In this Video Blog, you’ll see Mike’s conversation with Jaqueline Cleland. Mike hears all about how a simple desire to get teens in community using their favourite video game turns into one of the deepest dives into Biblical History a youth group has ever done. This conversation reminds us all that not only can God use anything to draw us closer to Him, but we need to make sure we don’t put ministry in a box or make assumptions about how effective something can be.

Student ministry is known for wild and crazy antics, but student leaders deal with a lot more than errant dodgeballs or wondering how many pancakes a kid can eat on a retreat before he gets sick. By the way, the answer to that one is 23 – and I know that because I watched it happen.

I explained, as concisely as I could, that I'm a youth pastor, and that I work with a group of churches trying to help reach people in his generation. His follow up question caught me a little off guard - “I think there is a special school somewhere that you can learn how to be a youth pastor. Did you go there?" As a Christian you might laugh at this question thinking “Really? Who doesn’t know what a Bible College or Seminary is?”