Episode 0041 Season 3 Jeremy Best on Keeping Older Students Engaged

Welcome to Episode 0041 Season 3 of the FOUR12 Canada Podcast!

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Jeremy Best is on staff at Faith St. Thomas and has been a youth pastor for nineteen years.  For the past seven years, he has also been the director of FEB Youth.  Married to Angela, they have two sons and are in the process of pursuing foster-to-adoption for their daughter. 

In this episode, we chat about how to keep older students engaged.

Connect with Jeremy

EMAIL | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER

PODCAST LINKS & HIGHLIGHTS

Be Creative

• During this season, consider "old school" ways to connect
• Go door to door
• Call students
• Be creative

Engaging Older Students

• It's always a problem regardless of age
• It's good that they are looking ahead but what do we do?

From Their Perspective

• They start to feel old and it's not for them
• They have been through it all
• Feels old hat
• They have jobs now and their schedule is packed

What Does 'Boring' Mean

• Parents have been forcing them to go
• It could really be boring and you should just check and evaluate it
• They may not want to be there

Engaging Those Who Don't Come

• Be patient
• Keep conversations open

 Ways to Engage Older Youth

• Unique events for them
• Layout your expectations for the year for them 
• Recognize this is their senior year
• Have them help set the culture for the year and help out
• Do a college prep course for them
• Invite them to serve in other ministries like junior youth
• Grad trip

"It's less about what it is and more about having something that's theirs."

 Practical Ways to Work With Their Schedule

• Streamline ministry
• Plan ahead so they can arrange their schedule
• Balance youth ministry
• Know what's coming up on their schedules with school, sports, community, etc.

Encouragement for Those Who Serve

• Keep pouring into them and keep lines of communication open
• Walk beside the youth along through all that they are processing
• Keep showing up

Parents of Older Youth

• Try to take some of the school pressure off where you can
• In your home, try to make it a place to breath and process
• Don't hesitate to reach out to your youth pastor or church for help

Thanks for listening! We hope this episode has equipped you for greater influence through serving. We don’t want you to miss a single episode, so if you haven’t done so already, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Help us reach more people by writing a review on the Apple podcast app and other podcast apps that you use. The FOUR12 Canada podcast is a ministry of Faith Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ontario. Explore everything FOUR12 Canada at four12.ca. Thanks for spending time with us. See you next time!

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Up Next Episode 0042: Joanna La Fleur

on the Future

Church