Kara Powell is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute and a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary. Named by Christianity Today as one of “50 Women You Should Know,” Kara serves as a Youth and Family Strategist for Orange,

20 | Ben Markham: How to Have Tough Conversations with Leaders and Parents

Apr 15th, 2017 58m 26s

Sometimes being a leader means that you need to have some tough or challenging conversations. In the world of student ministry, that often means you will be faced with having to confront a volunteer leader or you may need to challenge a parent

19 | Todd Cochrane: How to Podcast Like a Pro

Feb 11th, 2017 1h 6m

Podcasting has become a very popular medium that can be effectively utilized by churches and non-profit organizations for messaging, training, and for a variety of ministry purposes.In this episode, Kenny interviews Todd Cochrane, the CEO of

18 | Jeremy Zach: Relational Ministry is the Key to Successful Ministry

Nov 5th, 2016 42m 32s

In this episode, Kenny interviews Jeremy Zach to talk about the importance of being relational and personal in student ministry, and empowering other leaders to do the same.Jeremy was a full-time youth pastor for nine years before joining the

17 | Ken Freire: How to Effectively Develop Students to Be the Future Leaders of the Church

Oct 27th, 2016 33m 54s

In this episode, our host Kenny interviews leadership expert (and personal friend) Kenneth Freire about the importance of engaging students in such a way that they will develop in their leadership abilities, as well as how to effectively train

16 | Megan Monson: The Case for Gap-Year Programs

Oct 21st, 2016 29m 52s

In this episode, Kenny interviews one of his previous students, and now personal friend, Meg Monson about the values of a gap-year program. She tells us about her experiences as a student in YWAM-England’s Discipleship Training School (DTS), h

15 | Ajith Fernando: The Importance of Healthy Family Life

Oct 4th, 2016 29m 49s

In this episode, Kenny interviews author and international speaker Ajith Fernando about the importance of Christian leaders having a healthy family life.Anyone involved in Christian ministry knows how challenging it is to balance ministry and

14 | Tiffany Kelly: Four Steps to Transforming Your Ministry Branding and Design

Sep 28th, 2016 1h

Each ministry has an identity, and whether you realize it or not, you are sending a message to the world about your identity. The problem we often observe is that many ministries are not nearly as intentional in communicating their identity as

13 | Thermostat vs. Thermometer

Sep 25th, 2016 22m 56s

To be an effective leader, you need to be a quality thinker as well as become an efficient problem-solver, and there is no better way to solve problems than to proactively stop them before they ever even occur.In this episode, Kenny dives int

12 | Three Leadership Lessons Learned From Coach Bill Walsh

Sep 18th, 2016 28m 45s

In 1979, Bill Walsh became the Head Coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He went on to become one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. In this episode, Kenny talks about some of the great leadership lessons we can learn from Bill Walsh:1) Dev

11 | Paul Turner: Twelve Books Every Leader Should Read

Sep 9th, 2016 48m 45s

Reading good books is an essential discipline for any leader, both for the feeding of our own souls as well as for the development of our leadership skills. Anyone who desires to be successful in student ministry must be a regular reader.In t

10 | Dan Sanchez: Utilizing Text Messaging in Student Ministry

Sep 9th, 2016 38m 32s

Anyone who works with teens or college students knows the importance of text messaging as a means of connecting with and starting conversations with students. In this episode, Kenny interviews digital marketing guru Dan Sanchez about the things

09 | Fourteen Bill Gates Quotes Youth Workers Can Learn From

Sep 5th, 2016 37m 37s

Just about every person in our society is familiar with Bill Gates, the co-founder and long-time CEO of Microsoft. He has been a business man, entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor, consultant, and software programmer. Gates has also authored

08 | Mike McGarry: Student Ministry as a Bridge Between the Church and the Family

Sep 2nd, 2016 41m 12s

Student Ministry is most effective when it serves the local church by connecting the church with families. Every youth worker ought to seek to make their local student ministry a bridge between the church congregation and the families that the

07 | Eight Steps in Training Your Leaders to Engage with Students

Aug 26th, 2016 38m 46s

Effectively engaging with students is super important, therefore training your leaders to effectively engage with students is also super important. In this episode, Kenny gives us eight tips and ideas on how to be most effective in training our

06 | Jonathan Ferguson: Four Ways to Be a Great Short-Term Missionary

Aug 16th, 2016 20m 48s

In this episode, Kenny interviews missionary Jonathan Ferguson about the theology of world missions, the importance of taking students on short-term mission trips, and the four things we must do to be great short-term missionaries. Those four t

05 | Dominate Facebook to Enhance Your Ministry

Aug 12th, 2016 37m 49s

Facebook has become as much (or more) a part of American life as any sport, activity, or tradition. Recently the Pew Research Center surveyed teenagers (ages 13-17) and young adults (ages 18-24), they discovered:- 71% of teenagers and 85% of

04 | Jon Nielson: Trends, Parents, Entertainment, Preaching, and the Gospel

Aug 8th, 2016 26m 37s

In this episode, Kenny interviews student ministry veteran and preaching stalwart Jon Nielson about the importance of giving students a lot more than just fun in student ministry gatherings, but how to truly give them the depth of the Bible and

03 | Getting “Lucky” on Purpose

Aug 8th, 2016 21m 41s

Being successful in student ministry often involves being at the right place at the right time. Some might say you need to be "lucky" in order to "catch" ministry opportunities. But how can we put ourselves in a position to get "lucky" more oft

02 | Cameron Cole: What Does It Really Mean to Be Gospel-Centered in Youth Ministry?

Aug 5th, 2016 33m 38s

The importance of having a student ministry that truly is Gospel-centered cannot be overstated. In this episode, Kenny interviews youth ministry veteran and author Cameron Cole about a variety of elements of local youth and family ministry; spe

01 | What’s This Podcast All About?

Jul 30th, 2016 13m 27s

This is the very first episode of the Student Ministry Podcast. In this first episode of the podcast, our host Kenny Ortiz explains the genesis of the show, his motivation for doing the show, its format, and its goals. He also tells his own per

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