Next Generation Leadership

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Life Podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply, because he's going to reveal what's already been there the entire time. Enjoy. Hey yo, what's up? So this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I'm your host of the Student of Life Podcast, and I got another one for you today that we're going to call Next Gen Leadership Generation. Next Generation Leadership. So Next Gen Leadership. Uh, so you're starting to see a tie, you know, switch, you know, with a lot of, uh, things going from youth pastor to— or youth departments and next gen departments, next gen pastors, all the same thing. And I know, uh, you know, it's just semantics to me, but I do think, like I said, a lot of people are updating their wording and titles. They still have some that still call it like youth pastor, uh, and so on. But next gen is like so broad. I mean, it can still cover, you know, like the 17, 18 and down, 17 you know, 16, you can, you know, bridge into, uh, 14, you know, 11, 10, and so on, all the way up down to little kids. Just the next generation that's coming in, uh, helping shape them. And I believe that's a very calculated move from my perspective, uh, because, uh, like the youth department, or youth depending on the size of your ministry, uh, it can be so broad, uh, it can be so challenging. And so you have to kind of separate those age groups based on what you have. But I do believe you have to have that dedicated person. And sometimes, truthfully, I believe that the youth or next generation, next gen leadership team, or next gen pastor, uh, is probably just as critical, uh, from, from my perspective, as, you know, someone, uh, like under, like, the senior pastors. Of course, the senior pastor is biblical, and I know that title is not in the Bible. Uh, you have pastor and elders Uh, but a lot of ministries, you know, are adapting that senior person because of, you know, the undershepherds that come in, the elders and things like that. So if I'm just looking at it and, you know, keeping up with typical times, like, so your church might say, no, no, we strictly by the book, we don't do all of that. That's cool, nothing is wrong with that. But I also don't see any issue from my perspective, uh, with, like I say, the senior pastor, uh, or like associate or executive to kind of help come in and start focusing on core areas and just helping, you know, the pastor, uh, burden that load. And, and there's nothing wrong because if you're going at it through with the plurality of elders and stuff like that, uh, sometimes these people that hold these titles are the elders as well. So, uh, don't want to get too much deep into that, but I do want to talk to you about next-gen leadership. Uh, but if you would give me some time, I want to just read off a few statistics. And, and I get it, um, statistics— I, I took a class and I went to business school in addition to, to technology and seminary school. Uh, but for the most part I do like them. Like I said, I like to say, especially in the ministry, that I'm data, uh, spirit-led but data-inspired. And I know statistics can be manipulated and things like that, and you can get into ways to quantify them— qualify them, I should say— uh, and certain things, and certain things of that nature. But I do like these, and they were inspired by a book, I believe, Welcoming Future Church, as well as— and I kind of did my own research in addition to hearing this book. Um, and so, uh, let me just read these, and then we'll get into the to the, the meat of this, um, this episode today. Um, so, uh, the next generation, uh, 81% of the next generation, this is how they think. 81% of them, their goal is to get rich. Like, they prioritize getting rich over knowing God. Uh, 51% is to get famous over knowing God. Uh, 75% claim that they are spiritual but not religious, meaning that there's no ties to anything, uh, but just this free spirit or spirituality, or they don't believe— they believe that there's more ways to God than Jesus, when we know that Jesus said, I am the way, I am the only way. Um, there is more than one way to, uh, interpretate— to interpretate Jesus, meaning that he could be many different people. Um, 68% believe that. 64% believes that sex outside of marriage is acceptable. Uh, they feel like, hey man, if you want to hunch, you want to hunch, like it's okay. The marriage is just a business anyway, it's just paper anyway, it's just whatever. Uh, 59% uh, disconnect after— oh, I'm sorry, disconnect after church after the age of 15, or they disconnect forever, uh, um, over extended period of time. So after the age of 15, basically like I say, they might disconnect for an extended period of time or they might not come back forever. I think I said that the wrong way. 59%. 50% believe all people are eventually saved no matter what they do. So hey, you can live however you want to live. 50% of people believe that you'll be saved anyway. God won't send anyone to hell. 44% say they feel or have felt depressed being connect— even being connected to the ministry. It's still a high number. And 10% say that they often think about suicide. Even being connected to a church. Those were very alarming to me, uh, being someone that is always around the youth. Uh, you know, I do a lot of peewee, um, basketball coaching. I do the Watchdog thing, you know, Dads of Great Students. I, I'm very connected with my, my children, my two oldest, uh, my boys' school, and, um And then, you know, of course I have our youngest, our daughter. Uh, so I'm very connected. Like, I, you know, last year my two boys, they went to this, the same school. Now, now my oldest, he's at the high school, junior high school. And, um, my middle son, he's at the, uh, the middle school. How ironic. He's at the middle school. Of course our daughter is in— she's in a, you know, Christian environment right now, thank God. Um, but she's just in daycare, just starting out, just turned 2 years old. Uh, but it's very alarming knowing that, you know, these statistics, man, we are going to play a pivotal role in helping lower these, or they're just going to go higher and higher where these people will be shaping my kids' future. Now, I do believe that you're always going to have people out there— I pray to God— that preaches and teach the gospel with a deep conviction that's not going to compromise, um, that's coming up in this next generation. And you know what's actually pretty dope, uh, is that I was able to see it at New Life, uh, New Life Church, uh, where they had their NextGen service, uh, and it was so beautiful, man, just to see the kids on fire for God. And, uh, man, just what they're doing at the New Life Conway campus. So it's just a very, very beautiful thing to see the youth, you know, just on fire and how they galvanize and work around that. Uh, but I just believe that, you know, young adults, man, uh, they are in influencers. Like, these people are the next influencers, and they— and a lot of them, you know, when I seen, they want to make a difference, you know. But oftentimes, like the book said, they're misguided, um, you know, and we don't always have time for them, uh, we don't always, you know, have the best knowledge and strategy for them. And this leads to them not having time, knowledge, and the right strategy to reach your generation. But they can make an impact if we just teach them and disciple them to, uh, look like Jesus. So one of the things I think that we have to do is, you know, just consider, uh, as youth pastors or next generation leaders, we have to take the time. Listen, I'm, I'm big on the Bible. I'm very, very big on the Bible. The Bible is the final authority. Yes, it's the word of God, but you have to know your audience. You have to know who you're talking to. You have to know what they are able to eat. Paul gave us this. A lot of us, we are so full of the word that we are feeding newborns full-course steak meals, or dinners I should say, with wine and such and such and such. And truthfully, if you feed that and cram it down a newborn's mouth and make— they're gonna choke on it, it's gonna kill them. Uh, we're doing that with the word of God with people, infants and toddlers. Like, we have to know our audience. So these statistics, man, they can inform us. And a lot of times, you know, like I said, we're so on fire because what have, we're truly living it, and we're not taking the time to just know our audience and know what's on their heart, understanding like how they communicate the gospel. We have to stay flexible in our approach. It's true to the mission but flexible approach. Adapt but not compromise. Adapt but not compromise. I actually preached a message on that two times, uh, it was a very challenging message, uh, through the power of God. But we have to know our audience. Uh, most of these kids are unchurched and they even feel like a misfit where the church is like a country club. Like, man, I don't belong there. So if I come in there the way I know church or the way I've done church because of how I was raised, it might be a disconnect right there already. Now, now some are going to get it. Like, some, you know, they might adapt to your way. That, that might be what it is. And that's why it's multiple local churches out here. You might say, well, I'm not changing for anybody, and that's cool. But if, if you're not willing to just be flexible a little bit or have the right team or combination where everybody can get something, then you also have to accept the risk that, okay, like, you know, I'm gonna do it my way. It's only one way to do local church ministry, and that's just what it is. And like I say, accept the risk that you might lose a lot of youth. Now, yes, some are going to come. They're always going to be some to come that's like, okay, yes, I can get with this, I can adapt to this. But for the most part, many are just going to be like, man, I'mma just go somewhere else and I'mma find someone that's not compromising, but that's more willing to take the time to understand and connect with me and know me. So like I say, we have to let these statistics inform us. The other thing is that we have to be willing to engage with the youth. Kind of like I said in the opening, man, I'm— I've been coaching peewee basketball. I started coaching my oldest son. He was in the 4th grade. He's in the 8th grade now. Then right after that, so I did his 4th and 5th, and then, you know, right after that switched over, then 3rd, 4th, and now I'm doing 5th with my middle. So it's been what, like 5 years straight? But before that, I was even involved with them and just other things that they did outside of that. Didn't— and so it's like being the watchdog thing and just being consistently connected to the school. Where I have seen these kids mature. And like, you know, like sometimes, like, I have seen teachers or certain people struggle where I'm not even on the staff with the school. And I don't, I don't take this or use this like in a bad way saying that they, you know, can't do their job or anything. But what I look at is that sometimes, like, I and other teachers can get through these kids faster than others because of the relationship, because of the engagement. In other words, touching a heart before I ask for a hand. Now I get it, behavior— a child should know how to go to school and behave. I, I get that, you know, we can get into that and stuff like that. But what I'm talking about in the totality of things is that we have to be willing, as next generation pastors and leaders, uh, youth directors and so on, we have to be willing to engage with the youth. We have to be willing to take the time to touch their heart not by just praying and laying hands on them, hoping they slang in the spirit and all of this stuff. I'm all for that in its proper context, but, um, we have to be willing to touch the heart. And then, you know, like I say, build a community before you try to build an organization. Build a community before you try to build a ministry. Build a community. Build a community before you try to build anything else. Because if you take the time to touch their heart and build the community and take time, take time with them, But for the most part, anything that you do, you're going to have an army that's standing behind you because you have took the time to engage and come into their world as a next-gen leader. My wife, you know, when she was in the schools and she would see many students, and, you know, even to the point where she was like, man, I feel like I'm not even making an impact. Like, times she would send me pictures and tells me stories, you know, not of the student face or anything, but just kind of like in a moment of her, you know. And it's like, man, I'm praying like this student is here. Laying on my desk crying. And she took the time to know their world, was sometimes the most— how a lot of these people struggle with these students, and like security guards and principals couldn't even control them. They get to her, and for the most part they listen. Now it sucked because they, you know, they should, but it's like she took the time to get to know them. And I've seen it with many others. So we got to be willing to engage and touch our— sometimes, you know, we, because we live in this knowledge age and we think we know everything and we think we can just pray things out just quickly. I'm not going around prayer, but don't let prayer advocate you from the responsibility of showing up and getting your hands dirty with people. Like, this is the thing, and I'm not talking about doing like drugs or anything like that, but I'm talking about getting dirty, getting messy, letting these kids see your life up close and personal like Jesus did. Jesus modeled and taught. See, we focus a lot of times on what Jesus— Jesus taught the word, Jesus taught the word, demonstrate the word, but he also demonstrated the word by proximity. He just didn't model it in front of people like for a certain few hours. No, he modeled it with his life. These people seen him up close and personal. It validated that he who— he who was what— Lord help me. It validated that he was everything that he said he was. Like, this is what we have to understand in next generation leadership. And then we got to be willing to teach. We got to be willing to teach in dynamic ways because I love this quote from Andy Stanley, I believe it's in Deep and Wide. It says, at the end of the day, it's application that makes all the difference. Truth isn't helpful if no one understands or remembers, remembers it. Let me say that again. Truth isn't helpful if no one understands or remembers it. So if application is what makes the difference, if living it is what makes the difference, then we have to take a step back as teachers of the gospel, as preachers of the gospel, and say, Lord, like, am I really perfecting this skill? Like, what I'm— like, Lord, help me say this, okay? The anointing— God anointed you to teach and preach the gospel. Then, okay, so how do you do that? You do that through communication. So you have the gift of teaching and preaching, but communication is a skill. So like, it's no way possible with me starting out just preaching, no matter how anointed that I am and how much I study. Um, when I look at my dad or my father-in-law who's been doing this for, you know, I'm not even— I'm not even just talking about pastoral, I'm just talking about preaching and teaching the gospel for 20-plus years, Sunday after Sunday, week after week, Bible study after Bible study, program after program. They have that, that, that comes through communication. So that communication skill has to be honed, it has to be developed. I have to learn certain things, and development is on us. So let me say this again. So yes, God Almighty, he gave you the gift to, uh, to preach and teach, or called you to preach and teach, or whatever you want to subscribe to, but it comes through the form of communication, and communication is a skill. It's, it's a skill. And so, uh, we have to make sure that our communication skill— if we go back to the recalibrating leadership thing— we have to make sure it has been calibrated for this generation. Not compromising, but adapting. We have to make sure that it's applicable, that, you know, through God— I understand the Holy Spirit, he is the one that truly reveals the intimate and the deep things— but I believe as a responsibility of a teacher of the gospel, um, or just a parent or whatever, a coach. God can work through us if we spend some time consulting him and doing our part and reaching out and just doing our due diligence, that we can kind of even teach in an applicable way. That's why you often hear people say, well, I taught that, I've been teaching this for 5 years, but then someone else comes along and they teach it. Yes, you know, one, uh, plants and one waters and things like that, and God brings forth the increase. But sometimes it might be, but that person just taught it in a way that was more applicable. They taught it in a way that, oh man, I deal with that all the time. I've been studying and, and looking at things, and I've— I like looked at it, and then I go to a trainer or something like, oh man, oh my God, boom, now all the dots are connected. And then it propels me on to the next thing. So make sure it's applicable. And, and we have to do this by also not just teaching but giving them the ability to teach and share their faith in their context so we can encourage them, correct them, and so on. We have to create those opportunities within the church. And then, so the last thing, we have to deploy them. So sending them out as we have built them up through teaching them and training them, we have to send them out in their sphere of influence. And that can be through a number of things. That might be through sports, it might be through art, it might be through, uh, woodshop, mechanic class, mechanical classes. It might be through the church, the local church. And so on. But we have to be willing to deploy them. Then we assess them, you know, we get feedback, we see how things are going, and just, you know, just paying attention to the heartbeat, the frequency of just what's going on, what is going on in their sphere of influence. And as we do this and we, and we study this deployment phase of them, we can come back and it might be doing it all over again. Okay, let me engage you now and let me teach you some more, and then I'm gonna redeploy you. I'ma just keep redeploying you, redeploying you. So, so what does your next gen look like in your local church? What does your next gen look like in your school as you prepare the next generation? What does your next gen leadership look like in your house with, with your kids, your nephews? If you're a grandparent, what does your next generation look like? Are you showing up in your children's life? Or are you— have you chosen like other things over them? Have you chosen other things over the next generation? Because this is what matters. Like, we are— we have a responsibility to shape and influence and develop and disciple the next generation, the next generation. And so I just want to just really ask you, like, take some time to consider your next-gen leadership. Especially in the local church. How— like, look, what's happening at home is always going to be more impactful of what goes on at church, the school, or whatever else. So are we taking the time to also reach in our next gen? Is working with adult programs like men's and women's ministry, marriage ministries, and so on? Because what happens at home is going to be way more impactful than what happens at the church. And what happens at school. So are we integrated? Are we working together and sharing insights from each other, collaborative and working as a team with collaborative leadership and collaborative insight? Like, these are things that we just have to consider as a leadership team. And it's all trial and error, man. It's just praying. It's no silver bullet. It's just increasing the chances and the odds to help raise successful and productive, God-fearing kids. Or just God fearing, a God fearing next generation. So again, what does your next generation team look like? Hey, what's up? I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to the Student Life Podcast today. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www.timothypratt.org. Once again, thanks.