In a first for our podcast, Kyle invites one of his students to join the conversation. Kyle and Malachi have read 15 theology books together of the last 4 years. Together they discuss what this looked like, what some of Malachi's favorite books have been, and how Malachi has grown. Throw in some fun banter about Ohio State vs. Penn State, a snake being brought to a recent youth group meeting, and how Malachi and his friends "bet" on how long the Sunday morning sermons will be, and it makes for a fun and lively discussion. More importantly, the conversation provides encouragement to other youth leaders who might want to try reading theology books with students. It is possible! And this episode provides an example to show the way.

Kyle and youth pastor RJ McCauley of Magnolia Church in California have a great discussion about sermon illustrations. They use the book "Illustrating Well: Preaching Sermons That Connect" by Jim Wilson as a discussion prompt. They talk about when to use illustrations, how to determine if an illustration is worth while to use in the first place, whether we should limit the number of illustrations we use, and more. Ultimately, they stress that illustrations should always point back to the text we're trying to teach.

Kyle invites Jeremy Meeks of the Charles Simeon Trust to help us with practical tips to become a better preacher and teacher. We walk through many of the question used during the Charles Simeon Preaching Workshops. We look at concepts like structure of the biblical text as well as context of the text, cultural, historically, biblically, and more. Jeremy also tells us about the helpfulness of commentaries, but issues a strong warning not to rely on them too heavily. Jeremy also explains the importance figuring out what the main point of the biblical text is, rather than trying to communicate something we think is important that might not actually be part of the text. We're also encouraged to ask the question of "how does the passage connect to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?" and Jeremy helps us think about doing that properly without falling into some common traps.

Kyle has a fun conversation with Mike McGarry of Youth Pastor Theologian. They encourage youth pastors to be intentional about how they teach and preach to students. Mike explains how we can teach theology in ways to will connect with students. They also discuss practical tips regarding planning a teaching calendar, when or when not to use curriculum, and even the length of time we should be teaching our students in various settings.

Kyle welcomes two guests this episode as we take a look at practical ways we can use camps, conferences, retreats, and other special events to ignite spiritual growth in our students. Foster Toft, Pastor of Student Ministries at Bethel Church in Indiana joins us as well as Eric Miller, Executive Director of Ministry at Momentum Ministry Partners. Together, they walk us through properly valuing special events within a larger scope, sequence, core values, and purpose within our existing ministries. They encourage youth workers to utilize these trips (and the car rides to and from!) as a way to poor into relationship building with the teens they serve.

Kyle invites Youth Pastor and CPYU Research Fellow Mike Terry to co-host this episode featuring Valerie O'Brien of Aspen Ministry. Valerie tells us about Aspen Ministry's 10,000 question project where they are collecting questions about faith and life from students in order to better hear them and point them to Jesus based on where they are and the questions they are actually wrestling with. Valerie reminds us of the importance of answering the questions students are actually asking rather than the questions we think they're asking. How do we answer questions in a way that is both truthful and communicated with a heart for the asker?

Kyle invites his co-worker, Middle School Pastor, and CPYU Research Fellow Josiah Rios to co-host this episode. Together they interview pastor and author Paul Tautges about his book Remade: Embracing Your Complete Identity in Christ. Identity formation is a huge issue among our teens, so we need to help them understand that they are both created by God and redeemed by God in Christ. When teens live into this reality, it helps lift the impossible burden of creating their own identities. They take time to dive into what Paul calls a triple lens perspective, understanding that we are sinners, sufferers, and saints and how we can teach that paradigm to students.

Kyle Hoffsmith and Pastor and CPYU Research Fellow Jason Engle discuss 4 important questions youth workers should ask when they are preparing to give a Bible message. Jason reminds us to teach the Bible rather than using the Bible as a supplement in our teaching. We are encouraged to keep Scripture in context and understand what the original intent of the author was. Kyle and Jason help us focus on teaching the main idea of a passage. Finally we're encouraged to consider our audience. This episode is chock-full of practical tips veteran and rookie youth workers alike can use to improve their Bible teaching skills.