Youth Ministry Sherpas

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter I is for ISOLATIONENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phra

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter H is for HALCYONENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter G is for GAMESENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase t

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter F is for FURIOUSENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter E is for EASYENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase to

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter D is for DANCINGENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter C is for CATHARTICENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phra

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter B is for BANDENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase to

Welcome to Sherpa Shorts Season 2!Tired of waiting for summer to actually arrive? No Prob-llama! Steve and Mathew are back with another burst of Sherpa fun. We pulled out our Bermuda shorts, dark socks and Hawaiian shirts just for you!For 26 straight days, we will race through the alphabet, taking turns choosing a word that begins with the next letter as it relates to youth ministry. Some might be obvious, others obscure -- but neither of us knows what the other one is going to choose next. Expect some surprises and moments of awkward silence. We hope these Sherpa Shorts get you in the mood for summer vacation!The Letter A is for ANTIENTER OUR CONTEST TO STAY WITH US IN TAMPA!We are giving away a FREE STAY during the National Youth Workers Convention in Tampa November 20-25! We have rented a 20-bed paradise for us and our friends, and we want you to join us! To win a free stay, just listen to each episode for the Secret Word. Compile all 26 Secret Words into the Super Secret Sherpa Phrase. Email the phrase to

When we started as youth workers, we didn't have laptops or cell phones. We weren't distracted by text messages, emails and the latest news from our favorite sports team. But it wasn't all focus and productivity. Those floppy discs could be very distracting! It's part 2 or our Procrastination series. Last episode we talked about the causes and costs of procrastination. In this follow-up, we provide some cures (we hope). At least they'd if we'd only stop putting them off and implement them.Plan week to week, day to day, and hour to hour. Plan the big picture. Prioritize tasks and block times. Stack meetings. Change environments. These are just a few of our ideas. Find what works for you.Make the plan. Work the plan.It's Episode 53 -- Procrastination (Part 2)Also mentioned in Today's Episode:The Storybrand Podcast from Donald Miller is one of our favorites. You can check out his Productivity Schedule here:Storybrand Productivity SchedulePlanner Pads are a good paper-based organizerPlanner PadsMathew prefers dig

Our Fourth Legend -- Walt MuellerIt was 1989. The internet wasn't invented yet. George HW Bush was president. The Berlin Wall came down. The Cosby Show, Rosanne, and Cheers held the top spots on TV. Madonna, Phil Collins, and the Bangles topped the charts. Morgan Freeman was Driving Miss Daisy. And a little-known youth pastor from Pennsylvania got a crazy idea to start a resource ministry to help youth workers and parents navigate the travails of youth culture.  That was Walt Mueller, and his brainchild was the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU). For the past 30 years--through books, podcasts, workshops, speaking engagements and tons and tons of online resources--CPYU has been a key player in the youth ministry world. For many veteran youth workers, Walt and his team at CPYU have been like a soundtrack to a life in youth ministry.  During our talk with Walt, we learned about his call to begin CPYU, the spiritual challenges of being a researcher into an often discouraging and even depressing youth cu

Well, we put it off as long as we could, but we finally got around to this one.We aren't proud of the need for this episode, because it hits a little too close to home. But it's time to confess. We are genetically-cursed procrastinators.This episode was recorded on a Monday morning. Mathew spent Sunday afternoon strolling through the DC cherry blossoms with his wife. He could enjoy this spontaneous activity because all his work was done and he could freely enjoy the beautiful afternoon. Meanwhile, Steve was catching a nap under his desk while stressing about the message he had to write for that evening's youth group. That, our friends, is what procrastination (and beating procrastination) look like!The truth is, we have a long way to go in mastering procrastination. Mathew has made some progress; Steve not so much. We both realize much of what causes it, and what the costs are. Whether it's misplaced priorities, distractions, laziness or perfectionism, we both seem find ourselves all too often getting stuff d

Two youth pastors from different churches in the same town develop a friendship. Their relationship is so encouraging to each other that they begin to wonder if perhaps it could also be an encouragement to other youth workers. They decide to start a podcast, which leads to all kinds of cool things, not the least of which is an even deeper friendship and sharpening as youth workers.Sound familiar?Yes, it's our story. But it's also the story of Zac Workun and Chad Higgins from Youth Ministry Booster in Tulsa, OK. About four years ago, Zac and Chad leveraged their friendship to start what was then known as the After 9 podcast. That eventually morphed into a entrepreneurial endeavor known as Youth Ministry Booster. YMB has become a multi-faceted, much-needed resource. Youth workers from all over the country seek out YMB to find mutual encouragement, sharpening, coaching, and of course, podcasts.We have been fans of YMB from afar, and met them briefly last fall at the National Youth Workers Convention. We thought

It's hard to believe we made it to 50 episodes!Actually, it's harder to believe we made it to 50 years, including all these years in youth ministry, especially when you consider all the foolish things we have done.Its fitting that Episode 50 should be released near April Fool's Day, a holiday which holds a special place in the heart of any good youth worker. Maybe it's because we thought the day was created in our honor? Or maybe it's because we all love a good  opportunity to watch students cry when we tell them Chris Tomlin isn't actually coming to lead worship and Taco Bell isn't really the new corporate sponsor of our snack bar.Since everybody makes mistakes, we thought it might be helpful to tell a few tales about the foolish things we've done as youth pastors. The list is long. Whether it was allowing something to happen that we were too dumb to stop (like dodge ball with basketballs or a nearly-burlesque stage performance), or actually doing something beyond stupid (like using students as an object les

(Warning: Rated "IM" for "Immature")Being a youth worker requires restraint. People say things to us that drive us nearly insane with frustration. We've heard every excuse, criticism, and pathetic justification for lack of involvement. But because we represent God, the church, and perhaps even the decent side of humanity, we can't say what we are really thinking. But what if we could? What if our thought bubbles became actual declarations?! Oh, what fun we would have!It's our youth ministry fantasy, and today we let it out for a run!In this episode, we say what we are really thinking when we hear students say things that drive us nuts. "I can't understand why I don't feel close to God right now (even though I haven't read my Bible in 11 months." "I can't come tonight because I have homework (even though I spent all day yesterday playing Fortnite)."And then there are the comments we hear from people in the congregation. "Is this your real job?" "When do you plan to become a real pastor?" "Can you control those

Our Third Legend -- Josh Griffin We all know Josh Griffin as one of the leading voices in youth ministry with over 20 years experience in the trenches, most recently as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. He's the co-founder of DownloadYouthMinistry.com and been in 300+ episodes of the DYM Podcast with Doug Fields. He's created more than 50 youth ministry resources and authored several books including 99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders. Josh and his wife Angela have 4 kids, which now includes 2 teenagers of their own.What you may not know is that before he went to Saddleback (the "Mecca" of youth ministry), Josh was at a church with 30 kids in the farmlands of Michigan, working a job he almost quit two years in. So how did a young man who had never worked in a "big church" become the successor to Doug Fields at Saddleback? It's an amazing story, and one that provides a lesson we all can learn about being open-handed with what God has entrusted to us.The Josh we see on stage at the National Youth Wor

(Warning: Rated "IM" for "Immature")Being a youth worker requires restraint. People say things to us that drive us nearly insane with frustration. We've heard every excuse, criticism, and pathetic justification for lack of involvement. But because we represent God, the church, and perhaps even the decent side of humanity, we can't say what we are really thinking. But what if we could? What if our thought bubbles became actual declarations?! Oh, what fun we would have!It's our youth ministry fantasy, and today we let it out for a run!In this episode, we say what we are really thinking when we hear the most aggravating, discouraging, ridiculous comments from parents. "My kid doesn't have any friends here. The group is cliquey. I didn't know about that. My kid says it's not meeting his spiritual needs." Pul-leeeaaase! We are't going to lie -- it felt really good to let it out.In the end, even though we can't say what we are thinking, there are nuggets of truth in our thought bubbles. Perhaps we can find a way to

Today's in-studio combination is more rare than the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat. (Look it up!) -- two old youth pastors and two founding pastors with 84 years combined in our churches.In today's episode, we invited our senior pastors to join us. Paul Abbott is senior pastor of Cedarbrook Community Church, which he founded 30 years ago. Guy Kneebone is senior pastor of Mountain View Community Church, which he founded 21 years ago. Add in Mathew and Steve, who have been in our positions as youth pastors for 15 and 18 of those years, and you have a unique level of partnership, longevity, and investment in a local church.In this candid interview, Paul and Guy share how they found us (we weren't their first choices) and how they've managed to put up with us for so long. Paul didn't freak out when he arrived to find a man-sized hole in the wall of the sanctuary. Guy lets Steve exhibit his inner-maverick ("Steve likes to do what Steve likes to do"). We're glad we haven't been fired.Paul and Guy share their perspecti

Nothing takes the steam out of our passion for youth ministry like criticism.Criticism is a reality for anyone in leadership. Youth pastors might even be in a position to receive more than most, since we have so many people groups (parents, students, senior pastors, elder) to answer to. We've both had our share, and we never like it, but somehow we are still around and loving student ministry.In this episode, Steve and Mathew talk about our own failures to handle criticism well. Steve has a reputation for being defensive. Mathew has been known to answer before he should have. Both of us are getting better. We've even learned a few tips along the way that might help you put out the fire, not start a bigger one.So put on your Big Boy Pants, and get ready to ask yourself some hard questions, like, What can I learn from the criticism I'm receiving?Episode 46 -- How to Handle Criticism

Pizza, popcorn, M&Ms, Skittles, shaving cream wars, games involving pudding and eggs and mini marshmallows... youth ministry gets pretty messy sometimes. We've all done our share of messy activities, and more than often we are the ones who have to clean it all up.But what happens when the mess is more than spilled soda? What happens when it's a moral mess, a devastating failure, or a mistake that throws the whole church into a whirlwind of toxic cleanup? What happens when it's a co-worker or friend who is the one who caused it? How will that affect us personally, and how will it affect the ministry we care so much about?In today's episode, Steve and Mathew talk about the impact that other peoples' messes can have on our lives. Having experienced this in our current ministries, we understand how hard it can be to deal with it. We somehow have to play the part of friend, church leader, and youth worker all the same time, even while we deal with our own anger and grief. Messy situations can suck up all our e