Thought Factory Podcast

#306 || 10 Ways to Help Parents Win

How can we help parents win with their students?  As youth leaders, do we really know what parents need from us?  Is the way we are doing youth ministry helping or hindering them as parents?  What is the #1 thing we can do to affirm parents?  Will our efforts be felt by only the student or the entire family?  In this episode, hosts Jeff Eckart and Jayson Brewer provide a list of 10 ways youth leaders can help parents win.

#305 || The Risk of Ignoring Students

Are students leaving the church?  In this episode, hosts Jeff Eckart and Jayson Brewer discuss what can happen to a church if the students are ignored.  Ignored in the budget, ignored in their involvement, ignored in allowing their voice to be heard.  Special guest interview with Darren Campbell, a part-time pastor, full-time business owner discusses his approach to his church, Exit 59 Church, by allowing complete amateurs run it.  He also shares the analogy of the Church needs to be more like a kitchen and less like a restaurant. How are we investing in the next generation of church-goers?

#304 || Help Young People Love The Church | Kara Powell Interview

Churches are losing both members and vitality as increasing numbers of young people disengage.  In this episode, we interview Kara Powell, who is the executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute and a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary.  Kara co-authored Growing Young, which is about 6 essential strategies to help young people discover and love your church.  Growing Young is based on groundbreaking research with over 250 of the nation's leading congregations and it provides a strategy any church can use to involve and retain teenagers and young adults.  The book shows pastors and ministry leaders how to position their churches to engage younger generations in a way that breathes vitality, life, and energy into the whole church.

#303 || Students Vacating Church & Losing Faith

Are students leaving the church? Fifty percent of students drift from their faith after graduating high school.  Of those who drift, 80% did not plan to drift from their faith when they went to college or went into the workforce.  Are we losing the battle with students or is there a reason to have hope in this generation's loyalty to the local church?  In this episode, hosts Jeff Eckart and Jayson Brewer dive into the numbers from their research about students' loyalty to the church, their youth group, and what it looks like for students' faith when they actually attend church post-graduation.  What can we do as youth leaders to prepare students for faith outside high school, to ensure it sticks?

#302 || A Dream Fulfilled

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream over 54 years ago, but was that dream merely poetry or was it prophecy?  This is a story about two grown men, Will Ford & Matt Lockett, pursuing their connection to the past which caused them to face injustice and racial reconciliation that went beyond their imagination.  Their personal dreams brought these two men together which turned into a fulfillment of a historic dream.  Now their dream together is to actively work toward the ending of the next great injustice in this country, the injustice against the unborn.  Their desire is to see the legal ending of abortion. 

To learn more, go to http://bound4life.com/. 

To learn more about their story, go to http://www.thegodofprovidence.com/blog/. 

 

 

#301 || Anthem Protests & Hope for Healing | Students & Race

The recent protests against the National Anthem are more than just about taking a knee, but they are another symptom of the growing division we are experiencing in America in regards to race.  It seems like we have gone backward instead of forward in the progress of race relations.  The protests have even extended to high school football games.  Hosts Jeff Eckart & Jayson Brewer speak with a high school football coach, Steve Anderson, who has witnessed racism first hand against his players.  Is it possible that we are in the early stages of healing from all this?  Is God taking us through all this pain right now to bring us through into a time of healing?  Are we able to recognize what God is doing through all the noise of division?

 

#215 || Prayer Equals Change Series | Give Me Scotland or I Die!

John Knox, a Scottish minister and theologian who led the Protestant Reformation in his country, once said, "Lord, give me Scotland or I die!"  In this episode, Jeff expresses his desire for this generation to have the same spirit toward their school campus, as well as the world.  Do you have the drive that shows that you are hungry for it, you want it, you have to have it, that you have to see your campus be changed by the power of God's love?  Give me "my campus" or I die!  Part 4 of 4.  Recorded on March 5, 2017.

#214 || Prayer Equals Change Series | Great Followers & Great Followings

Are you a leader or a follower?  What makes a good leader?  What makes a good follower?  If you really want to see God change the world through your prayers, then it's connected to your commitment to follow him.  In this episode, Jeff discusses three foundational questions that will help students examine their level of devotion.  Jesus is not looking for leaders as much as he is looking for followers.  If you follow him and go where he is going, people will follow you.  Part 3 of 4.  Recorded on March 4, 2017

#213 || Prayer Equals Change Series | Kingdom Eyes, Hearts, & Guts

In this episode, Jeff speaks about having the heart, eyes, and guts of the kingdom. What moved Jesus to the depth of his being?  What moves us to the depth of our being?  Does that come out in what we are praying to God about? Jesus saw people differently than anyone else.  A challenge to students is to look at the people at their school differently than how others see them, to see them how Jesus sees them.  We live in an emotional world, but is our relationship with God more driven by how we feel or what we're convicted about?  Are we willing to live a life full of conviction to change the world?  In this episode, Jeff also gives the three reasons why the school campus is the most influential environment in America.  Part 2 of 4. Recorded on March 4, 2017

#212 || Prayer Equals Change Series | 360 Degree Concept

What is prayer? How would you define what prayer is? Talking to God? A conversation with God?  What is NOT prayer? A vending machine? An obligation or wish list? Talking to ourselves with our eyes closed?  When we pray, we can have access to the heart and knowledge of God. It is about knowing God and getting in the stream where God can do crazy things. It's up to us to listen and then speak.  The better we can hear God, the better we can articulate when we pray.  In this 4-part series on prayer, Jeff Eckart is speaking to a select group of 30 high school students from around the country that are a part of the Claim Your Campus National Student Council Forum.  In this episode, Jeff gives us a better understanding of how prayer works.  Part 1 of 4.  Recorded on March 3, 2017.