Beyond the Event: A Youth Ministry Podcast
Bringing together influential voices from the CIY community to walk alongside you in your journey to maintain momentum between the mountaintop experiences of youth ministry.
Beyond the Event: A Youth Ministry Podcast
BTE3.18: It's Time for the Mailbag! with Lane Moss and Brittany Shoemake
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Hello, this is Brad Warren and you are listening to Beyond the Event, a youth ministry podcast presented by Christ in Youth, where we help you maintain momentum between the mountaintops. It is. This is bittersweet. It's our last episode of season three of Beyond the Event. I cannot believe how fun this has been. I really, really love getting to hang out with you guys in this format. It's so much fun and today will be no different.
Speaker 1:But I do want to tell you, before I get into what today's episode is about, that we are so pumped to see you at move and a mix and on engaged trips this summer I'm going to be out all over the place.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be at mixed Tennessee and Florida and move Ohio three and move Tennessee five and move Tennessee six and move Maryland, and if you're going to be there, I can't. I, I am so pumped to see you, so pumped to see you. But it does mean we have to take a break from the podcast. So, before we let you go for the summer, have a couple of conversations that I want you guys to get to uh, listen in on. One is with Lane Moss, about how we try to take care of youth pastors outside of the context of our events, and one is with Brittany Shubink. Brittany is a legend of the game here at COI. She's been here a long time, has worked on the Engage team her entire time here and is just a really wise, fun person to be around. So we'll get to hear from her later, but first let's hear from Lane Moss, which, like archetype of passenger, would you be on a hijacked airplane.
Speaker 2:Oh man, good question. You know, I think that we all think we know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we all think that we're the guy who, like, tackles the guy with the gun Right.
Speaker 2:For sure I'm like, yeah, that I'm. I'm constantly in a state of I think this is about to happen and I think I'm going to have to intervene. So I have a very good plan, but that's not from a, but that's not from like a. I don't live in anxiety about it. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just a fantasy, I don't know.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. I don't live in anxiety, I live in anticipation.
Speaker 2:It's like, it's like you know yeah, I don't know what it is oh yeah, I would be the guy who cowers in fear the whole time. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I I think that in, uh, fight or flight situations I tend to be fight. I think, um, but I don't know, because I've also never been in a fight. I was in a fight in kindergarten. Did you win? I did punch to get in the nose.
Speaker 3:Nice, sorry, michael he had it coming. Yeah, no, he probably did not.
Speaker 2:Not you Michael, not you Michael.
Speaker 1:Not producer Paykel. Now everyone knows I'm a coward and that I punched a kid in kindergarten.
Speaker 2:I also was in kindergarten.
Speaker 4:I didn't punch a kindergartner.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's important.
Speaker 2:That's an important note.
Speaker 1:That is an important note. Well, that's enough chit chat. Yep, I have a bone to pick with you. Oh man. Well, you know, I don't know that you deserve this if I'm being honest, but I have. I, brad Warren, have some catharsis. That needs to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, let's get it off your chest. Buddy, you need to lay down.
Speaker 1:No, okay, I might need to stand up, so here at Christ in Youth the place where we both work. There are two experiences that everybody loves and loves to talk about and loves to look forward to, and youth pastors who come to these two experiences are like oh, this is the best thing that CIY does. Oh, my gosh, this is great.
Speaker 2:These two experiences are what Reg day and staff fun day.
Speaker 1:Wrong. Wilderness and YMS is the right answer. Um, and I've never been invited to either that's not true. No, no one has ever asked me to participate in wilderness or yms, and now I'm being asked to come on a podcast that I created and promote these two events.
Speaker 2:Well, explain this to me, okay? Well, I would love to. First of all, when you were a youth pastor, you were very much invited to come to both of these things. Not YMS, that's true. That's true. That's been a shift in philosophy over the last couple of years. Now, who asked you to promote these things on the podcast? Not me. This was your idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, are, it was my idea. Yeah, you're the podcast mastermind. Um, yeah, I just can you let me come, sure man. Yeah, come on. Great, I wanted it on the public record okay and uh also want to take a minute to talk about why everybody loves wilderness and yms oh, I'd love to you, uh you. Your rhythm is to attend both of these events every year, right yeah?
Speaker 2:that's correct. But both of these things fall, technically fall under my purview alongside move Nice.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so I go to both of them every year, which they're very different experiences. Yep, very, as I have been told, because I've never experienced either one Very different experiences. Yep, very, as I have been told, because I've never experienced either one Very different experiences. There are a lot of people that are like I'm a wilderness guy or I'm a YMS gal and you know kind of different crowds. Which one speaks more to? Lane Moss.
Speaker 2:Man, I honestly don't really know, so no, hang on Okay.
Speaker 1:So Hop out, you're going to do the cop like oh no one picks their favorite kid.
Speaker 2:No, let me give it, let me like. I'll frame it like this Okay, I'm more of a mountains guy than a beach guy. Okay, I love that. That says nothing for my love of the beach. I love the beach so much. That speaks to just how much I love the mountains. And so, generally, mountains are just, I mean, they just feel very, very sacred to me. You know what I mean. Just like being in the mountains, I just like I feel like the.
Speaker 2:You know, the veil is thin, as it were, for me, and so for that reason I'm inclined to say wilderness. And because it is just, wilderness is more focused kind of on and I don't want to jump ahead too far, I don't know what you're planning on getting into but wilderness is a little bit more focused on spiritual formation. Um and uh. Yms is more focused on kind of like nuts and bolts of youth ministry, networking, that kind of thing. That said they both very much, um, you know, scratch the itch for me, that is just being around lots of youth pastors and like-minded people, people that are serving the church, and because we do a lot of that at both of those events and again, and one of them is in the mountains in October in the Rockies, the other one is in San Diego, at the beach in january. Like you can't beat either of those things you know, and so, um, if I would, you know, probably I, you know, I'm inclined to say wilderness maybe but let's talk about wilderness.
Speaker 1:Okay, great, um, since it's your favorite and you'd hate yms, um, just kidding. Uh, wilderness. What's a great wilderness story? Tell me a good wilderness story oh man got lots of good memories, I'm sure, yeah, of fly fishing and and interesting things that people have done at wilderness, which totally wilderness, is like a very um for people who haven't been very under programmed, very like there are five things on the schedule every day and three of them are meals right it's like um, it's a time for you to get out in nature and experience God along other people who can, you know, help, kind of mentor you and guide you and walk alongside you and whatever.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, all that to say so.
Speaker 2:So there's is it's very much um, it is very low-key, um. There's a lot of time built into the schedule for you to go out and and read through, like we do program um, what we're going through every week and or um, during the week of wilderness, and so we give you things to journal through, things, that kind of stuff. With wilderness we refresh the soul, rejuvenate the spirit. That's what we say. So it is a time for Sabbath, it's a time I've never, heard that before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have you not? No, because you've never been to wilderness, right Interesting? Yeah, well, it's on the postcard, brad, so I'll put one in your mailbox this year. Thank you, uh, so, so that is so. Wilderness is incredible in that way. Um, just it's, it's phenomenal, and um, uh, every year we get stories of people, we, we literally get emails, um and stuff from wilderness attendees, from their like, from spouses, expressing just like appreciation for what it has done for you know. So I could tell stories like that, I could tell all kinds of other things, but a couple of years ago, um, we ran into a situation where we were, we've, we've recently moved locations, um, wilderness locations used to be at a place called bear trap ranch, great place Um up by kind of Colorado Springs which the only reason, the only reason the only reason that we moved is because we outgrew it.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was capacity, yeah totally Um, and we, and, and we're not looking to just like. You know it's not. It's one of the things where the goal is not to make it huge, but certainly we want to be able to adequately serve the people that are attending and so, um, so we. So a couple of years ago we were there and, and in the week leading up to us being there, there was a. There was an issue with one of the main lodges where we house people and they had to shut it down. They had to take it offline for that week.
Speaker 2:Not good, um, and getting up and down the mountain is not ideally something that you would do every day, you know, so housing people off-site isn't a great option. So we made the decision to offer the choice for any of the people on our staff that were there to stay in tents for that week. Yeah, it was amazing to stay in tents for that week. Yeah, it was amazing to stay in tents and then, so that way, we can give up some of our beds and some of our lodging and stuff for some attendees. It worked out great, but it also happened to like snow that week, which isn't super common at wilderness. It is a little bit. It's typically like the first or second week in October, so you just kind of never really know how early the snow is going to come in. It did snow, but we were in tents, um, which was amazing, and michael eves um, hold on before we get to michael.
Speaker 1:Sure how you were, you in a tent I was. Okay, uh, by yourself. No, okay, how big of a tent, uh it was a decent size tent Pretty good size tent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not a tiny tent, it was like a rated for like a. And it was rated. It was like a really nice tent. It was rated for like a I don't want to say Arctic expedition, but certainly like cold weather. You know and we got and we had the sleeping bags for it and stuff like you know zero degree.
Speaker 2:Who was in your tent? Me and caleb deroyne and ben platt sick, okay, yes, uh, sleeping head to toe like in a circle, basically amazing. So we weren't able to lay side by side. We literally like we slept in a circle, uh, head to toe.
Speaker 2:It was amazing I love that so much yeah, it was okay, well, so, um, so one in the middle of the night, michael Eves woke up in his tent. He was in a tent by himself and woke up in his tent to a buddy in his tent with him, um, and that that buddy was a skunk. Oh no, that had been hanging out, um, kind of around the grounds. We'd kind of seen it around the grounds a little bit, you know, um, and so he woke up and there was just a skunk in his tent, just kind of hanging out and rooting around and just chilling looking around for some stuff.
Speaker 2:And you know eves, if you know eves, you know he lives up in colorado, he helps us, he's one of our facilitator mentors every year up at wilderness and and he was just kind of he was going well, you know, uh, neither of us wanted to be in there with somebody else. He's like, so I could. You know, uh, neither of us wanted to be in there with somebody else. He's like, so I could, you know, make a situation worse? Or I could just kind of like, let it take its course.
Speaker 2:And it took its course, and eventually the guy he just kind of left and yeah, because I mean, if you make any kind of commotion, it's like it's bad news, yeah pretending to be dead, essentially until this skunk decides on its own time that it is going to leave your tent Totally and that's, and it is and that's. That's super rare. It's not a we, we don't camp. Wilderness is not camping. So if anybody has in your mind that like we're camping at wilderness or like we're roughing it or something like that, or that this is something that could happen to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 2:It's a we, a we we're at, like we're at beautiful, or a place called spring canyon. Right now, look it up, it's outside bunavista and it is absolutely stunning. Um, and just like great lodging, great food, the whole thing. But, um, yeah, but it was uh how did that happen I? Don't know man. I don't know how like man, I don't know how squirrely skunks are, I don't know how they squeeze into places, or whatever I don't even know.
Speaker 1:Did he not zip up his tent? Was his tent sealed in any kind of I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I can't speak to that. I'm sure it was to some degree, but that's that. Same week I came back with COVID.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Having stayed in a tent with Caleb and Ben.
Speaker 1:And then driven back 12 hours in a van together, yeah right. And then to find out that you have the coronavirus.
Speaker 4:That's right, not great.
Speaker 1:Okay, one more story, let's do one more story. Can we get a more impactful kind of story? You know? Yeah is there a time that being at wilderness has, uh, ministered to you in a in a unique way, or you know a story of somebody else being up there? We don't share names, anything like that, but I just want to know like, okay, what is a real life impact of this event on a person?
Speaker 2:Sure. So yeah, without, without, without sharing names. So there there's a, there's a youth pastor that has you know that I met at wilderness. Didn't didn't know him beforehand, but met him at Wilderness. He was in my small group out there several years ago and what we try to do at Wilderness is, at the end of every night you're in a small group and the idea is that the person leading your small group has been in ministry for five to 10 years at least longer than you have, so they're able to just kind of like to mentor and talk through some kind of different kind of situations and stuff and as it relates to life and work and family and whatever else.
Speaker 2:So just as we got to you know, as we got to talking, that the this particular person was just in an absolutely devastating ministry situation, Um, didn't feel any kind of support whatsoever, uh, from the church, from the pastor that he was working with, from elders, was not enjoying fulfilling his calling right, and was really on it, really had a foot out the door, to say the least. And I don't know if wilderness was a last ditch effort for him to go like. Well, maybe there's one more thing. I don't think it was, honestly, I think it was just like I'm just going to get away.
Speaker 2:I just need to be away Um but, uh, but also that, in turn, was having a horrible effect on his family as well. Um had one young kid at the time and um and was married, and marriage was just, was just kind of a shambles at the time as well. Just, you know, unfulfilled at work leads to unfulfilled at home, you know, leads to, you know, not, no, no energy at home, this kind of thing, um, and so that year, uh, um, at wilderness we had been. We had been in Philippians, I believe, and it was just a matter of, for the first time in his life, or at least in his ministry life and he hadn't been in ministry for too long, six or seven years and for the first time in his ministry career, though, he was able to say some of those things in a space that was safe, but also in a space where people were able to to hear, you know, from kind of a 30,000 foot view from outside the trees, as it were, and able to speak some truth to him as well, and that. And then, and then pray for him. We laid hands on him, we prayed for him, and and then, at the end of the week, we have a time where he just felt safe to do. It felt like he could be heard well and then able to receive some of those things as well. And we're able to give him some kind of practical challenges of like, hey, try A, b, c and they weren't silver bullets, right, those things. They're not silver bullets, but he was able to recognize some things in his own life as well where he hasn't maybe been a team player and hasn't been, you know, and take on some challenges and then institute some rhythms, some healthy spiritual formation rhythms, some healthy marriage rhythms and things like that in his life. And I'm telling you when I, when I tell you that this guy's entire ministry and life has been dramatically changed you know, 180 because of not just that week but other things that God had been doing in his life and everything else. But I really do, and he does, and I know for a fact that he attributes a lot of that turning point to what? How the Lord spoke to him at wilderness. And again, this isn't like patting us on the back or anything like that, this is just it's. It's how we were designed.
Speaker 2:We're designed to get away, to spend time in the word, with the Lord, in prayer, listening, and so much of it is just listening, you know, um, and when we're able to do that, it's. You know, we as youth pastors, right, we do it. We take our kids on these trips because we believe in it. We believe on getting people away, you know, and like that's something that we believe in, but then, all of a sudden, we graduate high school and it's like, oh, I don't need that anymore. You know, it's like we outgrow the need for getting away and listening to what the Lord has for us. No, we don't, no, we don't, we don't. And so and so wilderness is designed to do that for the, for the youth pastor as well. And and I mean that's a, that is I, that is a specific instance that I have in my mind, but it's also a generic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are a lot of those stories. Oh my gosh, like honestly, I'm listening to it and I know of several men and women who you could be talking about Absolutely. I know of more than that, absolutely, yeah, which is kind of funny, yeah.
Speaker 2:But which rocks. And I am that guy for crying out loud. Yeah, you know what I mean. I am too. It's amazing the amount of things that the Lord has revealed to me just while I'm sitting on the side of a mountain with scripture open and you know, and just listening, and sitting in a hammock or whatever else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. So, okay, that's incredible and your Instagram will be fire.
Speaker 2:And your Instagram will be fire, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, You'll, yeah, It'll be just amazing. So, no, that's a really encouraging story. Thank you for sharing. I do want to jump over. So if wilderness is something that ministers, uh, primarily to your spirit with, so willingness is like it's a little bit more spiritual formation.
Speaker 2:You know, we say refresh the soul, rejuvenate the spirit.
Speaker 1:That's the second time I've heard that today it is, and in my entire life, and in your entire life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ymss, we say you know. With YMSs, we say, fall back in love with what you do and how you do it. So it really is more like networking nuts and bolts of youth ministry what's working for you? Here's something that we're having a hard time making work in our ministry let's hear from other youth workers. This is what Gen Z or Gen Alpha now is. Here's some hot topics with them and some ways that they're learning well or some things that we can learn from them. And so, yeah, it really is more like networking nuts and bolts, surfboards and tacos. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:Networking, nuts and bolts, surfboards and tacos. That's YMS. I remember you telling a story I don't I think it was in an adult leader meeting, maybe here at our joboplin week, and you were telling a story about YMS where, like a youth pastor raised their hand during some workshop or something and was saying like yeah, our youth group is reaching a ton of girls and we cannot get guys to show up to our ministry. Like that's kind of our biggest struggle right now is it's very one-sided, like females everywhere, dudes nowhere. And then another person raises their hand and shares like oh my gosh, I'm having the exact opposite problem. Like I have so many dudes that are showing up to my ministry and cannot get girls to show up at all. And you're like sick, you two are getting lunch together, yeah totally.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of that kind of thing. It is that's what YMS is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, so YMS, we also have groups at the end of the night, right, and so, whereas wilderness they're more like we're going to get to, at wilderness we don't even let you say the name of your church for the first 24 hours. Yeah, you know, yms is very different. So at the at the end of the day, at YMS we're in groups and we just, and we just, we don't assign them, we just say hey, if you want to talk, you know, maybe high school ministry, go jump in with this group. If you want to talk to middle school ministry, if you want to talk children's ministry, worship arts, you know that, that kind of thing, um and so, and so it no-transcript. This is going great On this.
Speaker 2:You know, blue post-it note, write down something that were like an area of frustration in your ministry where you're struggling. So we just had everybody just kind of write some down and then go put them on the wall, all the blue ones over here, all the green ones over here, and then you know, we were just kind of able to go to it and we and then kind of arrange them by category, like we're getting a lot of. You know, people are frustrated with their small groups and they're you know, and so we're kind of arranging those together and clumping them up so we can see that like you know it then. So, but what we're able to do is go, hey, this person, there's a lot of people that are struggling here with small groups, but over here there's another, there's a green post that said somebody that says small groups are killing it in their, in their ministry right now. They're just loving their small groups right now.
Speaker 2:Who wrote these? You know, do like I wrote this, I wrote this Perfect. And so we might say like, hey, and you know, for we might talk about it for three to five minutes, about like what's going so well, tell us about that. Or like what's frustrating, tell us about that. And then, but really, what we're trying to do too is say, now you've got your, now you've got your breakfast date tomorrow morning right Now, you know who you're getting tacos with, because you're gonna talk and, and, and, really, um.
Speaker 2:So here's a, here's a. Here's a really practical example. So Tyler Lane right, you passed her up in Spokane, washington, he was. He was on this very show. Look at, I mean, come on, yeah, no, wait, I'm not following him directly, am I?
Speaker 1:You are not.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, that would have been terrifying. He he was. They were struggling. I think it was small groups if I was doing.
Speaker 2:Youth ministry has shifted roles a little bit but is still down at Compass, down in DFW area, dallas area.
Speaker 2:They got connected at YMS over that, struggling with small groups. Small groups are going really well, got connected and just kind of their teams stayed in touch over the course of the year and Tyler was trying to institute some stuff with their or implement some stuff with their or implement some stuff with their small groups that he was just having trouble with. That Lori's youth groups were doing. They were doing very well, they were succeeding in that area and so they were able just to that became a resource for them, for their teams, to just to reach out to that team at down in Dallas and say, okay, we're running into this roadblock, how did you clear it? They cleared it and Tyler has said that was the biggest kind of turnaround year for Small Groups in their life, not because YMS specifically, but because the relationships that were ongoing after that, the resources, the across the country relationships that were able to be developed and that where they were able to bounce ideas back and forth off of each other and everything else. That really is the heart of YMS.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know it's not just like youth pastors get to kind of interact with youth pastors. I've I've heard cause I've never been, but I've heard other people talk about that Um Like, we bring in all these super high caliber speakers and presenters, right, and then you're in a room listening to them, give them give their talk, and there's like 120 people in the room or whatever, and then you have this incredible access to these people to be able to interact with them, pick their brains, follow up on the issues that they talk about in their lectures or whatever, and that there's a lot of uh networking that can happen in those ways as well. So, um like, who are some of the people? I've never been to YMS? So who are some of the people that, um, that we've had come through the doors down there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean and and it, and you're right, um, you're right that you've never been to YMS but also you're right that um, that, uh, it's, uh, it's also, it's also very under programmed, so similar to wilderness in some ways, where, um, there's a few more things on the schedule with YMS, but it's, but it's zero production value, I mean none. You know, we bought like a couple hundred dollar projector from Best Buy a couple of years ago. We use that and we don't even use it for most of the sessions, you know. I mean, you know, cause it is, it is low key, it's very informal it's and it's really really great in that way. And so so we've had, you know, megan Fate Marshman is just a Titan in youth ministry and it's great to hear from her.
Speaker 2:She's always so encouraging and just contagious in her. She's always so encouraging and just contagious in her love for youth ministry and she has experienced life peaks and valleys and so it's cool to hear her talk about ministering out of both of those things. Bob Goff we've had him at YMS just talking about how to love people. Well, preston Sprinkle we've had him come talk about LGBTQ issues within youth ministry and gender issues within youth ministry, how to effectively pastor students that are wrestling in those areas, area who we just had out this past year did a killer job talking about you know, mental health and what that looks like with students. In a way that was just really really I want to be careful we don't got to get too far into this, but in a way that was very refreshing. Yeah, it was very refreshing to hear the way jordan talked about that.
Speaker 2:He does, he's a, he's a therapist. Does um does therapy and trauma therapy and stuff for students specifically in, like, underserved school districts. Yeah, um also writes youth uh curriculum and everything Reframe youth um is kind of his is his thing. Does a killer job with that kind of stuff. Um man, I'm trying to think you know, I mean yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:You know, like so many, uh man, heather fleece just.
Speaker 1:I mean you want, you want, you want to fall more in love with you Also, Also a guest on this show at one point, yeah, let's go Listen.
Speaker 2:Two things If you want to get the kind of hug that will adjust your spine and adjust your rib cage, then Heather's the one. And also if you want to just fall more in love with youth ministry, yeah, totally. Spend some time with others. It is absolutely contagious.
Speaker 1:You're 100% right and yeah, I just wanted to create an opportunity. I know I joke about my own chip on my shoulder. I have about wilderness and YMS, but even having not been, I truly believe in both of those programs and the stories that I've heard come out of them. It's something that we want youth ministers to have the opportunity to experience, because we have seen God show up and do incredible things at at these events. And here's the deal Listener, friend, registration for wilderness is open. If you want to come to wilderness, you can register for Wilderness is open. If you want to come to Wilderness, you can register for Wilderness right now. I don't know about YMS, just so you know. Right now it is the end of May, pretend that it's.
Speaker 1:Memorial.
Speaker 2:Day.
Speaker 1:Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy your cookout everybody.
Speaker 2:It's actually in this life, it's.
Speaker 1:April 10th Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy your cookout, everybody. It's actually in this life it's April 10th, Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yms registration opens September 1, officially September 1.
Speaker 1:Yep, so a little bit before our program registrations open. But yeah, you can get plugged into Wilderness right now. That happens in October. You can get plugged into YMS in September for the conference, that happens in January. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:At the very last week of January is when that happens, and I'll say this too YMS has been. One of the things that we have found to be sweet about YMS is that that is an event where teams are finding it very beneficial to bring teams, so they bring more than one, more than one person. Now, if it's just if you are the team, that's great.
Speaker 2:Like just you know, by all means register and come bring your team you know, but there's also been people that have brought a couple of key volunteers to YMS. Yms is great for that. If you've got some volunteers that you want to invest in that have been important to your ministry, yms is great for that. Also, though maybe your youth ministry team is bigger than just you Maybe it's two or three of you, maybe it's 14 of you or whatever it is Then want to encourage you to bring those two. It's also YMS is a space. Youth ministry summit can be a little bit deceiving. It's also for, like, children's pastors as well.
Speaker 2:So, preteen pastors, middle school pastors, high school pastors, your teams, admins, oversight, everybody. It's actually been a really good place for you because you're getting so many ideas that then and you're able to kind of split off and go talk to different people and then get back together and go oh man, what are you learning? How could we do this? It's a great space for that kind of thing as well. It's actually been really sweet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's cool and I'm imagining, you know from my youth ministry days just you latch onto a really good idea and the value of not having to cast that vision to the rest of your team because they've already got it, like you don't have to spend all of that relational capital like getting people on board because they were there and they heard it too and they're excited and pumped. Um, now obviously there's other vision casting that's going to have to happen, but, um, I think saving that step is not nothing you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Um, it's, it's it. Here's the deal with, like YMS and wilderness. Both is that I, when I was, you know, and when I was in youth ministry full-time, I went to these conferences. That were good conferences and we had worship services at these conferences and it was great and we were around thousands and thousands of youth pastors and church leaders and everything else. And then we'd get a keynote from, like, the CEO of Burberry or something like that, and it was a good leadership talk and Lord knows, I filled my moleskin right up. You know what I mean. And just, you know, went, went through pens and everything else and and then got and but I always had this frustration of I would get back to my office in Tulsa, oklahoma, and I would go.
Speaker 2:I don't know how to apply this I don't know how to apply this to my to my youth ministry of 30, 40 kids you know in this, in the place and staff where I'm at and everything else, and you know, and not that it's not applicable, not that it's not good, it is good, those are great. So I'm not bagging on those things. But what we wanted was a space to hear from people who are in youth ministry day-to-day and not just, like you know, in in in youth ministry all over the country and all kinds of different church sizes and context. Um, you know, real youth ministry talk man.
Speaker 1:Real youth ministry talk. Speaking of real youth ministry talk, lane. Uh, it's time for the mailbag. I don't know how much we're going to get to, but, um, this has been a. I'm going to just say this has been a long interview. Oh sorry, time flies when you're having fun, you know.
Speaker 2:There was a janitor at my school when I was growing up that always said time's fun when you're having flies.
Speaker 1:Tom Beatty Love him, I love it. That made me glitch a little bit. I'm not going to lie. I don't know if I could even say that.
Speaker 2:Time's fun when you're having flies actually sounds like a thing that Paykel would say, Speaking of Paykel Paykel.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, you're going to have to show Michael a little bit of grace, okay, on this episode of Beyond the Event, because Michael is a werewolf and we had a full moon last night and he is still in kind of the recovery process, so the silence you're experiencing now is him turning off his mic so he can. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Actually, we had a waxing crescent last night, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Waxing crescent, not to be confused with waning gibbous.
Speaker 1:Why do you know so much about the moon, Michael?
Speaker 3:Because I looked up what phase the moon was in on the day of the total solar eclipse oh nice, which was two days ago.
Speaker 1:It was Waning gibbous, and it was a new moon. On that day we're dating ourselves.
Speaker 3:W. Waning gibbous is my new band name. Waning gibbous, anyway. Uh, time's fun when you're having flies is something I would say. Yeah, 100, yeah, no doubt about it, guys. We just have a delightful set of questions from michelle cruz, who sent in a real physical letter from Reno, which is, in fact, the biggest little city in the world. That's right.
Speaker 1:That's funny because when she was on the episode she couldn't remember the slogan. She was like it's the biggest little, or the smallest the largest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, now we know what is it. It is the biggest little city in the world.
Speaker 1:The biggest little city in the world. And she sent us mail, which is a delight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a very little city thing to do.
Speaker 3:And you know what Big cities can learn a thing or two 100% From Michelle Cruz. From Michelle Cruz. Okay, michelle has a question that Lane, I think you would be great at answering. Oh good, what's the biggest, funniest oops you've ever had happen at an event or on stage?
Speaker 2:biggest funniest I mean we've had. Like mcs fall off stage and get like like in the middle of a morning show, like actually just fall off stage and be very concussed and that's, you know not. That's not funny.
Speaker 1:I just laughed into my mic Did you hear the like that was so phlegmy and disgusting.
Speaker 2:So that's so. That's not funny. That's a bad thing that happened. Well, not the laugh, just specifically when you know when I'm concussed.
Speaker 2:Concussions not what you want, not what you want Also and I don't think he'd mind me telling this, and if he would, we'll just cut it out. So, 2014 in Michigan. This is not like the biggest funniest oops, but it was, but it was funny. So Jason French, I've heard of him yeah, wonderful speaker, love it whenever he speaks at Move and just always feel like he's heard from the Lord and is communicating that faithfully and passionately. So he's sitting there and it's a specific message where he's sitting on a chair, because he's got a ton of different pairs of shoes that he's taking off and putting on throughout the course of the message. If you know, if you've seen Jason preach, you know that he likes to preach with props and likes to provide some visual images for you to kind of like latch onto in a really effective and good way. So he's sitting on a chair like a fold out you know, a folding metal chair for the duration of this message, and we've got him eye-magged up on the up on the screens uh listener.
Speaker 2:That means that he is uh being shot on a camera and that that feed is being projected onto the screens in the room very large screens, yeah, two very large screens on the side of the, on the side of the um stage, so that all 1900 or so participants can effectively see jason um it pretty quickly whenever he sits down and starts going in to his message. Uh, I realize that. Uh, he has got a hole in. That's not small.
Speaker 1:Oh no.
Speaker 4:It is noticeable yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's super noticeable, yeah, it's gaping. Zoom in, zoom in, zoom in. That's literally so I got on. So I took the headset from our backstage manager and put it on and I just told him hey, we're going to need to tighten that frame up quite a bit, we are going belly button up for the rest of this on. And I just told him hey, we're going to need to tighten that frame up quite a bit, we are going belly button up for the rest of this.
Speaker 3:Just to be clear when Brad is saying zoom in, he's saying get a tighter shot on.
Speaker 1:Jason On his face, on his face, on his face.
Speaker 2:Chest up. It was amazing. And of course he knocked it out of the park, did an amazing job with this message, very effective, did everything else. And he just I remember he this is only my second summer on staff, so he came off the stage and I think it was his first time preaching it for that summer and so he walked over to me and he was just like how, how'd it go? And I was like good, um, and I think he saw like he's like what, and I was like you have a, you got a hole in your pants. And he reached behind him and like and and felt and he just like his eyes got real big and he just started cracking up. I mean he just like right, like that's Jason doesn't take himself too seriously, you know, just like started laughing so hard.
Speaker 2:He was like, oh man, I do, Um, and so, uh, yeah, so he had a great attitude about it. Everybody had a, had a good laugh, um and uh, you know the word of the Lord does not return void. So, uh, word of the Lord does not return void. So we're leaning on on that for this one. So I don't know if it's like the most ridiculous uh goof or not. You know between power outages and you know everything else.
Speaker 2:But but that was uh, but that one was, that one stands out.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. Yeah, lane, I think this one, I think you insight on this question, but Michelle's asking from start to finish how long does it take to organize an event?
Speaker 2:Man, I don't know. It's like everything else it takes the time. You're right, it's like shelves you use the space that you have and so we use the time that we have. What we have learned is that we want to take more time than less, and so we have started really working at kind of an um about an 18 month calendar um in terms of our, in terms of our planning, our events.
Speaker 1:So right now we know a lot about move 2025.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we, we, we know, we know quite a bit about 2025 in terms of in terms of what, um, you know, theme and stuff like that, so, um, but at the same time though, we've, you know, we kind of tried to dial that in around January, February, and then we shelve it because we've got a lot of work to do to dot our eyes and cross our T's in order to get ready for summer of 24, right around the corner, right, and so it's kind of there's overlap in our prep and so, and you know, for us, I don't know what it's like to plan, I don't know how long it takes to plan one, I only know how long it takes to plan 30 or 35 or whatever else. And for that for us, for our team, is, uh yeah, 18 months really, Um, if we wanted to, you know, ultimately I mean ultimately probably like 10 or 11 months- yeah, great.
Speaker 1:Um well, thank you, michelle, for sending us mail. Thanks, michelle. Thank you, lane, for being here. What a joy, Lane. Here's the deal. Lane, you're my friend. You're my friend too, brad, and we're getting into this season where I'm just not going to see you for three months. I know, seriously, it's kind of crazy. It is weird. So, on a personal level, I'm very glad that we had this time together. Me too, man. All right, take care All. Brittany Shoemake welcome back.
Speaker 4:Hey, thanks, Brad.
Speaker 1:So glad you're here. It's great to be here. I'm so glad you're here because I don't think we've talked about this. You're like the person who is single-handedly responsible for me being here. Did we talk about that last time?
Speaker 4:I don't know. I don't know if we did or not. Yeah, but we've had the conversation so many times.
Speaker 1:If Brittany didn't like me I wasn't coming, but she did and here I am. I did Hired me.
Speaker 4:You are here and you have done so many great things beyond Engage, but I think Engage can always have that token of we got Brad Warren to CIY.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you very much. I am honored for you to say that I love Engage so much. I'm excited to talk about Engage First. I joked about talking to you about this, but I actually kind of do. We have a love for college basketball in common.
Speaker 4:We do.
Speaker 1:That's correct. Do you want to go and call the hogs?
Speaker 4:Do that just right now, that's correct, do you? Want to go and call the hogs.
Speaker 1:Do that just right now Into the microphone.
Speaker 4:That would be fun.
Speaker 1:So Brittany Arkansas Razorbacks fan, that's right, brad, that's right Lifelong fan. Blue Blood University of Kentucky. Wildcats fan as long as I can remember, our buddy John.
Speaker 4:Oh man John.
Speaker 1:Calipariari on the move buddy John the biggest sports story of the weekend, including two national championships it's so true.
Speaker 4:Sunday night got the alert on my phone. Thought it was a joke at first thought it was a joke this could not be real but then when I saw it was coming from ESPN, it's like how? What in the world? So stayed up laid in bed reading up on what in the world was happening, right, super shocked it's kind of crazy. Kind of crazy going from you know staying in the SEC college. You know staying in the SEC college basketball coach going to a place that didn't necessarily like him for a long time.
Speaker 1:So trying to get some fans on board.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they always play that video of him getting ejected in all of their hype videos, which I think is funny.
Speaker 1:But yeah, John Calipari, the most successful coach ever to be hired away from a school where he won a national championship.
Speaker 4:Congratulations. There you go. Well, we'll see what he can bring. Bring the hogs.
Speaker 1:Here's the deal. He hasn't been to a Final Four since 2015. He hasn't made it to the weekend of the NCAA tournament since 2019. He only has one tournament win in his last four years, so I'm ready for him to have a fresh start.
Speaker 4:Look at you and all his stats.
Speaker 1:I think you've built up your case against him. This is a sports talk radio show now.
Speaker 4:So welcome, that's right, it's not.
Speaker 1:It's not a sports talk.
Speaker 4:What is funny too, I have a brother who lives in Lexington, so he married into a family that's a UK fan, so it's been interesting family chat going on.
Speaker 1:Wait. How does his wife feel about it?
Speaker 4:They're happy about it. Yeah, I'm happy about it too.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing he is so proud that I think he is going to have the biggest chip on his shoulder and you guys are going to get the best version of John Calipari.
Speaker 4:That's what I can hope for. Bring in some good recruits. See what happens next March. Who?
Speaker 1:even knows who Kentucky is going to get now Remains to be seen. Actually, by the time this episode comes out, it will not remain to be seen.
Speaker 4:We're recording this on April, the 10th people, so sorry, it is fresh news. It is fresh news today.
Speaker 1:Everyone's going to be like did I remember that happening?
Speaker 4:like a month ago.
Speaker 1:Yes, you do. Anyway Brittany you are the director of Engage here at Christ in Youth, which is amazing. Been doing that for a long time, so fun. You get to have a new Engage experience this summer.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, do you want to talk?
Speaker 1:about it? Are we allowed to talk about it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:Okay, where are you going?
Speaker 4:So, yeah, we actually. So we have two new partnerships this year that we are sending teams to. So one of those we introduced last year at MOVE and that is with Mavuno Church in Kenya. So they had a lot to do with the behind-the-scenes ministry that took place from the film when the River Divides. So we have partnered up with them to do an experience in Nairobi and then also going out into the rural area where the film was shot, and so we're excited about that. Mavuno Church for people who may not be familiar, they are the ones that actually developed the curriculum for the discipleship series Rooted. So anybody who may be familiar with that, if your churches have gone through that or if you've heard other churches going through that, mvuno Church in Kenya is actually the one. The pastor there, the main pastor, developed that. So just another cool connection that we have.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's so interesting, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:So my church that I go to I've gone through Rooted and so it's fun to see it happen in its honestly, in its original context of where it was done. So, anyway, that is one of our new partnerships not actually where I am going this summer, but I wanted to talk about that because we're excited. The other one that I will be going to is in Spain. We are partnering with Team Expansion and we're going to have a team that's in Granada, so it's in the southern part of Spain.
Speaker 4:There is just a movement going on, particularly with Team Expansion and trying to establish churches and discipleship-making groups all throughout the regions of Spain, and so we got introduced to them from a church that is in Florida. So their church is going all in in the country of Spain and so their adult trips are going there all of their trips. So they wanted their student trips to do that as well, and so youth pastor came to us and said, hey, church is going all in in Spain. We have these partners with team expansion, but we really want to engage, to be involved in it too. Is there something we can do? So we said let's take a look and see what happens. So went and met the team that's there in Spain this past December and, yeah, working and planning on taking a team there the first week of June. So we'll be going back.
Speaker 1:In the south of Spain. South of Spain Sounds like a lovely place to be in December.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, it's crazy. I had been to Barcelona before, so that's more up in the northern part, but in southern Spain. So we fly in right on the Mediterranean Sea. So then we drive 40 minutes 40 minutes from from the sea, to Granada Uh, that's where it's, it's a city there. And then they are 40 minutes from, uh, the mountains where there are ski resorts. So literally we could have been at the Mediterranean sea on the beach, or been up at a ski resort in the same day.
Speaker 1:It's like the California of Europe.
Speaker 4:It's true, that's where you're going. It's so fun.
Speaker 1:It's beautiful. So we've talked a little bit about how every Engage trip is different. I believe when you've been on the podcast before, they all kind of have a different flavor, different points of emphasis that truly are based on whatever ministry the mission partner is already engaged in, because we don't come in and do our thing, we come in and do their thing, right.
Speaker 4:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So what is this Spain like? What is the Spain trip going to be? What's kind of the thing that's going to make it unique, you know?
Speaker 4:Yeah, the thing that will make it unique is it's in a place where ministry is tough and there's less than 1% evangelical Christians. And so what? The team there, the ministry that we're partnering with they're really on that ground level of trying to figure out how to make disciples, and so they're doing a lot of prayer walks, going into different communities, just trying to build relationships and make connections, find people of peace in those places, to just start small groups, start small group ministry and then lead into further discipleship groups and plant churches eventually. So we're going to do a lot of learning. Honestly is what this trip will be about Learning what that type of work looks like.
Speaker 4:We're going to be doing prayer walks, learning what that is like in a different place, in a different context, and learning about relational ministry. I think that there is so much to that. That is, yeah, we get to see it and experience it in Spain, but it's going to be so transferable to the context where these students are coming from, and so, yeah, I'm going to learn a lot about what ministry looks like in those realms and what it takes to get things off the ground. I'm starting, honestly, with where we should all start with that, and that's with prayer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah you. One of my favorite things that I ever remember you saying and you say it a lot is prayer is kingdom work, and I think it's a cool thing to show students that, um, any like anybody can do that, anybody, you know, it doesn't matter how you're, you're gifted or um what you're passionate about, even like you can pray you know every everyone has that in their tool belt.
Speaker 1:So to be able to take a group of kids to Spain and kind of live that out for a little while, I think is is a really cool thing. And kind of live that out for a little while, I think is a really cool thing. So you mentioned that this trip is happening. It's kind of customized in the sense that it's happening in order to help meet the needs of this very specific church and their kind of strategic partnerships. Do you see the Spain trip being something that could be available to other people in the future?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely. So. Those are things that we're talking through, and the team there on the ground, of course, is open to having more people come over and joining in with the work that they're already doing and even seeing how that can spread maybe into other areas of Spain, and so we're really focused in right now in Granada, but I think that there's going to be a day and an opportunity here soon that's going to spread into some of the other regions of Spain as well. So, yeah, it's something that we're exploring. It's a neat way to be introduced to a new mission partner and that's something new for us, and so to do it this way but, yeah, we are already in those conversations for what this could look like on a bigger scale too. I love it. So maybe next year we'll have you on.
Speaker 1:You'll be able to report back, tell us how it went. That's right. People will be able to sign up to go to Spain.
Speaker 4:How fun is that?
Speaker 1:That's right so um, that's very cool. So, uh, engage is different than anything else that ci does in a lot of ways. Um, in some ways, it's not one. We just deserve the church, like britney just talked about. Um, it's really cool that we found this mission partner through the church for that reason, uh, but one of the ways that it is different is, and that I want to talk to you about, is that there's not a reg day.
Speaker 4:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like we don't get people hyped up for October 1st so that they can sign up for move, like we did. You know what I mean. Like um and I, I would want, want. I wouldn't want someone to be like, yeah, I want to have a conversation about this, but I don't know where to start.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean because I know for a lot of people, international mission trips is either intimidating, it can be a lot, especially if you are the only student pastor at your church and you have a trillion other things to worry about. And now all of a sudden I have to understand, like visa law and all these crazy things. So we know that it can be intimidating and also know that for a lot of people it's like a little bit stale. Like maybe you've done the same thing over and over and over again and you always go to this place and do this thing and it just feels like it's like not quite doing what you were hoping that it would do for your ministry. So we're opening to having all of those conversations, right, like for.
Speaker 1:Move. It's like the first step is register.
Speaker 4:For engage.
Speaker 1:It's not right.
Speaker 4:Let's have conversation.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and those conversations happen at different points, like what you were saying, just even the I don't even know what questions to ask. Like those are the starting points for some of the conversations that we have, and we can have those at any point, at any time. There's not a I have to wait until June 1st until I can have this conversation. We're already having conversations with people about 2025 trips and beyond that even, and so, yeah, call us, have a conversation, email us. We are here to help you figure out what's going to be best in a partnership way, and so we're not going to be trying to steer you in a direction that may not be best for your ministry, but we want to help you figure that out, and so that's what we're here to come alongside, and we have trips of all different ranges, all different levels, and so let's have a conversation and help you figure that out.
Speaker 1:What do you mean when you say that Like all different levels?
Speaker 4:All different levels or ranges, Like you're talking about just help me define those things.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. So I was just having a conversation last week about this of a youth pastor who called and said we have been doing this trip for a long time, for several years going back to the same place, but really feel like it is more for this junior senior level of the type of ministry that they're doing, the work that they're doing with who their mission partners are. And so he said I really feel like there needs to be something that is more of a first entry step into cross-cultural ministry. And so he said we're trying to figure that out and trying to find a partner who would be good for that. And so I said yeah, let's talk about it and kind of explain from our side of kind of how we see that of more entry-level trips that's just really exposure to different types of cross-cultural work. Then, going into kind of these more, I would say upper-level focus trips on this relational ministry, prayer walking, a lot of that type of stuff that can be more for your upper-level students.
Speaker 1:Which is so funny.
Speaker 4:And when I say upper level, that is not in a sense of the more elite. I think that there has been a stigma with that of mission trips are only for this certain level of kid who has checked off all of these things. And there are key leadership students and, yes, I think there may be a place for that, but we also have a place for students who are just dipping their toes into this and want to see God, want to see His church in a different context, in a different way than they've ever experienced before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny that you use that example, though, of like youth pastor who has this trip already set up. That they do all the time and they think it's great for, maybe, students who have a little bit of experience in international missions and are wanting to kind of take that next step on that journey. So he's looking for something that's a little bit more accessible, because I remember when I was on the Engage team I would talk to people all the time who had the accessible part.
Speaker 4:Right, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:we go to Mexico every year and build a house and anyone can do that and it's great on-ramp for anyone who wants to kind of get started. And they were looking for the opposite piece, yep, and it's so cool that we have something to offer both of those people, I guess yeah, yeah, yeah um, yeah, but just the important part is we want to talk to you about it, right?
Speaker 1:I mean it's crazy because there's so much more flat, like it's so cool, how engage has uh, more like flexibility, I think, than some of our other programs. Um, because, like even the story of jeremy oops, I named him jeremy stevenson is the pastor that we've been talking about.
Speaker 4:There we go. He's uh the best.
Speaker 1:um shout out to jeremy. Uh like the story of jeremy calling and being like hey, we want to do engagement, we want to go to Spain, and then we were able to figure that out. Yeah, you know it's, it's so cool. So, um right now, this episode is releasing on Memorial day. Hope you're enjoying Memorial day cookouts, that's right.
Speaker 4:And the hot hot love a good hot dog.
Speaker 1:Um, outs, that's right. And the hot, hot. I love a good hot dog. Um, me too, yeah, me too, uh. But like we can talk to you right now, like britney said about 2025, that doesn't feel like a real year but it is, and you can plan an engage trip for that time. Um how, how would they do that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:So we I mean we're accessible by all of the things uh email, phone call, find us on Instagram, find us on Facebook, any, any way that you like to communicate.
Speaker 4:I think we can figure that out. So, uh, yeah, engage at ciycom. Maybe that's a first easy way for you to remember to be able to start a conversation, but we'll be changing over. I'll say this we'll be changing over our website that first week of June to list out trips that we will have open for 2025. So you'll see, if you get on our website, you'll see those lists of dates and locations. However, we're open to conversations, just like you were saying of, we can do trips at different times of the year and at different dates, and so we put some dates out there that, hey, we know that these are guaranteed times that we'll be going to these places with our mission partners, but there are other times of the year, and even during the summer, that there are other options possible, and so if there is something that is not already planned that you would like to talk about, let's have a conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you actually just got back from a trip that happened over spring break. That's right, a group decided to do a spring break trip to Northern Ireland. Do you have any great stories from that trip? Did anything awesome happen? I?
Speaker 4:mean there's always awesome things happening.
Speaker 1:So yeah, brad, maybe the only thing I've heard is that the youth pastor, who is a very good friend of ours, Juan.
Speaker 4:Juan used to work for us. Yeah, this is a first. This is a first.
Speaker 1:He had had surgery on his vocal cords. That's right and was on vocal cords.
Speaker 4:That's right and was on vocal rest.
Speaker 1:That's right. Couldn't hardly talk the whole trip.
Speaker 4:The first few days he could talk 25%, which it's funny. How no, just time?
Speaker 2:the time of day.
Speaker 4:I guess that's why I was like how do you actually determine what is 25%? But then middle of the trip moved into 50%, wow, and so got to up that. But no, that was funny. There was some other adult leaders on the trip that were very aware of how much he was talking and trying to keep him at bay.
Speaker 1:And if you know one, you know that he talks, he talks, he talks, he's a talker, he loves to talk yeah.
Speaker 4:So you talk about, yeah, mission trips being stretching in some way. That was probably it for Juan.
Speaker 1:You got to go there and be quiet.
Speaker 4:That's right. No, it was a really really good trip. The students from that church that came. It was fun to see their growth over the week. They came really from different friend groups, so from the same church but kind of were from different groups and so just to see them grow throughout the week and grow together both in learning and their experiences, but just the bonds that they were making to be able to take back to the other people in their youth group that didn't get to experience it and what they are going to be able to share.
Speaker 4:And it is such a relational trip that we were on and so that lent itself so good to that of them realizing, hey, this is stuff that we can be doing with our own groups back home, like, why, why are we not, why am I not reaching out into to other, uh, friend circles and and learning how to be a better friend and how to do um ministry in in ways that is. So we, we think it's so easy just by being relational and you think that that would be natural, be natural, but it's tough. It's hard when you're stepping into different areas and different friends and different people that you may not normally talk to. But they did it on the trip with each other, not only with the students and the young people that we were working with at the youth center that are there in Northern Ireland, but they were doing that with each other too, and so that was kind of this light bulb thing going off for them of this is something that we can be doing in our home church.
Speaker 1:And it well, it's not every trip that you have something happen like that, where the going home part can literally just be a continuation of what happened on the trip. Yeah, that's a really, really cool thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was cool. So and I'll say this too a little plug for the summer at Move and Mix this summer. For anybody who will be attending one of those events, you will get to hear about this ministry that we're talking about in Northern Ireland. So Riot Revival in Our Town is what that stands for. They are actually our offering partner for this year at Move and at Mix, and so you're going to get to learn more about them and kind of see some even visuals and footage from what an engaged trip could look like in Northern Ireland. That's something we're really excited about.
Speaker 1:They've been partners with us for over 10 years and we've had many, many teams go there, and so to get to honor them in this way, to get to show more about what they're doing in their ministry and help propel them hopefully forward into new things that they're trying to accomplish there, yeah, I will say this, regardless of whether you go on a trip to ride or not, Richie and Jen Shilliday, who run that ministry, are like some of the most spirit-filled people that I have ever encountered in my entire life, and for students to get to just hear from them and hear the kingdom work that they're doing um at like it.
Speaker 1:For me, as someone who knows Richie and Jen, like the fact that 40,000 students that move in another 20 something thousand at ed mix are going to get to hear um them speak from their heart about the kingdom work that they're doing is worth the price of admission. It's going to be so cool, so true yeah.
Speaker 4:So true, yeah, such great people.
Speaker 1:Michael's been on that trip.
Speaker 3:He has, I have. I was the only boy on that trip and Richie called me boy, the whole time.
Speaker 1:Boy with a beard. He is sassy, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:I have to know how it was, with Juan needing to not talk and Richie just being there.
Speaker 1:Just goading him the whole time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyway, it really is a special, uh special, special ministry special people.
Speaker 4:I'm excited for people to be exposed to them this summer.
Speaker 1:I think that's a really cool thing. Yeah, um, on that note, britney, since we've welcomed michael into the conversation, uh, it's time for the mailbag um, before I actually get to a mailbag question, brittany, I have a question of my own oh has this ever happened?
Speaker 3:before this is the first time this has ever happened. Engage is a program that is near and dear to my heart because I have some history with it. I was an event staff on the last summer that Engage had domestic events.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then I went on that Northern Ireland trip. That's right. And I am curious, Brittany, if you have a favorite Engage principal. Ooh favorite Engage principal I have one you do, and I can tell you what mine is, while you think of what yours might be.
Speaker 4:Yeah Well, how about I set it up and then you can? Tell your favorite, so yeah. So on our engaged trip what he is talking about we have it's with our training that we do for engage. We go through seven mission principles.
Speaker 4:They are really these seven key ideas, key concepts for what it looks like to do mission work. Really, we say kingdom work in a sense, because it's not just about going to a different country or being in a cross-cultural setting, but this lens for how to do kingdom work and how to do that well and how to step into those spaces. And so there's seven kind of key phrases, key ideas that we walk through with each team. It goes across every trip. It applies to any context. So, michael, I am turning this question back onto you for the mailbag, yeah, what is your favorite principle?
Speaker 1:This version of the mailbag is absolutely.
Speaker 4:We're just doing whatever we want here, last episode of the season.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, we can flip this around. My favorite engaged principle is that God is already working Nice, and the reason I like that one so much part of it is admittedly because it's one of the easiest ones to remember.
Speaker 4:It's a good. If that's only the only one that you can remember off the top of your head like that, then it's pretty good, and I think you know, like you were just saying, all of these principles can apply in basically any context.
Speaker 3:This is one of the ones that I think is some of the easiest to know how to translate to different contexts know how to translate to different contexts, and even lately for me in what is my normal job, which is I'm on the live production team in the audio department and then during the summer I'll go out and production manage different events. One of the things that I always try to have on my mind when we're traveling for our events is remembering that our event is not the only place that the students and youth groups that are coming to our events are encountering. God, yeah, and having the sort of humility to remember that, like we're not the rock stars that are actually, you know, doing the real, the real work, like we're not the ones that are like finally introducing them to Jesus, like, instead, we.
Speaker 3:It is helping me to remember that we are partnering with the churches that are coming to our events and we are just there to help serve them in the work that they're already doing. Yep, yeah, so.
Speaker 4:That's cool.
Speaker 3:Remembering that God is already working is the one that I like to try and constantly remind myself of.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 4:We're part of a much bigger story at play. So yeah, that's cool. Thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 3:But do you have a favorite?
Speaker 4:Oh, now you are really asking me the question.
Speaker 3:I want to know Do.
Speaker 4:I have a favorite oh that's so hard I didn't ask that. So and this is what is neat about them is every trip that I'm on, every team that I'm with, it seems like there is a different one. That kind of just becomes the theme of that trip, and I think that it lends itself to the dynamics of the team, the context of the trip, what we're doing, and so they get highlighted in different ways ways.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful, but that's a cop-out answer. Yeah, what is it? Because my answer is I can't pick one, okay.
Speaker 3:So so on the northern ireland trip that you just came back from yeah is there? Is there one that is standing out?
Speaker 4:yeah, we I mean we hit on a lot of uh, cultures are beautiful and broken and church matters honestly, um, it was really cool this. So we were there over spring break, which meant we were there over saint patrick's day, on march 17th. And if if you're not familiar with the story of patrick, I would really strongly encourage you to look up the story of his life. He was a real person. I'll give this little tidbit he's not even Irish. Actually. He came over from Britain and came over there's the whole story to this but came over and started the first church in Ireland and that is literally the place of that where he started that first church. The property, the land is maybe 15 minutes from where Riot is in Northern Ireland, and so there is just a lot of history there and the churches there, the people there, really highlight that of let's celebrate Patrick and what this day is all about. And so we were there. That was the beginning of our trip.
Speaker 4:We land the day before St Patrick's Day, and so the first three days of our trip we are talking about Patrick and his legacy. Legacy, but not only that, some of these. We went to a couple of special services and they were talking about. If Patrick could do this in his day of spreading the gospel, of being a light, then we can do that today. And there needs to be a revival happening in this land, and so we're sending people out is really what they're talking about, and so that really set the tone of our whole trip of being in partnership with the church. That is already there, with how God is already moving to continue, what it means to bring revival, and so that really set the tone of the church matters. And Patrick started the first church there many, many years ago, almost 1600 years ago, and that legacy continues today. But also it's the call and the challenge for us too.
Speaker 1:Also quick plug for the story of Patrick. It is not like a boring history story, it's insane. Yeah, kidnapping and slavery and crossing the sea.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's a lot of good stories there, going to the barbarian pagan land of Ireland. So yeah, it is.
Speaker 3:It's really good Crazy times, yeah, okay. Anyway, now for a real mailbag question. Um, we received a letter from our friend michelle cruz and there are a letter like an actual written letter michelle, send me, send me mail to my.
Speaker 4:That was the sound of the actual letter um.
Speaker 3:So she asked multiple questions and we already asked a couple to lane and one of the ones that I asked lane. Um, I'm gonna ask you, um, but I have to kind of like reframe the question a little bit. So the original question is from start to finish, how long does it take to organize an event, as it would pertain to engage from start to finish about how long does it take to organize a trip in an interesting time to ask that, because we're doing a brand new.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are, yeah, a brand new thing we are.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, I hmm, I think it could probably look different in different places, but we'll just take this example of Spain. So we started having these conversations it was probably last year at this time, honestly the conversations with the church, with Christ Church down in Jacksonville. We started having just the initial conversations of could this be something that's possible? We're wanting to take a group in 2024. And so I met up with them. Yeah, it was April of last year, so right at a year. So, yeah, 12 months is really the time that we've put into this trip and that's been conversations and Zoom calls, and we took a trip over to Spain to do some of the initial groundwork there, and Jeremy and his church have been having their own conversations as well. But, yeah, it's, yeah, we'll say a year, okay, 12 months a year to be able to pull off and make a trip happen.
Speaker 1:The other thing-.
Speaker 4:I think that could be trimmed down. That could extend.
Speaker 1:Well, and one thing is like a difference between Engage and Move, which we've been highlighting a lot, is that the programming of engage does not reset every year, correct? Um, we have our training that we facilitate and base the trips off of. If you go to riot on a trip, you're gonna have, I'm gonna say, the same experience. Obviously, they're all unique in their own way, but but you will follow the same schedule as the teams that have gone before you and the teams that will come after you. So that's a different piece of it too.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 1:But anyway.
Speaker 4:Right, yeah, I mean a lot of it for us and for Engage is the relational aspect with the mission partner and so wanting to make sure that it's a good fit for us and for them Are they able to actually host a high school group of students, and how many, and what that looks like. Have they done that before? And so, yeah, there's a lot of questions that we really put into that and the philosophical side and is it going to be a good fit just, yeah, logistically, but also missionally, and that takes some time to do that. So it's like building a friendship and we don't want to just do a trip to do a trip. We're not about that and so I want to make sure it's going to be healthy and fit on all fronts.
Speaker 3:Now I have a really serious question. Michelle's asking about staff cleaning day and staff fun day. Now, Britt, how many years have you been on staff?
Speaker 4:17 years. I just passed 17 years yeah that is crazy I passed my year that I could start driving and so feeling pretty good about this um over the years your career can see an r-rated movie yeah, really yeah without.
Speaker 3:Without having to be accompanied by a parent. Okay, I didn parent.
Speaker 4:Okay, I didn't even know what that age was anymore.
Speaker 3:What's the first R-rated movie that your career is going to go see?
Speaker 4:This is the thing. I don't follow movies like that anymore, thinking of going to the theater.
Speaker 3:That's fair enough.
Speaker 4:You could say Passion of the Christ. It's probably the safest answer.
Speaker 1:You could say no, it's Monkey man.
Speaker 3:Or no, it's monkey man or monkey man. Okay, Okay, but anyway, over the years this past, Staff Cleaning Day and Staff Fun Day. How do they stack up for you?
Speaker 4:We're talking about them like it's almost the same thing.
Speaker 2:These are two totally different things that we're talking about.
Speaker 4:Staff Cleaning Day is not the same as staff fun day. Staff cleaning day is think of like a spring clean out type thing that happens. That you would maybe do at your house too, but washing windows, pulling weeds cleaning out the vans cleaning out the vans yeah.
Speaker 3:Which is the cool kid job.
Speaker 4:So it is it is this last year actually, there were several students from Ozark Christian College who came and helped us on staff cleaning day. So that was fun. Got to do it with some new faces and was very kind and generous of them to come help us. So I would say that was pretty fun to meet some new people.
Speaker 1:Yeah meet some new people. Yeah, we all kind of moan and groan about staff cleaning day a little bit, but it is a cool thing in the sense that everyone from Jason French on down, um, just kind of doesn't do anything for a day and no meetings on the calendar. We just come here and we clean up the property we do. It's fun, we do it together and find a way to make it fun clean up the property, we do.
Speaker 4:It's fun. We do it together and find a way to make it fun. Yep so, but the other thing that we're talking about is our staff, our staff fun day. Speaking of fun, we this last year, I would say there's a little bit of a highlight to that and we can bring this full circle of of bringing back the basketball conversation, because this year part of our staff fun day was a shooting competition, basketball, basketball, shooting competition and I was a basketball player and there's a few people around our office that know that, but I think a lot of the newer people that come in have no idea.
Speaker 1:Highest scoring player in the history of Ozark Christian. This is not true.
Speaker 3:But what if it were?
Speaker 4:This is not true. I actually didn't even play at Ozark.
Speaker 1:Just kidding.
Speaker 4:Webb City High School I coached, I had some knee injuries, so anyway, there was a competition that involved basketball and I won that competition over Eric Epperson and Titus Weiss, and so, yeah, something I can hang my hat on and be pretty proud of Anytime.
Speaker 1:any human being can beat Titus Weiss at anything is a good day.
Speaker 4:I said I was going to wear my medal into any meeting that I've been with him, but I haven't actually done that yet. I need to.
Speaker 1:I just need to bring that out just to remind him. Just keep him in his place.
Speaker 4:Just let him know. Let him know that was a fun one.
Speaker 1:Well, that was our last mailbag of season three at Beyond the Event. It's been a good season. Three of beyond the event kind of crazy. It's been a good season.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's been a lot of fun sounds like michelle cruz is keeping that mailbag going well, she wrote us a card with like eight questions in it we, we didn't even get to all of them, it's true is the thing so anyway um.
Speaker 3:One of them is for you, brad. Yeah, we're not doing that um, one of these days.
Speaker 1:No, it's no one's here to hear from me. They're here for britney. Um, anyway, britney, uh, I'm gonna have you one last time. Read um our blessing over our listeners. Until until we see you again in the fall yeah, I would be happy to do that.
Speaker 4:so thanks for having me listeners, we love and appreciate all you guys do for the kingdom. So, yeah, let me read this. May God show you his grace and bless you. May he make his face shine on you. May you experience the love of Christ, through whom God gives you fullness of life. May you be strengthened by his power. May Christ himself make his home in your heart, that you would be full of his love and grace and that those you serve would see Jesus in you today's episode was produced by michael hester, lauren bryan and myself.
Speaker 1:Huge thank you to lane moss, huge thank you to britney shoemake for being with us today and a huge thank you to you for listening, especially if you have been along on this ride with us for for all of season three. We're going to be back. We're going to be back, not in two weeks, but we're going to be back. We're going to be back not in two weeks, but we're going to be back for season four in the fall and hope that you will subscribe to be on the event wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don't miss anything when we do finally return. In the meantime, you can feel free to reach out to us on the CIY community Facebook group or by email at podcast at ciycom. Have a great summer. We'll see you next time.