[00:00:18] The Rec紹介, the Recruitment Leader Podcast, Jason Tucker and Jason Tucker, Jason Tucker, Jason Tucker and Jason Tucker. like that's not going to ruin things. I think it's just, it's a part of just being natural and building those connections. Welcome to episode 442. What if every single Christian adult could take the time to invest in one to two young people's lives? What if church could become not only a generational welcome mat, but a generational launch pad? Today, we talk about
[00:00:45] some challenging stats in the world of reaching young people and also some practical steps to get young adult ministry going. Welcome to the Reclaim Leader podcast. I'm Jason Tucker. And I'm Jesse Skiffington. We're two pastors in the trenches who are passionate about church health for greater gospel impact. We share the ups and downs of ministry, strategies that worked for us, and some that didn't. Best practices and practical tools for church leadership. The goal to help all
[00:01:13] of our churches flourish. Let's get started. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Reclaim Leader podcast. Jesse, it's good to be back recording again. We've had so much going on and this happens where we go through spells where we don't record for a little while. So it's good to be back. We just had our big national gathering, the fellowship community, which was fantastic out in beautiful
[00:01:40] Zionsville, Indiana. There you go. I mean, that's, that is a destination. I tell you what, that is. No, it was great. We had about, you know, 400 pastors and, um, it was awesome missionaries out there. So it was great. And so it's good to be back. Good to talk shop. How you been, man? Good. Yeah. Same. Traveling a lot. Had our local presbytery meeting out here. And then I had a kind of national thing I was doing with the eco for about a week. And I'm actually heading to Jerome,
[00:02:07] Idaho, uh, next weekend to go and charter a church plant in, in the, you know, so just talking about kind of being on the move. And, uh, it's so much fun though to, to get to be in a, in a conference setting with other pastors and leaders or in a local church where you get to see, you know, what God's doing there. And just, it's really awesome to see all the ways that God's at work amidst all the challenges and the things. And we talk leadership and how do we do, do it well? How do we be healthy?
[00:02:32] And, and all of that, but to get to kind of interact with people and remember there's a lot of people working really hard, doing amazing things in local churches and makes me just grateful, grateful that we get to be a part of it and glad to be a pastor amidst the challenges and the 30% approval rating apparently we have or whatever the stuff is like, it's good. I'm grateful for it. Yeah. Same. And a shout out to all the folks that came and said hi during the conference,
[00:02:59] all the reclaim leader listeners, which is kind of cool. There's people listening to the podcast and sharing their stories about, uh, how, you know, the content we're talking about connecting with them. And I was just so appreciative of every single one of those conversations because it was a reminder that 442 episodes in, it actually still matters. Thank you for the, those of you that are listening. And it's funny, Jason, every time I have a conversation like that, I'm like, I think maybe you should be doing the podcast because that's a way better idea than what we came up
[00:03:29] with or whatever. So I think, but the goal I think is working to get the conversation going, spark some thoughts and just continue to talk shop as pastors working in the trenches of the local church. So, uh, this is encouraging to you. We're just glad to have you along for the ride with us. And it's amazing to think Jason, we just hit record eight years ago or whatever it was. And we said, let's talk shop, let's talk leadership. And how do we really lead change in the local church? And I think underneath that question is how do we lead in a way that creates
[00:03:58] health and vitality and a sense of mission in the local church. So, uh, good stuff. Glad to be on the journey with you at 442. Is that right? Is that how many? That's it. Yeah, that's, I know it's wild. So, um, we're going to pick up a thread. You're going to listen. If you're a fan of the podcast, you've been listening for a while, you know, this is a thread we, we pick up a lot, but I think for good reason. And this kind on the backside of the conference where Kara Powell was, was our main speaker for a whole
[00:04:27] day. It was wonderful. She gave us a whole day, um, of giving us content in the next generation future focused church, which we had Kara a couple of months ago and she was fantastic. I mean, she's such a pro she's got such great content and so helpful to the local church. But I want to pick this back up because she said something, well, she said a lot of things. I want to share a few of the pieces of research that she shared, but also, um,
[00:04:53] in this was way back in the growing young book, they started talking about key chain leadership. And we've picked up that thread again, a few times, but the idea that, you know, we're trying to hand the keys of leadership to the next generation and what does that look like? And what does it mean to give them a meaningful key, not just a key to the storage closet? You know
[00:05:17] are terrible at it. Largely we're terrible at it. And so how do we, how do we get better at that? And one of the things she said, I felt very convicted. She said that most of the time what we do is we take the keys and we just throw them at a young person and say, here, go for it. Good luck. And then when they don't deliver what we expect them to deliver, well, it didn't work out.
[00:05:41] And, uh, it's, you know, it's time to move on. And the question is, are we really setting them up to succeed? What does that look like and why for some pastors and churches, is this not even a priority at all? So from her talk, I'm just going to take right from her talk. Uh, I had a few quotes of research that she gave. First of all, the stat that we all sort of knew that 40 to 50% of youth
[00:06:08] group graduates drift from God and the church after graduation. And of course we know this is because the church largely isn't crafted for them. They're part of a youth ministry or youth program that's very siloed from the rest of the church and it looks and feels completely different. And then when they graduate, they're just sort of expected to assimilate into, you know, the regular church, if you will. Yeah. Yeah. Challenge.
[00:06:34] And it's rough because, you know, maybe not in a church like Marine View, but in a lot of churches, it's rough because it looks nothing like the version of community in spirituality that they were experiencing all the way up. And now they feel like they hit a brick wall and they don't know what to do. They feel like they don't belong. They feel like it's not for them. Um, and here's the thing that kills me. This was a stat that kills me. She said only one in three
[00:07:02] pastors strongly agree. This was on a survey, strongly agree that ministry with youth is in their church's top five priorities. One in three. And this was a survey that they knew was coming from Fuller. Yeah. So I think their bias would be to be generous with the answer. It may be worse than
[00:07:26] that one in three pastors that it's a top five priority. I, I'm actually livid over this piece of research. Yeah. That's incredible to me. I mean, cause shouldn't a pastor know that the right answer is to put that, even if they don't functionally agree with that, right? Like, oh man. And this reflected in what we budget every single year, right? It, so it's, yeah, maybe they're just being honest about the reality at their church or something that they're not, they're not putting as many
[00:07:55] resources in that direction as they should. But man, if we're not thinking about passing the baton of faith to the next generations and, and figuring out how to do that well in a way that sets them up for success beyond their high school years, what are we, what are we doing? Are we just playing church and kind of babysitting Christians until it all goes away? Yeah. I'm with you, Jason. And I'll let you be the most mad about it, but I'll be pretty, I'll be kind of mad. Well, I, I guess, cause this butts heads
[00:08:23] with, with my, I would say it's my number one priority. Um, or at least it's a one B. I mean, it's, it's, it's up there as a top priority for me personally and for us as a church. And we still struggle to realize that priority. You may say it's a priority, but we always have to evaluate whether our actions are backing that up. Yeah. Well, and I know we're going to get to this in just a minute,
[00:08:48] but I think one of the challenges for us is it's one thing to prioritize it. And we certainly do. I mean, Marineview started as a Sunday school and we've always invested really heavily in next-gen ministry, but then to develop adults who are mature enough and can be in those environments in a meaningful way. I think that's another, how do you prioritize even the discipleship culture of your church to, to help foster the kind of leaders that can engage with, with those, those kids. So
[00:09:13] there's a lot of layers to it. And so it's not as easy as throw a bunch of money at it or something, but it is, if it's not a priority in the sense of Lord, how are you leading us? How can we move in this direction? How do we reach the next generations? Then I think there's some hard questions that need to be asked as far as a leadership team goes about what are we really trying to do here? Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, years ago when we first were talking about this at our church,
[00:09:42] a helpful exercise was just simply for us as, as leaders to just sort of share how are, how are we, if I would say the strength of Tower Hill before I ever came here was they were always supportive of youth ministry initiatives and supporting the youth. That doesn't mean that showed up in their budget or showed up in what they did, but at least philosophically, everybody always supported this idea of let's do
[00:10:09] for the kids what we think need to be done. But I think what a lot of churches don't realize is, because I think they worry about kind of preserving what they love and they, and maybe that's more important so that they're not that young people will be able to experience their preserved thing. But what's counterintuitive,
[00:10:38] and again, Kara mentioned this, that what the research shows us is when we give young people a bigger say, a bigger piece of the pie, if you will, the whole pie gets bigger. Yeah. We've experienced this here at Tower Hill. I can't tell you how many kids brought their parents to church. Yeah. I mean, I actually would love to know that number, to share it. Like what percentage of new people that
[00:11:05] have come to Tower Hill over the last six years, what percentage of them were brought or encouraged to go because their kids started going or being involved in the life of the church? It has to be a pretty big percentage. And interestingly, you know, we all know it's not because the preachers, I'm sorry, it's not because of the sermons. The parents may, hopefully, you know, maybe that's a thing for them.
[00:11:31] But for most, there's a study, future of faith study of young people in 2024. 67% of those surveyed, I think they were teenagers, they may have also been young adults, said, I grow in my faith and spirituality when someone listens to me about my beliefs without judgment. 67% grow in their faith
[00:11:54] in spirituality, as opposed to 33% say, I grow in my faith and spirituality when I hear a sermon. So again, it's the whole belonging is the belief. Now those things are inseparable for young people. That sense of belonging. And in a few minutes, we pop on, we have a conversation with our young adult leader,
[00:12:20] Kayla Kenny. She's a graduate of Messiah College in Pennsylvania a couple years ago. And she started about two years ago, two and a half years ago, helping us get young adult ministry going. And we're going to hear this, that for a lot of young adults and young people, it's about, I'm going to go because that's where people go. And I want to connect. I want to have spiritual friendships. I want to have fun. I want
[00:12:44] to have these things, you know, and that's leading to the content in a different way, which we all knew from youth ministry days, by the way, this isn't anything new. It's just somehow we've forgotten it. Yeah. And in some ways, you know, one of the things that's still on my whiteboard over here, one day I'll show it to you, Jason, but it's like, what is the grownup version of youth group or youth club? We call it here, but like, how do we create those bridges into community and connection
[00:13:09] and fun that we want to have together that still leads to a growing faith? And I see, I think there's something of a bridge in those young adult years, particularly that we're going to hear about from Kayla in just a little bit. But I think that's true for, for most people, you know, it's like you never get to a point in life where relationships don't matter anymore or friendships don't matter or fellowship doesn't matter. So as good as your sermons are, Jason, that's, you know, fantastic, right. If we're not creating an environment where people can connect with each other and be known
[00:13:38] and loved, and I don't know, I think it's going to be really hard to thrive. And that's one of, you know, going back to, to growing young even and a future focused church, the site, just that idea of warm is the new cool. Like that we just, it's not about being slick. It's about being caring and warm and, and, and giving some space for young people to lead, you know? So, you know, Marine View, one of the things we do because we're, we know that stat about the drop
[00:14:04] off when kids leave their youth group and they go out into the world and they don't connect where, you know, anytime a young person gets into leadership in and with our youth, part of the, the ask for them is to be there on a Sunday morning. It's like, you know, part of the habit of the discipline of a disciple is to be in community with other believers, even if it's not quite your most favorite thing or the place you most naturally connect. Cause then you get into the habit of being there and hearing, you know, a sermon and sitting through a service and those kinds of
[00:14:34] things. So I think there are things we can do to, to set our young people up for success, but we ought to pay attention when Kara Powell is seeing this across the whole church and saying, this is something you guys need to look at. Yeah. And, um, I think what Kara does really well is, is help us in that exact kind of piggybacking on that comment is helping us see what's happening, happening broadly that they're seeing in the research. And one of the things she pointed out is, you know, we think we understand young adults
[00:15:01] cause we all once were young adults, but how different it is for them than it was when we were sure. And you know, one of the things she said, she had this great graphic. I'm going to describe it. I won't do it justice because they don't have the graphic, but it was a straight line that said, this is how it used to work high school, college or military vocational school, job, marriage, kids on a straight progression. That's how it used to work. And now then she
[00:15:29] showed the chart, it was the same line, but all these circles all around it and stuff, arrows going everywhere that included app year, travel abroad, live together, move home, roommates, internship. And it was all like, sometimes it was going forward and backward and everywhere, but it's so different nowadays. That line that, uh, we used to think were just the natural steps maybe isn't quite as clear for them and it causes a lot of anxiety. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough.
[00:15:56] And, um, and last thing, and then we'll kind of get to Kayla is cause maybe this will spark some ideas, pastor handing the keys is about generational leadership. It begins with how do we hand the faith to the next generation? It's what we're talking about creating community, creating space for them to learn. And then how do we hand the keys to them as far as leadership goes? And I think you'll see a little bit as you listen to Kayla, but, uh, social issues that matter most
[00:16:24] to Gen Z, which is, it was interesting to me, uh, from Kara Powell's research, cause maybe these are areas, points of contact with the next generation. Number one on the list was healthcare. Yeah. And part of it's, you know, young adults, they've graduated college and they just, they need health insurance. I mean, there's a, a young adult in our church, uh, who helps us with our social
[00:16:49] media and she just took her first full-time job with benefits cause she needed the benefits. And it wasn't necessarily the job that, you know, this is the greatest job ever, but it's like, I need healthcare. Yeah. I need it now, you know? Um, That's the old soul in that generation though. I know, right? I love it. I need healthcare, uh, mental health. Remember this is the pandemic generation. Yeah. Mental health. And, um, I don't have this stat in front of me. I had heard that it
[00:17:17] was some super high percentage of, especially teenage or now young adult women, um, have mental health from those teenage years of the pandemic and social media. Yeah. And, um, not that young men don't, but the percentage was crazy for young women, higher education. Is it worth all this money
[00:17:40] that we're spending to have a job market that has no room for me? Economic security, civic engagement, racial equality in the environment. I mean, these are all things that matter to them. Maybe there are some connecting points in the life of your church that you can connect kind of naturally, or at least lift up some of these areas and speak to them because they matter most to Gen Z. All right. So let's,
[00:18:06] let me set this up. Kayla has, is really the, the only successful chapter in my tenure here at Tower Hill that we've had with young adults and college students. We, we had a few fits and starts over the years that, you know, we saw a limited success, let's say limited traction is probably a better way of saying it. Yeah. I don't want to define success that way, but Kayla jumped in and really helped us
[00:18:36] get it going. And now it's to a point where it really has some momentum. And so I asked her today about three hours ago, if she could jump on the podcast and just talk with us for a few minutes while she's setting up for everything else that she has to do tonight. So, um, she grew up in our church. She, uh, she knows ministry and now she's able to sort of put that into practice part-time for us as our young adult leader. So, uh,
[00:19:05] let's talk with her. This is our conversation that we have with Kayla Kenny. Well, Kayla, thanks so much for joining us. As I was saying before we hit record on this extremely last minute idea that I have for you to jump on. So thank you for jumping on in. Yeah. Um, Kayla, I am, you know, for years, we were really trying to get things going with young adults, with college students and everything. And, um, I would love to hear just
[00:19:31] your perspective on what, you know, you, you've been in this role now, is it two years? Yeah. Like two and a half. Yeah. Yeah. Two and a half years. And I guess just kind of sharing. So as you're speaking with kind of other pastors who are listening, what are you seeing that's working? What'd you kind of figure out that didn't work and what are you trying and where are you seeing traction with young adult ministry? Yeah. So I would say we've definitely been really willing and open to kind of change as
[00:19:57] we see fit. I, from the beginning, we started off doing just small groups, reading, um, separating guys and girls, just reading kind of from the letters and through the letters of like from Paul, whether it was Ephesians, James, Philippians kind of went through those. And we just did summer volleyball, things like that. And we definitely got like engagement. People were in and out, but I would say ever since September of last year, like 2025, we've just really seen people like on fire for their faith. And that's kind of just been a huge part of it. Um, just people that really want to be
[00:20:25] here and want to be in the Bible. I, every few weeks when we finish a different series, I'll do like a little poll and see what people are wanting. And I've given different options of like, would you want to have guest speakers? Would you want to do video sermons? And everyone just wants to be in the Bible, which I think is really cool. Um, and that looks different for everyone, whether it's, this is their first time getting into it. Some people have just bought Bibles for the first time in their lives, which is really cool. Or people that have gone to church their whole life, but really just being in the word and giving them a space to kind of talk through things and ask
[00:20:53] questions. I think it's been, what's been really working for us. That's awesome. I think, um, I always think back to that time when you and I and Lindsay were out on the patio and we're giving you all the ideas that we thought you should do. I remember when we're talking about these things and you had the honesty to say, um, I don't think
[00:21:18] we need all that. You're like, I think they just want to get around and read the Bible. That was such a great lesson for me. You probably don't realize it, but it was such a great lesson for me to remember to listen and for pastors and churches to listen to what did the young adults actually want? Yeah. I think simplicity is really key because I feel like in a lot of aspects of our lives, you know, young adults are kind of expected to start having things together and being professional, but it's crazy how much they really love just being simple and like the little joys of even just
[00:21:47] getting together and playing volleyball or nine square and just kind of eating candy, like just reading the Bible things that are just kind of a space that's just safe for them to relax and just be kind of who they are instead of feeling like professionals all of the time. So I think that simplicity that we talked about a while ago, like I've seen that continue to be a trend in everything. Yeah. What do you think was the thing Kayla that really you said mentioned back in September
[00:22:11] when you started seeing people on fire? Is there, do you see some things kind of working together? Why do you think that is now? Do you think it's just time and then people feeling more comfortable or? Yeah, I think there's definitely a lot of things that contribute to it. I think a big one is just people being really bold in their faith. I think kind of so many current events in the world were really just devastating that kind of brought people to this point of like no longer being silent about things. They kind of were like, Hey, like I, this is my faith and I want to share it
[00:22:38] with people. And I think people really took to that on social media and on just different platforms and kind of realized that there was a need to have a faith. I think it's kind of shifting from this idea of like church was something that you used to do because your parents made you or like, you thought it was the right thing to like these people just outwardly seeking it. So I think just kind of something that you've talked about in your sermons. And I know we've had conversations about like the generations turning towards Jesus. I think that really just is what people are looking for, just a relationship with him and all of the craziness of the world.
[00:23:08] Yeah, that's amazing. So if there's a pastor out there that's hearing this and is like, how do I get some of this going where I am? Like, it sounds like you guys have been at it for two and a half years and kind of working on how to get Jason out of the way so that Kayla might... That's not untrue. I mean, really, as pastors, sometimes we, and we talk about this all the time, we think in terms of a program or, you know, let's start every week, whatever. And, um,
[00:23:36] but what I'm hearing you saying is there was a little more organic in nature than that and kind of getting people together, gathering around scripture, gathering around just fun and fellowship. So how do, how do we do it? Like, do we find a couple of young adults that we have and just say, Hey, how do we empower you to do that? Or, you know, what, what kind of advice would you give for maybe a pastor like me that we see young adults showing up and now we're trying to figure out how to kind of corral them in a way that won't be cringy or cause them to run for the hills?
[00:24:06] Yeah, definitely. Um, I think they're not, they're definitely not opposed to like the older generations helping out and things like that. So I wouldn't be fearful of that if you don't have a say young adult that right away you think could step into the role, but I would say, don't be afraid to give young adults like the freedom to do that too. Maybe like you initiate the hangout or like the Bible study, whatever that looks like for your church. And then kind of opening that up to seeing if someone would be comfortable in leading the Bible study and things like that. Um, even if you're just meeting with them and like training them if they've never
[00:24:34] run a Bible study before. Um, but I would say definitely try and make those connections to while they're at church. Cause I think something we talk about a lot is like church can feel very family oriented. So like when you're a parent, it's like go to a parent small group and you can meet people that way. Or when you're, you know, an older adult, we have stuff for you, but young adults, I think it's really easy to slip in and out on a Sunday, just kind of be like, Oh, I went to church and there's like, I can leave now. There's not really much going on for me. So like making that personal connection of like, Oh, Hey, like, I think I've noticed you before. Like what's your story?
[00:25:01] So just kind of, uh, being willing to have those conversations and see how you can get them connected, I think is a big part of it too. Yeah, that's really helpful. And one of the things we've noticed that we've had a few of young adults showing up in their like early twenties and they meet some of our older folks and there's a young woman, fantastic named Isabel. And she sits in a row. I think the average age is probably 80 and they, you know, they like truly, and, and like, she's just like
[00:25:29] meshed in with them. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe that's like you, your generation just has this ability to connect that way and in this really natural way. And they're all kind of buddies and I love seeing that. So I'm not sure what that means, but I like, kind of like what you were saying, there's just sort of a naturalness to it and trying to be attentive and have that warm welcome or whatever. It seems like a good approach. Yeah, definitely. That's something I saw with a member of our group. They were in Tower Hill and did Bible study, but then they moved away. So they had to find
[00:25:57] a new thing and he started going to this church and it's all just like 60, 70, 80 year olds. And he goes to church with them every Sunday and like stays for breakfast with them after. So I think it's kind of one of those things where like you have to be willing to like break the mold a little bit and be like, you know what, this is what's working for our church right now. And this bringing young adults in, that's great. You know, it doesn't have to be like what we saw at once, like in the past, I guess. Yeah. And it really lights those ladies up on the inside. I mean, just watching them sort of adopt her and love her. And it's just so cool to see that. And I kind of want to just pull her aside and
[00:26:26] like, what are you doing here? But I encourage that and just to celebrate that because it really is a beautiful thing of this intergenerational connection. So something to be proud of in your generation, I think that just that way of being able to reach across those, those things that might otherwise divide people. It's pretty cool. Yeah. And Kayla, so maybe you could just, I mean, again, it has kids just kind of real quick when you were first starting and you're just first trying
[00:26:53] to get something going. What, what did you do? I mean, how did you start to initially get traction? Was it, I remember it must've been, I think it was early last summer, you and a couple of other people were, were like scouting the worship services to try to find people that you thought were in the age group and you just like went, went to go introduce yourself. I knew that was part of the strategy, but what did you do to just kind of get it going? Yeah. I would say, um, you have to be vulnerable. You have to be willing to put yourself out there.
[00:27:23] Maybe you get rejected a few times, kind of just letting people know that you're there and it is an option because, um, even a few times, like you'll invite people and you get no response. And then on like the sixth time they're like, actually, like, you know what? I think, I think I'll try it out. So definitely being willing to be kind of resilient with that and not letting it discourage you. Um, but I think personal invitation is a huge part of it too, because, you know, I think parents can kind of be like, Oh, I saw this group. You maybe should try it out. But once you kind of put a name to a face and you're like, Oh, well, she'll be there.
[00:27:48] So maybe I can try it out. Um, I think personal invitation is huge. And then something else we saw again, like I said, when kind of things kind of ramping up is people are really looking online for groups. Sure. That like, when you see the website, it's easy and accessible to like where we're meeting, how to get in contact with me or someone at the church. Um, so kind of just having those like keywords of like young adults, 20 somethings, whatever you brand your group as, um, making it easy for people to find, whether that's on Instagram or social media, because we have at least
[00:28:18] like 10 people that have just showed up on their own finding it online. So the connections are going far past just a Sunday morning. So kind of being aware of like your social presence and how that's impacting it too. And it's become very regional, right? So it's people that even are connected with other churches, but don't have, haven't found, um, young people their age have gravitated to you because you're putting yourself out there. I mean, showing a difference between,
[00:28:43] um, I would say seasoned and younger generation leaders is you're not afraid. Like on a Sunday morning announcement, her cell phone number's up there. Like, give me a call, connect with me. I would never. Brave thing, Kayla. Very great. If someone gets home, you're like, how'd they get my number? Yeah. It's different. It was really funny last week. We, um, we start Bible studies every week at seven o'clock, but last week we had a special request to do volleyball. So I was like,
[00:29:10] you know what? No problem. We'll do volleyball at six and we'll start, um, Bible study at seven. And I connected my phone to the speaker to play music. And I got like a random call from a number and I was like, Oh, I'm not going to answer it. And I was like, you know what? Whatever. I'll just answer the phone. And it was someone there like, Hey, like, do you have Bible study tonight? And I was like, Oh yeah. Like we do. And they're like, I just saw your phone number. Like, is it too late for me to show up tonight? And I was like, yeah, like, of course. So you kind of just have to be willing to go with it as it comes. Like you were saying. Vulnerability. That's tough. Yeah. No, that's really cool. So Jason, I expect your cell phone
[00:29:40] number on the screen. No, I mean, obviously, yeah, it works for that connection. I love that you're seeing people that are finding you and they're risking coming without really knowing anybody. So there's the relational piece inside the community. What I heard you saying is look for those people and risk being vulnerable, but then also making yourself known because there may be people who will risk showing up for an event or an activity, but not coming on a Sunday or something
[00:30:07] like that. So what should we not do? I'm a, you know, I got two teenagers at home and they're always telling me, you know, dad, you know, that's, that's a dad joke or whatever. Like, are there things that we, not because we wouldn't be trying to be helpful and good and kind to people? Are there things that get in the way for the younger generation or that ways we make younger people feel uncomfortable or I don't, I don't even know what those would be. It shows you how ignorant I am about what that would
[00:30:33] even look like. So is there stuff we should be careful about or avoid? Um, I would say, I guess like being too formal sometimes might be kind of complicated. Like just because people are, I feel like young adults are really excited, but can also be non-committal. So I think if you like jump at them too quickly, that might be like overwhelming. But I think the other piece is really just don't overthink it. Like not thinking like, Oh, I'm not young enough to connect with them or I'm not like whatever insert the word is to connect with them. I think like we were talking about before, whether it's older generations, whether it's simple things, like they really are
[00:31:03] just willing. So even if you try something and it doesn't work, I don't think that's going to be a turn away from the church, like never come back. I think relationships are a big part of it. So if they make a connection with you and you make a weird joke or you do an event that maybe they didn't really like, like that's not going to ruin things. I think it's just, it's a part of just being natural and building those connections. So I would just say like not being shy and even as adults, putting yourself out there and like being willing to make those risks in a sense. Yeah, no, that's good. That's helpful. So I know I interrupted your whole workflow.
[00:31:32] What, tell us what you're preparing for tonight. You're beginning the summer kind of schedule and maybe it'll be helpful for people to know like what we're doing. Yeah, of course. So tonight we have our annual young adult kickoff. We do like a fun taco Tuesday, just kind of we're doing Chipotle tonight to get all the young adults here. That is their love language. It really is. Yeah. That's really the answer. Yeah. If you can get it between that and Chick-fil-A, I mean, you just have people lining up the door, honestly. So the way that we're running things, we kind of something that we saw in having
[00:32:02] a young adults program, young adults is a really broad word that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So we've kind of started to separate that between three different branches. So the first is college age students. So those kids that are either still in college or coming home from college and then young adults program is our 20 somethings program. So just, you know, people in their twenties and then we're pushing the next kind of group to be young professionals, which will be that end of twenties, early 30 range. So kind of distinguishing that and
[00:32:28] knowing what that looks like would be a really first good step as well. I forgot to mention that before, but just because when you say young adults, people don't know what that means. Like technically young adults is 18 to like 40 in like human development terms. So making sure to like specify that I think is really important. So the way we're going about that and what that kind of looks like for us here is over the summer, we're running a Bible study just for college age students since they'll be back in program. So Monday nights, we do our Bible study from 530 to 730 for the
[00:32:57] college age students and then from seven to nine for our young adults. So kind of this idea that they'll be able to interact in between, but then they have separate Bible studies just because those few years really do make a difference in life stages and just kind of maturity, different problems, different things going on. So we separate those two in Bible study. And then we also meet once a week for volleyball and everyone's invited to that just to kind of have fellowship. And just, I think that's a really good place where comfortability grows. If you can find
[00:33:24] volleyball has just really been what works for us, but whatever your niche is, whether it's like a game night or a movie night, whatever works for your church, I would encourage you to find the fellowship because in that, that's where people aren't really afraid to talk. You know, in volleyball, everyone's cracking jokes and getting to know each other. And then in Bible study, those people that are quiet, like get really quiet. So places where they can build those relationships and then you'll kind of start to see that grow more in Bible study as those two go together. So I would recommend
[00:33:49] definitely that's been working for us. Awesome. Kayla, thank you so much for your time. Of course. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. And all that you're doing. Of course. It's awesome. And Jason, you're going to post your cell phone number, right? That's right. Her cell phone. Yeah, make sure your church on Sunday. Thanks for sharing. You know, it is something that as I'm talking to pastors and I know Jason, you too, we're hearing about young adults showing up. And for some churches, it's been a long time
[00:34:15] since they've seen young adults. And so they're wondering, how do we do this and make a home for them without screwing it up? And I don't know, you know, everybody wants something good. So this is super helpful on it. We appreciate you sharing your perspective and what's working and some things that we can pay attention to. So that's awesome. Of course. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Jason, so much fun to have Kayla with us. And I'm really glad she was able to take a few minutes out of her day. And Kayla, if you're listening back to this, thanks for interrupting your day to spend
[00:34:43] a few minutes with us, just kind of sharing what's working with young adults and the things that you guys are after. And I just appreciate what you're doing. I, you know, for me, Jason, as a pastor, it's like listening to Kayla, it's just encouraging. It's like, okay, there's, there's a way forward. Because for me, sometimes I look at that young adult world and it's kind of an enigma. It's like a mystery box. Like, how do we do this? We know that young adults matter. We want to reach them, but how do we do it well? So just hearing from Kayla, what's working, what's not. And more than
[00:35:13] anything, the word that was maybe just caused my blood pressure to drop a little bit. And I go, okay, it's going to be okay. Just keep it simple. She said, there's something about simplicity that matters and the same core needs of relationship and, and having a place to go and be, and then just studying scripture together. It doesn't have to be a program that is, you know, whatever dialed in, in some crazy way. It's like open up God's word and read it together. I'm like, okay,
[00:35:38] I think that's something that maybe we could help make happen. So anyway, really encouraging. And thanks again, Kayla, for joining us. Yeah. And something she also touched on was it, and you guys had a nice interaction on this was about intergenerational church and why this generation seems to be more open to that. It's just interesting to observe that that does seem to be the case when I was young adults, it's all about, I want to be young adults only.
[00:36:06] Yeah. It's really interesting. I mean, some of the young adults that have shown up around MarineV the last few years, I'm like, you are just really good at folding in with people who are not in your generation, you know? And I'm like, man, I don't know. Maybe it's the Gen X in me that would have been like, no, you know, I don't know. But anyway, so that's encouraging. You got these young people that just have a genuineness and an easiness with a variety of different folks. So that's encouraging for sure. Yeah, absolutely. And, and it was reminding me of, uh, again, one of the quotes that Kara Powell
[00:36:36] had at the conference, she said of 13 youth group participation variables, the one most correlated with mature faith in high school was intergenerational relationships and worship. So good. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So, uh, so we're seeing it play out actually, uh, in, in real time. And it led to, I want to give you Kara's kind of final takeaway or question for pastors, because this one definitely
[00:37:03] hit me in the heart and I want to make sure that I don't just leave it at a conference. I want to take it with me into what I'm doing. And the question is this, where does listening to young people show up on your calendar? That is such a great question. It really makes it real. We could say we support that we have, we want to hand the keys to next generation. We want to give them a strong faith and we want to help them to start leading in the life of the church.
[00:37:31] But I never talked to any of them. Right. I never listened to what's going on with them, what they need. And I just think it's a great question. Um, and so ever since I heard that, I've been thinking about how do I just make it part of my regular rhythm to invite young people to just have a conversation, even if it's just a quick thing after church or, you know, maybe some of them want to get coffee or something. I don't want to make it too weird because, um, it may be a
[00:37:58] little intimidating for the pastor to be like, Hey, do you want to get coffee? I don't know. Yeah. Right. So, but how do I do that? Where does listening to young people show up on your calendar? I just think that's important. That's really good. And I think it can show up in different kinds of ways to that are, are natural. So when you do have an event or maybe there's a little interaction after church around, you know, fellowship coffee or hour or whatever, and there's a young adult there, you can do it in a way where in a two or three minute
[00:38:26] conversation, you can really learn a lot, you know, and just being more curious and listening rather than selling something. And I think is a good way to do it too. So finding, finding those people that you can kind of be a sounding board for you. And then maybe just like Kayla said, risking going and approaching a young person and just having a conversation and learning what you can. And, um, more than anything, what I hear in that is, are you, is this even on your radar
[00:38:52] that you ought to be finding a way to engage with young people and hear their hearts for, for what they're longing for in the church and what their hopes are and how, how do we meet them where they are in some of those things? So really good stuff, Jason. And, um, I'm, makes me really grateful for people like Kara Powell. We started with that also Kayla and also for pastors like you and me that we're trying to figure it out and all the pastors that are listening going, okay, how can we take this and have it show up in our local churches for the sake of this next generation that's coming
[00:39:22] up? And whether we like it or not, they're going to inherit those keys at some point. And if we can start handing them off earlier and, and getting them ready for that, I think that's a good thing. Yeah. Well, thanks everyone for listening. Uh, really appreciate you being on this journey with us. If you're new to us listening to Reclaim Leader, thank you so much. Uh, you could always subscribe to our newsletter, which happens about once a month on reclaimleader.com. Also, uh, there's a whole archive
[00:39:49] of all the podcast episodes and everything else. And as we get ready to leave, we got some guests coming up, which is going to be pretty cool. And then next month we're going to have, uh, a couple of our leaders. It was actually from the gathering. One of them is a well-known to the podcast, David Kling. And, uh, another one, Goody Bell, uh, is another pastor who's part of this leadership pipeline development within our denomination. The idea of how do I identify young leaders who want,
[00:40:16] who we think would be good pastors and help to develop them? Because, um, I'm sure pastors, most of us are aware that we have a real succession problem and there are tons and tons of vacant pulpits, if you will, because a lot of young people interested in religious studies or, or seminary even aren't interested in being pastors. So what do we do about that? And we're going to hear about the plan that's happening right now in real time as we're trying to, uh, create a leadership
[00:40:43] pipeline. So I'm excited for that conversation as well. But, uh, anything as before we sign off here, Jesse? Oh man, good to be with you again. You know, with all these travels coming and going, it's good to talk shop. That's what we love to do. And hopefully this is helpful for you. And 442 conversations in, hopefully the needle is moved a little bit somewhere along the way. I don't know, but hopefully it's good stuff, Jason. All right, everyone. Hey, thanks so much for listening. Again, ministry is hard. It is so much better when we do it together. Take care.