Dallas Smith
Christian Smith
YOUT 350-001
Church Name:Oakhurst Baptist
School Attended: Public
City, State: Asheboro, NC
Size of Student Ministry 0-30
Ministry Rating: 4
Student Interviews
Interview a high school about the student ministry they attend. You must
interview Public, Christian, and Homeschooled students. 3 total! Encourage
them to answer honestly.
Ask the student what it is like being a public, private, or home school student in
their student ministry. Should be at least 5 sentences. (Record their answer below)
Dallas thought that it was much easier to be in his youth group than it was to be
in his public school. He said multiple times how he had been criticized for
being a Christian while he was at school. Dallas talked about how public
schools always say that they don’t believe "that stuff" but at youth it is a
different environment where he doesn’t feel scared to be open about his faith.
He went on to talk about the different beliefs that were present in his school.
He talked about how students from his school would call him bias and
judgmental if he was open about his faith in Christ, so he finds it easier to keep
it to himself and express it when he is at church.
Ask the student if their pastor, small group leader, or director show up at school
activities. (Record their answer below) If not, would it help if they did? Should be
at least 5 sentences.
Dallas said his youth pastor never personally came to any of his school
activities. But Dallas said he believes this is because he does not play any
sports for the school. He said the youth pastor doesn’t have anything to really
come too, so it doesn’t surprise him. He did however say that he knows that the
youth pastor has attended some of the middle school basketball games where
younger youth are on the team. When he mentioned this he said it in a way that
made it seem like he was ok with the youth pastor not going to his school, but
instead going to watch the sports of the younger youth in his student ministry.
Student Interviews
Is the ministry they attend more of a youth group or a student ministry? Ask them
why they think this way! Should be at least 5 sentences.
Dallas believes that his church has more of a student ministry. He talked about
how he can see that the youth pastor wants the main focus to be around Christ.
According to Dallas, the youth pastor still lets them have some fun and just
hang out, but then he begins the lesson and shows that the focus of the evening
is on Christ. Dallas said that the youth leader basis the evening around the
lesson plan and that he makes sure that the youth understand what he is
teaching them. Dallas said that he preferred this type of ministry where he was
still able to spend time with friends, but the main focus at the end of the
evening was on Christ.
Student Interviews
Emily Edwards
Christian Smith
YOUT 350-001
Church Name:Gospel
Baptist Church
School Attended: Private
Christian
City, State: Asheboro, NC
Size of Student Ministry 0-30
Ministry Rating: 3- Average
Interview a high school about the student ministry they attend. You must
interview Public, Christian, and Homeschooled students. 3 total! Encourage
them to answer honestly.
Ask the student what it is like being a public, private, or home school student in
their student ministry. Should be at least 5 sentences. (Record their answer below)
For Emily it is easier for her to be in a Christian School because she is able to
minister easier to the other students that she is in class with. Also she says it is
easier because she knows the majority of the students there are saved. She
considers herself to be blessed to be where she is and is thankful that God has
allowed her to be in a Christian School. She says that it is nice that she is able
to go to a school where she doesn’t have to deal with certain situations that are
in public schools. Emily thinks that her ministry involving youth could be
stronger so she is going to work on getting more youth from her school
involved in her own student ministry.
Ask the student if their pastor, small group leader, or director show up at school
activities. Should be at least 5 sentences. (Record their answer below) If not, would
it help if they did?
Student Interviews
Emily is very blessed in the fact that her youth pastor is her Bible teacher at
school. This is a very uplifting thing for Emily because she is able to be
supported daily by him instead of just once or twice a week. Also she says that
it is nice to have him at school because he is able to keep her accountable for
the actions that she does while at school. She thinks that it is wonderful that her
youth pastor is there with her because he can help her in trying to get the other
youth involved in their youth group experiences. Emily wishes that her lead
pastor would come to the school and get involved because she knows that
difference that the youth pastor has made in her life.
Is the ministry they attend more of a youth group or a student ministry? Ask them
why they think this way! Should be at least 5 sentences.
Student Interviews
Luke Conger
Christian Smith
YOUT 350-001
Church Name:Grace Chapel
School Attended: Homeschool
City, State: Bagley, MN
Size of Student Ministry 0-30
Ministry Rating: 4
Emily believes that her ministry if more of a youth group. Her reasoning
behind this is that it her youth group is formed mostly of high school age kids
and not many young adults. She says that her youth group is nice because they
can get together and hang out but they still have a lesson at the end of the
evening to pull the focus back to Christ. She does not believe that her youth
ministry is just a youth group though. She says that her youth group goes out in
the community to minister to people and to try to gain members of the youth
group. In this way Emily considers her youth group to be like a student
minstry.
Student Interviews
Interview a high school about the student ministry they attend. You must
interview Public, Christian, and Homeschooled students. 3 total! Encourage
them to answer honestly.
Is the ministry they attend more of a youth group or a student ministry? Ask them
why they think this way! Should be at least 5 sentences.
Ask the student what it is like being a public, private, or home school student in
their student ministry. Should be at least 5 sentences. (Record their answer below)
Luke enjoyed being a home school student while he was in high school. He
said multiple times how he was glad he didn’t have to deal with all the
pressures of a normal high school, such as drugs and emotions that can be very
out of hand. He was also glad that he didn’t have to deal with drugs and alcohol
like a lot of his other friends had to deal with in school. While being
homeschooled Luke met his friends through sports and was able to learn about
high school through what they told him they had to go through. His favorite
part about being a high school student was the fact that he didn’t have to worry
and deal with teachers who would try to push their beliefs down his throat.
Ask the student if their pastor, small group leader, or director show up at school
activities. (Record their answer below) If not, would it help if they did? Should be
at least 5 sentences.
Luke had both his youth pastor and his pastor come to his school activities. He
was lucky enough to have his dad be his pastor so he almost always had his
pastor at his sports games or activities. His youth pastor would try to be at all
the games that all the youth played in and would do fifth quarters at the church
afterwards. Luke, of course, would go to these events to get to know the youth
at his church. Luke was very happy that his youth pastor and pastor showed up
because this gave him a closer relationship with them.
Student Interviews
Your Response:
In (1) page, share some of your insights taken from these interviews. Does a student’s
educational environment matter to a youth leader? Explain your opinion.
Luke believes that his church youth ministry was more of a youth group. The
main reason that he thinks this is because it was because there were not that
many people who attended. Luke said that there were only about seven students
who attended his student ministry regularly. This is an interesting thought
because he didn’t mention the lessons or the quality of the youth group. This
was another interesting fact to learn about how youth judged their student
ministry.
Student Interviews
The three responses that I received from my three friends were all very different. It was
interesting for me to learn and hear about how different it was to be homeschooled or to
attend a public school, since I myself went to a Christian school. I think that the
type of school that you attend makes a huge impact in the way that a youth pastor will be
involved in the school or in the school activities. Of course, as in Emily's case, her youth
leader found it easy to be at the school because he was faculty for the school. But in
Dallas's case it was difficult because not only does Dallas not play sports, but he is also
not in any clubs that would give the youth leader entrance into the school. I think that a
student’s educational environment makes a huge difference to the youth leader. The
youth leader is going to look at the school and automatically realize that it is easier for him
to approach the Christian school or the home school activities then it would be to
approach the public school because of the lack of criticism he will receive at the
Christian and the home school activities.
Another thing that I found to be very interesting in this project was the
differences in what the youth considered to be either a youth group or a student ministry.
I found it very interesting to see how they all seemed to focus on the ages of the youth
first when it came to making this decision and then only after mentioning the ages did they
think about the lessons and the actual ministry that goes on within their youth ministry. I
also found it to be interesting when I learned that they thought a student ministry was not
possible unless there were some college aged, or older youth, in their youth ministry. On
two interviews I was told that they thought that there youth ministry was a youth group
because of the ages of the teens that attended regularly on Wednesday and Sunday
nights. It seems evident that the youth of today seem to focus solely on the ages of the
students of the length of the lessons in order to determine the difference between youth
groups and student ministries.
The last major thing that I noticed, especially between the public school and the Christian
school students, was how they both mentioned that it was difficult to witness to their
peers. I found this especially interesting for the Christian school student, but at the same
time I can understand because I went to a Christian school myself. I believe that youth
leaders need to learn the youth culture that way we can teach the youth how to go out and
witness to their peers without caring whether they are criticized or not for their faith.
When I was interviewing Dallas it broke my heart when he talked about not mentioning his
faith at school because he did not want to be made fun of or picked on. But at the same
time he made a good point when he said, "Most kids just don’t get it (all the Christian and
church stuff) so that’s why I don’t talk about it". I believe that youth leaders need to pick
up on this statement and go out onto the campuses around us so that we can make sure
that all students understand the gospel and have a chance to accept Christ into their lives.
