Student Conversation/ Interview Paper
Joanna Lockard
YOUT 350: Campus Ministry
October 29, 2025
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
The Future.......................................................................................................................................1
Talk about You.................................................................................................................................2
Youth Ministry in School.................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
ii
1
Introduction
I interviewed three separate children from different families and different backgrounds.
Two of the children attend public school, and the other is homeschooled. All three children are
aged between 13 and 18 and participate in youth groups, local sports, and various other
activities. The activities that the children participate in give them access to the vast secular
world that is influenced by various things, despite the small religious town in which we live. I
interviewed these children during a youth group activity with permission from their parents and
took copious amounts of notes based on the conversations that we had pertaining to the
prompt questions in the assignment details.
The Future
After high school, there are several career choices to make; however, among the three
children that I interviewed, two of the three desire to go into religious careers, and the other
wants to be in athletics. The oldest student is 17 years old and plays competitive soccer through
a local sports program that travels around the state. After discussing how he plans to achieve
this goal, he confided that he has been accepted into a college program for soccer and given a
very prestigious soccer scholarship for his athletic abilities through his high school years. The
two other students are 13 and 15 years old, and both aim to work within the confines of a
church. One wants to be a youth pastor, but the other wants to work “wherever she can”. Both
of these students' parents work at the church and provide a lot of direction for a church career.
Both of the younger students plan to attend Liberty University, like their parents, for ministry
degrees after high school.
2
Talk about You
Between the students, there is a common likeness in language arts and math. All three
students talked about how much they liked language arts and reading, but also enjoyed and
excelled in math. Two of the students talked about their love of sports and abilities on the
playing field, despite the difference in sports, one being soccer and one being softball. Sports
are a common thing in our town to participate in and be overly proud of. In my experience, in a
small town such as ours, it is uncommon for children of any age not to play a sport and not to
excel at their sport of choice. Coaches tend to do a lot of work with students in sports areas and
build a really high confidence level in the sport.
Youth Ministry in School
The two students who attend public school mentioned that a lot of things influence their
schoolmates. From the internet to television to magazines, there are secular influences
everywhere in school. Both public school students talked about the influence of ‘Brain Rot’
material being a huge influence in the way that schoolmates talk and act, specifically the current
trend of students repeating the phrase “6-7” throughout the course of the day. However, even
with countless secular influences, both students focused on the youth ministry programs within
their school. We are lucky enough to live in a primarily religious area. Most, if not all, students
attend church, youth programs, and ministry clubs at school. The students talked about one
group specifically, which is a school-run program that is hosted weekly by a junior youth pastor
at our church. He also works at their school, so he can serve as the teacher advisor of said
group, but this group is a subgroup of the youth program that our church hosts on Wednesday
nights. These students gather at the end of school two or three times a week for a group bible
study so that they can focus on the larger youth event happening at church on Wednesday
nights during this season of the year. Overall, all students agreed that student-led ministry
should be a part of the school groups that operate. All the students felt comfortable with a
3
youth pastor being at the school and spoke on their desire to continue to spread the word of
God throughout their schools and various other clubs.
Conclusion
The students who participated in the interview were all very excited to discuss their
future and the religious influences in their school. Among the students, their faith seems to be a
driving force in their current lives and their future goals. Building their faith and the faith of
those around them seems to be an important aspect in all three students' daily lives. Seeing the
love of God and the desire to expand the kingdom of heaven in the youth today is an experience
that I could not imagine. Being able to openly discuss their faith with friends and peers, even in
school, is a great outlet to be able to bring more people to church and to Christ. These students
are living out the word of Jesus Christ, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19-20 New
International Version)
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