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#11: Never Underestimate the Seeds You’re Planting (interview with Janet Brown)
46 Plays2 months ago
In this episode, Rich Brown welcomes his very first guest—his wife of more than 40 years, Dr. Janet Kay Brown—for a heartfelt and deeply practical conversation about family, faith, and the quiet power of showing up for kids who may feel on the margins. In sharing her story, Janet traces God’s faithfulness from a childhood shaped by a local church bus ministry to a life spent empowering families, students, and future leaders. She then shares how her early experiences—growing up in a non‑Christian home, finding Christ through a friend’s invitation to church as a second grader, and eventually being shaped by caring adults—now fuel her passion for equipping the next generation. This episode encourages every children’s, youth, and family ministry leader to keep showing up, keep leaning in, and never underestimate the long-term impact of consistent love in a child’s life.
Links
Email for Rich Brown (NGM): rich@nextgenmatters.com
Subscribe for NGM Thursday Tools email
Watch this episode on YouTube
Timestamps
• 00:00–03:30 – Introduction to the podcast and meeting Dr. Janet Kay Brown
• 03:31–07:30 – Personal life, hobbies, vocation, and passion for education
• 07:31–12:15 – Family “one” and family “two”: marriage, children, and grandchildren
• 12:16–16:20 – Janet’s faith story: coming to Christ as a child without Christian parents
• 16:21–20:30 – The role of faithful adults, bus ministry, and unseen seeds of impact
• 20:31–24:50 – Developing a passion for family ministry and spiritual formation
• 24:51–28:40 – Encouragement to children’s and student ministry leaders
• 28:41–34:00 – Call to action: identifying and leaning into the “one foot in” students
• 34:01–End – Closing encouragement, resources, and next steps for leaders
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Hosts
00:00:01
NextGen Matters
Hey friend, welcome to the Next Gen Matters podcast, a show for ministry leaders seeking to move beyond overwhelm and move into leading with clarity, confidence, and consistency. If you've listened to my previous episodes on the Next Gen Matters podcast, you do realize that I have been married for 40 plus years, that I have a wonderful wife named Janet K. Brown. And i thought today would be a great chance to have you get to meet her.
00:00:26
NextGen Matters
You know, we're moving into more of a, I'm going to be having a co-host and bringing in different guests, subject matter experts on the things of children's and youth ministry. But I thought for my very first guest, why not bring in the love of my life, who is a professional all in her own,
00:00:45
NextGen Matters
The lovely Dr. Janet K. Brown is in the house.
Getting to Know Janet K. Brown
00:00:49
NextGen Matters
Well, thank you for having me on the very first podcast. I feel really honored. Well, the very first interviewing podcast. Yes. So I got some questions for Janet so y'all can get to know her on the kind of the personal side.
00:01:03
NextGen Matters
ah Your hometown. Niles, Michigan. Not everyone knows where Niles is, but it's right on the border of South Bend, Indiana, and then Niles, Michigan. So if you're familiar with Notre Dame, it it's probably 10 minutes from Notre Dame. So that's where I was born. Yeah, your home, your house growing up was only a quarter of a mile from the state line. Right.
00:01:22
NextGen Matters
So when we lived there for a number of years earlier in our marriage, and um The shopping was in South Bend, but our church was in Michigan. So go figure. Your favorite vacation destination. Wow. We've gone a lot of places, but two years ago, we were able to go to Italy. It was amazing. I was able also to go to Maui that same year. And that was also very, very amazing. However, yeah however Italy by far is my favorite.
00:01:53
NextGen Matters
Ciao. Ciao. Notice she said we went to Italy, but she went to Hawaii because she led a team of but about 12 to 15 students and faculty that she oversees at her university position to do some relief work over there. So I stayed home with the dogs.
00:02:13
NextGen Matters
Your favorite dish to cook and then to eat. Ah, to cook. I really enjoy, well, I enjoy cooking salmon with some roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, a salad, and even homemade sourdough bread, which sounds great.
00:02:31
NextGen Matters
I typically eat plant-based. So I would eat that broccoli. I would have a little bit of that sourdough bread as well. Some of those roasted potatoes, but that is a great meal for me to make for when we're serving other people.
00:02:45
NextGen Matters
She's been doing a plant-based diet for about two years. So either I surrender or starve. I've gone with the third option. What? it's Cereal. Cheap, all these cereal. So I've lost weight. Anyway, with the sea yeah what are some of your favorite activities?
00:03:01
NextGen Matters
I love walking and I love hanging out with our grandkids. That is just so fun. Any kind of activity that we can do with them. I love just playing with them. Some of your favorite artists, musicians. Sure. What's your jam?
00:03:16
NextGen Matters
I love a combination of pop and, but especially worship music is my favorite. It's my all time go, but also like a spa type music. If I just need to relax, I also like skillet. So I have kind of a varied sense of music styles. She's a panhead as well. So yes.
Janet's Professional Life and Passion
00:03:36
NextGen Matters
Vocationally, what do you do?
00:03:39
NextGen Matters
Locationally, I am a professor for family and child development. I'm also, and so that's in higher education at Liberty University. i also am a chair, department chair of family and consumer sciences.
00:03:51
NextGen Matters
I serve in those roles. And so I get to see students that come through our programs that desire to make a difference in many, many career fields. fields See, I have mentioned on previous podcasts what you do, but now they can actually hear from you to know I wasn't just lying. Right.
00:04:08
NextGen Matters
She's really here, y'all, which is what she does. um Now, I know how passionate you are about what you teach. Not all the meetings you have to go to. You're probably in more meetings than you are in the classroom. Yes. But it's your dad if you're chair.
00:04:24
NextGen Matters
But when it comes to your vocation, What delights your heart? I know what does because you tell me, but right tell our listener. Right. What delights your heart? I am an educator that loves to empower my students. And so I want to educate in order for them to be built up, equipped and empowered to go out and change their world, specifically when it comes to working with people. And so I'm training people helpers in whatever capacity that they're going to go in. And whether that's with children, whether it's with the pre-born, the unborn, the the young,
00:05:02
NextGen Matters
the the early childhood or adolescence or the aging population or working with parents, I want to empower them to make a difference. And we're going to loop back to that by the end of the podcast, but you certainly do. Okay. We're going to focus now on and do the deeper dive. We're going to turn the conversation to family.
00:05:23
NextGen Matters
And one of my ministry here was from way back when I started out literally in 1985.
00:05:30
NextGen Matters
He's still with us. His name is Ron Hutchcraft. He's one of the OGs of contemporary youth ministry, worked with Youth for Christ for, gosh, I mean, decades. And Ron would say this phrase about family ministry, and he would say the phrase family one and family two. And every semester, Jana brings me into one of her classes on which was a development of contemporary families. Yeah. And I do my little one off pitch on ah preparing for marriage. and Of course, I do a throwback to Princess Bride and say marriage and marriage.
00:06:03
NextGen Matters
Most of the girls actually know what I'm talking about, which means most of today's college students do understand Princess Bride. There is still hope for America, people. All right. Anyway, so I'll let this say, I'll even drop this into her classroom to say family one, which is family of origin and family two.
00:06:20
NextGen Matters
That's the family you choose, AKA your spouse and eventually your children. Of course, you don't choose your children. God chooses them for you. But you know what I'm saying? Family one, origin, family two.
00:06:33
NextGen Matters
this is the This is the one you marry and the children you bring into this world or you adopt into your family. So we're going go backwards. Instead of starting with family one, I'm going drop this now into family two.
Family Dynamics and Personal Journey
00:06:44
NextGen Matters
I say this because there's 12 of us now with our twoin-law are two in-laws as well as our five grandkids. So before there was the five, there's now, before there was the 12, I mean, there was the five. But let's talk about the 12. Okay. Talk about your 12. By the way, ah by the way, I'm shooting this right now in the end of January of 2026. The CLC Hawks are going to the Super Bowl. So when I say 12, if you follow football, you know what I'm talking about.
00:07:08
NextGen Matters
That's the fan base of the Hawks. No, we're talking about the 12 in our family. Go ahead, Jake. So it was really neat. I'll just say like, you know, you can you'd see when you hang those Christmas stockings up, we have 12 of them now. And it just is a reflection of how many lives that are in our family and when we are all together. And so we have five grandkids all under the age of six. So we have six years down to six months now. And so that's quite a few grandchildren and hopefully more to come. That is no pressure. It just is. Our arms are open for any more, but it's so neat to see. Sorry, I sound like a Creed song. No, but it's so neat to see all the grandkids come over And then their parents. And I love it because it's not just our own children, our adult children, our two boys and our daughter, but also their spouses. And so our daughter-in-law and our son-in-law, um they are amazing. They are they are just part of the family. there is not There's not really an in-law thing there. We are just you know we've just brought them right in and they brought us in. So having that and seeing the dynamics that we have in our family is really, really special.
00:08:18
NextGen Matters
And sometimes I think this is how it should be for all families, and I wish that it could be, but I know it's not. But I just feel like this is truly by God's grace. You know, in our in our quiet times, we both do the, we're listening to the bible listening through the Bible with YouVersion, as well as Tara Lee Cobb will follow her her Bible recap. And then I'm also doing the chronological Bible by reading it. So we both have just walked through the stories of Jacob.
00:08:44
NextGen Matters
What a messed up family. Oh, my goodness. All of them. And today in my in my reading, pardon me, in my listening, was what you would have been in this morning as well, was when Joseph you know reveals himself to his 10 brothers, actually 11, because at that point, right his younger brother, Benjamin, was there.
00:09:03
NextGen Matters
And the family rivalries and just the, gosh, I mean, could you imagine that family text the thread? Yeah. And I'm just so, i with you, hon, I'm just so blessed that our kids actually like each other. At this current time, we're snowed in like much of the country. And it's not the snow as much as the ice is capped over all the snow, so it's not going anywhere. And we're staying at 10 degrees, which means it's like I grew up in New York and New Michigan. This is kind of like our old school, you know winter weather. But we were trying, we were teasing around, the family's all going to gather together pre previous to the storm so we could get snowed in together. Mm-hmm.
00:09:36
NextGen Matters
That would have really challenged to see our love for each other. It would have challenged us. But to know that they wanted to to do that. they did. Yes. And want to be together really is is just a testament to their love for each other and the the bond that we have, which is great. They're all like their best friends. I mean, it's been so cool because it wasn't that way when they were younger. all those testing and challenging times of a 940 square foot home with three kids.
00:10:03
NextGen Matters
But I look at it now and I'm just so grateful. And every morning, and is if you're watching on YouTube, you know this is my office. This is where I work. This is where I have my quiet time. This is where I pray every morning over my family. And I'm just so blessed for that. So, Han, before there was five, there was two.
00:10:18
NextGen Matters
What do you think about that? Four years. We have been together over 40 years. And so we celebrate we celebrated our 40th last July, which was really great. But we were also together before that time. but it Well, we dated. We weren't living together. We dated. We had clean that because of today's culture. But we knew each other. And so pretty much our lives from college all the way till now has been While we dated other people, there wasn't that many before each other. We really have spent so many seasons together.
00:10:57
NextGen Matters
We've gone through so many different things together. And so that's been very, very special as well. So it just gets, it really does get sweeter. And I i i think our temperaments or personalities, but also our love for the Lord and just what we do. We've learned how to honor one another. And it's not, again, these are things that you continue to grow in but it's been just so good. Well, I see in our kids, they champion each other. And I see that with you and I. i mean, for the for the majority of our marriage, you know, it was kind of, I was the one on the stage.
00:11:32
NextGen Matters
you know, and in the church world and then teaching at Liberty for so long. And then things have really reversed where you're the one now, God has honored and blessed you and I champion you. And so when we're together in town around here, we i hear from somebody around me, Dr. Brown, Dr. Brown, they're not looking at me anymore because these current students don't know me. Right. They know her.
00:11:52
NextGen Matters
And I'm like, i just am so honored that that God has elevated you to be an influencer, just not for academia, but for you for his kingdom's sake. And I'm just so grateful for that.
00:12:05
NextGen Matters
So yeah, we got it. You and I met in college. Matter of fact, our first date was her 20th birthday. So that's from the time she was 20 and on, you know, I'm the only one she's ever dated. Cha-ching. Okay. There you go. So we met, right? You're sophomore, my my junior year. But before family two was family one.
00:12:24
NextGen Matters
Describe your family dynamic and your own personal experience with Jesus Christ. Mm-hmm. So my family, i grew up, in like i said, in in Michigan. I had both parents intact, they both married, which is a blessing. My mom and dad loved me so much, and I know that. They showed their love in in different ways. but I also had two siblings as I was growing up who were much older than I. And so I had a brother that was 10 years older than me and a sister that was 13 years older than me. My parents did not know the Lord. My brother did not as well, but my sister did. So that was a different combination for me. And so I didn't really know much about the Lord until I had a friend that came and and asked me if I wanted to go to church. And how old are you at that point? I was seven.
00:13:15
NextGen Matters
Okay. and like So like for second grade? Second grade. So was able to go to a local church there and went with went with them. And we rode the bus because that was just during that timeframe. This was the 1970s back in the days of the bus ministry. Which is really neat because that was something that was just very common then. And so it wasn't unusual. it was common. And so going around picking up kids to go to church, it was very common. And so I went and... It was during the time that I was going to church there that i actually heard the gospel and I prayed to receive Christ when I was seven years old. So and I remember that. I remember so much of that. I really long to know Jesus. And I was able to see through my Sunday school teachers and different things like that, the love for the Lord.
00:14:08
NextGen Matters
And this is where this conversation is going to continue to go down to a deeper and deeper level. Because so many children in our churches and then even teenagers in our student ministries are like where you were.
00:14:26
NextGen Matters
Their parents are good people. They're hardworking. They pay their taxes, blah, blah, blah, blah. But they don't have Christ. Mm-hmm. um The presence of Christ is in their home through their child, through their through the student, but not in their own lives.
00:14:41
NextGen Matters
So it's your your story is not very dissimilar from what we're seeing today. Because when g when I've shared your story speaking in different churches and places of of ministry, I'll have so many adolescents walk up to me and go, band my story is kind of like your wife's story. So that's the reason we're we're going down this road right now in this conversation. So next question I have I think about this even with our family one differences. Well, I'm going to church.
00:15:09
NextGen Matters
As a preacher's kid, my parents are driving me to church. I'm listening and watching my dad preach. Your story is entirely different regarding church. Right. Yeah, I would get up and... it they would, especially with the bus ministry, they would come around on Saturday to see if they can pick you up the next day. So I knew that that ride would be there for me. The individual that invited me to church ended up not continuing to go to church, but I still did. And so when those Saturday visitations came, I would say, yes, I'll be on on the bus tomorrow. And so they would stop by and pick me up. Right.
00:15:45
NextGen Matters
I had the approval of my parents to go. it's just that they did not go. My mom had gone to church before that, but then kind of years years before that. And I went with her when I was very little, but that was just something that she didn't continue as well. And so it was my choice to get up in the morning and to go and get on the bus and go to church. And you did that from that second grade through sixteen Yeah. And then started driving yourself. Until I drove, pretty much. so Wow.
00:16:17
NextGen Matters
You also had a number of adults in the church that I realized, because I got to know them later, that never sought to replace your parents as parents, but they truly played a role in your life.
00:16:32
NextGen Matters
Give us that story. Yeah, I have different ones. One, specifically the the bus driver, um he and his family, but especially for him, because he would be the one that was faithfully driving the bus. There was another bus driver and his wife as well. They ended up being... She was one of my teachers in a Christian school later on, but they he also would drive. So they would take turns driving and picking me up. But obviously, I wasn't the only one on the bus. But those are the ones that were families that I saw that they really did care and they had a real.
00:17:07
NextGen Matters
compassion to reach those that needed to go to church, which is great because it's not even ah really about going to church. It's really about sharing the gospel, right? And so there was the deeper level. In fact, then even while I was at church and during the the junior high years, I was able to um have connections made by student leaders, which was really neat as well. So there were several different families. Typically it was couples and maybe one of the couple, like one person of the couple hood was stronger in their faith than another. It was that I got to see families going to church, which is really neat. And I'll drop the name, Dave.
00:17:49
NextGen Matters
Dave Ernstberger was the bus driver. And I say his name because this is a real person. And this is this is just not a story. Here's a real guy, blue collar guy, you know, living a South Bend, Indiana, you know, got his day job, but he just volunteers to...
00:18:05
NextGen Matters
be the bus driver, which if you know Michigan weather, kind like my New York weather. And by the way, when I was a teenager, I helped with our bus ministry. So I was up as a kind of a junior bus captain used to call us. This is such the saddest. did that too. But it was legit. Our church grew because we reached out into the old school way of highways and byways, compelling them to come in. So remember being on the other end of it, not having any idea my future wife was on a, dude, this is crazy, was on a bus 500 plus miles away in Michigan. Right.
00:18:35
NextGen Matters
My future wife as an adolescent, when I'm an adolescent, helping on the bus ministry, 7 a.m., burr, it's cold, the bus won't start. We got to get it going. Go pick up these kids. Yeah. And I was a, I was a bus captain per se or a helper as well. that's where you became a leader. I know. So it was that father Abraham song, you know, and singing while we were on the bus. I mean, those were moments, right? And those moments matter. And that's the, that's the thing. It's like, these are the moments that matter in our lives. Right. So yeah. So Dave Ernstberger, we has, we have Blair and Sherry k connect. The first later on, and then also just some others that really, really just leaned in and and was such a role model. I do mention Dave's name because the cool story is you play out.
Role of Mentors and Faith Development
00:19:23
NextGen Matters
This is where we're going with this. We don't know the seeds we're sharing or seeds we're sowing. I mean, the depth, Galatians 6, the depth of how God's going to take those seeds in a young person's life.
00:19:34
NextGen Matters
Dave's little kids at that point, as they became teenagers years later, Jane and I both served. I was a youth pastor in her home church in the mid to later eighties. Right. So now I'm getting to know these people and I'm thanking them so much for the role they had in your life, hun. Right.
00:19:50
NextGen Matters
Dave's, kids are now in ministry. yeah Dave's grandkids are actually both, both the kids are here at Liberty right now pursuing ministry. Right. I'm like that.
00:20:02
NextGen Matters
Right. That's a gift. It is a gift. That's three generations for their family and they impacted me as well. So, and then we were able to to give back in the other way. So those are the stories that you can't write. So that's why I'm like moments matter, but these stories are going to unfold. Right.
00:20:18
NextGen Matters
Hmm.
00:20:19
NextGen Matters
Your passion is for families because it's amazing how God has allowed you to step into your professorship, if you will, in the academic world of being, first of all, an instructor, then an assistant, then an associate professor in family and child development.
00:20:37
NextGen Matters
And I know your passion for the family. And what I think about is, as you look back on your journey, yeah um My mind goes right up to Joseph, literally what I heard this morning.
00:20:49
NextGen Matters
What you meant for evil in his sovereignty, God used. God meant for good, for the saving of many lives. And that's a principle that is said throughout the scripture that I wish we could all see and understand when it looks like we're given a bad hand, we're dealt a bad, you know. Well, wait, do we really believe in God's sovereignty? God placed you in that home. God saved you in the midst of that home. But now looking back, babe, your passion for families now, take us back. And do you see, is there like a thread there? Oh, absolutely. And i share share that commonality all the way through. But
00:21:26
NextGen Matters
From that ministry point, it was really the gospel that saved me, right? So Jesus who saved me. So I heard the gospel and and he saved me. But then also it's the Holy Spirit that works in our lives. And when I was 16, I would start listening to start listening to Dr. James Dobson, which he is now with the Lord. But at that time, it was those little radios that you'd have sitting next to. Oh, your clock radios with blinking lights. Right, yeah.
00:21:53
NextGen Matters
yeah And I would turn on the Christian radio station and I would listen to Dr. Dobson. There was other fabulous people that were speakers such as Chuck Swindoll. the OGs, John MacArthur. Yeah. ah ah But I would listen to Chuck Swindoll and I would also, i would, but I would always listen to Dr. James Dobson because the messages that he shared really were gospel inspired, but it was really about the family and I I wanted to know what did it look like to be a whole person in a family and what did the healthy family look like? It's not that my parents did not love me. It's just that they could not show me that of a spiritual nature of what a spiritual mom and dad could look like.
00:22:37
NextGen Matters
Nor was it something that they could model in other areas as well. And so that is something that really resonated with me. And I learned so much and just how he communicated and the different things that people that he brought in. It's like, I really want to know more. on what this looks like. And I want to help people in this field as well. And you also got involved in a local revival ministry, which would travel nationally. And their emphasis was on the family, family, family, and then also just revival in in our nation. Right. So that was also another layer of having different mentors through that being able to really seek out the Lord. And then also having mentors, my my dear friend, Karen, her family, but her dad and mom were really great mentors and it for me as well. And her dad would really speak on just
00:23:28
NextGen Matters
walking in the spirit. And I think at that level, especially at age 18, so I was a senior in high school, hearing and seeing what it looked like to be filled with the spirit, walking in the spirit and allowing where this other person in the Trinity was not pushed over to the side, but that we have the word of God, that we have Jesus, we have the father, and then we have the Holy spirit and to see what that really looked like and have revival set in my heart and set the tone. And so that's where during that time, i didn't know what I was going to do after high school. Uh, but then the Lord just, he orchestrated me being able to talk to someone about going to this college down in Virginia. I had never been to Virginia. Never been out of Michigan, really. And so i thought, I want to go. i didn't know what that was going to look like. I did have some friends from my my school that was going because I was at a Christian school my last two years. But that, that again, was one more...
00:24:34
NextGen Matters
one more shift in the trajectory for my life. And so I didn't know what that was going to look like. But in June, before that August came, i decided to go to a Christian college. And so that's, that again was another moment that mattered in my life.
Supporting Youth in Ministry
00:24:50
NextGen Matters
And I'm so glad your parents agreed. And the Lord obviously allowed that to take place because a year from then, hey baby,
00:25:01
NextGen Matters
Got to meet you, girlfriend. That's right. That's right. um Hun, I want you to give some encouragement. We have many listeners who are in children's ministry, ah many who are in student ministry. We think of adolescent ministries and even young adult ministries.
00:25:16
NextGen Matters
um What encouragement could you give to them? Because I want them to understand there's, I'll use the word Janets, okay? There are some Janets that in their ministries that they may think, and you may think, listener, that that's the kid, that's the student that has one foot in, one foot out. let me Let me define it first. One foot in, one foot out. Yeah, their parents don't really attend here.
00:25:37
NextGen Matters
um They come, but sometimes they can't come. They can't find a ride, et cetera. And we may not think they're fully engaged because they're not, I'm air quoting, air quotes, they're not a church kid or they're not one of the staff kids.
00:25:51
NextGen Matters
And I do know, i have seen it, that we as youth workers and the staff persons, even volunteers, we can kind of lean into playing our favorites, being those who are the staff kids, the the church kids, the ones who are always there.
00:26:09
NextGen Matters
And unfortunately, sometimes who gets left out are the ones we think are only one foot in because their parents don't attend. Maybe they don't come all the time because again, maybe they're needing a ride.
00:26:23
NextGen Matters
Give some encouragement. Right. Yeah. Well, and there was a time during my growing up years that I did kind of wane away from coming to church because I was I was trying to figure out my identity and also even with school age kids, things like that. But even during that time, so I knew I was saved. So the Lord kept me right. And he he never gave up. And so I think that would be the thing is like never give up.
00:26:49
NextGen Matters
Don't ever think that what you're doing doesn't matter. And that's really important because especially with children, most children aren't going to write notes and say thank you. They're not going to even probably say thank you unless they have really good manners and etiquette. Most children you'll see in the nonverbal behavior rather than the verbal sometimes.
00:27:11
NextGen Matters
Just because they want to come and you see them light up their eyes, you see them involved. Biggest thing is let them know that you care and that you keep showing up for them and they will show up.
00:27:25
NextGen Matters
Keep showing up for them. It was those knocks on the door that really allowed me to know that those individuals cared for me. Right. Right. And so that that speaks well to children because that consistency is so important. We know that as parents that consistency is very, very important when it comes to parenting. Well, same thing with ministry, right? Consistency, always showing up, always being there. Now, of course, we can't be there at two o'clock in the morning every, you know, we're not going to go into their homes and live there with them. But You be there as much as God is doing that and really lean into the Lord and ask him, how can I make a difference? Because each one of us have different personalities and different things that we strive for. Then with the student ministry, those that are a little bit older, the same, right? Be there, lean into them. When we tend to, when they get scary and they will, when those teenagers get scary, they have the attitude, they they blow you off or whatever. Don't take that as a personal attack on you. Take it and say, hmm, I wonder what else is going on. Lean into them rather than than sitting back.
00:28:35
NextGen Matters
Right. Lean into those students. It's going to be really important because most people will run from them. Most people will shun them. Most people will walk away and say, well, we'll figure it out. And then we leave the peers to talk to them.
00:28:49
NextGen Matters
And that's not going to be good. So we have to lean into them. So as adults in the room, as spiritual mentors, lean into them and make those moments matter. Yeah. As my wife and I were walking through this last evening, i mentioned to her a story that I do remember her sharing with me when we were dating.
00:29:08
NextGen Matters
And she talked about going, you know, K through 10th grade in public school and your church had a Christian school. And even as a teenager going into the youth ministry, you never really, you told me then you said last night, I forgot about this. Well, I didn't because it really impacted me as a youth major, early 20 something preparing to be a youth pastor. Also my background, being the pastor's kid, always being in the in crowd, in the in circle to hear the storyline from someone who wasn't in the circle. Yeah.
00:29:39
NextGen Matters
really hit me hard. and And you said to me, how many years ago, over 40, right? To say that until you, it took you to then transfer into the Christian school at the local church where you finally felt like your peers now accepted you, like you were not in the end circle.
00:29:59
NextGen Matters
And as a 20, 21 year old, when I heard that, It actually grieved me because I realized was that same person in New York when this young lady was in Michigan.
00:30:12
NextGen Matters
i was one on the inside because the people in my Christian school, in my church, we were the in crowd. For those who went to that other school, you know the public school, um we didn't think they really fit in with us.
00:30:27
NextGen Matters
And God smacked me in the head with conviction of like, when I become a youth pastor, I will never settle for the cool kids, the in kids that I'm going make sure everyone is at the table. So Jan, you said you forgot about that. That impacted me that you told me that that radically impacted and shaped me as a pre youth pastor while I was still in college.
00:30:52
NextGen Matters
so anyway, Hey, here's our call to action. Children's leader, youth leader, young adult leader. I want to think about this. As you consider your circle, whether it's a small table, children's ministry on Sunday mornings, maybe it's you're leading a small group, your circle, or even the larger group if you're on the stage.
00:31:12
NextGen Matters
Think about every person there and think of them as that seed.
00:31:17
NextGen Matters
Galatians 6, sowing and reaping. God has placed them in your life. You are not only giving them the seeds of the word of God, they are like seeds who are going to grow up. We don't know what will happen to each one of those seeds.
00:31:33
NextGen Matters
I want you to recognize the God-given potential, not the cultural way of speaking of potential. It's all about you. I'm saying it's all about him. Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's about Jesus, what he can do in his radical transformation and power that he brings to someone's life. I want you to think right now, who right now in your ministry, you think maybe only has one foot in, and maybe one foot out.
00:32:00
NextGen Matters
They don't come from a Christian home. they don't They don't attend the right school like we talked about. Or they are they just, for whatever reason, you think maybe they're not really on the inside. Well, then what can we do? Here's the challenge. What can we do to change that? So here's my three simple call to actions. One, right now, identify who they are.
00:32:20
NextGen Matters
As you're listening to this podcast, my buddy Matt just texted this morning. Hey, Doc, he said, i'm I'm shoveling snow right now. And he's in West Virginia. goes, I'm listening to the podcast from last week.
00:32:32
NextGen Matters
Whether you're shoveling snow or wherever you're at right now hearing this, I want you to stop and in your mind go, yeah, that's Shelly. Yeah, that's Marcus.
00:32:43
NextGen Matters
I want you to start thinking through who are the students that just don't necessarily feel like they're both feet in. Maybe their parents aren't part of your church. Then what I want you to do is what Janet just talked about. Reach out to them this week.
00:32:56
NextGen Matters
In some way, in some tangible tactile way, either you reach out or ask their small group leader, somebody, an adult, reach out to them. Show gratitude. Express your gratitude for them and how you value them being a part of your team and your ministry.
00:33:14
NextGen Matters
And then like Janet also said, take a very special interest in them, not transactional. Hey, we like you if you come to church. I think the worst thing we can say, honey, when somebody returns after two months of being gone, where have you been? right dude you just slapped them down, bro. Right.
00:33:32
NextGen Matters
I never say that. Even a day as a volunteer, one of our guys came back after three or four months. I didn't say, man, where have you been? i said, it is so good to see you. And how are you doing? All right. Share this episode with a volunteer. If you're on staff, I would highly encourage you to share this episode with your volunteers and then talk through it. Okay, what's our s SOP? what's our What's our operating procedure that we can set up in place to make sure everyone is feeling included? Now, if you've got any ministry wins, I would love to hear about them. So email me, richandnextjommatters.com.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:34:09
NextGen Matters
That email link will be in the show notes.
00:34:12
NextGen Matters
I also just not loving to hear those. I also like getting the comments below in the in the in the co and the podcast. And I say send this to a friend, you know, because your experiences that you share with myself and you with others truly amazing.
00:34:27
NextGen Matters
it's a shot in the arm. It's a good thing. It's a, it's a, it's a word of encouragement. So as we close this up, I want to thank you again for joining me today in the next Jim matters podcast. Remember, we don't know the plan that God has for all of these students.
00:34:40
NextGen Matters
He does. So let's do our parts to elevate each one of them. Now, have you subscribed to this podcast? If you haven't, make sure you know you you subscribe. So when that notification comes in, you're ready to go. And also, I would love it. I'd greatly value if you could leave a review.
00:34:57
NextGen Matters
And if you're not you subscribed to our Next Gen Matters weekly email called Thursday Tools, please do so. And the link is below in the show notes. Yeah, please please make sure you subscribe to both of those. And make sure you open up the emails when you do subscribe and read those. Those are so good.
00:35:15
NextGen Matters
Cause you read them. I do. She actually does. She goes, Hey babe, that was good. I go thanks a lot boss. and No, I don't say that. But anyway, Hey, one extra extra side note, um, Jen and i have done in many times we will do together, parenting workshops. So if you're in the need for, you would value, uh, the two of us, the doctor and Dr. Janet Brown, and Rich Brown coming in to just share with parents to encourage them on what it means to to partner well with your kids. We've made a lot of mistakes and we've hopefully done some good things as well. So we just kind of come from the word and from our life and kind of share. So if that's something that would benefit your ministry, let me know you as well. And wea we'd love to hear from you and even connect with you. So, hey, as we wrap this up, thank you so much for joining the Next Gen Matters podcast. Until next time, your leadership matters because your ministry matters because the gospel matters. Take care and have a great week.