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Welcome to Musings of Millennial Ministers!

We, Russell Bowlin and Matthew Scott, are your Millennial Ministers (actually I was born in 1980, but the alliteration works).

In this podcast we will seek to share with you musings from our daily lives as Methodist ministers.  We hope this provides you with some theological wisdom and reflection to help you in your daily lives!

Notes from the Podcast – Episode 1

Russell Bowlin – “Beardâ€

- Methodist pastor in Victoria,TX

- Youth & college ministry, preaches every week

Matthew Scott

- From Texas, born and raised

- Met Beard at Duke Div

- Pastor at Alamo Heights UMC in San Antonio,tx

Goal of the podcast: Developing good theology for our local congregations and the greater Body. A place for young people to digest the current world through a theological lens.

- Sharing the Duke MDiv

Beard’s story

     - Youth group he grew up in – “Allowing people to discover who they are and what it means to be in Christâ€

Beard’s calling

     - Role of the community in discerning a call

Challenges in Youth Ministry

     - So much for them to be a part of, vying for their attention, they’re busiest generation of kids

- “they’re busier than I ever was, and busier than even 5-6 years agoâ€

- “fitting time into their schedule for church and spiritual formation is difficultâ€

- “I’m kind of a snob when it comes to youth ministry†– “we can expect a lot from our youth, we can lead them into deep waters and if they need help, throw them lineâ€

- “most of youth ministry stays in shallow waters†– so when students go off to college, they will be invited to think much deeper about their faith and this will be more attractive to them. They end up leaving the church.

- Jesus is my friend. That is important, but if it stops there then that is too shallow.

- I love water parks. Sometimes we just make people stay in the kiddy area

- We want youth ministry to be encouraging and challenging

Recommendations to Kids

     - Who are you in community with and who are you in conversation with

- Who has a voice with you

- What are you reading, what are you interested in

- To feel out where they might be searching for things and find some footholds there

Recommend to Parents

     - Never been a parent, so its difficult

- Starts with who are you talking to

- *****Getting to ask for help from older wiser people is one of the greatest resources in life

- “Really important – sharing your faith openly with your kids, opening up discussion with thatâ€

- Let this be your first and last discussion, about God

- It takes community and parents are certainly part of that community

- If you want your child’s faith to be important to them, how is that communicated to them?

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the podcast, or other topics you would like to hear about.  We invite you to share in the comments section below.