One of the most significant challenges that parents have today is getting face-to-face with their kids and teens. The frantic pace of life and ever-increasing digital focus we all have can prevent us from engaging each other in ways that help us grow closer to the people we love. We all struggle in some way with having the healthy conversations we need to have. Our growing tendencies to isolate and communicate via screens are leading us away from the healthy relationships we all need and the conversations that help build and strengthen those relationships.

On this month’s M2P podcast, you’ll join Sass, Amy, and Kerry as they bring you an interview they recorded while at the 2024 D6 Conference in Orlando, FL. The M2P team talks with Patti Pilkington Reed about the importance of having what she calls “smart conversations” with ourselves, our teenagers, and our young adults. Patti is an entrepreneur, author, certified coach, and a growth-oriented leader. The M2P team will dive into a conversation with Patti and discuss some of the key principles found in her new book Face to Face: Smart Conversations with Yourself, Your Teenager, and Your Young Adult. This book is a great encouragement and resource for parents and ministry leaders alike. There are lots of practical nuggets in this episode that will help you both evaluate how you deal with conflict through conversations and how you can help the parents in your church do the same.

In order to grow as disciples, families need to develop a culture of discipleship in their homes. However, the simple truth of the matter is that a lot of parents are intimidated by the notion of being the primary spiritual leaders for their kids and teenagers. As ministry leaders, we have the opportunity to encourage them to embrace their role, and we can paint a picture of discipleship at home that is actually attainable. As parents, we need to own our God-given role as lead discipler and maybe even consider developing a different picture of what it means to disciple kids and teens. Parents and ministry leaders don’t have to have all the answers or be professors of theology. We simply need to be authentically walking with Jesus and invite our kids and teens to join us in doing the same. That’s what discipleship looks like.

On this episode of the M2P podcast, the team sits down with Heather Quiroz to discuss a different way to lead ourselves, our kids, and our teenagers—the way in which Jesus led His own disciples. Heather is a gifted author, teacher, and speaker with over fifteen years of ministry experience. She turned her passion for teaching and sharing the Jewish roots of the Christian faith into founding First Century Youth Ministry with the goal of inspiring youth workers, leaders, and families to become grounded in the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and, in doing so, have a deeper love for the whole Bible. When she’s not writing, speaking, or leading trips to Israel, Heather stays busy sharing about her book (First-Century Youth Ministry: A Look Back For The Way Forward In Youth Ministry Discipleship), leading coaching cohorts, hosting episodes of The First-Century Youth Ministry Podcast, working at a staff consultant with Ministry Architects, or pouring herself into her first and greatest ministry of wife to Rodrigo and mom to their daughter, Adah.

Join us as Heather talks to us about the ways Jesus walked with His followers in the first century, how authentic discipleship happened then, and as she shares about some great, but simple practices we can implement in our lives and ministry. Take a listen and share the podcast with your friends.

Are you, as a ministry leader or parent (or both), looking for relief from the daily demands of leading? Are you worn down, near empty, or feel like you are being held captive to a schedule that offers no mercy? The daily weight of leading in ministry or at home is heavy and draining. And as our guest this month so wisely puts it, “Adapting to an empty tank is not only dangerous, but arrogant. It’s not just that you lead on an empty tank; you willfully acknowledge you are empty and depleted, and you push through and lead anyway.”

On this episode of the M2P podcast, the team is live at the D6 Conference in Orlando, where we welcome our friend, author, speaker, and disciple-maker Marianne Howard to pull up a chair and have a refreshing conversation about rest. The concept and the importance of rest are often looked down upon in our culture, which celebrates busyness as success in leadership. But, as Marianne reminds us, “To lead from a place of rest, we must live from the daily practice of intimacy. God’s primary call on our life is not ministry; it’s intimacy. Intimacy is remaining in that close, dependent relationship with Jesus Christ. Abiding is the most important aspect of a leader’s life because authentic leadership is an overflow of satisfaction in God.” Through our conversation with Marianne, we discuss her new book Rest: Overcoming Spiritual Fatigue and how we can all learn to step into experiencing the rest that God offers and that we so desperately need. Don’t miss this conversation as we spend some time talking about the concepts in the book and encouraging you to make spending intentional, restful time with the Lord a normal part of your rhythm of life.