Kyle welcomes two guests this episode as we take a look at practical ways we can use camps, conferences, retreats, and other special events to ignite spiritual growth in our students. Foster Toft, Pastor of Student Ministries at Bethel Church in Indiana joins us as well as Eric Miller, Executive Director of Ministry at Momentum Ministry Partners. Together, they walk us through properly valuing special events within a larger scope, sequence, core values, and purpose within our existing ministries. They encourage youth workers to utilize these trips (and the car rides to and from!) as a way to poor into relationship building with the teens they serve.

Kyle invites Youth Pastor and CPYU Research Fellow Mike Terry to co-host this episode featuring Valerie O'Brien of Aspen Ministry. Valerie tells us about Aspen Ministry's 10,000 question project where they are collecting questions about faith and life from students in order to better hear them and point them to Jesus based on where they are and the questions they are actually wrestling with. Valerie reminds us of the importance of answering the questions students are actually asking rather than the questions we think they're asking. How do we answer questions in a way that is both truthful and communicated with a heart for the asker?

Kyle invites his co-worker, Middle School Pastor, and CPYU Research Fellow Josiah Rios to co-host this episode. Together they interview pastor and author Paul Tautges about his book Remade: Embracing Your Complete Identity in Christ. Identity formation is a huge issue among our teens, so we need to help them understand that they are both created by God and redeemed by God in Christ. When teens live into this reality, it helps lift the impossible burden of creating their own identities. They take time to dive into what Paul calls a triple lens perspective, understanding that we are sinners, sufferers, and saints and how we can teach that paradigm to students.