Episode 3: Dr. Schettler

Dr. Jim Schettler joins Cultural Connections for an honest, hope-filled conversation about the spiritual temperature of today’s young people. With 48 years of ministry experience preaching in churches, youth camps, and colleges across the country, Dr. Schettler shares what he’s seeing firsthand: this generation is more receptive to the Gospel and hungrier for authentic Christianity than ever before. Yet many lack the grit and perseverance to stand when opposition hits.

The conversation dives into why passion alone isn’t enough, the crucial role of one-on-one mentoring, how COVID helped kill the “megachurch mentality,” and why relational discipleship beats video teaching. Marie shares how Dr. Schettler’s VHS Bible classes and her youth pastor’s investment changed her life, and the hosts explore practical ways parents, pastors, and leaders can build real relationships with teens.

Key topics include:  
• The surprising spiritual hunger among Gen Z  
• Building courage and grit in a hostile culture  
• Why young people want to ask hard questions without judgment  
• The collapse of humanistic worldviews and the hope found only in Christ  

A must-listen for pastors, youth workers, parents, and anyone who cares about the next generation.  

- EquipMinistry.org (mental wellness & blueprints for the home video series with study guides)  
- Email: jim.schettler@wcbc.edu  
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Chapter List

**0:00** – Introduction & Welcome  
**0:47** – Marie’s Story: How Dr. Shetler’s VHS Bible Classes Changed Her Life  
**1:39** – The State of Young People Today  
**2:07** – Passionate but Lacking Grit: What Dr. Shetler Sees at Camps  
**4:15** – Why This Generation Struggles with Resilience & Adversity  
**5:32** – Courage in a Hostile Culture & the Threat of Persecution  
**7:18** – The Charlie Kirk Assassination & Its Message to Young Believers  
**8:09** – From Passion to Lasting Zeal: The Power of One-on-One Mentoring  
**11:47** – COVID, the End of Megachurch Mentality & Return to Relational Ministry  
**12:50** – Marie’s Personal Mentorship Testimony (Broken Home to Calling)  
**15:06** – What Teenagers Really Want Us to Know  
**18:01** – The Collapse of Humanism & the Only Real Hope in Christ  
**20:30** – Final Thoughts + Where to Find Dr. Shetler’s Resources  
**22:15** – Outro

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:22

Welcome to this episode of Cultural Connections. And Marie and I are joined by a hero of ours. Dr. Jim Shetler is with us today. Thank you so much for taking the time to have this conversation. And uh this is a real honor for us. And uh Marie has kind of been affiliated with your ministry from I don't want to date you, but don't date me, but you were doing school on VHS and on DVDs.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

It was a VHO, so that does date me a little bit. So I went to a small Christian school and you were one of the Bible teachers. And so honestly, just so much Bible doctrine I soaked up from you and really just living the Christian life. Yeah. You taught me principles on how to date. And thank you, by the way.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

I was just gonna say, did you why you didn't know?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

I did. I tell you why I'm with them. And one of the things I was just telling my kids that you taught us is you never drive around aimlessly. So when you're on a date, you you have a purpose and you you have place to place to go. And so something I just told them today from you.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yeah, you know what? When we did those videos, I always wondered, like, is anyone ever gonna watch these things? And it's just been amazing to wherever I've gone, I see, hey, I was one of your students. So it really has been rewarding. And Marie, praise the Lord for you know what God's done in your life as well.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Amen. Well, I think that's a pretty good segue into what we want to talk about today. Uh, you are traveling this country. Uh obviously you're still involved in higher education, but you're preaching in a lot of churches, you're doing youth camps throughout the summer. Uh, tell us, maybe believers or non-believers alike, we kind of watch the news and we may have a perspective on where this country is, where this generation is. Can you paint a picture of what does it really look like out there?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah. Well, you know, obviously it's still going to be very subjective, my view. But um, I have been in ministry for 48 years, and I really don't just say this as a cliche or as a tag statement. In my 40 years, 48 years of preaching, I've never seen young people more receptive, more responsive to God's word than they are right now. There is a hunger for truth, there is a desire for authentic Christianity and a reality that I've never seen in young people before. Now, with that, we're seeing a great igniting of passion. This generation of young people are passionate and they're very passionate for God. Now, to be perfectly honest, so I go to a camp, I'm there five, six days, and I preach two to three times a day. All right. So we're seeing response on I've never seen response like that. However, you follow that up, you talk to the youth pastors down the road, you know, and you say, hey, we had we had just a touch of God at that camp. You know, how do they do it? Well, Brother Settler, they they that ignited a passion, but I don't know if they've had zeal that's carried those decisions through. And I'll be perfectly honest, this generation of young people don't seem to have the commitment, and I'm gonna use a word grit. They they, as soon as there's a little bit of opposition or adversity, they seem to wilt pretty quick. They've got this great desire and this passion, and they really want relationships, but things come in their life and they they fall away quickly. So we have noticed that too.

SPEAKER_05 4:14

So we could probably talk about the institutional implications of grit is probably somewhat created in the home.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:22

And maybe grit is also established in the church. Is there a lack of stability in their lives that might be feeding into that lack of grit? Or is it expectation? Do we just not expect kids today to be as resilient as they used to be?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Well, I think we've made it very easy for them. I think we've insulated them and isolated them to such an extent, we don't want our children to fail. We don't want our teens and our youth group to fail. So we build them up so much for success that when they finally face life in adversity, they struggle. What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

I was I was gonna say experience. I feel like maybe they're lacking in some experience, some some strengthening event that really just causes them to have this grit. Yeah. Like I but I don't know what it is exactly, but that's exactly how you're saying it's as if they've been so insulated that they haven't really experienced adversity as much to build up that grit that we're hoping to see. Because that is what will sustain you when it comes. Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

You talked about courage earlier today here at the church. And I do find it interesting and a concern I have is I don't I don't think I'm older, but I I can't say I'm younger anymore. I'm married to a younger wife, but I'm I I I don't consider myself young anymore. What if what if the battle, I mean, what if World War III breaks out? Do do we as a country do we have that grit to follow through? Like there are huge implications for what really you just said.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Well, whether it's gonna be World War III or whether it's gonna be persecution to Christians, which we are already beginning to see uh with the Charlie Kirk and things like that, um, will these young people stand? And and you know what, I don't know for sure. If I'm if I'm you know, for me to sit here and go like, yeah, this is what's gonna happen, I wouldn't have a clue. But I am gonna tell you, they're gonna be tested on this. And we we did. The definition of courage that we gave today was the strength to do what is right when wrong is pervasive, persuasive, and persistent. When wrong is all over your culture, will you do what is right? Now we are seeing some young people take some stands in their public schools and in their colleges. Yeah. We're seeing young people starting to take a stand.

SPEAKER_05 6:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

And I'm I am very excited about that because that will build the grip.

SPEAKER_05 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

But I also see a lot of young people that they they don't want to be on the sideline, but as soon as they get on the court, it's like, oh, this is harder than I thought, you know, type of thing. So I I don't know. And let me go sit back on the bench. So I'm saying, what are you know, any thoughts?

SPEAKER_05 7:18

You mentioned Charlie Kirk. Yeah. I think that was a hugely pivotal moment in our country. And it took me a few weeks to figure out. He was, I think the point of the Charlie Kirk assassination was he was making a difference. And he was making a difference in the jaws of this mechanism of liberalism and and really the satanic oppression of our country. He was going to our schools, yeah, in into our high schools, into our colleges, and I think he was poking holes in the darkness, as Lee Robertson would say. But I think young people saw that. They wanted this, you mentioned passion and zeal. They they want to be in the game, they want to be involved, and then the powers of darkness come back in. They try to commandeer and distract. So, where can these young people, where can they place themselves and make that difference?

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm gonna tell you first of all, especially you two in the ministries that you have. I think it's one thing to sit at a podcast and talk about all these things. But now, how how are we gonna help them go from passion to zeal that they're gonna they're gonna continue? I think one thing, we're gonna have to mentor, we're gonna have to get into the lives of these young people one-on-one. And I think we're gonna have to uh well we say this word disciple, which is a great word. Followers of Christ. I think followers of Christ, if we're gonna build them, is gonna be more, no offense, more than VHS tapes. You know, I'm glad that you were. But by the way, Maureen, that is really interesting. In your generation, you could watch a video on VHS and it impacted your life. You have told me three times this weekend how my Bible doctrines class has impacted your life. And I'm and I'm thinking, like, how in the world watching some videos. But you know what? Your generation was impacted that way. That is not happening now. Yeah, they're not gonna watch a video and their lives change. So we're gonna have to start. Um, you know, Paul said to Timothy that you commit this to faithful men. What I have taught you, what I have given you, you need to get that into faithful men and to come alongside. And Pastor, I think that in the years to come, I know you've mentioned some things about your internship program that you're very that is the type of ministries that are going to make an impact. I drove over here with Caleb and he couldn't say enough good about your internship program and what it's done for him. I think that is exactly where we live right now. I think it's not gonna be videos in the future that's gonna affect the next generation. I think it's gonna be the interns and the and the mentoring that you do one-on-one. You know, and and and just to mention about the mentoring. I think sometimes if someone's watching and they say, Well, I'm not a pastor or whatever, you know, take some of these young people with you wherever you go. If you go into Home Depot or whatever you're doing, just say, hey, come on with me. And then make those conversations with some depth that you're giving them. So you're not just talking about the sports and you're talking about teams. This was a really good mentoring type. I actually think this generation wants that kind of stuff. They actually don't want to talk about sports teams and their favorite Starbucks drink. I think talk to them about something spiritual. Make that little time that you took that young person or you did something, or they come over and do yard work for you at the end of the yard work. Hey, come on in, before I pay you, I want to talk to you a little bit. I want to ask you some questions. You're still on the clock, I'll pay you for this. But I want to talk to you about some things.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I I think things like that can be so rich.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

There could be golden moments. And isn't that what our Christianity was supposed to be?

SPEAKER_04 11:35

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

It it wasn't supposed to be, you know, uh, you know, some of the things that we thought. It was supposed to be one-on-one. And I think COVID did a lot for us in that.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

I think it broke some of these megachurch things, and now we've got small groups, and now we're back to what I think the church was more like in the early in the early church.

SPEAKER_05 11:57

I'm so glad you said that. That wasn't in our notes, but I think the Holy Spirit led us to that. And I want you to tell maybe your story of mentorship in just a moment. But you mentioned COVID, kind of maybe the destruction of the megachurch mentality. I I follow some guys on social media and podcasts that that got out of the rat race. They were losing their souls, gaining the world, the religious world, but losing their souls. And it does seem like we've come back full circle to uh, if I could say the rabbinical nature of the ministry of Jesus. Yeah, that's he chose those 12 men, he changed the world with small things. And if we'll recognize small things, small relationships, as you said, and I noticed that too at West Coast, young people were starving for our attention. And so your life was changed uh by mentorship. Maybe just talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah, I will I would just add to what you were saying at in even in our office. I mean, we we were sharing at the same office building, but our door was open all the time before my husband and I shared an office, and the students would just come and sit. Not not a lot of work was being done. A lot of my work had to be done at home. But they just wanted to know they could sit there and just talk. And it and it wasn't even it wasn't even anything that important, even just to bring in their lunch, they could bring in their lunch and sit on the couch. They just wanted to feel like they were a part of us. So um it's so big. But back to answer your question. So I I'm I too am from a broken home. And um my life was changed through the ministry of my youth pastor and his wife. And um Brother Tim Hopkins is in heaven now, but his wife is still alive, and now she is be she was my mentor, now she's one of my best friends. Um anyway, so they invited me into their home often. I was in their home, I was babysitting their children. If if we had to bake pies for a bake cell, she called me up. I was in the kitchen with her. And I was just soaking up everything she said and just watching her raise her children, watching her with her husband. And I had decided at an early age that's what I was gonna do with my life. I was going to make a difference with someone else, someone else who didn't know how to do life. And I was gonna be that influence. And so God called me early on to be in the ministry, and I'm I'm so thankful to where He's brought me. You know, of course I started out in education, which I love, yeah, and then moved on to counseling and then educating counselors, which I also love. So just in so many areas, God has used that, and it was and and I say that, I tell I tell Mandy and I used to tell Brother Tim, I cannot give my testimony without speaking your names.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

And so just that is an example of someone who just took me in.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

I think that is so needed today. Yeah, and um, they were very wise in what they did. Praise the Lord you received it. I think there's a lot of Marie's out there. I do, I think there is, and I do know at West Coast uh Baptist College, I do think the availability of us as faculty influences them more than anything else that were just available for them. Yeah I think that is really true.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

Rosario Budderfield wrote a famous book on uh she was a gender studies PhD at Syracuse University and a local pastor. She was uh an activist in the LGBTQ movement, she was in a lesbian relationship. Oh, I have to do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah, bed is used too much.

SPEAKER_05 15:22

And a pastor invited her into his home. I think she reports she was in his home hundreds of times, but she coined the term gospel with the house key. And I think that's what God's calling us to do is to extend ourselves daily in the temple and in every house. Yes. They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. That's really good. So we would love to stay here all day, but yeah. What do teenagers want us? Uh we're church people, we're pastors, so we'll say us as church people. What do teenagers want us to know about them?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah. Well, I think we've covered a lot. I think number one, that they they want us to know that they are interested and that they are hungry and that they are thirsty for our God. But they they want to be able to ask questions that we don't, you know, like we don't get all defensive. What's wrong with your faith? What's happening to you? You doubt that? How could you doubt that after everything you've been? That is not what they want. They want to be able to discuss, I'll tell you another word. They want to collaborate. They they want to be able to discuss and talk, and they and they want to be able without feeling like um, oh, what's wrong with your faith? They they don't that I don't know. That's probably the box of message. I'm saying the same thing over and care. You want to join there?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

And and I think you were you were hitting in the head, and I I know they use this word a lot, and I I I'm careful about using this word, but they want to be able to ask their questions without feeling like they're being judged. Yeah, that's a true. And and I know it gets overused a lot, so I try not to use that word too much, but um I think honestly that's what it is. They want to know I can ask this question, and you're not gonna think something horrible about me for asking it.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

And so, I mean, just having that place where this is this is a non-judgmental zone. There's one judge, and that's God. Go ahead and say it. Yeah, and I'll give you to the best that I can. Here's my answer on that. And then, but I want you to speak back to me. I want you to tell me what you think about that. Yeah, yeah. And you even pointed something out this morning when you were preaching and you said, I I don't remember how you said it in your notes, but the most important time I think you said is in a home. Someone else is talking. Someone else is talking. Yeah. And we need to listen. And that's really they want us to, they want to know that we are listening to them. We hear you, we're listening. I think that's so big. And that I think that's really kind of sums up the whole the the wanting to be, they want to know that you were hearing them and you're listening.

unknown 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

And you're really letting it sink in what they're saying.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

So that's good.

SPEAKER_05 18:00

To take the philosophical, maybe 30,000-foot view, uh, the Judeo-Christian, if I can use that term, biblical worldview has been greatly challenged in the last century. And humanism and man became the center of worldviews, not God. And it's actually extremely predictable that teenagers have found themselves in the situation they are today. Suicide rates, hopelessness, depression, eating disorder, self-harm are at highs because the worldview has to fall apart. But at the bottom, you know, there's certain political commentators that are very are thinkers and they became part of religions that I would severely disagree with. But why do they become that person? Because the person that reached them at the bottom of the barrel was the one who picked them up. And I believe that young people have hit that necessary predictable worldview wall. It all falls apart. Without Christ, it all falls apart. And I think the church has to be positioned to say, we are going, we're gonna reach people with the gospel, with hope, with love, with relationship. And I think that's that's where that's where my heart is, and I think that's what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah. Well, I too I I do agree with what you just said. Whether I'm hopefully I'm doing something, but but um, but I too totally agree. And you know what? When it comes to we have the answer, we have a world of victims that could be victors in Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

And uh we we need to never back down because we have the truth, and the truth is not an it, the truth is a person, and I am the way, the truth, and the life. That person is Christ.

SPEAKER_05 19:51

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

And when we pull, when we bring everything back to them finding identity in Christ, they will then get everything, that hope and everything. And I know we all we I'm talking to the choir here, but it but it is we can't ever forget that we have the answer. He is a person, and that is Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_05 20:14

Amen. Well, thank you for pointing my wife to the truth. And thanks for being our friend, and thanks for joining us for a few minutes today. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

I'm very excited about your podcast in the future.

SPEAKER_05 20:25

And in like fashion, I always give my wife the last word. Amen. Very wise.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Isn't he a wise man? I was just thinking about because I figured he was gonna say that to me, and I was really thinking about what makes you so effective. And because you've been effective for a very long time. I'm not gonna say how old I was, but it was quite a long time ago that you were so effective in my life. And I think that God has blessed you with an uncanny ability to emotionally connect with people. When you're preaching, you're so far, you were so far away, you were in a VHS. But I felt emotionally connected to you, like you understood where I was at. And so that's a gift from God. Amen. It's a gift from God, and I I'm so thankful that you have surrendered that to Him and using it for His glory.

SPEAKER_05 21:05

Amen. Where can our viewers find you? Like uh outside of an airplane and uh flying in and out of cities, uh, social media materials.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

I have a couple resources that my uh younger son uh did um with me. Uh one um they get they're both found on uh on a website. Uh it's entitled Equip Ministry, one word, equip ministry slash ORG. And on equip ministry slash ORG, um there's a couple resources. Uh one is six videos on mental wellness, depression, anger, different things. The other is on the blueprints for the home. Uh six 30 minute videos. There's a study guide for each one of them. And um that would be one way. Um I have no problems with anyone ever emailing me at gym.shatler at At wcbc.edu. And um would love to get any emails of any questions and between students and people where I've been. Yeah, I get a lot of questions and always answering emails as well.

SPEAKER_05 22:14

Awesome. Well, he's gonna preach in about 27 minutes here at Calvary Baptist Church. So we'll let you have a break. Thank you again for joining us today on the show.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Thank you, Marie.

SPEAKER_05 22:23

We'll see you next time.