Youth Ministry Presence Over Hype w/ JP Black

What actually makes a youth ministry fruitful? Bigger crowds? Flashier events? Viral moments? In this episode  Zac sits down with JP Black to wrestle honestly with those questions: presence, not popularity.

From the moment you walk into JP’s student building—covered in photos, memories, and a “Trophy Wall of Awesome”—you can feel a culture of belonging. But the real transformation didn’t come from décor. It came from a deliberate shift away from event management toward spaces where students encounter God.

JP shares how the post-COVID reset forced his team to rebuild from the ground up. Instead of chasing attendance as proof of “anointing,” they began measuring spiritual fruit through markers like confession, repentance, prayer, and resilient discipleship. The result? A ministry less driven by hype and more shaped by genuine transformation.

One standout example is their redesigned Venture Weekend, now treated as a modern “stone of remembrance.” Students participate in a powerful concert of prayer, laying down idols and naming what’s holding them back.

Fruitful youth ministry isn’t built on popularity, it’s formed through presence, repentance, prayer, and patient discipleship.

• history and community markers in the student space
• why the Trophy Wall of Awesome matters for belonging
• JP’s calling story and long obedience
• post-COVID reset of metrics and motives
• presence of God as the ministry north star
• redesigning Venture Weekend for encounter
• splitting middle school and high school for depth
• testing hype vs transformation through repentance
• practical ways to bring camp home weekly
• modeling humility and pressing on from Philippians 3
• concert of prayer and a seventh grader’s salvation
• how to connect with JP Black

First Rockwall Students on Facebook and Instagram 

Instagram: @JPBlack_

Transcript

On Location In East Dallas

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hey, and we're back with another episode of the Drupal Youth Ministry Booster Podcast. We're dropping confidence last episode. Now we're dropping whole words. But we are here dropping in uh to East Dallas, Rockwell, Texas. JP, buddy, thanks for having us out, man. Again to hang in your hood. Uh, a little on location recording for us today. Uh, how are things, man? What is new? What's up with you? Good, man.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Good. I'm glad to have y'all here. It's exciting to jump on the pod and uh to host you. And so, man, we're we're looking forward to it. Man, things are going well.

Culture, History, And The Trophy Wall

SPEAKER_00 0:40

I mean, you you're you're you're already through D now season done, eyes towards summer, ready? You ready to go?

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Yeah, the D now was awesome. The Lord was very kind in it. Now we're we're looking ahead to Glorieta, Island Lakes, and all the things that God has for us this summer in the heat of Texas.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Dude, that's so good. Now I want to start a little bit. So the people can't see what we see, but I wanted to share with them uh the vision. Like you, you, you have uh such a rich history visibly in this building. Like I I love it. Like, so for the so venture weekend is the big winter weekend. Um, there are signed posters and banners of years gone by. Uh, there are our pictures of students, which we always love seeing. Like, again, this is uh, you know, this is a family, this is a ministry, but I gotta ask you about one thing. Yeah, outside your office on the glass for folks that are walking by, there is a trophy wall of awesome. Trophy wall of awesome. Walk us through it, man. What is the trophy wall of awesome? How does someone make it? How do they get their Polaroid picture on it?

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Yeah, Trophy Wall of Awesome is uh a deeply desired and deeply treasured uh picture that you can have in our building. So yeah, it's there's a lot of history and and stuff in the in the building, and we want our students to to feel like this is their building. And so when they walk into this space, uh they we want them to feel like, oh, this is like I my name's there, my picture's there. And so Trophy Wall of Awesome is just a little piece in our our space for students to to either win an opportunity at the Trophy Wall of Awesome, or man, if you if you win game night, if you win three-point contests, just some different ones in different categories, like it's not just like the same employee of the month every month or whatever.

Pumpkin Palooza And Trebuchets

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So yeah, what are some of the ones that are up there category-wise? Because there was some like zany fun, was it like game winners or like give us some of the category?

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Yeah, so we've got uh knockout champions. So if you if you win knockout and basketball, you you get your trophy, uh, trophy wall of awesome picture on there. Yes, okay. Uh, if if you win pumpkin palooza, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Well, hold on, hold on. What is a pumpkin palooza?

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Pumpkin pumpkin palooza is an event that we do in the fall, and uh we we bring out a a big trebuchet to some of our some of our volunteers built amazing and we launch pumpkins in the parking lot. And so if you got best decorated pumpkin, you might get your your trophy wall of awesome picture. If you launch the furthest pumpkin, you might get on there. If your pumpkin doesn't launch at all, you might get on the wall. Amazing. So it's it's a it's a coveted uh wall that the students like to get on.

JP’s Call To Student Ministry

SPEAKER_00 3:16

You know what, you know, we haven't said it enough on a podcast, but I think it bears repeating. We need more trebuchets. We need more trebuchets in youth ministry. That's right. We need more trebuchets, trebuchet please, uh, and youth ministry. Well, uh JP, there's a there's a thousand things a person could do with their life. Uh and I've I've come to know you as a brother and thankful for your work and ministry. But share a little bit with some folks how you ended up doing this thing. I mean, you you've not only served here, but in other places faithfully. What why is the thing that like youth ministry is the passion and profession, the vocation of your life? When did that happen? When did that start? And maybe like what keeps you excited about it still?

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Yeah, absolutely. Uh I think that the the answer that I always run to is um I was a preteen when God saved me and changed my life. I was 12 years old when uh when the gospel was clear to me for the very first time, and I surrendered my life to the Lord and gave everything that I knew about Jesus at the time, everything that I was about myself to him in total surrender. And uh as I progressed and the Lord changed my life and and he began to shape me and mold me throughout my time in student ministry, those are the most impactful years of my life. Uh I had two student ministers in my life that poured into me. They loved me, they cared for me, they shepherded me really well. They took me alongside and allowed me to feel what ministry was like with them. Yeah. Uh and and God really grabbed hold of my heart uh in that season. I I remember about my sophomore year of high school, uh 15, 16 years old. Yeah, really being confronted for the first time with God, you might actually be calling me to this.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

And as those opportunities kind of began to to become more prominent, yeah, and as as the Lord just kind of continued to affirm the idea of that calling, uh, the more I wasn't sure, and the more I I uh wanted to run from that calling, wanted to to to see if maybe there's something else that God had for my life. And uh I I could never shake it. I could never shake the idea that I could do something else with my life, that this is what God was was definitely calling me to. And and I I I wanted to be all in. And I remember when I was 18 years old uh at a camp in June at Dallas Baptist University. Yeah, man. Uh I I remember the thought of disobedience for the rest of my life, uh just being a terrifying reality that even if I was successful, if God used me in really cool ways in whatever vocation I did, yeah, that I'd still be disobedient because I wasn't running in what he was calling me towards. And and that for me was the moment where I wanna I want to be obedient with my life, yeah, not just really good at something that I could do. Could do, yeah. Yeah.

Rethinking Success After COVID

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Well, and I think that that life obedience, I mean, it's the Peterson, it's the long obedience in the same direction, but that language of an unshakable call is really significant. And we're gonna come back to some elements of that as we talk about the ways in which it kind of shows up in what we actually hope and want for in students. Um, but that just makes the conversation even sweeter today to know that your calling was born out of a faithfulness of other youth ministry folks. Um, sometimes we'll talk to people and they end up in youth ministry as some kind of like redemptive debt. Sure, yeah. But they grew up and it was like, I I was uh I was in a way in a season, and I I wish I had a minister like me now, then. And so it becomes this like I want to, I want to give back uh or or I want I want to offer for, and then for so many of us that have grown up in good ministry, it's like I want to give back for the ones that gave to me. And so I love hearing that from you, man. That's good. Okay, let's talk turkey though, because uh youth ministry is in a really unique situation. Uh we are on the precipice of a new season. Uh post-COVID will be marked down in the chapter books of doing ministry in the life of the church in the last few years. What do you think from your experience from serving other places and now here in Texas, what what what what are youth ministry folks, by and large, either over or underemphasizing uh either correctly or incorrectly? Like what are we putting too much stock into and what are maybe we miss in that we shouldn't be missing?

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Yeah, and I I want to I want to preface the way that I answer this with I I know everything's contextual. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. So contexts are just different. People do are doing youth ministry in different ways, and uh, we want to be faithful with those things. And I I feel like by and large, one of the things that we might have over-emphasized quite a bit is this idea that uh larger crowds typically mean more anointing.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

And that's not always the case. Yeah, sometimes it is. Like God has blessed those things and God has given that growth.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Uh, but I I know that there are youth ministers who might be listening, and I've been in those seasons of my life in youth ministry where I thought if I could just have more students, then God would bless this thing more.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Grant me 20% more. Yes, right. Let the harvest return. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

That'll give me job security, that'll mean more anointing or better preaching or whatever, more fun. Uh, and I just think that's an overemphasis. And and with that, uh it it kind of devalues or underemphasizes the presence of God being experienced, even in the 2020 student group. Yeah, yeah, right. The the student ministry that has 13 students, yeah.

Presence Of God Over Crowd Size

SPEAKER_00 8:35

God's presence is still there. What and in your language of anointing, I think that's because sometimes this is this has become kind of a pet peeve in some of our conversations on the podcast. Like we we get a little too excited about terms that could be co-optive business-wise, like like yes, success, yes, growth, but maybe it's not all like line graphs and spreadsheets. Maybe, maybe, maybe some of the thing that was the goodness that was the success. I like I like anointing. Like, this is one of those, like whether there's many or few, what was this unto the calling or the presence of the Holy Spirit and the place that it was? Um, because in scripture we see it show up for 12 disciples and we see it, we see it show up for thousands of Pentecost. That's right. Both good, both important. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

That's right, that's right. And and and in student ministry, we we can we can feel like the the pressure is if I'm not reaching every student in my area, yeah, then maybe I'm I'm not as effective in my calling.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

And the anointing isn't in your reach. The anointing's in the faithfulness that you have with who you've got. That's good. And so that that I think that's kind of where we're at in the season of youth ministry, especially coming out of uh of a season of you know, doing post-COVID student ministry.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Everybody's rebuilding. And I think that's kind of I think that's kind of the level set that's been so important, is that everybody in summer of 21, uh, spring of 22 had to rebuild. And so everybody's kind of doing a check on like, well, what is the kind of thing that we're actually building? And it's been just long enough now that we're like kicking the foundation and like checking the checking the beams to see like, okay, well, where are we really at beyond just like you know, making it happen, making it work? Uh, because man, more into the void uh sounds more like greed than it does like God. Right. And I think for a lot of us like, well, I wish we had more. I wish we had more. Ooh, yikes. I like I know like substitute people for money, and then we can have like a, you know, we can have a real conversation because a lot of it can get kind of twisted up in those ways. Um, is there anything that we're not doing enough of that you think we ought to be doing more of, or emphasizing more? Some of the things that we are just kind of missing, that we ought to be at least talking about talking about, thinking about, working on.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Yeah, I I think, and you know, I think about this contextually for us and and our student ministry and what what God has for us right now. I I think we've we've really begun to emphasize the reality that that the presence of God is something that uh can be experienced and and fine-tuned into for our students, whether they're seventh grade boys or have responded to a call to ministry in their life, their junior or senior year of high school, they've been walking with the Lord, they're faithful to Him and to be here and to serve. Uh the the the presence of God is actually something that the students long for. And so we're we're pressing into that. We're tapping into that reality.

Designing For Encounter, Not Events

SPEAKER_00 11:41

That's good. Well, let's let's pick up on that conversation because I think presence is is the word that you we were kind of talking pre-show about some of the things that are really important. I think presence is the thing that helps keep students from being discipled into what we programmed, uh, or or you know, like we won't we're looking for a certain response, um, but it is something beyond us. I think that's one of the things that's really important in ministry is there are things that we can do, there's things that we can plan, there's things that we can calendar, things we can provide, but there is something beyond us that makes it so much of what it is, and yet at the same time, that can be frustrating for us because we couldn't plan it. So share a little bit more about because you had mentioned like on the pre-show, like uh experiencing the presence of God is like one of the things that you are like seeking after, praying for, maybe is evaluating to say the wrong thing. Like, like talk, talk about the ways in which that students experience the presence of God has become like a theme for the ways in which you minister.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Yeah, I I I think that as a whole, I wanted to take a step back from our student ministry and and just begin to look at, okay, what are the things that we're calendaring? What are the things that we're doing? How are we how are we formatting our service uh for like in in midweek? What what are we doing for our students to provide uh an aspect of their week where they know my student ministry isn't isn't just about this this consumer idea of of church, but this is a place that that facilitates and and and creates a a space for me to to know man, God's presence is is tangibly real for me.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

And so I just I just began to look at, man, what are we doing and and why are we doing it? Okay. And and looked at, I don't want to just be an event manager, yeah, come on, but somebody who is leading students, shepherding them in such a way where they know God's presence is available to me at any and every moment. Yeah. And there's this idea of uh when when I come to midweek opportunities or to Sunday services or DNAs or camp or whatever, uh, like the idea of convergence space where it feels like heaven and earth feel a little bit closer together. Yeah. Uh that that that's not just one-off things, but something that my soul can actually fine-tune itself to uh on the day-to-day regularly.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Well, that is, and again, that is one of the things that is, I think, in the the cultural moment that we're at. I mean, some of the stats that have come out from from Gallup and from our team at Lifeway is uh people are more okay with the word religion. Uh, Christianity is no longer in decline uh nationally. Like there's some nuance to that. Like it's not like, I mean, all of our churches should be growing, like, but like across the board, uh we see it in some of the pockets as it relates to our friends uh either in the Orthodox Church or the likelihood of a uh young family to join an evangelical church or Catholic church, like those numbers are a lot closer than they used to be. Because I think people are looking for, to throw another word around, a transcendence, right? They want something bigger or older or more significant than what they could plan on their own. And so if we just confine what our ministry is about to what we could imagine or what we could do, uh one, we are a hundred percent limiting the power and the presence of God and Holy Spirit. But on the other hand, I think we're also missing what people are actually showing up for uh because we get we're like, oh no, man, they came for the hype thing that we had. Yeah, yeah. So I gotta ask you, when you pull back, like what were some of the things that you were stop, start, change, delete, edit, doing? Because I mean it if it can't just continue. So how are you doing it differently?

Hard Changes And Split Ministries

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Yeah, yeah. And and and that that's that's some of the things was you you start to evaluate, okay, is what we're doing on Sunday mornings impactful? Yeah. Uh is our our midweek programming effective for what we're the vision for how we're trying to reach and and equip students. Uh and and so yeah, there's there's some things that that we looked at and and we peeled back and we said, uh, we're gonna change this completely. And so a lot of that was was our venture weekend. Like we we wanted to look at I I don't want it to just be about the number skyrocketing, but I want it to be about that was a a stone of remembrance for me in my life as a student in student ministry. Was I remember God meeting with me in our sanctuary and and being changed by that. Not not just uh oh, I I I feel like God could have been there and now I'm gonna go play uh nine square and forget about the moment. Yeah. Uh but man, God met me and it changed so much for my life. And and that is an ongoing reality. And so yeah, we we just kind of looked at our calendar and said, man, we want to add things that uh we know will will create fellowship within the life of our students and our student ministry. We want to we want to dig deeper in equipping and enabling our volunteers and our leaders to pour into the lives of students, and and we we've seen some some phenomenal growth from those things. And and I think that our our students are are hungry for more of that reality.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Was there something in particular that was a hard cut or um uh a different kind of ad? Something that like, man, this it it was it was painful but worth it.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Uh I I mean I I don't know if it was if if it was painful, it was uh a revelation for me to think about I might need to to create middle school and high school ministry separately to meet them where they're at, okay, to to begin to differentiate to the spiritual need.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Not not because you're like, oh man, this was how we're gonna grow it, but this is something that might actually be like a spiritual response.

Discernment: Hype Vs. Transformation

SPEAKER_03 17:36

Okay, and and it it wasn't about growth because in reality, like those those two rooms feel different now because you you automatically take out two grades, um and and so the the number looks different. Um but we have the opportunity now to to begin to meet those those middle schoolers who are on a completely different season and stage of life. Sure. Uh and those high schoolers who who are are hungry and long for and don't don't sugarcoat it for me, don't don't dumb it down for me. If you can say that on the pod. Yeah, come on, say it. No, say it, man. Say it. But man, teach to an upper elevated theology because I want to get to that moment where I can say that I see God in scripture based on what you're saying, and not just uh the fluff of uh let's play a game. The hype that we had.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Well, help help us a little bit, because I think this is uh either like this is the like foot hovering on the brakes for some folks, or could even create a little bit of a critical spirit. Um, but how how do we how do we help students distinguish, or maybe even in your own heart, how do how do we help distinguish pastor evaluate between some of the emotional hype and like a genuine encounter? Um I think about the ways in which I mean we live in a renaissance of uh of worship music. I mean, like, I mean, for some of us that we grew up uh in the 90s, and so praise courses bless them, uh, were very repetitive and very simple. Uh, and then we've moved through a season where like, man, the songs that the youth used to sing 15 years ago, like every church in America is just as likely to sing a modern song, regardless of the denomination. And beyond that, most most services feel pretty modern, apart from folks that are seeking intentionally to be liturgical or or historic. Everybody's kind of rocking the same playlist. Uh, and so because of that, there seems to be, you know, some real, you know, we these songs move, these songs feel, um, but they are also true in the moment's also, you know, shepherd and powerful. But how do you help pasture that or protect against uh just seeking like an emotional hype versus a true encounter?

SPEAKER_03 19:51

Yeah, yeah. I I think the the question that I that I would go to, and if you're a student minister listening, uh I I think you you look at does this create uh true repentance and conviction in the hearts and lives of students? Yeah. I I think that's the differentiation between experience that's hype and experience that's transformative, is ongoing like regular confession and repentance from sin in the hearts and lives of teenagers is a massive indicator for me in our in our student ministry that they they have tuned their soul to a deeper awareness of God's presence in every reality of their life.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Uh because He's He's convicting them of their sin, they're confessing it to their small groups and their peers. Yeah. They they want to they want to die to sin in their life and and live and pursue holiness. And so I think it's always marked by confession of sin, repentance from it.

Practicing Presence Beyond Camp

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Man, and I think absolutely. So if I can second an amen, because I think that is uh sometimes we want the we want the excitement without the confession, like the repentance, the longing, uh, the contrition, if we need one more heavy-headed word, uh, because there's so many things that like we want, we want the new, but we're unwilling to discard the old. And and we have we have to make space. There's there's there's some verses about wineskins. Even if you don't understand fully what that might mean because you don't have the belly of a goat to fill up with fluid, there's something about new and old. Uh okay, help me out though, me and uh we talk about it in the Sunday service, we talk about it in the corporate gatherings, the venture weekends, the summer camps. How how are you pastoring and shepherding so that we don't just equate it with a location, but in our daily lives? Because I think that is that's kind of the next hurdle, right? Because 100% we end up making the church campus some kind of synagogue instead of letting the the presence of Jesus go with them from this place. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

And student minister, if you're if you're listening, I I I hope that this lands on you as a a confirmation and an affirmation of. How you're leading your student ministry. Um, it is equipping and enabling them to live missionally. It is, it is not confined to location. And so God's God's presence is not just in glory out of New Mexico. Thank you, Lord, for creating a space like that.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're just waiting to get back to it. We're just gonna count the days till camp again. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Uh or or at your D now or your big weekend or whatever, like whatever, wherever space you know, and God's gonna show up and he's gonna bless. And he, if we use that word anoint, and yeah, and and and God's going to do it only he can do. And in those moments, it's our job as shepherds over teenagers to to to get them to see the the presence of God is an act of awareness that He He's He's always everywhere, He's omnipresent. If that's another big word we're throwing. We're dropping them around. That's right, right, right. Right?

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Like it's almost like this is some thoughtful thinking.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

Um and and and and so it's it's not that the experiencing the presence of God is this uh these only moments in time where you have to be in certain locations, but it's it's it's an active awareness of that God is everywhere, yeah, and that my life is to be lived for the glory of God. Yeah, and that tunes my soul. And so I I like to describe it as being aware of God's presence isn't you being in a location like we're talking about, but kind of like turning up the temperature or turning the dial to a recognition of God is everywhere and I want to join him in his mission. Yeah. And so if the hype of camp is the only time that your students experience the presence of God, student minister, they're like, that may be just a call for us to say, I want to double down on we want to equip students to to be joining God in the mission that he has to save and redeem the world.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

And so that, because that then enables as Christians, biblically and theologically, like the Spirit of God lives inside of us. Yeah. And so not only is God everywhere, but the presence of God lives and dwells with you. He goes with you where you are, and and he he he champions you to live on mission for him. And I think the the more we steward students towards that goal, yeah, we were faithful to show them your life is to be lived for God and for his glory, like in the presence of God, and that changes everything about who you are and transforms your life to live to live on mission for him.

Midweek Rhythm And Recalibration

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Well, and I man, I think the the the most difficult thing is that there's so much static. And I think the the idea of of turn of turning the dial, of tuning the frequency to use an old uh uh FM radio understanding of it, is it's there. We just aren't tuned to it. We're we're overwhelmed with messages and voices and noise, and some of the things that are so special, so uh memorable about a camp experience, a weekend, or even just sometimes a Sunday midweek service is that we've kind of tuned out the other things, or we've peeled back the other layers, or we've quieted the static. And it's not so much that what we did there happened because of where it was, it was because the posture of uh how noisy we were walking and living. And I I think is there some of the things that have been take homes from those uh man, I love that phrase, stones of remembrance, sights of remembrance that y'all have tried to embody on a weekly basis for students? Are there some like you know the the bring camp home moments or or you know, you talked about venture weekend kind of taking a new life for y'all in the wake of the last few years? What are some of the ways in which maybe even like how you gather what you do feels or looks a little bit different?

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Yeah, I think when when we gather with our students, specifically uh in mid in midweek services, we we take the time to give students this opportunity to to recalibrate. And so uh it's it's a moment where we we want to call them up to this awareness of what we're doing right now is not accidental, it is very intentional. You're here intentionally, you're not here accidentally, and what we're doing over the next 90 minutes is us worshiping God. And uh I think what we've seen is for our teenagers, like they they love that that that awareness to I I haven't been invited to or I haven't shown up to this this hype of uh we're we're throwing pie in people's faces, and we want to have fun, and I love having fun with our teenagers.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Uh if if we need some laughs to do that. We need a whole bunch of laughs.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Yeah, yeah. And and so it's not negating fun, yeah, but it is calling them into this fine-tuned awareness of man, what I'm doing right now is worship. And it's not just a Wednesday night thing, it is what my soul was created to do.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

And I I want to be ongoingly aware of that reality for my whole life.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

And I think there is some like being okay with directing it. I think that's one of those, I mean, the old again, old words, uh, the invocation of it of like, you know, we invite you to understand that what's about to happen here isn't just a rocking band or songs that are easy to sing or a room full of your peers. Um, there's something else that we're actually about when this happens. And to name that for students is is really important. Has this impacted you as you minister and do um other some things in the ways in which um being more uh aware or uh patterns of uh walking, living, doing, experiencing um authentically, vulnerably that's that's shaped differently for you?

SPEAKER_03 28:04

Yeah, I I I think as we've as we've kind of gone into the season in the life of our church, I'd in our student ministry, I I think that I I've just been more aware of the the the the ongoing reality of of God's presence in my life and and how that that feels weighty as a minister and it allows me to recognize and it's it's really like God God in his goodness and his kindness has given me eyes to see the while it's weighty, I don't have to be the the perfect picture for students that this is what your life is aimed at because if they aim their life to look like JP, yeah, uh they're aiming their life to to look not like their savior. And we're all in pursuit of Jesus, not in pursuit of becoming like their student minister.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:03

Uh and so I just think for me, it it gives me uh this this freedom to to recognize I don't have to be perfect because they have a savior who's been perfect for them.

Humility, Modeling, And Shepherding

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Well, because there is a natural affinity, even if if people want to play the false humility card of like, no man, it's not me, it's Jesus. Like they they are looking to you. Yeah, and I think in all ways, both positively and negatively. And I think if they can look to you even in humility, like that's an important piece. Like part of the shepherd is, you know, if we're doing the shepherd's work, the sheep look to the shepherd, like your students look to you as someone who is, you know, real enough and relevant enough to make make faith plain enough to be understood or lived, because you know, sometimes the text feels heavy or the book feels old, but you know, there you stand preaching and proclaiming it, and what ways can it be understood in them? So um tell tell us a little more uh about kind of your hope for this generation. Like I so I I I want to gush a little bit, like you're you're one of my guys that I'm excited about the future of youth ministry and being around you makes me reminded and excited that not only is student ministry in a new season, there are some new student ministry leaders. Uh what what are some things that you're learning right now?

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Yeah, I I I think God is teaching it, he's he's probably taking me on a probably a three or four-year journey of uh creating in myself a a recognition and a theology of of suffering, but also just a fine-tuned awareness of man, he has me here in student ministry for a reason. Yeah. And for me, that that has been really refreshing uh to sit with the Lord and and really in all honesty, look at at my calling and know I'm anchored here for a long time. And I I I hope student minister, if you're listening to this, like you look at your calling and you recognize this is from God, this isn't just something that I'm trying to do to get by. Like, like there is a a beauty in the calling to student ministry specifically.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Yeah.

Calling, Perseverance, And Generations

SPEAKER_03 31:20

I think about Judges chapter two, uh Joshua dies. And in Judge in Judges chapter two, after he dies, uh verse 10 says there was a generation after Joshua died that did not know the Lord. And to me, like when I when I think about that, that that there's this recognition that the work that God's people do to be effective in the calling that he gave them leads generations to him. And when you think about that in student ministry context, like if we waver in our calling or we we bow out in our calling because we're exhausted, because we're tired, because the work is hard, the the the calling is heavy, yeah. Uh, there's there there's the likelihood that a generation is lost and does not come to know Jesus. And that that's that's the excitement for me is God keeps me in this because there's generations to impact. There's there's teenagers to to find freedom in Jesus. There's teenagers to to repent and turn from their sin and find life in following the Lord. And so for me, I look at that and I think about my calling. I'm like, God, you're the one who keeps me in this, and you're the one who's reminded me and sustained me that this is where you've got me. And and I'm excited for the future because I believe that there are generations who will come to faith in Christ uh because of the work of faithful student ministers around the world to continue to do the work even when it's hard. That's good, man.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

That's good. Well, I think you got a word for us, you got a uh uh an encouragement. Uh you've Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

Um I I I I think about students and and how they they experience the presence of God and how they they look to student ministers, and we we want we want to steward what we have faithfully. Yeah. Um and I'm I'm just kind of reminded of of Paul's words in in Philippians chapter three. Uh he he ends it, he he ends this section talking about how he's he's straining towards uh this this call because he says, by any means possible, I might attain the resurrection from the dead. He's looking to Jesus for for this resurrection hope. And then he says this not that I have already attained it or that I am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus made me his own, forgetting what lies behind and stranding forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And so for student ministers, like that's our that's our aim.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

We're chasing Jesus while we're shepherding and stewarding the call to teenagers that God has given to us that come along that journey too of of chasing Jesus as as they look to us and see the example that we we might get to set for them. And and that's that's how we we shepherd and and and equip and enable teenagers to see oh, Jesus is the goal. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Jesus is is who I'm chasing after. That's that's the that's the lean-in, that's the forward, that's the again, the the Pauline, the strain, right? Like that's that's where our effort goes. Um, and I think there's a lot of times we can get uh misaligned in where our effort goes. And so to to to hear the words and be reminded uh of what has already been obtained, not by us, but by Christ, to lean in and to strain. Like that's that's where the strain comes from, not some of the things that we carry around too heavily, um, but in that way, man. That's a good word. That's a good word. Well, brother, what's a word of encouragement that you would give or an excitement that you're still feeling about youth ministry? I think a lot of folks uh are you you you have you are you have already finished uh in a season of some things, thinking about summer stuff. Uh what what are some things that you are are are filled with promise and for hope uh about some of our teenagers today? Is there is there a story of a of a teenager or a of a student of a moment uh that keeps you hopeful about this next generation?

SPEAKER_03 35:35

Yeah, I I I think about our our disciple now weekend we call it venture. It happened uh in January, and um there's this moment for us that we do every every year. It's called concert of prayer.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

And it is uh it is a space that we create intentionally, and so uh a lot a lot of student ministers will go the route of of wreck uh during that that time. And so midday on Saturday, we we go uh another worship service. But this service is geared towards specific prayer points that we have for our students in the season and the life of the church and our student ministry at that time.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Yeah.

Concert Of Prayer And A Salvation

SPEAKER_03 36:14

And so every single one of them looks different. Uh, but it's just a a space that we create for students to to repent and turn from sin, to, to confess things to each other, to lay down idols at the feet of Jesus. Okay. Uh and in the middle of that, of that session, uh, we had a seventh grade girl who uh her her leaders have been praying that she would come to faith in Jesus for a long time. Uh, in the middle of that session, she pulls her small group leader aside and says, I want to give my life to Jesus. And I just think the encouragement in that is uh one God can save anybody. Yeah, yeah. And two, uh the the work we do is eternally impacting. And and God uses our effort, he uses those things to to to bless and to save and to uh to challenge and and and and change a generation of students uh for his glory to to to use them in their schools and their locker rooms and in in their co-ops, in the cafeteria, yeah, uh to be little missionaries where he where he has them. And and so, man, the the work is is necessary mount now more than ever. And and and I I I look back on that and I'm like, I'm so thankful that God's called me to do this.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

So, JP, thanks for being with us today, man. It is always fun to talk youth ministry with some of our friends that are uh leaning in and straining hard towards the call that's been put on their life. Uh if folks want to connect with you more, learn about what you've got going on, or maybe even join in the concert of prayer, what's some best ways to connect with you?

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yeah, JP Black underscore is my my Instagram handle. Uh first Rockwell. Shoot them the DNA, the D Bay. Yeah. Uh uh First Rockwell Students is uh how you can find us on Facebook and on Instagram and uh firstrockwell.org is where you can find our church website and all the all the things we can provide.

How To Connect With JP

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Well, thank you guys so much. Uh JP, blessings on you, brothers, we continue to pray uh for this next generation. Hopefully, and then for the rest of you, we'll hopefully see you back next week.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

Uh snap