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#20: Why Welcome? 5 Ministry Vital Signs pt.3
99 Plays23 days ago
Episode Show Notes
In this episode, the host welcomes Justin Lucas, student director at Mercy Hill Church, to unpack the critical role of creating a truly welcoming culture in student ministry. Together, they explore why even the best worship and teaching fall short if students don’t feel seen, valued, and connected. Drawing from nearly two decades of ministry experience, Justin shares practical strategies, leadership insights, and personal stories that reveal how meaningful relationships, not just well-run programs, are the foundation for lasting impact.
The conversation dives deep into the difference between simply greeting newcomers and cultivating a culture where every student, from first-time guests to long-time attenders, feels a genuine sense of belonging. Justin emphasizes that welcome is not a one-time action but an ongoing, intentional process that involves leaders, systems, and most importantly, the students themselves. From building strong volunteer teams to developing student leaders who take ownership of the culture, this episode provides a clear roadmap for moving from surface-level friendliness to transformational community.
Listeners will also discover how intentional pathways, consistent follow-up, and relational leadership create an environment where students not only stay but grow, invite others, and step into their God-given purpose. Whether you’re leading a small group or a large ministry, this episode will challenge you to evaluate your own approach to welcome and equip you with practical tools to ensure every student who walks through your doors experiences the love of Christ in a tangible way.
Resources Mentioned:
• NextGen Matters Sustainable Cohort
• email Rich at rich@nextgenmatters.com
• email Justin at jlucas@mercyhillchurch.com
Mercy Hill’s 7 Traits of a Welcoming Leader:
- High EQ
- Approachable
- Positive
- Proactive
- Intentional
- Inquisitive
- Energetic
Timestamps
00:02 – Why “welcome” matters more than programs
01:15 – Introducing Justin Lucas and his ministry journey
07:00 – The role of connection and community in student retention
10:14 – Building a welcoming culture (people + process)
12:20 – The 7 traits of a welcoming leader
20:24 – Developing a student-led culture of welcome
25:26 – Ensuring long-term students feel valued too
36:04 – What a “grand slam” welcoming ministry looks like
41:27 – Practical leadership application and call to action
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Welcome and its Significance
00:00:02
NextGen Matters
You know, when you hear the word welcome, what comes to your mind? Well, that's today's topic.
Components of Ministry: Worship and Teaching
00:00:08
NextGen Matters
You know, your ministry can have fantastic worship. Think about it, where students are given an opportunity to connect with their creator and their redeemer.
00:00:16
NextGen Matters
That was two weeks ago's conversation. Well, your ministry can also have insightful and practical teaching from the word of God, where students are given the chance to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:00:29
NextGen Matters
That was last episode.
Impact of Welcome on Ministry Activities
00:00:31
NextGen Matters
But, but if a student does not feel welcome in the ministry where they attend, I believe this all falls apart.
00:00:41
NextGen Matters
You know, something I've said for years, it goes like this.
Relationships: The Glue of Ministry
00:00:45
NextGen Matters
While Christlikeness is the goal, relationships are the glue. So as you listen to the conversation in today's podcast, I want you to be thinking through this.
Introduction to Next Gen Matters Podcast
00:00:58
NextGen Matters
Does your ministry truly have an authentic welcoming culture? Well, 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.
Guest Introduction: Justin Lucas
00:01:15
NextGen Matters
Today is very special for me. I had the privilege to bring in a dear friend of mine. Joining into this conversation, Justin Lucas is the student director at Mercy Hills Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. I was thinking today, I met Justin.
00:01:31
NextGen Matters
It was over, it was right about 20, 21 years ago now, when he was 18. And I saw him begin to grow up as a young man, but I have seen him the last number of years truly become a man of God.
00:01:40
Justin Lucas
Thank
00:01:45
NextGen Matters
When I think of a youth pastor that could take any one of these five areas we've been looking into, Worship the word today. Welcome, then witness and work.
00:01:56
NextGen Matters
Justin could crush any one of these five. He was so gracious to take this one. So Justin, I just want to say, i have been so delighted to see you become a pros pro in student ministry.
00:02:09
NextGen Matters
And it's been almost 20 years for you now. So you're about where I was when I became a prof, like for you.
00:02:11
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:02:14
Justin Lucas
Yeah. yeah
00:02:16
NextGen Matters
That's when I met him, was his freshman year at Liberty University. I was his teacher,
Mentorship and Overcoming Challenges
00:02:20
NextGen Matters
right? So, Justin, welcome to the Next Gen Matters podcast, man.
00:02:20
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:02:24
Justin Lucas
Hey, thank you so much for having me. Let me, let me just say to everybody listening or watching today, I've been doing student ministry for, for just under 20 years. and doc has been just a mentor in my life the whole time.
00:02:36
Justin Lucas
And, Before I kind of go into the rest of it, i would love to say like there was a season I'd gone through a lot of things and a season in my life where multiple seasons where I was ready just kind of throw in the towel.
00:02:44
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:02:47
Justin Lucas
And every time Doc's presence was there in my life, kind of holding the rope for me, just kind of helping me to not kind of go under.
00:02:54
NextGen Matters
You're welcome.
00:02:56
Justin Lucas
um But then i remember right I was right at the edge, I was ready to walk out, and I took the sustainable course. And I just wanna tell you, for those of you guys in that that that world, that meant everything to me, and I don't know I'd be where I'm at today without it. and So, Doc, i just wanna publicly say thank you for,
00:03:16
Justin Lucas
honestly, how you changed my life. And so I really do mean that.
00:03:19
Justin Lucas
I don't say that lightly. Uh, but those who are kind of considering stepping out, maybe give it a shot, take sustainable walk through that and then make your decision.
00:03:19
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:03:27
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:03:28
Justin Lucas
It works.
Creating a Welcoming Environment for Students
00:03:29
Justin Lucas
Uh, but yeah, man, um I love talking about this, this subject of being like welcoming environments is important to me because I have a son who's going into the sixth grade and, uh, in my role now at mercy Hill, I get to set the strategy, the content, and I get to managing coach.
00:03:29
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:03:34
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:03:44
Justin Lucas
my staff, my teams and my campuses. And so, man, um yeah, this is near and dear to me up my heart. so I'm looking forward to it.
00:03:51
NextGen Matters
Right. And let's let's set that up a little bit. You and you and Chris have been married how many years now?
00:03:56
Justin Lucas
Oh, gosh, we got married January of 2009. So whatever the math is there, that's 17 years.
00:04:02
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:04:03
Justin Lucas
Yeah, 17 years.
00:04:04
NextGen Matters
Yep. Yep.
00:04:04
Justin Lucas
That's wild, dude.
00:04:05
NextGen Matters
Yep. And you got two little dudes who aren't a little anymore.
00:04:08
Justin Lucas
Yeah. No, no. So my my oldest is in fifth grade. My youngest is in third grade.
00:04:13
NextGen Matters
right.
00:04:14
Justin Lucas
Both wild boys. So we live, we work in the Greensboro area, but we live in the country. We're a little bit of barn cats. But we do that so that my ADHD buck wild boys can just kind of take their shirts off and run out in the backyard.
00:04:26
Justin Lucas
We don't even care. Our neighbors are cows and horses for that reason.
00:04:30
NextGen Matters
Do the ATV.
00:04:31
Justin Lucas
Yeah, no, for real.
00:04:32
NextGen Matters
I love it. You know, it's cool because a number of years ago, ah i was speaking at a church and um an hour away in Roanoke, Virginia.
00:04:33
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:04:42
NextGen Matters
And this this precious lady walks up to me she goes, you know my son, Justin, Justin Lucas. And I just gave her a hug.
00:04:49
Justin Lucas
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was my sweet mom.
00:04:53
NextGen Matters
And she hugged back. It was all good, right? And I got to know Justin's mom and dad.
00:04:55
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:04:57
NextGen Matters
It was so cool for me to... to get to know them. And then those few weeks I was preaching there kind of in between lead pastors, right.
00:05:05
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:05:06
NextGen Matters
To get to have this relationship with them. And and of course the big thing now is, you know, your mom and are Facebook friends, your dad and are Facebook friends.
00:05:13
Justin Lucas
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:05:14
NextGen Matters
That's the
Community and Belonging in Ministry
00:05:15
NextGen Matters
importance.
00:05:15
Justin Lucas
you can tell on me if I ever do anything wrong. That's really what it is.
00:05:19
NextGen Matters
But yeah, Justin and Chris said, Oh my goodness. I go, let me make this really quick. I remember back, It was one of your first ministries.
00:05:26
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:05:27
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:05:27
NextGen Matters
You came up to the university and I think it was college for a weekend.
00:05:30
NextGen Matters
And ah we spent an hour in and in my office and all three of us were sobbing like babies.
00:05:30
Justin Lucas
Yep.
00:05:36
Justin Lucas
Oh, yeah.
00:05:36
Justin Lucas
Oh, yeah.
00:05:37
NextGen Matters
The hurt that you were going through and the fact you didn't quit.
00:05:40
Justin Lucas
Hmm.
00:05:41
NextGen Matters
and then And then the next station, if you will, the next environment that God placed you the next church was not easy either. And yet you have consistently been just not in the game, but you've consistently grown through it and not given up and not quit.
00:05:58
NextGen Matters
and And I'm going to bring Justin in another podcast, probably the next few episodes, going down to his place there in North Carolina to just really walk through even some of that. But that's another conversation.
00:06:09
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:06:09
NextGen Matters
We're going to look into the idea here of welcome.
00:06:12
NextGen Matters
And when I say welcome, let's define the term.
00:06:15
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:06:15
NextGen Matters
I'm not saying welcome, meaning what's your standard operating procedure, your SOP for how to like onboard a brand new student.
00:06:20
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:06:23
NextGen Matters
That's important.
00:06:24
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:06:24
NextGen Matters
To me, welcome is going way beyond just that. Does the new person feel like they belong? That's important. But i when I say welcome, I'm thinking at all times, whether it's your lead pastor's 10th grade daughter,
00:06:40
NextGen Matters
the person who's always there, your staff members, kids, you know, I mean, anybody who's there has that sense in their heart of um'm I belong, I'm wanted here and I'm valued here.
00:06:48
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:06:53
NextGen Matters
There is that sense of we use the word community. That's what I'm talking about. So Justin, you have a number of questions for you.
00:06:58
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:00
NextGen Matters
Let's let's rock and roll. What role does that sense of welcome, connection, community play within a life of a ministry and then even your
00:07:01
Justin Lucas
Yeah, let's go.
The Role of Welcome in Growth and Connections
00:07:10
NextGen Matters
ministry?
00:07:10
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:07:11
NextGen Matters
I mean, you've been number of churches.
00:07:12
NextGen Matters
So what role does welcome play in the life of a student ministry?
00:07:16
Justin Lucas
Well, me just say, like, if you're a listener, you probably fall in one of two categories. You're either the person that's highly relational or a bit more administratively minded. And so the administratively minded person usually jumps to great environments, the way teams are structured feels. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit. But really, i think the person who's relational is like, duh, this is a no brainer. I get it.
00:07:38
Justin Lucas
But I think the underlying side of it is that growth is built on the back of meaningful connections, not just great environments. So we have to say like, Hey, we have to be creating meaningful connections, but for the first time guest, like it's super, super important because we want them to come back.
00:07:54
Justin Lucas
We want to retain them, but you've got to also be consistently thinking about the retention of the kid who's bought in.
00:07:54
NextGen Matters
Right.
00:07:59
Justin Lucas
Like, are they continuing to build great friendships?
00:08:00
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:08:03
Justin Lucas
Are they truly known and loved by at least one leader? Like, And I'll tell you, like at Mercy Hill, we have big, big goals.
00:08:08
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:08:11
Justin Lucas
Like we want to see a large number of baptisms. We want to see a large number of people sent out on mission. Like we're talking to the nations. We're talking, you know, church planting, like big things.
00:08:21
Justin Lucas
We want to see all this. But if you want to go from point A to point B, that meaningful connection, this welcome concept is huge for it. So let's just say somebody gets saved, they get baptized, but then they don't feel like they get connected.
00:08:34
Justin Lucas
They don't feel like they're building friendships. It's hard for them to want to get back.
Transitioning Attendees to Active Members
00:08:38
Justin Lucas
So if you if you have this missions pipeline, it really doesn't even work if you have it like ah an absence of a welcoming environment, of connections, of of community, however you want to word it.
00:08:38
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:08:49
Justin Lucas
So you have to have you have to look at it and say, like, i have to be the person who spearheads this and leads in this. But I also have to set up other people to walk in this.
00:09:00
Justin Lucas
We want to have pathways to help people go from connected to the crowd to committed to the family. Like you can't you can't just assume it's going to happen. So be the person, but also have the process.
00:09:14
NextGen Matters
Yes and yes.
00:09:15
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:09:16
NextGen Matters
And I love that because we do need to have, in a sense, I'll use the word organization or operating procedures.
00:09:22
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:09:24
NextGen Matters
We do have to have the word you use. I love it. Pathway.
00:09:27
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:09:28
NextGen Matters
What have we created?
00:09:29
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:09:30
NextGen Matters
But when a new person walks in and I've said it like this in coaching I've done, what do you do when a new person, the teenagers dropped off by their mom or dad at the parking lot or at that front door to that room where you have your environment, your, your worship center, whatever your auditorium, whatever your youth room.
00:09:37
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:09:40
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:09:46
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:09:48
NextGen Matters
Right.
00:09:49
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:50
NextGen Matters
And by the time that parent then picks them back up that night and they say, Hey honey, how did it go? Are they going to say, i never want to go there again?
00:09:57
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:58
NextGen Matters
Or are they going to say, you know, they just they're just like shouting crazy stuff like, I just can't wait to come back next week.
00:10:04
Justin Lucas
Yeah, absolutely.
00:10:06
NextGen Matters
And Justin, how do we get that student, that newbie, to have that that experience with the like, dad, mom, I can't wait to go next week.
00:10:06
Justin Lucas
Absolutely.
00:10:09
Justin Lucas
Oh, man.
00:10:14
Justin Lucas
Yeah. right. So, all right. So if you're, kind of want to say, how do we build this culture? It's really what we're after.
00:10:14
NextGen Matters
Walk me through that.
00:10:20
Justin Lucas
Right. So but we want to build a culture of being welcome. You want to be known for that.
00:10:20
NextGen Matters
Yeah, yeah.
Building a Welcoming Culture and Friendships
00:10:25
Justin Lucas
So it's one thing to say, like, have you built a really great weekly program that people love to be at?
00:10:32
Justin Lucas
Like, that's kind of like, it's a part of it. Right. But at the other side of it is like, man, do when they actually show up, are they building the friendships? Are they being known by people in a way that says like, I love being there.
00:10:45
Justin Lucas
I've often said it like this in coaching environments. I've said, Hey, I can get students to go dig ditches in the middle of the summer. If I could promise them great community, like, and like the most undesirable like situation, if there's great community, don't go, they'll be a part of it.
00:10:54
NextGen Matters
Yeah, do it.
00:11:00
Justin Lucas
And so kind of going back to the people, Process thing, man, I love to kind of tackle people and
Leadership's Role in Setting the Tone
00:11:06
Justin Lucas
to talk a little bit about process.
00:11:06
NextGen Matters
yeah do it
00:11:08
Justin Lucas
um So the first thing that we do is we say great leaders participate. They do not spectate. And that's just sort of a phrase that we use all the time. we say it until our leaders are absolutely sick of hearing it.
00:11:21
Justin Lucas
But the reality is, is that our staff have to set the tone. Like we are, we control the thermostat. So if I tell leaders, you have to participate, not just spectate, but I'm off to the side, leaning against a wall, only talking to leaders, only talking to parents, like only like doing those things, then it's, it's really hard for them to do that.
00:11:27
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:11:39
Justin Lucas
We got a model to them what it looks like to get off of the bench and step into the game. I'll tell you from there, like you want to make sure that you have adequate amounts of volunteers so that you're not carrying the load by yourself.
00:11:51
Justin Lucas
like You need to replicate more people because if you're trying to carry, it doesn't matter if you have four kids or 400 kids. um like No matter what, like you can't be the only guy or the only girl leading in that way.
00:12:03
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm. ah Agree.
00:12:04
Justin Lucas
Make sure you have teams. But then I would even say having team leaders in that to even help carry and shoulder the weight of replicating this culture. Um, but then man I'm going to tell you for a, from a people standpoint, I would even say like, sit down, drop.
00:12:20
Justin Lucas
What is a a character profile for a welcoming individual is huge.
00:12:23
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:12:26
Justin Lucas
Here's the seven things that we say. We have seven in our character profile.
00:12:27
NextGen Matters
Okay.
00:12:29
Justin Lucas
We say this person needs to be high EQ. Um, If you're going welcoming individual, high EQ is important because you need to be able to read a room, help students understand what's going on, help them.
00:12:39
NextGen Matters
Yep.
00:12:40
Justin Lucas
na their Students by nature are low EQ creatures. We can't match that. We have to be above that so that we can help them navigate life.
00:12:48
NextGen Matters
i Dude, I see that every every Wednesday night with high schoolers, let alone middle school.
00:12:51
Justin Lucas
Dude, it's wild. Yeah. So we... Yeah. So high EQ, we have to be approachable.
00:12:55
NextGen Matters
Yeah. it
00:12:57
Justin Lucas
Um, so, I mean, it's like, if you have that faced when face that, when you're emotionless, you just look angry at the world, maybe, um, force yourself to smile all night, like be a self-aware, be approachable. um Be positive.
00:13:11
Justin Lucas
So there's going lot of situations in student ministry where things go wrong, go awry. Like you have to be a positive person. You can't you can't let those things kind of overwhelm you or overstress you.
00:13:20
NextGen Matters
Right.
00:13:22
Justin Lucas
And if they if you're the type of person where they do, you need to actually set up a team leader who can handle all the logistics of the night so that you don't get overwhelmed by it. Because everybody's looking at the leader to have that kind of positive outlook on stuff. And they're looking to our volunteers. So if you have somebody, if you can't handle the logistics plus the welcoming thing, give the logistics away.
00:13:46
Justin Lucas
The second or the fourth thing is being proactive. And what I mean by that is like, there will always be kids who are disconnected, whether it's a first time guest who showed up without any friends or it's a student who comes every night, but they're introverted or maybe they're neurodivergent or maybe they have all these other things.
00:13:55
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:13:58
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:14:05
Justin Lucas
The proactive leader is operating in a high level of intentionality that says like, I'm going to look to the corner.
00:14:09
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:14:12
Justin Lucas
I'm going to see the kid and I'm going to go after them. Like, That's ah the proactive leader says, I'm not going to wait for a need to arise. I will anticipate the needs of a welcoming environment and I'm going to make it happen.
00:14:25
NextGen Matters
Good for you.
00:14:25
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:14:26
NextGen Matters
If I can jump in on that, I saw it again last night, we have a ninth grader and I work with 11th and 12th grade guys.
00:14:27
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:14:30
NextGen Matters
So that's my group.
00:14:30
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:14:32
NextGen Matters
Right. But, you know, we have the first, you
Involvement of All Leaders in Welcoming
00:14:35
NextGen Matters
know, 15, 20 minutes, nine square, the whole thing, you know, right.
00:14:37
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:14:37
NextGen Matters
Just connection time. And he's always by himself. He sits by himself and he's, he's smaller. He's very thin. in other words, he looks like he's probably seventh grade, but he's ninth grade at one of our local public high schools here, Jefferson forest high school.
00:14:50
Justin Lucas
Yeah. yeah
00:14:52
NextGen Matters
And, I pull for him. So I walked over to him the other, you know, last night and we're we're recording this on a Thursday.
00:14:54
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:14:58
NextGen Matters
So Wednesday night, just again, ah you know, I'm gosh, probably 45 years old.
00:14:59
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:15:05
NextGen Matters
of the
00:15:06
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:15:07
NextGen Matters
I don't care. i don't care.
00:15:09
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:15:09
NextGen Matters
And, and I, you know, Hey, how, how was the week so far? You know, just, just that simple conversation. i am not his leader. i don't care. I'm in the room and not pushing him, but just,
00:15:18
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:22
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:15:23
NextGen Matters
Yeah, so I love what you're saying.
00:15:25
NextGen Matters
All of us, all hands on deck.
00:15:26
Justin Lucas
Absolutely. You have to look at the.
00:15:27
NextGen Matters
Whether it's me as the volunteer or you as the student lead, you know, all hands on deck.
00:15:30
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah. You have to look at the whole thing, not just your little pocket. So we have a lot of group leaders who be like this guy has seventh grade guys and or these these ladies have 10th grade girls or whatever.
00:15:42
Justin Lucas
A lot of times they can get so isolated and so consumed with their little pocket that they'll miss people who aren't in their little grade and like group level.
00:15:51
NextGen Matters
Exactly.
00:15:52
Justin Lucas
so you have the proactive leader says, hey, it doesn't matter. like I care about the whole. The intentional leader says, I'm going to go do the the thing, like whatever it is.
00:15:56
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:16:01
Justin Lucas
I'm going to live with intentionality. Um, it's the intentional group leader in that setting is saying like, Hey, uh, little Debbie cakes might make a more welcoming environment. I'm just going to spend $3 at the dollar general and get a few snacks.
00:16:15
Justin Lucas
Um, now the last two I think are really important on our list. Um, cause number six is inquisitive and I will tell you one of the biggest, um, or one of the biggest setbacks I think some leaders have is that they want to tell their own story.
00:16:32
Justin Lucas
way more than they want to ask questions. And for a student to feel welcome, they have to feel seen and valued. And so we have to be willing to kind of like table our own story in order to learn theirs.
00:16:47
Justin Lucas
Like there will be a moment when it's appropriate to to tell about whatever story you've got, but we have to ask good questions and get to know students and learn about who they are um and care about that more than saying whatever we want to say. ah And there'll be, um like I said, there'll be moments for that, but that's just kind of reality. You know, you want to make a kid feel seen, ask him about all the things they have going on and take a genuine interest in it.
00:17:15
Justin Lucas
The last one is energetic. Now that looks different for everybody. When I say energetic, people genuinely think, oh, the like peppy college kid who's bouncing around all over the place. The reality is, the reality is, is I turned 40 this summer and I love summer camp, but I'm grumpy in the mornings.
00:17:25
NextGen Matters
tigger
00:17:31
Justin Lucas
That energy looks a lot different, right? So energetic doesn't necessarily mean that. It just means like, I am, I'm not going to be apathetic or lethargic. I'm going to actually step into it with, with joy.
00:17:41
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:17:43
Justin Lucas
And like, I'm going to love doing what I'm doing. Um, ah For us, that's the character profile of like a welcoming person.
00:17:46
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm. Right.
00:17:51
Justin Lucas
And we apply that a lot to our group leaders and to um our people who are much more student facing. But you got to kind of even look at it for your own ministry and say, who are those people?
Training Teams for a Welcoming Atmosphere
00:18:04
Justin Lucas
Who do I need to put through that character profile? If it's like a ah production coordinator, man, you probably don't need to worry about that. But if they're in the parking lot greeting parents as they're dropping kids off, they absolutely need that.
00:18:15
NextGen Matters
Right, right.
00:18:17
Justin Lucas
um But if if they're a group leader, they need it. Honestly, we have security teams. We put our security teams through this kind of conversation because they need to have high EQ when they're ah when they're dealing with other issues.
00:18:25
NextGen Matters
Good.
00:18:28
Justin Lucas
So, yeah.
00:18:29
NextGen Matters
I agree with that. I've seen the opposite.
00:18:32
Justin Lucas
Oh, yeah. Like we want, we want those guys. They're hypervigilant. Like they're, they're, they're taking their TRT shots and jacked out of their mind, but we need, we need them to, we want them to be physically intimidating, not relationally intimidating.
00:18:37
NextGen Matters
Right.
00:18:46
Justin Lucas
that Yeah.
00:18:46
NextGen Matters
Right, right. Jesus loves you and so do I.
00:18:49
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:18:51
NextGen Matters
um Justin, what you have created, i love that. By the way, those seven, we're going to put in the show notes as well because I want everyone to to walk through these in your own mind.
00:18:55
Justin Lucas
yeah Yeah, absolutely.
00:19:01
NextGen Matters
Also, something that I've heard before and I've really integrated into um my own life, and this was back in my early 30s, so way back in the day. um
00:19:11
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah. Yeah,
00:19:12
NextGen Matters
for me at least, was the idea, this one speaker said the idea of being friendly over function. And I began to really process that and I've actually tweaked it a little bit where I say friendly with function because I want everyone to do their function well.
00:19:19
Justin Lucas
yeah.
00:19:25
Justin Lucas
Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:28
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:19:29
NextGen Matters
And I think the classic the classic cases where you worked in college, you were running Chick-fil-A because you were delivering it to us at one of our big outreach events at Liberty called Scare Bear.
00:19:33
Justin Lucas
and
00:19:40
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:42
NextGen Matters
I remember, the hey doc, I got some extras.
00:19:42
Justin Lucas
Oh man.
00:19:45
NextGen Matters
Thanks, buddy.
00:19:46
Justin Lucas
Yeah, for real.
00:19:47
NextGen Matters
ah What I'm saying is Chick-fil-A has done that.
00:19:47
Justin Lucas
For real. go
00:19:50
NextGen Matters
That is their reputation because it's in their DNA.
00:19:52
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:19:54
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:19:54
NextGen Matters
It's friendly with function, high functionality.
00:19:56
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:19:57
NextGen Matters
They do their job well, but they also have that EQ.
00:19:59
Justin Lucas
Right.
00:20:01
NextGen Matters
And if you can't pull that off, well, then I won't say any other fast foods, but you can work down that street you know on that other one.
00:20:01
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:20:04
Justin Lucas
Yeah. right yeah
00:20:09
NextGen Matters
So I say even the person you know ah delivering the the the food or or providing any kind of service, they still have to have that face that says, we value you.
00:20:17
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:20:20
Justin Lucas
Oh yeah, absolutely.
00:20:22
NextGen Matters
you really created that well within your team.
00:20:24
Justin Lucas
who
00:20:25
NextGen Matters
But then next question to go a little deeper level is, so what can you do to create the culture of welcome within your students?
00:20:33
Justin Lucas
Yeah. so here's what I would kind of like, you I think you have to back up a little bit even with that.
00:20:39
NextGen Matters
Sure. Mm-hmm.
00:20:39
Justin Lucas
Cause like it's people and process.
Balancing People and Processes
00:20:42
Justin Lucas
So if you have all of the incredible people, but they don't have the process to make those things work, like it just doesn't really work well. Like you can have incredible people, but if they don't know what they're doing, it doesn't matter. um So I won't go into all the detail. You know, if any of you guys want to like reach out to me, I can tell you how we do everything. But the reality is, is what we say is a little bit different. We, instead of people saying, me back up. Most people will say, we we chart this from entry to exit.
00:21:12
Justin Lucas
right from the moment they walk into the parking lot to the moment they leave like if that's not bad but I think it's inadequate i think it's a little incomplete what we say is from entry to re-entry what we're doing is we're trying to say how do we get people to go you know basically to come back and to just to keep coming back and so you know clear signage in parking lot high energy we when we get to the check-in tent you know Our people are trained to be welcoming and awesome.
00:21:13
NextGen Matters
Okay.
00:21:40
Justin Lucas
We have a separate area for first-time guests. And we have students.
00:21:43
NextGen Matters
Good.
00:21:44
Justin Lucas
So our student leadership team, one of those things that's kind of like tied to that is student leaders are taking rotations and they're at that tent. They're helping students feel comfortable when they come in They're being inquisitive.
00:21:53
NextGen Matters
I love that.
00:21:55
Justin Lucas
They're taking down information. um Then during the service, those first-time guests are getting, like our check-in team, adults, are handwriting cards for them. They get mailed out next day.
00:22:07
Justin Lucas
But then at the end of the night, our student leaders are, excuse me, our student leaders are actually sending out text messages to the first time guests.
00:22:08
NextGen Matters
Love that too.
00:22:17
Justin Lucas
So for us, we look at it and we say, you know, ah we can like create all of this, but if it's not students engaging students, we have far less retention.
00:22:18
NextGen Matters
I
00:22:30
Justin Lucas
And so we try to incorporate our student leaders in the middle of it.
00:22:31
NextGen Matters
absolutely agree with that. I absolutely agree with that.
00:22:33
Justin Lucas
And so our, Yeah, I mean, you you've got to. I mean, one of the things that we see, you know, students, adolescents, their brains are hardwired for rebellion because they are looking for autonomy.
Student Ownership in Ministry Effectiveness
00:22:45
Justin Lucas
What's mine to own?
00:22:46
Justin Lucas
And so if we can get students to own the ministry, it'll just be far more effective.
00:22:50
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:22:51
Justin Lucas
And so we include our student leaders on our greeter teams and our parking teams and our setup teams. We put our student leaders like in the follow up teams like they're they're there. And we but we have people developing them for all of those things in that character profile.
00:23:08
Justin Lucas
Same like, hey this is the kind of person you need to be when you get there. Be intentional. Follow up. Find the kid who's not engaged. Like just a whole whole thing.
00:23:16
NextGen Matters
and
00:23:19
NextGen Matters
So you can accomplish, I'm being a little sarcastic when I say this. So a student ministry leader, youth pastor, whatever, you know, can can accomplish that just by doing a couple of talks once, a twice a year, right?
00:23:32
Justin Lucas
yeah us no Yeah, absolutely.
00:23:33
NextGen Matters
goes little deeper than that, doesn't it?
00:23:33
Justin Lucas
Absolutely. No. Yeah. So for for us, we have a student leadership team. We have a middle school team and we have a high school team.
00:23:44
Justin Lucas
And ah they run through the course of the entire school year. And they're getting cultural leadership and evangelism development throughout all of that.
00:23:49
NextGen Matters
Wow.
00:23:54
Justin Lucas
But then we have layers that go deeper. this is a totally different conversation on leadership, but we have layers that go even deeper than that with our disciple making intensives, with launching movements in schools, with doing what we call summer project, which is an eight week Synth initiative.
00:24:11
Justin Lucas
But in all of those things, we talk about character. We talk about what it looks like to to love people well, to care for people well. But we also in our talks, like, we put together the intentional next steps thing. So like every talk has a very actionable um application point, but then the groups and then their, in their conversations and then their dynamics are really helping students like walk these things out. So we are regularly talking about what it looks like to be an invite culture where we're constantly inviting people in, where we're loving and caring for each other as brothers and sisters and where we're,
00:24:51
Justin Lucas
We're like engaging a lost world. And so you don't, you don't build a welcoming culture through a couple of talks. It has to be a core value.
Community as a Core Ministry Value
00:25:01
Justin Lucas
Like for us, we have four core values as a whole church and community is one of them.
00:25:05
Justin Lucas
So it's pervasive and all that we do, it permeates everything.
00:25:08
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:25:09
Justin Lucas
And that's just how it has to be. So if you want a welcoming environment, it has to be the thing or one of the things.
00:25:16
NextGen Matters
Okay, so let's go from, we we have helped a new slash newer student feel welcomed.
00:25:23
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:25:26
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:25:27
NextGen Matters
and But what about the student who's been in the church all these years, your own boys, for example?
00:25:32
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:25:34
NextGen Matters
You know, I think sometimes they can be left out. I mentioned to you off the air that as a pastor's son myself, no one ever looked at me and said, hey, Rich, thank you for being here tonight.
00:25:42
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:25:43
NextGen Matters
It was assumed I would be there because that was, air quotes, my job as a pastor's kid to be in church.
00:25:46
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:25:48
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:25:48
NextGen Matters
And if for some reason I wasn't, which I never was allowed to skip, but if I wasn't, um anyway, you know I'm saying.
00:25:54
Justin Lucas
Yeah, absolutely.
00:25:54
NextGen Matters
So I think sometimes we can overemphasize
00:25:59
NextGen Matters
The internal, just us, that's a group mentality. And you know my heart and passion that we want to be a ministry, not a group. Or then we maybe swing the pendulum or take the the steering wheel to the car, the other extreme to go.
00:26:11
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:26:12
NextGen Matters
We're so focused on the new person that we seem to forget. Has someone really given an authentic, caring
00:26:21
NextGen Matters
Shout out connection piece to those who are on the inside.
00:26:23
Justin Lucas
Hmm.
00:26:25
NextGen Matters
So talk us through that.
00:26:25
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:26:27
NextGen Matters
How do we make sure that everybody, no matter if it're on the inside or they're just newer, feels like i was valued, loved, and cared for tonight?
00:26:33
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:26:37
Justin Lucas
Yeah, absolutely. So we talk a lot about At Mercy Hill, the language we use is from connected to the crowd to committed to the family. And we do that through what we call the Acts 2 flywheel, which is gather, group, give, go.
00:26:51
Justin Lucas
And we hope that people get into that and just keep keep compounding in their discipleship. So we get people into the gathering.
00:26:55
NextGen Matters
Yes.
00:26:57
Justin Lucas
We want to help them stick by building relationships. But one of the things that we do is we get them plugged into groups.
00:27:03
Justin Lucas
And so the yeah I'm a firm believer that it's really, really difficult to have a welcoming environment without a solid groups ministry. So you, because the reality is, it's like for us, we can have at our back to school event, we had 500 students there. Like it's easy to kind of just ease into the background, but I've also had ministries like,
00:27:03
NextGen Matters
yes
00:27:23
Justin Lucas
I've had everything from three students in the ministry to like 500, you know. And so like for for those in here is like, oh, he's just the megachurch guy. It's like, well, I've also done this with like small environments.
00:27:34
Justin Lucas
And so and so the the reality is, is like this is a a truth that transcends church size.
00:27:34
NextGen Matters
Yes, you have.
00:27:35
NextGen Matters
I know you have.
00:27:42
Justin Lucas
If you do not have opportunities for church,
00:27:42
NextGen Matters
Good.
00:27:45
Justin Lucas
those students, for every student to walk in and build friendships, you will have a hard time getting people to stick. So they have to be building friendships and you do that through community and you do that through closing the circle.
00:27:57
Justin Lucas
Now, a while back, Fuller Institute kind of came out with this research that said like we used to do the one to five, like one liter to every five adults, but they're saying, Hey, if we can flip that and we have five gospel centered adults for every one kid,
00:27:58
NextGen Matters
gentlemen
00:28:05
NextGen Matters
Good.
00:28:10
Justin Lucas
like they're more likely to stick. And so we, we push students to say, be a part of a group. So like they're in the gathering already, right? Uh, be a part of a community group, uh, like, like get involved, be known and loved by those leaders, be known and loved by peers in that group.
00:28:25
Justin Lucas
Then we ask them to join a serve team. We say, Hey, like, we want you to really stick here. And all of those leaders, all of those team members that are there, those adults are being trained to build welcoming environments for the people on their teams.
00:28:38
NextGen Matters
Hmm.
00:28:39
Justin Lucas
And so, we We're saying, hey, the more you can get involved in the family, the more welcomed you're going to feel.
Managing Conflicts to Maintain Welcome
00:28:48
Justin Lucas
But kind of a side note on that, and we still live in a sin-fallen world. And so our I'll put it like this. Our 11th grade had this massive cultural issue about a month ago just kind of blow up.
00:29:01
Justin Lucas
And, um man, we saw it in their attendance, they were just dropping off. You see like 40 11th graders, and then one week it's like 20, then 12. And it's like, what is going on?
00:29:13
Justin Lucas
Well, there was a culture issue and the way that we may had to make them feel welcomed was to kind of step into their world and say, how do we shepherd and navigate conflict amongst these people?
00:29:25
Justin Lucas
And as we did that, you start to see restoration and reconciliation. And and so welcoming is a a huge thing. Um, and, know you know, we naturally gravitate towards the first time guests, like you're saying, toward making the the kids, you know retain and keep coming back.
00:29:40
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:29:42
Justin Lucas
But, It's an ongoing shepherding issue.
00:29:46
NextGen Matters
Yeah. What you just shared, interesting enough, excuse me, with the Fuller Institute, the research that was done on that.
00:29:53
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:29:56
NextGen Matters
I'm a simple guy, but I saw that same need back and the on the West Coast when I was serving out there.
00:29:59
Justin Lucas
Oh, yeah.
00:30:01
NextGen Matters
We actually had five, let me say, like concentric circles.
00:30:05
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:30:06
NextGen Matters
of of touch points. um I wanted ideally students to be in, whether they knew it or not, they were already in a group.
00:30:08
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:30:15
Justin Lucas
Yeah,
00:30:15
NextGen Matters
i just If they were on the roster they attended, in other words, the same grade, same gender for contact purposes.
00:30:22
NextGen Matters
um I'll make it really quick, but on breakouts on Sunday morning after my my lesson, my sermon, my talk, whatever you want to call it, that quick touch point on reviewing the lesson and some application, that was same grade, same gender.
00:30:34
NextGen Matters
But Justin, you probably remember this in classes with me back in the day, but but then on Wednesday nights, we pivoted to going to home groups based on byke based on high school campuses.
00:30:43
Justin Lucas
yeah. yeah
00:30:44
NextGen Matters
And then even within that, that then took the the big high school ministry down to smaller gatherings, But what they had and what they had in common was the same high school slash neighborhood because any Christian school slash homeschool then was in that group.
00:30:55
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:31:01
NextGen Matters
ah But even within that, after the conversational style of lesson, they also had breakout groups.
00:31:06
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:31:09
NextGen Matters
And those were intentionally mixed, same gender, but every 12th grade was in ninth grade, 11th grade, 10th grade.
00:31:12
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:31:16
NextGen Matters
So what we were creating was on Sunday morning, you you connected, let's take take a ninth grader, for example, a boy, a ninth grade young man was
Cross-Grade Connections for Community
00:31:26
Justin Lucas
and
00:31:26
NextGen Matters
connecting with other ninth graders at different schools.
00:31:29
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:31:29
NextGen Matters
But if he went to Wednesday night, he was now intentionally connecting with those who are 11th and 12th grade. The goal was, you know, to get them to rise up as mature follow of Jesus as a ninth or 10th grader.
00:31:42
NextGen Matters
If my love than 12th graders were rising up in their own walks with Jesus.
00:31:46
Justin Lucas
Right, right, right.
00:31:47
NextGen Matters
What was also happening there was they had more, more adult connections because they had a host family.
00:31:52
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:31:54
NextGen Matters
um Then we also wanted them in discipleship groups. and accountability groups and that was four and five three and four then the fifth one was a serving team and just exactly what you created and i was just realizing again in my simple mindset was the more adults they connect with the greater the chance they have to stay in our church and they did and the greater connection they have with their peers
00:32:06
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:15
Justin Lucas
Yeah, absolutely.
00:32:19
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:32:19
NextGen Matters
And that really was one of the best ways to break down clicks and in small group. You know what I'm saying? by By small group is that the click thing.
00:32:26
Justin Lucas
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:29
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:32:29
NextGen Matters
Because now they're they're being integrated into more than just one social gathering.
00:32:35
NextGen Matters
so I love how you put that together. um And the one thing I said, it's corny, okay? It's corny, y'all. You can go ahead chuckle if you want.
00:32:42
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:32:43
NextGen Matters
But on Thursdays, I simply called it Thank You Thursdays. I asked every one of our leaders on the Wednesday night to touch base with everyone who attended in their in their small group to say thank you.
00:32:46
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:32:54
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:32:54
NextGen Matters
And it honestly, and and just to say thank you for coming.
00:32:58
Justin Lucas
yeah yeah
00:32:59
NextGen Matters
And I said that no matter if it was our lead pastors, kids who were in the high school ministry, matter if it was them,
00:33:05
NextGen Matters
my own son
Thank You Thursdays: Encouraging Gratitude
00:33:06
NextGen Matters
to others. I don't care who they are. Everyone gets a authentic, genuine, thank you for coming. And then I wanted the student leaders to do the same thing as they saw him at school.
00:33:15
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:33:18
NextGen Matters
Cause again, they were in the same campus group. They probably see each other in school the next day. I just felt like, man, if I know I belong, I'm, I'm going to be here.
00:33:29
NextGen Matters
Think of the adults that keep bouncing from our churches.
00:33:30
Justin Lucas
Right, right, right.
00:33:32
NextGen Matters
Lynchburg has 400 churches in the greater LYH.
00:33:37
Justin Lucas
Hmm.
00:33:37
NextGen Matters
And constantly we are seeing people. lie I tried that church while I did that church for while. I'm into this church now. And I'm sure you see it in Greensboro.
00:33:45
Justin Lucas
Yeah, all over, man.
00:33:46
NextGen Matters
um And it usually comes down to, i just didn't feel connected.
00:33:47
Justin Lucas
We see it a lot.
00:33:52
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:33:52
NextGen Matters
This is not an adolescent need, although adolescents scream for connection.
00:33:57
Justin Lucas
Right.
00:33:58
NextGen Matters
It's also an adult need.
00:33:58
Justin Lucas
We're all looking for belonging, right? I'm going to, by the way, I'm going steal the thank you Thursday thing because I think it's brilliant.
00:34:00
NextGen Matters
Absolutely.
00:34:03
Justin Lucas
um
00:34:04
NextGen Matters
It's corny, but you could have it.
00:34:04
Justin Lucas
but but But here's why I think it's brilliant. You know, um everyone is asking the question like about autonomy, especially students.
00:34:11
NextGen Matters
Right.
00:34:12
Justin Lucas
Like they want to know what's theirs to own. and So when if a leader writes out and says thank you, it actually celebrates that autonomy and says, hey, you made a choice to be here. I'm so glad you did.
00:34:22
Justin Lucas
Like, I, I think it's brilliant. So I'm going to steal it. I'm going to be setting up a meeting with my, my staff probably the next week.
00:34:29
NextGen Matters
yeah
00:34:29
Justin Lucas
Hey, we're doing this.
00:34:30
NextGen Matters
Well, even before that, buddy, my goal personally as a student pastor was every every adult, this is in the weeds, okay, but here we go.
00:34:35
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:34:40
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:34:41
NextGen Matters
Every adult got from me, ah like my eyes looked in their eyes and I said, I want to thank you and say why of them serving that, whether it was Sunday, that event on the weekend, the Wednesday night.
00:34:43
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:34:49
Justin Lucas
man yeah
00:34:55
NextGen Matters
get Now I really value that as a volunteer.
00:34:59
Justin Lucas
Love that.
00:35:00
NextGen Matters
Now I have the, i'm we're I'm on the other side of that now.
00:35:01
Justin Lucas
Yeah. Yeah.
Valuing New Members through Personal Connections
00:35:03
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:35:03
NextGen Matters
So I wanted to make sure, and specifically the one who was newer, new or newer, I really wanted them to know from me, i would say chase them down You what I'm talking about.
00:35:09
Justin Lucas
Oh,
00:35:14
Justin Lucas
yeah. yeah so
00:35:15
NextGen Matters
Make sure I try to connect with them.
00:35:17
NextGen Matters
um I got the same student that wants to talk to you after every Wednesday night lesson. You know what about? I said, excuse me for a minute. And i wanted to go find that one who was new or newer say, I want to thank you so much.
00:35:31
Justin Lucas
Oh yeah.
00:35:32
NextGen Matters
The simplicity of just authentic care.
00:35:35
Justin Lucas
Yeah?
00:35:36
NextGen Matters
Anyway, I got to keep moving this. Grand slam. So what we're doing is the same question I'm using for all three of these five.
00:35:38
Justin Lucas
Oh.
00:35:42
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:35:44
NextGen Matters
And here it is. What would be your grand slam when it comes to welcome and have two bullet points on this?
00:35:50
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:35:50
NextGen Matters
Describe what you would both love to see within the ministry, your Grand Slam, and then describe within the personal life of your students, the Grand Slam, the big win.
00:35:56
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:36:02
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:36:04
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay. All right. So I would say a first time guest rolls up to the student ministry, gets plugged in, falls in love with the gospel, gets saved.
00:36:17
Justin Lucas
So meaningful connection begins with a meaningful connection with Christ. So falls in love with the gospel, gets saved, falls in love with the ministry, gets plugged into a group. um They begin to build that there. They become they they kind of step off of the sideline or the bench. They become an inviter and they invite their unsaved friends.
00:36:37
Justin Lucas
When their unsaved friends arrive, they are met by students and leaders who make them feel seen, valued and known. And then that, you know, this like second generation now, first time guest gets excited to keep coming back, eventually gets saved, gets plugged into the ministry.
00:36:50
NextGen Matters
Mm-hmm.
00:36:54
Justin Lucas
They become an inviter. Now let's go back to the first time guests, right? The first one, that person sees the effectiveness of being an inviter and building a welcoming culture.
00:36:58
NextGen Matters
Yeah, yeah
00:37:04
Justin Lucas
And then that impact and how God's used them spurns them on for greater impact and And they step further into the missions pipeline, doing DMIs, launching movements, joining summer project, whatever it looks like, church plants.
00:37:17
NextGen Matters
i
00:37:19
Justin Lucas
And they go, hey, if God could use a welcoming culture and an invitation from me in that simple environment, what else could he do through my life?
00:37:27
Justin Lucas
That would be a grand slam from a student perspective or ministry perspective. I don't know.
00:37:28
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:37:33
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:37:33
Justin Lucas
Maybe that's both.
00:37:36
Justin Lucas
Another grand slam for me is a group leader. a group leader who looks over, sees a student who is disengaged and takes it upon themselves to go make them feel connected and plugged in.
00:37:50
Justin Lucas
No one had to tell them how to do it. They just go do it. That to me, maybe it's not a grand slam, but it is definitely a home run.
00:38:00
NextGen Matters
You don't have to keep coaching them.
00:38:01
Justin Lucas
Yes. Yes.
00:38:02
NextGen Matters
We've learned to coach them. They own it.
00:38:04
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:38:05
Justin Lucas
Cause at that point they're owning culture, not just the process.
00:38:05
NextGen Matters
and
00:38:06
NextGen Matters
Yeah. Right. Because again, it's the, the, the goal is Christ likeness.
00:38:12
Justin Lucas
Yes.
00:38:13
NextGen Matters
The glue is relationships.
00:38:13
Justin Lucas
Yes. Absolutely.
00:38:16
NextGen Matters
Cause I've heard some parachurch organizations talk about relationships are the goal. if they can know being like Jesus and completing the mission of Jesus is the goal. Come on, but the glue
00:38:26
Justin Lucas
Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:30
NextGen Matters
his relationships.
00:38:31
Justin Lucas
Absolutely.
00:38:31
NextGen Matters
We're going to begin to land this plane. And I got something to share on this kind of a, when it comes down to this statement. So here we are. When it comes down to it, welcome is not a side value.
00:38:45
NextGen Matters
It in reality is the structural integrity of a spiritually fit ministry. You know, worship. Worship can lift the hearts. And the word, of course, can shape the mind and change a life.
00:38:58
NextGen Matters
But if a student walks into your room and feels unseen or unknown or even unnecessary, the impact of everything else will become diminished.
00:39:10
NextGen Matters
So welcome is where the gospel becomes tangible. It's where relationships, I love this, you ready, become the runway for transformation.
00:39:20
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:39:21
NextGen Matters
It's where the outsider discovers they have a place and the regular attender realizes they have a purpose. So because as we get to the end of the day, ah keep saying it, Christ-likeness the goal, but relationships are the glue.
00:39:38
NextGen Matters
And a ministry that truly welcomes students is a ministry where the Holy Spirit now has the room to work deeply, consistently, and beautifully in the lives of these students that God has entrusted to your care.
00:39:54
NextGen Matters
So here's my dream. Dream with me. Here is a room full of students. Ready? Students who instinctively move toward the new person because welcome has become their reflex. It's just automatic, not just their responsibility.
00:40:12
NextGen Matters
It's a spirit thing, just not a functional thing.
00:40:16
Justin Lucas
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:16
NextGen Matters
Students also, dream with me, right? Students also create a culture that's so warm, so caring, so genuine, so others focus, that someone who's new feels like family, even before the first worship set comes on, or eat just need before you get up to do your lesson or your talk.
00:40:24
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:40:29
Justin Lucas
Mm-hmm.
00:40:37
NextGen Matters
It's already like they've made up their mind. I belong here.
00:40:40
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:40:41
NextGen Matters
And then dream with me, a room full of students whose friendships become the living proof of the gospel.
00:40:45
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:40:49
Justin Lucas
Hmm.
00:40:49
NextGen Matters
What's the essence of the gospel? Jesus connects us to the Father, right? So these friendships are now living proof of that kind of love, bridging differences, healing loneliness, and showing the culture and the world around us that Jesus Christ and his community is the best place to be.
00:41:11
NextGen Matters
We are the hottest ticket in town. It's not because of what we do.
00:41:13
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:41:14
NextGen Matters
It's because of how we love. Come on, right? So this is why your welcome matters.
Welcome: The Structural Integrity of Ministry
00:41:21
NextGen Matters
And this is why we must teach our students to be the caring hands and the feet of Jesus.
00:41:27
NextGen Matters
And this is why spiritually fit ministries will create that caring and welcoming environment. Every episode ends with a call to action. I've asked Justin to kind of give us his on the quick. Justin, how is I as a leader?
00:41:42
NextGen Matters
How could I personalize a sense of having ah a presence and a heart of being a welcoming person?
00:41:48
Justin Lucas
Yeah. And I do some, do some self evaluation are when it comes to relationships, when it comes to welcoming, are you the kind of leader your team could model their leadership after?
00:42:00
Justin Lucas
think it's a deep evaluation question. So from the personal standpoint, man, take a look. How are you doing? Are you that kind of person?
00:42:08
NextGen Matters
Then how do I model it? And again, not to showboat it, not to be a Pharisee, but like 1 Corinthians 11, 1, follow me as I follow Christ.
00:42:11
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:42:16
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:42:16
NextGen Matters
So how could I model it?
00:42:17
Justin Lucas
Yeah. And I think you just got to do it. i don't i think it has to be a core value.
00:42:21
NextGen Matters
Hmm.
00:42:24
Justin Lucas
Like you have to look at it and today i am going to hyper-intentionally find the kid who's disconnected and help them get connected.
00:42:25
NextGen Matters
Hmm.
00:42:33
Justin Lucas
Today i'm going to approach the leader and say thank you like you talked about. Today I'm going to find the kid that I think may be super connected and ask them if they will help other kids get connected.
00:42:48
Justin Lucas
The model is just just to simply lead the way
Teaching Leaders to Foster Welcome
00:42:51
Justin Lucas
and just to do it.
00:42:51
NextGen Matters
Yeah. Yeah. And then finally is give us an action point at how can I teach this?
00:42:57
Justin Lucas
Yeah, man, I will tell you The phrase, we participate, not spectate, has been the biggest help in our ministry with our team.
00:43:05
NextGen Matters
Hmm.
00:43:08
Justin Lucas
And so and we by modeling it, we naturally teach how to do it.
00:43:09
NextGen Matters
Yeah.
00:43:13
Justin Lucas
By writing things down like a character profile, we give the culture that we're looking for. But by looking at your leaders and giving them these simple, like repeatable phrases like participate, don't spectate, we let them know what we expect out of them.
00:43:31
Justin Lucas
And so if you want to teach your team how to do it, man, be super, super clear that it's an expectation. But then give them the support to help them accomplish it as they need it.
00:43:42
NextGen Matters
Wow. Justin, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your your life with us.
00:43:45
Justin Lucas
Yeah.
00:43:48
Justin Lucas
Oh, man.
00:43:49
NextGen Matters
And,
00:43:50
NextGen Matters
And this has been good. This has been fun. So listener, thank you so much for joining in the Next Gen Matters podcast. If today has ministered to you, I want to hear from you.
00:44:01
NextGen Matters
Rich at nextgenmatters.com. I have my email also in the show notes and I'll have Justin's email there as well for you to reach out to him.
00:44:08
Justin Lucas
yeah
00:44:10
NextGen Matters
I'd love to hear from you. Sincerely, love to get some feedback on how this has been of benefit to you. Whether you listen to it at the beginning of when this is being released or a year or two from the release date.
00:44:22
NextGen Matters
It doesn't matter. Reach out. Love to hear from you.
00:44:24
Justin Lucas
yeah absolutely.
00:44:25
NextGen Matters
If you've not yet subscribed to our Thursday to an email, please do. You can find the link in the show notes on that. And also make sure you, you know, and you know the drill, right? Like and follow these on social platforms and get this word out.
00:44:39
NextGen Matters
I am praying that God will grow this, not for my sake, but I sincerely want to see this be a resource to leaders to then help empower them to help their leaders become more effective.
00:44:52
NextGen Matters
Justin, again, thanks for coming.
00:44:54
Justin Lucas
Absolutely.
00:44:54
Justin Lucas
It's been joy.
00:44:54
NextGen Matters
And lastly to say, your leadership matters because your ministry matters because the gospel matters.
00:45:01
NextGen Matters
Take care and have an exciting week.