Be the Leader the Next Gen Needs

0:01 You are the most significant influence in the life of your child. Students are not looking for perfect parents. They're looking for present, intentional, available ones. They would rather you fumble maybe through a prayer with them, but to be with them. The first the first most important thing that I want to talk about is pho. It's the best. I mean, I mean, we've got a first talk. Okay, so I have I've eaten pho in multiple places, but I have not eaten pho in Vietnam, but I have a Vietnamese friend who just got back from Vietnam and they brought me some different gifts.

0:47 And so I'm just saying, like for a dude from East Texas, I've got I've got some pretty strong pho game. Pastor Jeff, on behalf of my family and all the Vietnamese people I know. Come on over. You're on the team. Let's go. And so my wife went first to a pho place, right? And then what happened was I had a Vietnamese friend who told me about a Vietnamese uh restaurant called Pho 95. It was pretty good, but then the health department shut it down. So I had a, I had a I had to I had to abort.

1:28 Then across the way there was another place. And my wife and I, every week on our date lunch, I'm talking 40 plus weeks out of 52. Straight up, we're eating pho there. Ha, if she's listening, ha is the owner. She's our friend. She watches my messages online, she's a Buddhist. But I'm telling you, I've tried it. Theirs is the best. So what is your order when you go? Oh, straight up. Okay. First of all, their chicken is the best, okay? They actually like they cook the chicken with like these uh spices, and it's not just white like like out of a can.

2:15 It has like a flavor. It's like almost reminds me of my dad barbecuing it on the back grill. Get that chicken in a spring roll, and she always gets me fresh mint and herbs out of her garden to put in the spring roll. And then I get the large pho, no meat, and I get a side of the chicken to put in, but the but but it's all about the broth. So you're a chicken pho guy. I put it in there. I'll eat the meat too. I'll get all of it. I'll eat I'll eat the the I'll eat all the crazy stuff. The the the tripe, the That's my order. The the whole deal. The bee balls, the whole bit. Yeah, bro. We gotta go, Pastor Joe.

2:56 Let's go. You've been telling about this pho place. I've purposely not gone. I've eaten every other pho place in DFW. This one, I'm gonna go eat with you. You need to go with me. We gotta do it. It'll it it'll it's it's it's it's really it'll it'll be two things for you. It'll be a blessing, and then it'll also be depressing because you're gonna be like, I've been robbed. I mean, I got some guys on staff here, they're like, yeah, I like pho, and you go, it's like water with some sound like you're in the minor leagues, you gotta move up. So I'm ready. Okay, okay. So so tell me, we're I want to talk, I want to talk next gen. So you and I work together, and for those out there, um, we have people in business space.

3:39 We had a we've had teachers like say, hey, I'm listening. I talked, I talked uh last week to a guy who's uh a local business owner, small business owner, does does well. He does uh outdoor kitchens. He's a he's a friend of mine. We're hanging out, and he goes, Man, I've been listening to the podcast. I'm like, man, James, shout out James, by the way, Outdoor Creations. He is like, dude, you're listening to the podcast, right? I got another friend of mine that that uh we fish together. He's got a construction company, you know. Shout out Craig. I'm actually surprised. Like it's more than ministry leaders, but we do have a fair amount of ministry people and pastors. And I want to make sure that we kind of set the tone of what I want to talk to you about, and that is the next generation.

4:21 So you and I work together, you oversee. We have four campuses, we have a lot of young people. Like how many, how many, um, how many like under 18% on the weekend of our attendance would it be like next gen if they on the weekend? Yeah, so most weekends, we're right around 30 percent. Right. Very high if people don't know. Like uh, there's it's not uncommon for you to be 20. Right. A good suburban church 25, 27. So we have uh an extraordinary amount of young people. One of those things we call super series. How many young people were at that for the opening week?

5:01 For the first one, all in, we had 4,000 twelve, all in everybody. Everybody, and that's hundreds of volunteers and probably about 33, 3,400 kids. Now I know for like a parent, they're like, oh no, they hear that big number and they're like, that's intimidating. My kids will never find, you know, be able to find their way. But that that's that's at multiple campuses, multiple locations. Here at the Keller campus, we actually divide them into high school and junior high. So we're very, we're very conscious of creating these environments where kids can also receive that personal attention. But but first of all, I want to just I want to go in, you know, how did you, because I think you have a unique story.

5:44 How did you um you work you you work, you know, with our next gen helping oversee all the campuses and all the leader and just you know, all of that. But but take me back like a little bit into your story. That's why my heart is just so pointed towards the next generation. And I love young people. I remember just like searching and all the things, and long story short, God just touched my heart, changed my entire life at 18 years old. But it was a process to get me to that. And really, like what it was is my parents, they were immigrants, they they came to Texas, just the classic American dream story.

6:24 So I didn't grow up in church, we had no faith heritage, any of that. So we grew up and they built a business. I grew up in a small town at the time. It's grown, it's very big now. But just kind of trying to stumble my way through just suburb American life. Would they still classify themselves as Buddhist or something like that? Did y'all put the like, did y'all have the little fruit or the, you know, growing up, so all of those practices with the Buddhist um shrine with the fruit and the just the prayers, all of this. All of that. So that was a culture that I grew up in, and that's all that I really knew. Um and then just my perception of Christianity or religion was just what I saw in school. Um so I saw people that would say one thing and just live a different way.

7:07 Right. So I didn't have a much interest in it. But long story short, my parents, they built this business, and in my high school years, freshman, sophomore year, really, they just ran into some trouble and made some poor decisions in that business. And that brought a lot of the instability of our family just to a head. So my parents, they split up, and that's not that's not just unique to me, but just from there, there were some pretty drastic consequences to those actions and those decisions in my sophomore, junior, and senior year. So it's a classic story of a kid who has a broken heart not really knowing where to find answers and fulfillment to just like show them like who you should be, what God says about you.

7:50 Right. So I was looking for answers in all the wrong places with those people, in those places, doing those things. And every single time I was more empty after than I walked in. And I just remember um, especially low points. My mom, really after 16, was the one who raised me. And so single mom, and we're just trying our best to make ends meet. We're just trying to find a place to live. Lost our house, we're sleeping in our car for a little bit, and I was out of high school. That's not unlike a lot of the suburbs around here, like where our church is in Keller, to where I mean, so you're going to school and you look, you have this face on and this facade, just trying to make it and show one version of yourself. So, like on the outside, I may have had it together.

8:32 Right. But on the inside was immense pain. Right. Um, and I just remember just it just felt like life was one step forward, and just life has a way of dealing blows to where it's many steps backwards. Yeah. So one morning, um, we yes, we're driving by uh on this highway in Plano, Texas. Yeah, and it it's a church right off the highway. And my mom just leans over and she sees this volunteer that's parking cars. So shout out to all the volunteer serve team, yeah, parkers, all that who was parking cars with Mickey Mouse hands on so enthusiastically, it just made an impression on both of us. Didn't think much of it, just drove by. Saw him again the next weekend. Don't know how many weekends, but it just stood out to us. So my mom was just like, you know what?

9:13 We've tried everything, we're going to church next weekend. Wow. So I walked in, and I'll just never forget, but we park our car, someone helps us in, and we walked into the sanctuary. People are singing who who really can't sing all that well, but they're singing and their hands are up and they're worshiping, and I'm like, I'm taking all this in. I've never seen anything like it before. And the pastor comes out, he's preaching, it's this whole thing, and I'm just kind of just taking it all in. My mom falls in love with it from day one. Yeah. So she makes us come back. We're coming back. And what really stood out to me were the people that were there that would just talk to me, not push anything on me, but just like ask my name. And they would they would remember details that we would talk about the week prior.

9:55 And I was like, wow, these people are real. Yeah. But one weekend, Pastor Jeff, the pastor comes out and preaches about Psalm 68 and basically just lays out what it says in scripture that God is the father to the fatherless, the defender of widows, and he sets the lonely in families. I'll just never forget that. I I never heard about that. He told me about Jesus, what he'd done for me, and just in that moment, to the best of my understanding, I just there's a whole lot of searching, but I wanted that in my life. Right. So that day I gave my life to Christ. He had an altar call. I came down in front of the church. I was at 18. Yeah. That was the last semester of my senior year, and it's been a journey now for 20 years. I've been following Jesus. Yeah. Um, just you have kids of your own now.

10:37 Yeah. And but but it still goes back to that, you know, God saw you, God saw you and your mom. God's God's done a lot even in your relationship with your dad since then. But but but there was this I think I think a lot of people underestimate the amount of times in the New Testament, brothers, sisters, familial language, how much God's trying to convey, like this idea of his family. And and I really keyed in when you said, hey, I was this broken kid. I would I would say, you tell me if you think I'm right. For for the average person out there who just sees life going by and kids at a ball game or a pep rally or uh a park or whatever, they would probably underestimate if they came to some of our retreats camps with the things these kids are carrying.

11:30 Completely. They're walking in with a smile on their face, they've got the t-shirt everybody else has. Right. But you never know what's walking in the door and what they're walking in with and the weight they carry. So I think first thing I would say is that I've said people say, Oh, you have a good youth pastor, right? Um, Pastor Tyron Caswell, you know, he planted the church. He kind of pioneered, he and I, you, you coming in, part of our team, he's now working with our college. But we've we've always had this heart, you know, for young people. And I think one of the number one things I would say is it can't be a program. It can't just be a program.

12:10 There is a programmatic element, but programs don't produce sons and daughters, right? So that familial aspect you're talking about, that it's in the ethos, it's in the volunteers. Hey, this isn't, you know, your kid or their kid. This is our kids. These are our kids. Right. And we we have a stewardship. We're not their parents. We honor their parents. In fact, I think good youth ministries actually empower, equip, and partner with the parent. We're not competing with them. Yeah. Yeah. We want to partner with mom and dad because we have the same goal. But the parents are the most significant influence in a young person's life.

12:52 Yes. We see that. And we want to partner with mom and dad to raise people, raise kids or students that love Jesus. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. So I think a thing that I again I'm hitting on what you're talking about, you know, sons and daughters, this familial culture, the volunteers. I mean, you know, now we have this environment where that building that we opened in Hazlitt, Dalen, who was saved here, he just told his story to a group of people the other night. And I was like crying. Yeah he he's he doesn't know anything about God. His parents don't really go to church. He comes and he gets born again, but then he starts getting discipled, and we do this thing elevate by elevate.

13:39 He's sharing his first message ever, and his father gets saved. It's amazing. He's a high school student preaching a message. Dad walks in the door. Are you joking me? Whoa. He is the is the one leading at this new campus. And then his wife was actually like a baby when we started the church in the cafeteria. So this ethos of family, and I think that touches the first time kid come into whatever it is, it also influences the overall environment. But what would you, I mean, I I think I think these these these questions, I mean, I think where a lot of the frustration is, is that a lot of people are talking about the next generation, but they don't feel equipped or they don't feel like they have fruit.

14:28 Like, what would you say to them? Like what are what are kids looking for? What what's going on? What about a frustrated parent out there? Like, what do you what do you say generally? Because you do a lot more past you pastor the team and you work with parents. Right. And then I'm pastoring my own 13-year-old daughter who's my oldest. I'm living this firsthand too. But I would say for any parents that are frustrated or a youth pastor, that's like, how do I reach students right where they're at? And more than cool, more than speaking their language or being their age, that's not what they're looking for. Right. They're looking for people who love Jesus more than anything and that care about them in a genuine way. Right. My favorite thing about all this stuff in Next Gen, I'm sure that we're gonna talk about more, but it's this multi-generational discipleship that we see.

15:14 Right. You brought up this idea, Pastor Jeff, of raising sons and daughters. Well, mothers and fathers raise sons and daughters. Right. Brothers and sisters help them, but we need mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers of the faith to step in and to help them see who God's made them to be. Exactly. So when you come on a Wednesday night at Elevate, or if you're coming to Milestone Kids on the weekend, you'll see all different age groups leaning in to disciple kids. Yes. To lead small groups, to pray with people who just made a salvation decision, who's helping them take next steps, who are leading small groups and homes on the weekend. And it's it's everybody from people that are young adults, young professionals, we have a great group of them here, but but parents that have their own kids and teenagers that are volunteering, but like empty nesters as well that are that have raised their own kids.

16:07 They're they've moved out of the house, but they're leaning in because they're not slowing down. They're leaning in to say, you know what, let's disciple more people and raise up a generation. Oh, I mean, we we actually call on them and we're like, I mean, you can play a little golf, you can go on some vacations, but you can't retire from the faith. We need you more than ever. And plus, we need you to share with us where you made mistakes or things you wish you could do different. I mean, the amazing thing in the kingdom of God is that as you as you continue to pour out your life to others, you you continue to gain more wisdom as you do it. So I I love all of those um empty nessers, different ages, but I love to see the young adults pouring into teenagers and doing the retreats, then the the teenagers, you know, pouring into kids.

16:52 We have a lot of our our environments, the the worship leaders and and people, you know, older brothers and sisters pouring in as well. What is in the kids area, just just for a reference sake, what is the main things we're trying to put in those kids? Because you have a very specific target we do that we're trying to put in those kids. Yeah, so in kids, it's our five milestone kids or values. Okay. So the first one is to know God's love. We teach that God has created all of us, none of us are on accident, and He loves us in an unconditional way. Right. Our prayers, the response as milestone value number two, is to follow Jesus.

17:32 So when they can understand and make their own decision, it's to choose to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, to invite them into their life, and then from there to be water baptized. Because we say it all the time, it came from you, but it's from 1 Timothy 4 12 as well. Our vision statement in kids is don't wait to be great. You can be a great kid. And these values are really serve as a perspective for our team in everything that we do in Milestone Kids. Let me pause right there for a minute because I think this is a this is a big deal. I I was allowed to per be a part of the team when I was young. My my pastor started discipling me. He let me preach at 16. Like we had committees in my church I grew up in.

18:12 I joke and say hell's run by a committee, but anyway. But I was sitting on like committees just posted up in there, you know, with all these people that were on the earth with Moses and just, hey, I gotta give me a vote. But I I what I appreciate was is I got I got a chance to participate, and we really believed that. And I would say that to parents, like I didn't, I didn't tell my kids, you know, like, you know, just enjoy your life, and then one day when you have your own kids, you can have a recommitment to God and come back and disciple people. Like we got these young people, like, hey, you're you're pouring in, you're giving out, you're you're doing the stuff. So that that that I think we lose a lot of the next generation because they basically believe this is a season of my life that I just push paws on my face.

18:58 Right. And they double down. My kids played sports. Um, my kids, I I believe in education, my kids have higher education degrees. But I always try to remind a parent long term, what are you gonna care about the most? Is can they hear God's word? Can they do what God says? Can they hear from the Holy Spirit? Can they receive from their own Bible? Are they following Jesus? What you just said. So keep going. The first one, know God's love. Second one is to follow Jesus. Uh-huh. The third one is to grow in God's word. So everything that we're teaching, it may make you feel better. It may this or that, but it's explicitly from the Word of God.

19:38 That's what we're saying. So we're teaching them the Word of God and um and and and it they may have fun a little bit, or there may be a but but we're we want them to leave with you're you're leaving with with biblical principles. Well, that's even what we say and what you say in baby dedication weekends. Right. Because we're setting this up as the standard in our home and how we build our lives. So we teach that in all of our kids' classrooms. Four is to honor others. And number five really speaks to our distinctive as a church of spiritual family. But in kids, we say it find good friends. Yeah. And with that, so learning to be a godly friend and how to find godly friends. Right. And those are the five values that we have that really everything in milestone kids is taught through that perspective.

20:19 Because our heart is next gen is a holistic thing. So we want our preschoolers to be developed and discipled and grown into who God wants them to be as kindergartners. And then we're raising them in the elementary years to what? Sent off into junior high. Yeah. And from middle school to high school and then high school. Our dream is that we would see a bunch of our students that were in elevate, high school, whatever it is, but when they're done with school and stuff and they move back to this area, they're in their 30s. Or go to milestone college. Yeah, that's great. Go to milestone college. Or yeah, some of them go off to college. A lot of them do. And we also have them come back in the summers and serve in the camps. So many.

21:15 But we hope they become godly parents and and and godly members of whatever church God places them in, and they honor that environment, serve. And so that's that's the heartbeat. What you know, what do you think is is the what do you think are some of the challenges? Like what what what what are some of the challenges that that people are dealing with? What why why does it seem like this is a topic? And and what if from your experience, because there's no there's nobody, there's just me and you. So it's a little less threatening. What do what do what do we need? Is it different?

21:56 Or I mean, what what is it like today? You're you have a family. I mean, my kids are go growing up and married and college, but like what do what do you think about the environment you're parenting in today? What do you what do you feel like there's things that people are navigating? That's a great question. I think I think the kids the three kids that I have, I've got 13-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a six-year-old, more on the older end, the 10 and the 6. I think parents and and students feel more pressure about things that that sometimes other people are putting on them, but oftentimes they're putting on themselves. It's like this this unspoken pressure that if I'm not doing this by this age, I I'm getting passed over.

22:41 Do you think it's bigger than when I was growing up, that there's more pressure? I don't know if there's more pressure, but they're just more aware of it, maybe. I think so, yeah. I think the I think the you know, options create anxiety. Yeah. They don't actually create, you know, so when you have the cheesecake menu, the cheesecake factory menus, it's like a little bit overwhelming, right? And not ever not most people aren't able. So I think I think the available options, the visibility into, you know, in other words, the decisions were not so great, or the fear of messing up was not so big because you kind of just did what you had an option to do.

23:22 And you didn't know what everybody else was doing all of the time. All the time, yeah. And yeah. So there's just increased awareness of maybe what everybody else may be doing, and they're more focused on that than maybe like just what God has right in front of them. Yeah. I'll say this from just being in youth ministry for 16 years, and I'll say from like the last couple of years, what we've seen is we're seeing students that are more hungry for the things of God than I've ever seen in my entire life. Right. And even from just some friends in ministry, or just look it's not this is the only church where God is working. And just amazing things where where students, like at our summer camp this summer, Pastor Jeff, I've never seen a summer camp like we saw this year.

24:08 Yeah. Of just students leaning in. We say it in kids, there is no junior Holy Spirit. Right. So God can speak to you right where you're at, and we can learn to hear God's voice. And just the high school students of what God did at our camp. Right. He started something there that we're seeing, I think, into our super series and just well beyond that. They're just so hungry for the things of God. I would say to somebody out there, too, if you're intrigued by it, um, go I always tell people this milestonechurch.com and go to our weekend services. Every year at Labor Day, we do what's called Next Gen Weekend. We speak to some of these topics, we talk about different things parenting-wise, uh, try to offer parents hope and encouragement.

24:52 We try to also we we let young people lead. And I will say this, I'm consistently amazed. I love it. Young people can do amazing things. They they can do more many times than we really give them opportunity to do. Um, I want to, I want you to kind of, I think people would be intrigued by this as we we talked about younger uh you know kids, but but a little bit of sort of our template and why we've chosen that template of what we do with the older kids. And because I think I think God is moving in this generation. But I also think we're also we're in a place where over time doing this, you know, just consistently.

25:32 So now, you know, when you start having kids that were touched in the environment, coming back to serve other students and they have a heart. So true. Same as your story. I want to offer that opportunity for that broken kid that's with his mom, struggling, and and I want to show him love, right? And so, um, but I I would say to parents or to youth pastors um speaking to parents, because I find myself now doing that a lot too. You know, my kids struggling, my kids troubled. My friend, who's a little bit older than me, told me this and it registered. In fact, I said it that weekend. He said, every time I was fully emotionally present, even if I felt like I was losing, I was winning.

26:17 That's so good. But he said every time that I was disengaged and not emotionally present, I I was I was always losing. And so I think there's an element of being present, being aware, being involved, understanding where they're at, right? I think the other big thing I would say is you mentioned it, performance. Like I think we we settle for you're a good baseball player and you made the select team, uh, you made good grades, but we settle for externals and we don't parent the heart. If I had one of the biggest things, and this is somewhat art than science.

26:58 I had a friend of mine the other day. I told him this. I said, you know, really, he's asking about some things. I said, really, as a parent, it's discerning what is childishness, because children act like children, you know. And quite honestly, I mean, I see kids do certain things where I think I want to give them an ice cream cone for doing it, you know. It's like you blew that up, you tore that up, you did something. It's called being a kid, right? And it kind of shows and exhibits that you actually might be a leader one day, you know. It's like, but I but when I see parents who don't parent the heart and they foster rebellion, because the Bible says rebellion is as witchcraft, the sad thing is, and I can't tell you how many young families I've said this to, if you don't train, deal with, confront, cross the wheel of that rebellion, the younger they are, the the easier it is, but it does take time.

27:56 You love them, but the people that will ultimately because it's not going away, it's only going to grow. Right. The people who then eventually deal with it may not love them. And then this is where parents now get frustrated and they go, they went to college, they can't find any friends. Um the teacher's fault, it's the boss's fault. Why they have failure to launch? Why are they? Well, it's because you've allowed them to live in that reality. And um, what do you okay? So I know a lot of teachers when I in church, I go, it's not the teacher's fault. You know, they're like, And they all stand up, cheer. I love Pastor Jeff. It's amazing. I'll always be at this church. Thank you.

28:37 Thank you, God. We do teacher appreciation, and I tell them, tell them all to respect their teacher, and they're like, Oh, that's my pastor. What would you say that that you would like to say to parents? And when we have so many amazing parents, and this is not like Bash Parents Day, but what would you say is something you'd like to say to the parents that you you you you would say, I just want to say this in a kind way, but as a person that works with young people, I just want to say this to you. What would it be? I would say to parents I've said a little bit before, but I'll even say it further. You are the most significant influence in the life of your child. Students are not looking for perfect parents.

29:19 Right. They're looking for present, intentional, available ones that that that aren't trying to pick pawn them off on someone else to disciple. Right. Or send them somewhere to learn a skill set. I would say that they would rather you stumble and and fumble maybe through a prayer with them, but to be with them. Right. More than getting polished and getting all the right answers or learning everything that you have to learn in scripture before you engage. Right. I think you engage with them in all of it. Yeah. Because what we're seeing is students that are coming to church maybe as the like the first person in their family, and they're getting saved, and they're bringing parents and siblings and all of those things, and and they're praying for their family.

30:10 They're praying for their parents. And I would say, mom and dad, to lean into the proximity that you have. They're in your home. Yeah. You're with them. Right. Make the most of your time and make the most of the pockets of time that you have with your teenagers, with your kids, with with them, the entirety that they're in your house. Yeah. I want to I want to hit real quick on the template that we have, and I want you to comment on it. And then, by the way, everything we do with NextGen, you can go to leadtowin.com and you can come to our annual gathering that we have in January, and you guys actually have a breakout session where we just talk student ministry, helping young people.

30:52 I mean, I think this could be beneficial to a host of different kinds of leaders. I mean, you guys are are are leading a whole lot of next gen, so that's always available to people. I agree. And we talk from the heart things, the vision things, like, but also just the very practical like what do you do with your hands? Yeah. How do you vet a volunteer? How do you reach people where they're at? How do you how do you build teams? How do you build leaders and disciple them? So all of that is on leadtowin.com, but really we go in depth at this leaders gathering. At the leaders gathering. But I I think one thing when it comes to youth, okay, so we have a we have an annual retreat in the spring where we take kids, we call it Battle of the Sexes, and we take we actually take kids off campus and we actually dialogue about God's plan for marriage, sex, and dating.

31:44 And um, and and and and and it can be pretty intense. I mean, we live in a culture that idolizes that, that that that makes that the apex thing that identifies you, that that that everything, I mean, it all it's so we have kids coming from so many different places, and we we take them to the word. That is so impactful for students. Um, and and we have a lot of ironically, we're talking to them about dating and sex and all of that, which is something they really want to talk about a lot, too. But we have a lot of them get saved, they make friends, they they they find you know people that love them and care about them. And I mean, what what would you say about that retreat?

32:26 What was what have you seen from it? Well, the biggest value that we see, yes, we're talking about God's plan for love, sex, and dating, but Pastor Jeff really some of those poignant moments are in the specific guys and girls sessions where we're covering God's plan. Why is purity important? Right. Like the context of everything that that He's created for us. But every year there's a session where in the guy's session, it's taught by a guy, it's just the guys in the room. We've got one weekend just for middle school, one weekend that's just for high school, so we can talk about different things in those. But after the guy's session, every male leader stands up at the front of the platform, and then every male attendee student walks through, and there's there's just males that are affirming these young men from let's so good.

33:12 Hey, like you are enough. You can follow Jesus. And then what you end up seeing is after every single student makes it through, each male leader, they are so just just weeping because I've never heard that from a godly example before. So what we're seeing is yes, we're talking about love, sex, and dating and God's plan for all of it, but we're teaching them the identity that God's created them with. It's submission to God's word, but in that space, it's also the the reinforcement of identity. We also have summer camps. I mean, of course, we put on vacation Bible schools, and then we have middle school camp and we have a high school camp that we we put a lot of resources and energy into. You just said it was one of the most powerful moments.

33:54 I mean, it's it's pretty epic. And so we we're we're old school camp people. We doubled down on it, Pastor Joe. We're just all in. We take their cell phones away. Yeah. We go to summer camp. It's as distraction-free as we can make it. We put them on teams, like just the whole thing, but at night, we're going to camp and we're going to have to. I know everybody has to do what's best in their context. We just love the whole idea of Jesus went away and prayed. We love the con we love the atmosphere. You know, I I joke and say we're going to take them out in the woods. We're going to preach hell so hot they think they're going to fall into it. And then um and then, you know, so then the super series model, tell me tell me about what super series. So we we have a we have a uh a connect, uh, bring your friends, uh whatever you want to call it, deal in the fall as well.

34:41 Yeah. So those are two times that are targeted each year. There's one in the spring. Well, yes, there's one in the fall. And what it is, it's much more than just a hey, like invite your friends. What we're doing is our heart is we want to get all of the young people that are coming to our youth ministry to step in and to take a step in their face. So we say, share your faith. Right. Be bold. They all get on different evangelistic teams because they're school and invite, yeah. And then they're meeting in the sanctuary for weeks before, like we're praying and we're praying for specific friends. We're writing those names on seats, and they're getting the flyers and all the postable materials, and it's an entire youth ministry at all of our campuses for weeks and weeks ahead of time, praying for their friends. And we partner with them because we give them a free t-shirt, we have some food, we have some things like that.

35:25 Right. But what they're undeniably going to hear is the gospel. What they're undeniably gonna hear is who Jesus is. Yeah. And it's a space where you'll see friends that have been praying for their friends and they bring them. Right. And then when the altar call happens, it's floods of young people. But the greatest part that I see is I love seeing, yes, it's the lost kids that are coming, and we thank God for every single one, but it's their friend that walks down with them. That's so exciting. That's been praying for every single one of them. And that's so that's twice a year, three weeks at a time, and it's the evangelist expression of the city. But I love this too, like the all these people in our church rally around that and come work at the altars. We we we take those kids from the altar to like a counseling room.

36:07 We always see images of them praying with kids, and it's also so rejuvenating to the faith of these adults because they're praying with kids who are coming to Christ. We had like 300 and something a couple of weeks ago that gave it off to Christ. That's right. So the first night was 307, the second night was 298. So we've had 600 students in two weeks give their life to Christ. And it's it's more than the program, it's more that's why I keep trying, it's different. It's not just the branding, it's not the t-shirt, the food. It's this, it's the power of what the local church when when when we all bring what we have, and and I I just think, you know, if I were talking to somebody out there, not just a parent, but someone that that that is concerned, has a burden for the next generation, they can see through fake.

36:57 And I'm gonna tell you, if you genuinely love them and you will put action behind that love, you can build the relationship to say whatever you want to them. Like it, they they will it may seem like they're turned off, right? It may take a little while, but if you genuinely care, I believe you can build a relationship with a young person because they actually inside, even if it feels like they're closed off, they're actually have developed that as a protection mechanism. Right. That's the one thing that crosses every barrier, school, background, history, never been to church or grew up in church.

37:38 If you genuinely care, if you genuinely care, and you'll show up. Yeah, it doesn't matter who they are, they can see past the fake stuff, but they'll respond to that because that reflects God's heart. It does. When you feel God's heart, when they feel God's heart, it's undeniable. And it's one of those things that maybe they can't explain it. It's like, wow, that person saw me. Yeah. And they may, they may look like they don't see it, but I would say to a teacher, to a coach, even to a parent, you know, when your kids become teenagers, they want to push push back. They're working on their when they're working through their own insecurities, but always tell parents, press in, yeah, stay engaged, show love, join them on their turf.

38:20 Like my kids were different than me. I began to try to find ways to join them in their worlds and where they were at. So, but but the goodness of God leads people to repentance. I was a 21-year-old senior pastor. So when I tell the young people, you don't have to wait to be great, like you never know what God has planned for you. And and I just remember I felt pretty intimidated to preach. I felt like, what am I going to say to these people? But God would always tell me, just make sure they know how much I love them. And and that love, it it doesn't matter how big your space is, doesn't matter how big the budget is, how much pizza you have, how cool your guitars.

39:01 Kids today are so hungry. By the way, having technology and stuff doesn't set us apart, but but having people who care will set you apart. Every time, because they can be entertained or see whatever anywhere. Anywhere. But if you show up and there's a room full or a church full of people that love the students that are there. They oh it don't matter if the church's a hundred people. That's right. They'll start coming. It doesn't matter if you're like, well, we're older. We're they they're looking for grandparents and it's like Gigi at camp. Oh, yeah. Gigi, she's in her 70s. Yeah. One of the first people at our church. She volunteers at our high school summer camp for the past four or five summers.

39:45 After the message, it's ministry time. People need prayer. I'm telling you, like, there's kids praying with everybody. There is a mile long line of high school girls that want to pray specifically with Gigi. They want her to pray for them. 100%. 100%. And I think the enemy's the one that tells us, hey, you don't have anything to offer, or they're not receiving this. And uh and so, man, thank you for what you do. Uh once again, you know, lead to win.com. People can come to the leaders gathering hear directly from you and your team because we we want to see the next generation. I think a lot of people are frustrated because there's lots of talk today. People, you know, you get extra credit to talk, right?

40:28 And I'm I think I think a lot of people are going, but what do we do? Like what, you know, and so I just am thankful that you guys are actually, we're not perfect. We're obviously imperfect and growing, but putting kids on mission, we're doing mission trips, putting them on street teams, evangelizing their friends, teaching them how to lead worship, how to disciple others, how to do the stuff, man. Like, like, don't be a Christian who just sits and listens and talks, but be one who can actually play the game. And uh man, I couldn't um I have such a passion for it. Like I lead our church a lot, like a dad, and um, and so I couldn't do it without you. So thank you for all you put into it.

41:08 Thank you, Pastor Jeff. I just I just know that I represent a team and so many people. I just want to honor you. Yeah, you know, it's amazing to be a next-gen pastor, a youth pastor that works at a church, that has a pastor that may love young people more than I do. You love young people so much, and you're a dad to the young people of our church. And I know represent our team when I say it's amazing to see what God's doing, but I thank you and I honor you that this has been in it since day one. Pastor Tyron, Betsy, so many of the teams since day one. And what we're seeing today, it's God and it's our team. Yes, they're a great team, but it's 23 years of people that have leaned in, that have sowed the seed, that have prayed and believed.

41:54 And we're getting to see some amazing harvest right now, and I just think it's just the beginning of what we're gonna see. So I just want to thank you so much, Pastor B. Thank you so much. And and speaking of that, the amazing team and the volunteers of our church, because you know, I can have that heart and I do. I just love them. I come there and preach, and I just I love young people. And because I love potential too. I love just to see people reach their potential. I want to see them win. But you know, what I know you would agree, like our team and then all the the volunteers and the serve team people that serve people in our church, the way they they also give, they're so generous. Like we we put a we put thousands of dollars above even regular budget into a lot of this.

42:35 So our church is so generous. But I want to inspire somebody out there, it doesn't matter where you're at, it doesn't matter how big your church is, it doesn't matter how how big your reach is, but it doesn't matter how big your influence is, wherever God's assigned you, you could have an impact on a kid today by seeing them and caring about them and investing in them. And you may be surprised, you think, I don't have anything to offer, or maybe you don't know what's my next step. You know how many empty nesters I've reinvigorated. Man, just just they'll come over to your house, you serve them tuna fish and just hold host a Sunday night deal. And you don't have to really know that much, but if you care, they're gonna love you.

43:15 And I just I believe that we care so deeply, but I just want to put fuel to the fire of every person listening, to the dad or the mom who has a kid that's a strain a little bit. God sees them, he's with you. Just keep on pressing in and loving. It's amazing what you look up one day and God's able to do. And so um we we we the only way we lose is if we quit. That's right. And so keep showing up. Thank you that uh we have a generational God that loves the next generation, and and thank you for all you do as well. Thanks, Pastor Jeff. I want to say thank you for checking out this episode of the Lead to Win podcast.

43:56 I want you to know that I love and my team loves getting this kind of content into your life so it can help you lead and win at what matters most. So I'd love for you to do me a favor like, comment, especially subscribe if you would, so that we can make sure that we're able to get to you some of the things that are gonna help you lead to win.