying to throw together a good message that would produce a good result in that one service, you know, and so I think that's. But the more that I would get students on mission, the more that we would see our youth group grow, because this, like we said earlier, they owned it, they believed it, and then they would share it, and it would it's, and that's where it becomes really life-changing for so many of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Love it. Yeah, so good.
Speaker 2:Heck. Yeah, well, dude, thanks for being on the podcast. This is awesome yeah.
Speaker 3:Great conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, again, I love that we get to just go deep on one of the vitals, because everything is so nuanced and we talk about, like the framework of this Yep. When you dive into the deep topics of what goes on, it really is, you get into the gray area. So thanks for bringing some clarity to some of the gray Absolutely, and hopefully a lot of youth pastors, youth leaders, whether you're full-time, bivocational, this has just been a really healthy conversation.
Speaker 3:To help give you a framework, and I encourage you to jump on the Lead the Generation website. Go to the Biblical Truth Vital. There's multiple videos and different voices. We mentioned Jared Berry a couple times. He's in some of those videos talking about gospel fluency, kind of breaking down some things both practically and theologically. And then I'd also say, if you again go to the—I have no problem talking about our resources now because they're all free. So if you go to our resource page on our website, there's over 50 different sermon series made available by youth pastors across the country and there's just great series there on the gospel, you know, and series that just focus on that, and so that will.
Speaker 3:I think that can help you as a communicator too, especially if you're a youth pastor, youth leader listening. You can sharpen your skills as a communicator by listening to or reading the sermons that others have read and some of you might use for yourself and some of you will rewrite and make your own. That's all great, but that's how we sharpen one another. So, johnny, thanks so much. How can people find you? Someone's listening today. They want to connect with you, throw you a message, whatever. Where are you at?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, johnny F Mendoza on to. I'll drop this bomb. My middle name is Felix, so, yeah, uh, so yeah, johnny F Mendoza on, uh, on, like Instagram and stuff. Um, we, you know, because of uh, of lead the generation and vitals, we were able to launch I mentioned this earlier our, our youth ministry resourcing called gym class Uh, and so we, too, started a podcast, uh, just talking about various aspects of of youth ministry, of things that we do here in Georgia. This is actually the set uh, right here behind me and so, um, so yeah, so you can find us gym class podcast on Instagram, uh, and uh, spotify as well. So, and uh, thank you so much, guys for having me. Uh, man, I just really, really appreciate it. You guys are doing an amazing job, excited about what God's doing through you.
Speaker 3:I love that you got Baby Yoda on the set. We got Baby Coda on the set here. Oh, here he comes, aaron's dropping bars.
Speaker 1:I was literally about to say that man, the bars are out of control. Yeah, what's?
Speaker 3:happening. I don't know. You know, like we're recording on a Thursday, we usually record on Mondays. Maybe we need to switch or something, I don't know. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thursdays usually when you record your mixes. Right, that's what it is, that's what it is.
Speaker 3:No, it's been great, Johnny. Thank you, Caleb. As always, an honor to co-host with you. Those of you that are with us, you love the Lead the Gen fam. Make sure you share, make sure you like, subscribe all that good stuff on YouTube or whatever podcast platform that you're listening on and give us a review. That'll help us as we're kind of spreading the word about all this. And thanks for joining us for vitals for youth mystery podcasts. Can't wait to see you on one of our future episodes. Thanks for joining us.
