Henry - Hi. I'm Henry Reyenga, president of Christian leaders Institute, and with me is Dr Ted Travis, who has been leading in the area of youth ministry, youth  discipleship, creating movements for youth ministry in urban areas and other  places throughout the world. And he has done a class at Christian leaders  Institute in this area. Now, how long have you been involved in youth ministry? 

Dr Travis - A long time, I think, I think over 40 years 

Henry - now, you've written books, you have blogs, you've done ministry in  various places, yeah, so what is it that you feel is the most urgent issue in youth  ministries today? 

Dr Travis - Well, I think that youth ministry is probably the most under examined ministry in the realm of Christian mission. And I really believe that youth ministry, we need to infuse concepts of transformation Okay, into youth leadership  development. Most youth leaders are trained to lead, but not necessarily to  develop leaders. And so this is, this is the difference that that we can work in  such a way that our young people actually become, become leaders. They  discover who they are in Christ. 

Henry - So what you do is you actually teach people to become young Christian leaders, not just people that are youth you're ministering to. 

Dr Travis - Yeah, that's right, that's right. There they become motivated. Years  ago was it was Dr John Perkins who who posed the question to me that became a defining question. Dr John Perkins, yeah, yeah, oh yeah. John is a John is a  dear friend. 

Henry - No, as of 2019 is he still living? 

Dr Travis - Yeah. I was just with him a few weeks ago. 

Henry - Unbelievable. Okay, so, so being mentored by Dr John Perkins earlier. 

Dr Travis - He asked, he asked, what became a defining, defining question for  my life. He said, How do we build incentive in our youth and back then, I knew  what he was talking about. How do you build internal motivation you seem so,  

so difficult to hear or to learn or to respond. How do we build incentive? And that became a defining question for me. And the end result was what I call  transformational discipleship, so that that approach and how you do it, if you  must become a transformational leader in order to bring about transformation in 

the lives of young people, and we've seen amazing things happen in youth  ministry 

Henry - now this class that youth discipleship, ministry and movement is a class where you're going to explore these topics in detail? 

Dr Travis - Oh yes, oh yes, I am. 

Henry - So explain some of the details that you're going to go into. 

Dr Travis - Okay, okay, well, we're going to talk about, we're going to talk about  mission, and that working with, with with urban youth, or youth in hard places, is  a part of God's Kingdom movement. So youth leaders are strategically  positioned to make a difference. We're going to talk about what are the  challenges within with with working with difficult youth, or youth in difficult places that the at risk, the at risk child, is the person who is at risk. It's not about them,  it's about the conditions that they're in. And we're going to talk about something  another author is called Code of the street, and very defining when you realize  that that youth go through their adolescence asking the question, Who am I? But they're doing it under the pressure of the code of the street, where you're having you shift from ask, from from pursuing the question, Who am I, to the question  of, how do I? How do I survive? We're going to talk about that before, before the code, before the problems, before the issues, before the brokenness. In the  beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, okay, and that matters, that  God has created each of us uniquely in his image, and that that image is still  there. And for young people, I put it's really like a simple equation. If God has  created us in his image, and if he's created human development in such a way  that at the adolescent stage of life, the great question is that of identity, who am  I? Why am I here? Then if you put those two together and ask, what is the  purpose of youth ministry? What What responsibility does the church have to  youth at that time of life, and I believe it boils down to creating an environment in which youth can discover who they are in Christ and as is one of the most  powerful motivators there are. If you create that environment where that  happens, you find youth who are very lethargic or not feeling very good about  where they are at or where they're going their future, all of a sudden they come  alive, because they begin to realize this is who I am. This is why I am uniquely. I  have these abilities, and I can use them. You get them to think differently, and  you also put them in an apprentice type of environment where they are learning  while they are leading. So it is, it is, it is a little bit a little bit different from from  most, most ministries, and I've just discovered that in the urban population, in  the at risk population, that if you can work with young people before they get  totally involved in the gangs or drugs that have already made up their mind that 

that pre adolescent, adolescent time, you actually will find leaders coming out of  the urban community, which is exactly what we need all around the world.  

Henry - So this class is going to not just be about getting a young person to  become a believer in Jesus Christ, but he is helping the young person own their  walk with God and then becoming a young Christian leader who is called by  God to bring transformation to their personal life, their home, their communities,  and get them young and send them and launch them forward. 

Dr Travis - Transformational discipleship is an approach to urban youth  development centered on maximizing the adolescent leadership experience in  ways that mold them for future service and motivate the future leaders or the  children that they the Emerging Leaders influence. 

Henry - Well, welcome to this class. You are going to enjoy this class. We have  had Dr Travis around this week. This stuff is transformative. It's impacting. And if you are called into youth ministry, or just a pastor in general, want to know how  

to lead youth ministers within your own community. This class will be excellent  for you. We are glad you're here, and may God bless you as you study  transformational youth ministry. Thanks so much. 



Остання зміна: четвер 2 квітня 2026 08:28 AM