WEBVTT 00:02.312 --> 00:05.173 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey everyone, welcome to the Christian parenting podcast. 00:05.313 --> 00:06.193 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Steph Therling. 00:06.294 --> 00:08.254 [SPEAKER_00]: I am so glad that you are here today. 00:08.754 --> 00:15.857 [SPEAKER_00]: We are talking about college kids today, which feels really far away for some of you, but it comes really fast. 00:15.957 --> 00:18.278 [SPEAKER_00]: Cause we all know parenting goes by so fast. 00:18.678 --> 00:22.120 [SPEAKER_00]: And as parents, we spend years preparing our kids for adulthood. 00:22.160 --> 00:30.943 [SPEAKER_00]: We teach them to drive, manage money, study art, make good decisions, but are we preparing them spiritually for one of the biggest transitions that they'll ever face? 00:31.363 --> 00:37.228 [SPEAKER_00]: The college years can really strengthen a young person's faith, but they can also expose cracks that have been there all along. 00:37.689 --> 00:41.192 [SPEAKER_00]: So what spiritual habits actually help faith last? 00:41.292 --> 00:47.217 [SPEAKER_00]: And what can be we be doing now, whether our kids are five or 15 or already in college? 00:47.917 --> 00:49.398 [SPEAKER_00]: Today's guest is Paul Worcester. 00:49.478 --> 00:55.740 [SPEAKER_00]: He has spent more than 20 years discipling college students and now helps train campus ministry leaders all across the country. 00:56.280 --> 01:00.801 [SPEAKER_00]: In this conversation, we're talking about this spiritual discipline that help students thrive. 01:01.322 --> 01:07.844 [SPEAKER_00]: Voice scripture memories still matters and practical ways parents can train their kids for a lifelong walk with Jesus. 01:07.864 --> 01:11.005 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that this conversation is going to encourage you, so let's jump right in. 01:18.350 --> 01:23.233 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited to be here, looking forward to it. 01:23.574 --> 01:25.195 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think we're in a great conversation. 01:25.835 --> 01:31.639 [SPEAKER_00]: All about older kids, all about kind of college kids, and keeping faith alive and well. 01:32.399 --> 01:38.023 [SPEAKER_00]: But before we jump into that, tell us a little bit about yourself, and your family and what you do, and how you got here. 01:39.397 --> 01:46.570 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, so I've been in ministry, college ministry, about 20 years, and college ministry changed my life. 01:46.670 --> 01:48.273 [SPEAKER_01]: I went to University of Oklahoma. 01:49.047 --> 02:11.105 [SPEAKER_01]: and what was a part of the Baptist collegiate ministry, and I grew up in church and I had a great family upbringing, my dad's a church planner, so we would move everywhere and things like that and I had a real genuine relationship with the Lord, but I didn't have a lot of the habits and disciplines when I walked on to the college campus, so I actually felt this sense of 02:12.085 --> 02:14.087 [SPEAKER_01]: The word the best word to use is conflicted. 02:14.147 --> 02:37.185 [SPEAKER_01]: I had all the temptations of college life And then I had my faith that was genuine That I was pulled in that direction, but it wasn't until The director of the BCM Baptist Gleegit Ministries sat down with my twin brother and I and He just personally disciple does he was in his 70s we were the last guys as names Max Barnett He we were the last guys that 02:37.645 --> 02:42.147 [SPEAKER_01]: He discipled before he retired, but he kept on doing other ministry and things like that. 02:42.887 --> 02:45.388 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was just amazing. 02:45.408 --> 02:46.209 [SPEAKER_01]: It changed my life. 02:46.349 --> 02:52.792 [SPEAKER_01]: He gave this this little verse card that basically a scripture memory burst pack, leather burst pack. 02:53.252 --> 02:55.693 [SPEAKER_01]: And on one side it had first Corinthians in 31. 02:56.453 --> 02:58.534 [SPEAKER_01]: And on the other side he had us write it out ourselves. 02:58.554 --> 03:02.676 [SPEAKER_01]: So whether Peter drink or whatever you do do it all for the glory of God. 03:03.198 --> 03:07.022 [SPEAKER_01]: And I remember I did a lawn as growing up in things like that, which I thought was great. 03:07.363 --> 03:09.705 [SPEAKER_01]: But I kind of thought scripture memory was for kids. 03:10.066 --> 03:11.948 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, but I took that home. 03:12.388 --> 03:18.275 [SPEAKER_01]: And the whole reason I memorized that first verse was just so I wouldn't be the twin that didn't have his verse memorized. 03:18.655 --> 03:34.006 [SPEAKER_01]: That was the whole reason that I did it, but after five weeks of memorizing that those passages, one verse a week, it was like Romans 12 too, did not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 03:34.366 --> 03:37.328 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was like clean water, washing out a dirty cup. 03:37.348 --> 03:43.353 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'd already had some sinful habits at that point in my life, and it was just amazing that simple discipline. 03:43.953 --> 03:46.574 [SPEAKER_01]: of scripture memory and then reading the word daily. 03:47.074 --> 03:55.715 [SPEAKER_01]: Just even though those are things I knew to do growing up, it was that personal touch of an older mentor discipling me that completely changed my life. 03:56.096 --> 04:06.378 [SPEAKER_01]: And basically short story I've been doing that ever since with college students and started a ministry at Chico State in Northern California and now I live in Hawaii long story there. 04:06.418 --> 04:09.038 [SPEAKER_01]: It helps my wife's health to be out here in Hawaii. 04:09.378 --> 04:10.158 [SPEAKER_01]: It helps she has a bad 04:12.679 --> 04:32.825 [SPEAKER_01]: much better and now I work for the North American Mission Board training and equipping collegiate leaders and on about a thousand ministries we have across the nation and so I do coaching for leaders speaking to college students and so I'm getting to see firsthand what God is doing across the nation and it's so exciting and so yeah that's kind of a little bit about me. 04:33.243 --> 04:33.563 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 04:33.723 --> 04:44.113 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I love so much how God so often puts us in a position of like leadership or our calling in a way that we would have needed or that we had been blessed. 04:44.133 --> 04:49.558 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like you had someone who blessed you by being your mentor and now you are called to go mentor other people. 04:49.619 --> 04:52.721 [SPEAKER_00]: And I love it's just like a beautiful, full circle. 04:53.162 --> 04:53.662 [SPEAKER_00]: That's so cool. 04:56.105 --> 04:58.367 [SPEAKER_00]: So you've been doing it for a long time. 04:59.296 --> 05:02.158 [SPEAKER_00]: And do you say 20 years working with college students? 05:02.279 --> 05:04.660 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm kind of curious just to start us out. 05:04.740 --> 05:17.871 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, when you look back from when you started working with college students to now, like, what are some of the biggest changes that you've seen in students in this generation that, like, who are actively in college right now compared to before? 05:19.501 --> 05:20.702 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a great question. 05:20.843 --> 05:27.149 [SPEAKER_01]: I would start by saying the root issues, the things that they deal with, we find in scripture. 05:27.169 --> 05:34.678 [SPEAKER_01]: Those are all the same kind of motivations, false and good simple tendencies and the things that work. 05:35.738 --> 05:55.113 [SPEAKER_01]: still work to this day, but I would just say even since COVID, especially, everything's accelerated, especially levels of anxiety, levels of social anxiety, social awkwardness, depression, addiction, with the introduction of the smartphone, 05:56.194 --> 06:10.547 [SPEAKER_01]: Addiction to pornography is actually more common than not with the average college student that is coming on to the campus not just men actually a recent study showed that 90% of Christian men they studied they did a study on 06:11.428 --> 06:13.530 [SPEAKER_01]: Christian students in college ministry. 06:13.590 --> 06:20.277 [SPEAKER_01]: So 90% of the guys struggled with it regularly and 60% of the girls actually. 06:20.317 --> 06:21.878 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not just a men's issue. 06:22.279 --> 06:30.907 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're just we've got to come in knowing that these students are even if they have a genuine faith they have a mixed tangled up mess. 06:31.828 --> 06:46.198 [SPEAKER_01]: of some of these things that are just a result of their own natural, sinful side, their flesh, and then some things are just accelerated from COVID, the smartphones, the kind of the culture that we live in now. 06:46.218 --> 06:51.222 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just become just that the battles we're facing now are that much more 06:52.002 --> 07:00.246 [SPEAKER_01]: intense, but also on the other side, we're seeing an openness in the last two or three years that I have never seen on the college campus. 07:00.286 --> 07:13.272 [SPEAKER_01]: There are ministries and campuses that are seeing hundreds of students come to Christ, dramatic conversions, like before and after, like struggling with these things like addiction, anxiety, depression, and 07:13.652 --> 07:33.959 [SPEAKER_01]: getting delivered and completely transformed within a week or two and they still need to on-go do that process of sanctification but we're seeing night and day movement of the spirit just on many campuses across the nation so I'm praying that God continues to do that and but that's also something I'm a little concerned about. 07:34.799 --> 08:00.147 [SPEAKER_01]: is with these emphasis on dramatic movements of the spirit, a lot of times they're missing that ongoing daily work of sanctification, and it becomes kind of like chasing the next type the next high, spiritual high, kind of the camp high, and what, what, the goals with this new resource I wrote, it's basically to help people ground them on some of the basic doctrines, 08:00.667 --> 08:04.191 [SPEAKER_01]: and spiritual disciplines to help them kind of get real traction. 08:04.251 --> 08:07.635 [SPEAKER_01]: So what I say is that revival needs tracks to run on. 08:07.735 --> 08:18.867 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not just, it needs to be the spirit and him moving, but also we need to do personal disciple making and help people grow in their process of sanctification. 08:18.907 --> 08:21.270 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not either or, it's a both hand. 08:21.663 --> 08:27.244 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, what do you think someone tells a little bit about some of those spiritual habits that you've seen? 08:28.264 --> 08:43.867 [SPEAKER_00]: When college students specifically, young adults consistently are in these spiritual disciplines, like which ones are they actively utilizing to keep their faith strong or to grow their faith if they're new to the faith and they've never had a relationship with a Lord anymore. 08:43.887 --> 08:46.528 [SPEAKER_00]: Like what are you saying to be effective in this particular age group? 08:47.752 --> 08:59.802 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I've really, you know, the thing that changed my life was that discipline of scripture memory and I think that is a forgotten discipline in a lot of ways and we do emphasize it with kids and a lot of 09:16.535 --> 09:35.307 [SPEAKER_01]: is something that's almost like a secret sauce of discipleship and it becomes like such a tool that the Holy Spirit uses to speak to students, um, one, my mentor, Max Burnett, the guy that disciple me, he says scripture memory, memorize verses, is like the Holy Spirit spoke vocabulary in your lives. 09:35.990 --> 09:50.655 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you think about the times that God has spoken to you in the most clear ways, it's usually through a verse of scripture that you've already memorized, and that's one of his roles is to remind you of what you've already read or heard in the Word of God. 09:50.715 --> 09:56.117 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that habit is, again, change with the other one, is just a simple, basic 09:57.197 --> 09:58.178 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, quiet time. 09:58.298 --> 10:00.819 [SPEAKER_01]: So, and I teach people the soap method. 10:00.879 --> 10:01.539 [SPEAKER_01]: It's super easy. 10:01.579 --> 10:14.565 [SPEAKER_01]: It's scripture, observation, application, prayer, and my 14-year-old son, actually, he, I taught him how to do that, and he does that every day, or that's his goal is to do it every day. 10:15.125 --> 10:20.810 [SPEAKER_01]: and he's in a little discipleship group with a few other youth in our church here in Hawaii. 10:21.470 --> 10:32.800 [SPEAKER_01]: And there was a streak that he went on where he did his soap every day and it was because every week during their little discipleship group, they were saying, hey how many soaps did you do? 10:33.620 --> 10:37.904 [SPEAKER_01]: And they almost had a little competition, this little like bro competition going. 10:38.064 --> 10:39.025 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, of course. 10:39.045 --> 10:40.706 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 10:41.026 --> 10:45.250 [SPEAKER_01]: They're like, if you miss the soap, you have to do certain amount of push-ups and things like that. 10:45.590 --> 10:50.154 [SPEAKER_01]: But it was so cool to see him at 11 p.m. when we were like, oh, and time to go to bed. 10:50.174 --> 10:52.416 [SPEAKER_01]: He was like, no, I got to finish my soap, come on. 10:52.816 --> 10:57.900 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and so that's a super basic, simple tool, but it's reproducible. 10:57.920 --> 11:00.763 [SPEAKER_01]: It's something that people, students can get their hands around. 11:01.243 --> 11:06.064 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're seeing things like that being used across the nation that are really helpful for students. 11:06.624 --> 11:08.285 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's really interesting. 11:08.305 --> 11:12.946 [SPEAKER_00]: The point you bring up that we, we focus on scripture memorization with little kids. 11:13.766 --> 11:16.226 [SPEAKER_00]: And we kind of just let it go as we get older. 11:17.086 --> 11:18.567 [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't really know why we do that. 11:18.707 --> 11:20.007 [SPEAKER_00]: I guess I've never really thought about it. 11:20.047 --> 11:24.968 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we just assume we should have enough memorized and now we just read it more intently. 11:25.868 --> 11:29.509 [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know why we stop memorizing scripture as we get older. 11:30.795 --> 11:57.958 [SPEAKER_01]: yeah i think it takes a little someone to basically say hey this is what i do to show you how they do it and having a simple plan a lot of people think oh yeah i should memorize scripture but i don't know exactly how but what i challenge people to do is memorize one verse a week and then create a system we i even have a document that you can put in the show notes of how to once you have 30 verses in your daily pack so you review your daily 11:59.073 --> 12:21.882 [SPEAKER_01]: every one, one verse a week and then once 30 verses, then take that first verse you memorize in your 30 verses in your daily pack, take that first verse and put it in your Monday pack and then you have 30 and then you can do that throughout the week and even there's a whole rotation after that and so it's really devoting about 15 minutes a day 12:22.802 --> 12:27.603 [SPEAKER_01]: of reviewing the verses you already have and use it as a prayer experience. 12:28.083 --> 12:39.746 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't just make it, you know, just strict memorization, use it as a way to prompt your prayer and often the verses that you personally memorize, you memorize them for a reason. 12:39.786 --> 12:43.686 [SPEAKER_01]: So you have a story behind why that scripture is so important to you. 12:44.027 --> 12:49.888 [SPEAKER_01]: And if it comes an act of worship and act of gratitude and really just meditating on the Word of God, 12:51.508 --> 13:14.928 [SPEAKER_01]: and use those scripture memory, that habit, that one habit is probably one of the most strategic life transforming habits in my own life personally, and we're seeing college students across the nation kind of adopt that, and I challenge them and they're in their 20s, so I'm 42, and I say, hey, what would your life be like if you had a thousand versus memorized? 13:15.289 --> 13:17.891 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about it, thousand versus completely word 13:19.354 --> 13:29.318 [SPEAKER_01]: And the advantage of those that are in their 20s is a few memorized one, verse a week, and you do a system of review about 15, 20 minutes a day to review. 13:30.058 --> 13:34.040 [SPEAKER_01]: You could easily have a thousand verse, cause you know, 50 times 20. 13:34.940 --> 14:02.591 [SPEAKER_01]: is a thousand by the time you're my age you could have a thousand versus so I'm I'm challenging people to take the thousand verse challenge and even if you're all like me you could start now and by the time you're 60 you could have a thousand versus and I know that's my goal now I kind of fell off the train for a little bit so I have several hundred right now but at my goal is to get to that a thousand mark not because there's some spiritual level you get 14:05.393 --> 14:11.057 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no Brown report and there's no extra, but it does, it is something that God uses discipline. 14:11.117 --> 14:13.439 [SPEAKER_01]: Discipline is different than legalism. 14:13.959 --> 14:16.341 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's a really important like distinction we teach. 14:16.441 --> 14:17.482 [SPEAKER_01]: Actually we talk about in the book. 14:18.003 --> 14:23.027 [SPEAKER_01]: One of the chapters is on from distracted to disciplined. 14:23.147 --> 14:26.209 [SPEAKER_01]: So students are constantly getting those notifications. 14:26.229 --> 14:28.291 [SPEAKER_01]: There many are addicted to their phones. 14:28.451 --> 14:32.134 [SPEAKER_01]: And so how do we replace this idea of constantly being 14:33.635 --> 14:58.654 [SPEAKER_01]: with this idea of spiritual discipline and many when you start getting disciplined they shout oh that's legalistic but no legalism is about earning your favor before God and we know that Jesus took that to care that on the cross you know Titus 35 he saved us because not because of the righteous things we have done but because of his mercy through the washing of regeneration renewal by the Holy 15:00.736 --> 15:17.421 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we know that that God, Jesus saved us, nothing we do, but in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says, you know, everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training, they do it to get a crown that will not last, we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 15:17.921 --> 15:25.423 [SPEAKER_01]: And so basically, he's comparing the discipline he should have with the discipline that Olympic athletes have for 15:26.203 --> 15:26.943 [SPEAKER_01]: winning gold medals. 15:27.124 --> 15:30.105 [SPEAKER_01]: And that is a pretty extreme comparison when you think about it. 15:30.605 --> 15:33.927 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's a biblical view of spiritual disciplines. 15:33.987 --> 15:41.851 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're trying to kind of help students see that having some intentionality is not at odds with living a gospel centered life. 15:41.931 --> 15:52.577 [SPEAKER_01]: Actually, that's the most logical response to what Christ has done is you live out of gratitude and you're serious about growing in your faith in your walk of God. 15:53.033 --> 15:58.196 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, and I love their reminder to that it's never too late to start practicing disciplines. 15:58.236 --> 16:07.501 [SPEAKER_00]: Like you don't have to, if you haven't memorized a bunch of Bible verses in O'Wanna or at Sunday School or at your Christian School by the time, you know, you're in fifth grade, it's okay. 16:07.641 --> 16:16.085 [SPEAKER_00]: Like you can, you can start and call it or as a parent, you can memorize with your kids and like all those things that's never too late, like God doesn't have a timeline for you. 16:16.585 --> 16:17.866 [SPEAKER_00]: You just want a relationship with you. 16:17.886 --> 16:21.268 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's just a really important reminder for us throughout our entire lives. 16:22.449 --> 16:27.550 [SPEAKER_00]: but for college kids, especially if they have a little slide. 16:27.570 --> 16:36.352 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, they walk away from their faith for a little bit or they have a lot of questions because that's so common to go to college and all of a sudden, you're not in your parents' faith anymore. 16:36.532 --> 16:41.813 [SPEAKER_00]: You're in your own and I think a lot of parents really start to fear that a little bit. 16:41.934 --> 16:44.194 [SPEAKER_00]: So I guess, well, let's move on to that. 16:44.454 --> 16:47.795 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're a parent of a college kid and your kids started to question, 16:48.375 --> 16:58.147 [SPEAKER_00]: their faith and walking away from the spiritual disciplines maybe they had as a kid like what's the healthiest way for parents to respond to that as you've observed working with so many students. 16:59.557 --> 17:29.104 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, what came to mind as you're talking about is never too late to start on some of these basic habits is you reproduce who you are and and that is like true in a lot of ways and so it just start with us is making sure that we are really living the lifestyle that is really exciting and reproducible for our our own kids but there's you can be the best parent in the world and we know that everyone is unique and everyone has their own journey and 17:29.684 --> 17:58.715 [SPEAKER_01]: God and so like we need to trust the sovereignty of God and really pray diligently for if you have a kid that is stringing away but also I mean I think sometimes at a certain point that's why I love that my son is involved in that discipleship group I personally disciple him but I also love that he has a discipleship group outside of my influence and so he's getting 17:59.895 --> 18:25.386 [SPEAKER_01]: influenced by other peers and a pastor in our church that's really investing in him personally and so I think that is something you want to pray for is not just at a certain point once I've become teenagers around that 14-15 year old you become you want to stay at the primary reference point for as long as possible but at that point you kind of aren't anymore like you are there and you are you can do 18:29.167 --> 18:44.419 [SPEAKER_01]: put them in situations, do whatever you can to get them to youth camp, to provide even mentors and other prey that, and even almost play day, you know, and set them up so they have this sort of discipleship situation going on. 18:44.580 --> 18:56.389 [SPEAKER_01]: Actually, my wife is friends with another mom who has a son that is Owen's age, and the mom is actually texting my wife Christie and being like, 18:57.630 --> 19:25.170 [SPEAKER_01]: What if Paul started a small discipleship group with Owen and my son and a couple others and I was really cool intentionality and because she's kind of taking a little bit of intentionality and asking me to invest in them, we're going to start another little discipleship group with Owen and a few of his friends and go through some material and they asked if we could go through the thrive book but this is for college students and they're like 15 years old. 19:25.350 --> 19:26.471 [SPEAKER_01]: I would recommend this book 19:27.399 --> 19:37.784 [SPEAKER_01]: for like graduates, seniors, high school seniors, this could be the perfect thing to kind of reverse engineer the kind of lifestyle they could live in their college years. 19:38.164 --> 19:40.925 [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's also a primary target is the college student age. 19:41.525 --> 19:52.910 [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I'm thinking about what to do with those guys, but sometimes as parents, we can set up our students for success and really what they need is peers running the race alongside of them. 19:52.990 --> 19:55.732 [SPEAKER_01]: And really just like add that to your fearless, 19:56.552 --> 20:00.654 [SPEAKER_01]: that they have some other peers that are going hard after God. 20:00.734 --> 20:11.779 [SPEAKER_01]: Second Timothy 2, 22, flea the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness faith and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 20:11.859 --> 20:22.164 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's fleeing the temptation but also this pursuit in the Greek that's like the same where they use for chasing after the enemy that's retreating. 20:22.623 --> 20:24.565 [SPEAKER_01]: or a hunter chase after prey. 20:24.625 --> 20:31.931 [SPEAKER_01]: So pursuing the right stuff alongside a group of peers, those who call out of the Lord out of a peer heart. 20:31.991 --> 20:39.137 [SPEAKER_01]: And so really, it's not just overcoming, it's not just negative, like a lot of discipleship is just sin management. 20:39.637 --> 20:41.218 [SPEAKER_01]: Like people just talk about their struggles. 20:42.019 --> 20:51.842 [SPEAKER_01]: but that doesn't inspire, especially young men, they want to be, they want to heal to charge, they want to, you know, something to live and die for. 20:52.522 --> 20:56.223 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we have that, we have the greatest cause on earth, the great commission. 20:56.263 --> 21:01.765 [SPEAKER_01]: And so when we call students for that, young people towards that, many of them are going to step up into that. 21:02.025 --> 21:02.245 [SPEAKER_01]: So, 21:02.588 --> 21:02.868 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 21:03.369 --> 21:04.349 [SPEAKER_00]: That's such a good point. 21:04.769 --> 21:05.390 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. 21:05.470 --> 21:09.512 [SPEAKER_00]: You talk about several different like spiritual landmines. 21:09.732 --> 21:11.674 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you break that down a little bit? 21:11.694 --> 21:17.357 [SPEAKER_00]: Like what those are and kind of like how that might catch Christian college students off guard a little bit? 21:18.238 --> 21:18.478 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 21:19.277 --> 21:43.547 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that first week, it's a eight week Bible study and in the first one it's from conflict conflicted to confident and really I remember my first couple weeks on campus that's what that's the best word to describe my experience was I was conflicted I was like I had that relationship with Christ I wanted I was going to the Bible studies but at the same time there was all these new 21:44.427 --> 22:09.660 [SPEAKER_01]: things that were just right there for me and so I would dip my toe in the water of sand and then I would beat the next week or the next day even I was in a Bible study talking about Jesus and things like that and so I think ultimately the solution to that is identity and Christ is learning to not live for the approval of others and that's what college feels like one long addition. 22:12.181 --> 22:13.702 [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying out for the surgery. 22:13.722 --> 22:27.229 [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying out for whatever extracurricular activities you're working on your resume and the flow of college life really at the under the surface is I just want to be accepted. 22:28.110 --> 22:30.491 [SPEAKER_01]: Like that is like one of the driving motivators. 22:30.771 --> 22:31.452 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to be loved. 22:31.492 --> 22:32.432 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to be accepted. 22:32.873 --> 22:33.813 [SPEAKER_01]: Do I fit in? 22:33.833 --> 22:34.934 [SPEAKER_01]: And really, 22:36.017 --> 22:41.863 [SPEAKER_01]: The truth is according to Ephesians 3 is like you're more loved and accepted than you could ever imagine. 22:41.924 --> 22:48.050 [SPEAKER_01]: Like the depths of God's love is beyond what we can even fathom. 22:48.230 --> 22:51.814 [SPEAKER_01]: And so actually we look at Ephesians 3 and Ephesians 1. 22:51.854 --> 22:57.280 [SPEAKER_01]: We look at a lot of those foundational identity and Christ passages and help students understand. 22:57.941 --> 23:07.195 [SPEAKER_01]: that who they are in Christ's first and then when you when you graft that then you can live out and you don't have to be so addicted to that. 23:08.572 --> 23:10.233 [SPEAKER_01]: approval of others, basically. 23:10.693 --> 23:12.214 [SPEAKER_01]: And then anxiety is huge. 23:12.334 --> 23:14.235 [SPEAKER_01]: So we, that's another huge thing. 23:14.816 --> 23:22.520 [SPEAKER_01]: Anxiety, just there's a whole range of there's crippling anxiety to just the general kind of thing that everyone has. 23:22.580 --> 23:34.166 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, but I've found more and more, there's people that have this almost crippling level of anxiety where they're not even able to engage in the everyday kind of stuff that students used to. 23:34.266 --> 23:36.207 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we really want to help them 23:37.027 --> 23:37.868 [SPEAKER_01]: get to that place. 23:38.248 --> 23:40.169 [SPEAKER_01]: And then compromise with sin. 23:40.389 --> 23:40.990 [SPEAKER_01]: That's another one. 23:41.010 --> 23:45.993 [SPEAKER_01]: And then another kind of week we talk about from compromise to consecrated. 23:46.093 --> 23:48.514 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're not just saying, hey, clean up yourself a little bit. 23:48.534 --> 23:51.636 [SPEAKER_01]: We're saying no surrender everything, consecrate yourself. 23:51.656 --> 23:52.537 [SPEAKER_01]: You're set apart. 23:53.123 --> 24:00.266 [SPEAKER_01]: for to live for Christ and really challenging students to live that last 10% of for Christ. 24:00.306 --> 24:04.888 [SPEAKER_01]: Many people in the Christian life, they live 80 to 90% committed to Christ. 24:05.908 --> 24:06.829 [SPEAKER_01]: And they think that's good enough. 24:06.869 --> 24:16.033 [SPEAKER_01]: As long as I don't do the big sins, and whatever that is in their mind, they're living kind of casually complacent, but really, what separates 24:17.874 --> 24:25.858 [SPEAKER_01]: the struggle and stress and the supernatural joy and peace from the Holy Spirit is often that last 10% of surrender. 24:26.018 --> 24:42.146 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're challenging students using Colossians 3 just to give everything a Christ and to surrender it all to him not that you'll be perfect but that process of laying it all down you're going to find that joy and peace in momentum that's going to 24:43.977 --> 24:44.918 [SPEAKER_01]: into the rest of your life. 24:44.938 --> 24:47.621 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the last, we have eight sessions. 24:47.641 --> 24:48.722 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to go with you all of them. 24:49.062 --> 24:54.748 [SPEAKER_01]: But the last one is from burnout to zeal, from burnout to zeal. 24:54.828 --> 25:02.316 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think a lot of students come in to college and they do get burnt out because they say yes to every single thing. 25:02.336 --> 25:05.939 [SPEAKER_01]: And they also have this, this, um, kind of, 25:06.680 --> 25:13.866 [SPEAKER_01]: desire to impress others so much that they put so much stock in the opinions of others that it causes the sense of burnout. 25:14.486 --> 25:23.733 [SPEAKER_01]: And many of them just need to expand their capacity to problem solve, to do time management, to get some sleep, not going to bed at three in the morning. 25:23.973 --> 25:29.377 [SPEAKER_01]: There's things like that I have in the resource, like sometimes that godliest thing you can do is go to bed. 25:29.918 --> 25:32.840 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's another practical considerations there. 25:33.120 --> 26:01.522 [SPEAKER_01]: But then also this idea of zeal, living with eternal perspective, and Con, students forward to a cause, the great commission is the greatest cause on earth, and your friends, your family, those that are around every day, that's the college campus is one of the best mission fields in the world, it really is, it really is one of the best places to share the gospel, to disciple others, to be part of this, the world-changing plan that 26:03.118 --> 26:31.416 [SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of how we end with this vision for yes, you might feel burnt out and there's some wisdom taking Sabbath, you know, using time management skills, resting, saying no, you know, that you practice saying no, so there's all that wisdom but then there's also the sense of man we have a cause worth living and dying for and it's worth laying your life down for that and so and being stretched a little bit and growing your capacity. 26:33.358 --> 26:36.139 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I love that there are more and more resources. 26:36.239 --> 26:43.440 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this book for college students who are feeling that conflicting time of life. 26:43.500 --> 26:44.601 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, where do I fit in? 26:44.781 --> 26:46.861 [SPEAKER_00]: What is my identity? 26:46.881 --> 26:49.342 [SPEAKER_00]: I had this identity in Christ at home. 26:49.402 --> 26:50.742 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, what does that look like here? 26:50.842 --> 26:51.502 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it the same? 26:51.562 --> 26:52.483 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it feel different? 26:52.523 --> 26:59.984 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, those are all such real challenges that we all either had to go through in college or at some point in our life where we really had to make our faith 27:02.855 --> 27:06.456 [SPEAKER_00]: which is a process, it's that sanctification and it takes so much time. 27:07.016 --> 27:10.757 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm curious, because you have a 14 year old, I have a 14 year old too. 27:11.557 --> 27:31.682 [SPEAKER_00]: If you, like, what would you encourage every parent of kids that age where you're like, oh my goodness, my kids going to high school all of a sudden, there's four more years that I have with them in my home before now they're going to be a college student, like, what would you encourage parents to really focus on in those years where they're getting ready to launch so that their kid can be solid in their identity 27:32.802 --> 27:38.305 [SPEAKER_00]: ready to battle these different spiritual linemen line landmines that you talk about. 27:39.286 --> 27:39.606 [SPEAKER_01]: Right. 27:40.086 --> 27:41.407 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and that's a good thing. 27:41.447 --> 27:43.948 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about yourself when you're in college. 27:44.048 --> 27:50.011 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about when you stepped at many of our parents went off the college or after graduation from high school. 27:50.031 --> 27:52.452 [SPEAKER_01]: They went on to the work workplace and things like that. 27:53.032 --> 27:55.614 [SPEAKER_01]: What do you wish that you had in your life? 27:56.374 --> 27:56.955 [SPEAKER_01]: in that moment. 27:57.735 --> 27:59.456 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a good helpful exercise. 28:00.097 --> 28:08.603 [SPEAKER_01]: And then kind of reverse engineer that with your own teenage kids and try to provide that, try to instill that. 28:09.004 --> 28:12.566 [SPEAKER_01]: That's one thing that I really look back on my dad is amazing. 28:12.606 --> 28:13.727 [SPEAKER_01]: My mom is amazing. 28:13.987 --> 28:19.392 [SPEAKER_01]: Their church planner, my dad planted churches all over the world and some of the godly people I've ever met. 28:19.932 --> 28:22.534 [SPEAKER_01]: But I still didn't have that daily 28:24.255 --> 28:38.908 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, when I stepped onto the college campus, I had read like the one minute Bible and I did some kind of basic stuff, but Um, I had not really had a super disciplined devotional life and that would have helped me so much during that first transition. 28:39.769 --> 28:43.692 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I wish even my dad would have sat me down. 28:44.653 --> 28:47.074 [SPEAKER_01]: and be like, hey, here's how I have my devotional life. 28:47.534 --> 29:01.600 [SPEAKER_01]: Even though it had been more robust than mine, and done it with me and brought me into that and said, hey, this is how I read, this is how I pray, and really there's a difference between teaching and training. 29:02.697 --> 29:08.702 [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of college ministries, a lot of youth ministries, even a lot of parents will teach. 29:09.243 --> 29:13.326 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we'll teach them the true things, but we won't train them. 29:13.386 --> 29:17.550 [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes training means slowing down to make sure that they actually 29:18.090 --> 29:37.387 [SPEAKER_01]: instill those habits into their life, and teaching can be done in mass or in group settings, training is best done one on one or in a small discipleship group, and so I think what my son's doing now is in these discipleship groups of two to three others appears in a mentor, 29:38.208 --> 29:56.821 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that is the most life-changing environment for a young person and so if I could just come in one kind of step is not, don't just teach them, train them on not just the why of reading the word and praying. 29:57.682 --> 30:08.725 [SPEAKER_01]: and memorizing verses about the how and really help them do that and get them in an environment where they're keeping each other accountable to do that because you don't get what you expect you get what you inspect. 30:09.665 --> 30:21.949 [SPEAKER_01]: You get what you inspect and so not a legalistic thing but a gray centered like positive but at the same time like helping people actually live in Obey and feed themselves. 30:21.989 --> 30:24.750 [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of churches and ministries there for loss of 30:25.850 --> 30:29.436 [SPEAKER_01]: is basically like a mama penguin feeding a baby penguin. 30:29.516 --> 30:40.251 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just regurgitated content from pastors, but in really, at this age, you know, teenage years, they need to start learning to feed themselves to read the word. 30:40.812 --> 30:48.897 [SPEAKER_01]: So they can learn basic hermenutics, how to interpret scripture, they can learn how to apply it to their life and then they can pray. 30:49.437 --> 30:50.358 [SPEAKER_01]: They want to learn how to pray. 30:50.378 --> 30:55.981 [SPEAKER_01]: That's one thing I'm super stoked on with this generation is they want to grow in their prayer life. 30:56.001 --> 31:02.685 [SPEAKER_01]: They're excited about spiritual experiences and we have the Holy Spirit, we have the greatest 31:03.545 --> 31:11.329 [SPEAKER_01]: true spiritual encounter that someone can have and so let's get them in little prayer meetings, let's encourage them to make prayer lists. 31:11.669 --> 31:14.671 [SPEAKER_01]: That's another super basic habit that I think is really helpful. 31:15.151 --> 31:29.558 [SPEAKER_01]: Challenge young people to make a prayer list of five things that they want to see you got to do, maybe a friend to come to Christ, maybe it's something that's on their heart, even something that's just that's important to them, like their sports or something like that. 31:29.938 --> 31:37.105 [SPEAKER_01]: and then some other things and just say, hey, pray this every day and be consistent and see what God God does, you know. 31:37.125 --> 31:44.172 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, I really I love that another very tangible practical thing and I really like the difference between training and teaching. 31:44.232 --> 31:47.375 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's really easy to start lecturing or kids. 31:47.415 --> 31:53.822 [SPEAKER_00]: I say that all the time on this podcast so it's just good to think, okay, am I training or am I teaching in this moment and how can I switch over? 31:54.577 --> 31:55.058 [SPEAKER_00]: to training. 31:55.398 --> 31:56.019 [SPEAKER_00]: I really love that. 31:56.039 --> 31:57.240 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's very good. 31:57.260 --> 31:59.102 [SPEAKER_00]: Kind of trap us up. 31:59.122 --> 32:10.313 [SPEAKER_00]: And you kind of just touched on this, but I'm wondering if there's anything else that you think of or that comes to mind, like after working with so many students, what excites you the most about this generation when it comes to faith? 32:10.333 --> 32:14.898 [SPEAKER_00]: Like what gives you hope that we're leaving the church in really good hands? 32:16.140 --> 32:40.973 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I am super excited about how zealous that which is, you know, the last thing of this resource but how zealous that's the word I would use many of these young college students are after they have that encounter with Christ or some are coming into college with this passion for Jesus that is just over the top they're excited they're they're praying for like hours. 32:42.270 --> 33:05.317 [SPEAKER_01]: uh... together they're they're doing their own little prayer meetings and they're worshiping and praying and they're spending two or three hours just in one setting just crying out to the lord and so and then evangelism i'm seeing a new wave of college age students just excited to share their faith even you look up some of the most famous christian influencers guys on tiktok and instagram 33:05.957 --> 33:10.540 [SPEAKER_01]: like guys like Bryce Crawford, other guys that are really, they're both evangelists. 33:10.640 --> 33:20.067 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's a really positive thing is, man, I think the goal, if we're going to reach this next generation with the gospel, it's not going to take new methods. 33:20.845 --> 33:22.466 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take new boldness. 33:22.666 --> 33:26.287 [SPEAKER_01]: Is the students themselves standing up and being bold? 33:26.628 --> 33:31.750 [SPEAKER_01]: Not a noxious, but just confidence, not pushy, but bold. 33:31.870 --> 33:33.110 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I'm seeing. 33:33.171 --> 33:38.373 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing even we have a group that came out of our ministry in Chico, Northern California. 33:38.853 --> 33:46.143 [SPEAKER_01]: that we had a couple they moved to UC Santa Cruz and they've started this great ministry at UC Santa Cruz. 33:46.503 --> 33:52.711 [SPEAKER_01]: This kind of hipster beach town area, a lot of spiritual warfare, a lot of craziness going on in the city. 33:54.193 --> 33:57.836 [SPEAKER_01]: But they're seeing about 30, 40 students come to Christ every year. 33:57.856 --> 33:57.936 [SPEAKER_01]: Wow. 33:58.757 --> 34:06.844 [SPEAKER_01]: And this last year, they have this group of freshmen that go out and do evangelism during the party nights. 34:06.924 --> 34:11.068 [SPEAKER_01]: Friday night, while all the other college students are raging and partying. 34:11.588 --> 34:26.408 [SPEAKER_01]: this group of Christian students are going to buy two and they're finding ways to do this like they call it party night evangelism and they got instead of party and they're going to pray for people and share the gospel plant needs and it's so cool. 34:26.468 --> 34:28.230 [SPEAKER_01]: So I think this excitement about 34:28.771 --> 34:32.553 [SPEAKER_01]: prayer, evangelism and missions, many of them want to go on missions. 34:32.933 --> 34:35.814 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's all things that we can add fuel to the fire on. 34:36.254 --> 34:39.115 [SPEAKER_01]: And even while they're younger, get them exposed. 34:39.155 --> 34:46.558 [SPEAKER_01]: I took my son on a mission trip to India, just he and I, man, he got to see these young people in India. 34:46.578 --> 34:51.521 [SPEAKER_01]: We did a conference, a youth conference in India, and he owned, he got to lead worship. 34:51.581 --> 34:54.482 [SPEAKER_01]: And that was one of the first times he ever led worship. 34:55.162 --> 35:14.802 [SPEAKER_01]: like by himself he's on the youth worship band but this was the first time he had to sing and everyone can and he was like he was so encouraged and then he saw the faith we went out to the beach after the conference and the the youth the Indian youth were going around doing two by two evangelism on the beach 35:15.502 --> 35:20.066 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were sharing their testimonies and their own and I were standing. 35:20.106 --> 35:31.414 [SPEAKER_01]: We couldn't understand what they were saying because they were speaking in Hindi, but just seeing the boldness of his own peers from another country really helped encourage him and build up his faith. 35:31.454 --> 35:44.683 [SPEAKER_01]: So as parents, we want to also expose our kids to the world and to God's heart for the nations and that's something that this next generation is really excited about as well. 35:45.187 --> 35:46.928 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's so cool. 35:47.008 --> 35:50.511 [SPEAKER_00]: And I love how passionate you are about these young adults. 35:50.531 --> 35:56.215 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's easy to read new stories, or just look at social media and be like, ugh, college kids. 35:56.355 --> 36:01.659 [SPEAKER_00]: But I love that there are people like you who are excited about them in sharing the good news that they are Zellus. 36:01.759 --> 36:02.619 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that word. 36:02.759 --> 36:05.001 [SPEAKER_00]: Like how great to have old whole generation. 36:05.021 --> 36:06.702 [SPEAKER_00]: That's Zellus for the Lord. 36:06.882 --> 36:12.006 [SPEAKER_00]: Like if we can just keep building into that as parents, that is just such a gift to the kingdom. 36:12.186 --> 36:14.788 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's really exciting to see what's gonna happen. 36:17.008 --> 36:25.683 [SPEAKER_00]: To kind of close us out, can you tell us where we can connect with you and where we can get a copy of your book and to send all of our college age friends. 36:26.953 --> 36:49.869 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm on social media on Instagram and all the all the different platforms and things like that and I regularly share resources and things like that and then this resource live thrive it's a new it's a eight week Bible study published by life way so you can get it anywhere Amazon life way has really good bulk deals if you want to take a group through it. 36:50.589 --> 36:52.410 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but yeah, there's multiple resources. 36:52.430 --> 36:58.094 [SPEAKER_01]: I have several podcasts as well, um, Shane Prue, he is the national next gender actor. 36:58.634 --> 37:01.356 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so he works mainly with youth and other groups like that. 37:01.736 --> 37:06.699 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we have a podcast called the Jinsend Podcasts, but we talk about issues like that. 37:07.180 --> 37:08.861 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, like this, like what we're talking about today. 37:08.881 --> 37:12.003 [SPEAKER_01]: And I would do want to leave one last word of encouragement. 37:12.083 --> 37:12.903 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 37:13.203 --> 37:17.026 [SPEAKER_01]: Is I see what we're doing in youth and college ministry. 37:17.947 --> 37:21.252 [SPEAKER_01]: and parents are the biggest youth ministers there are, right? 37:21.752 --> 37:24.837 [SPEAKER_01]: Because we're the last, we're the most important youth ministers. 37:26.259 --> 37:31.847 [SPEAKER_01]: I really want to see a better handoff between just like on a relay race. 37:32.608 --> 37:39.991 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, that handoff is so important and, you know, we've all seen it when the baton gets dropped and how tragic that is. 37:40.431 --> 37:44.233 [SPEAKER_01]: All the work that the team put in to training and this whole moment. 37:44.613 --> 37:57.259 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think a lot of times, the church is dropping the handoff between youth, age, teenagers and the college years, and it's not intentional, but I think there's a lot we can do 37:58.985 --> 38:09.296 [SPEAKER_01]: Shorten that gap and you can bring in college ministers to your youth group to guest teach You can also take vision trips to where you knit you know. 38:09.336 --> 38:19.426 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a healthy church or college ministry and it's those your kids to the great healthy college ministry actually 38:20.410 --> 38:37.675 [SPEAKER_01]: That's why I went to University of Oklahoma and was because my parents knew the Baptist collegiate ministry there was a really healthy, strong one and so they said, hey, what if you looked at University of Oklahoma and we actually got this spin the night during our vision trip. 38:38.535 --> 38:42.657 [SPEAKER_01]: with some BCM students, perhaps collegiate ministries students. 38:42.837 --> 38:43.898 [SPEAKER_01]: We got to know them. 38:43.938 --> 38:45.319 [SPEAKER_01]: We got to meet with the director. 38:45.859 --> 38:48.160 [SPEAKER_01]: We even went on their spring break trip. 38:48.761 --> 38:55.805 [SPEAKER_01]: Once we knew that we were going to OU, we went on their spring break trip as high school seniors. 38:56.125 --> 39:00.407 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we got to know all these people before we even stepped on to campus. 39:00.807 --> 39:03.949 [SPEAKER_01]: So as before we even went to as freshmen in the dorms, 39:07.611 --> 39:11.954 [SPEAKER_01]: And so making that hand-off is something to really work hard out and pray for it. 39:12.434 --> 39:14.035 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's the last part of the culture. 39:14.355 --> 39:21.560 [SPEAKER_00]: No, I think that's a great call out to anyone who's listening who works in ministry and appearance who just be really mindful as we do. 39:21.600 --> 39:24.862 [SPEAKER_00]: We do a good job switching from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school. 39:24.882 --> 39:26.363 [SPEAKER_00]: We do all these things to prepare them. 39:26.903 --> 39:30.966 [SPEAKER_00]: But to be continuing on as they reach the college years as really important. 39:31.006 --> 39:32.507 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a really good call out. 39:33.088 --> 39:35.572 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you and thank you for being here. 39:35.612 --> 39:44.506 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for all your resources I will get them all in show notes that people can find them But I really appreciate your time and all the wisdom that you shared No problem. 39:44.546 --> 39:45.047 [SPEAKER_01]: It was an honor 39:52.197 --> 39:53.398 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for being here. 39:53.498 --> 39:54.839 [SPEAKER_00]: What an encouraging conversation. 39:54.959 --> 39:58.763 [SPEAKER_00]: I love Paul's reminders that a lasting faith isn't built on spiritual highs. 39:59.203 --> 40:01.285 [SPEAKER_00]: It's built through that daily faithfulness. 40:01.345 --> 40:13.395 [SPEAKER_00]: Simple habits like reading God's Word, memorizing scripture, praying, and walking alongside other believers are often the very thing that God uses to sustain our kids through wife's biggest transitions, including college. 40:14.252 --> 40:26.281 [SPEAKER_00]: If today's episode encouraged you, I'd love for you to share with another parent, or a grandparent, or a youth leader, or someone investing in the next generation, and be sure to check out Paul's Bible City Thrive if you have a college student or a young adult in your life. 40:27.002 --> 40:30.905 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening, I will see you next week, make out Bless You this week. 40:31.305 --> 40:38.531 [SPEAKER_00]: May he give you wisdom as you disciple your children, courage to trust him with the years ahead and confidence that his word never returns boy.