Video Transcript: Impact on the weekly program Interview

Ted - What was the How did transformational discipleship impact the weekly  Club program, 

Johnell - when I started infusing transformational discipleship principles, one of  the biggest things that I had to think through was how to really open up an  enriching environment for kids to discover their identity Okay, and their purpose,  okay. And then what you call the define their divine imprint, how God has  created them, and in the unique gift sets that he has given him that he wants  them to grow into. And so one of the biggest things about the club setting was  questions. Okay? And so, what questions can I ask that will provoke thought and get them to engage about a particular topic where I can understand their  perspective. Okay, for example, we talked about identity, and then the kids will  bring up their perspective about what identity was to them and what it meant to  discover their identity, and so on and so forth. And then learning their  perspective, I have an opportunity to engage them on their turf, okay, okay, and  then, as I'm gaining their perspective, I have already developed a biblical  message which actually infuses God's perspective, which which implies  transformation, okay, so I heard their perspective, and I affirm their perspective,  and then I offer God's perspective on that particular topic, which gives them a  different way of thinking. And when I was doing that in the club setting, I realized I was meeting a felt need. Because I didn't just come up with the topic identity.  They came up with the topic identity because I asked three simple questions,  what questions do they have about God, and what questions do they have about life, and what questions do they have about Christianity? And one of those  questions that came about is, who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose?  And so being able to get their perspective as far as what their purpose is, and  then be able to infuse God's perspective, which kind of counteracts the worldly  perspective, then kids behavior or their self perception begin to strengthen, and  no longer were they thinking about themselves as meaningless, but thinking  them, but thinking of themselves as being really valuable, because God valued  who they were in his creation. 

Ted - Did you notice any difference in how the kids behaved in club as you  engage them in this way Over time? 

Johnell - Yes, I think in the beginning, I mean, the kids were they weren't act,  they weren't engaged as much. In the beginning, before we started infusing  transformational discipleship practices, we would come to club, and we would  have a Bible study talk, and then we'll go home and, you know, and then we  would hope that the kids would actually I learned something. One of the biggest  reasons why they're actually coming during that time was they got a meal, they  got to play some games, and, you know, in every other month, we would take 

them on an outing, but as we started infusing principles of transformational  discipleship, I felt kids were actually coming because they were motivated to  learn something new about themselves that they've been asking for. And no  longer were they motivated to come for the food, the food and games, but they  were motivated because they knew they will walk away with something they can actually apply to their lives, or something that would actually strengthen them,  that they can just grab on to. And that became an amazing journey to walk  alongside kids with because out of that created relationship, trust, this, this, this  overwhelming sense of, I want more of what that is. And so I found kids just  randomly, just popping in my office outside of club time, and they would just sit.  And it's not like they were sitting just because they they just had these pressing  things on them. They just wanted to sit. And then they would just talk about, hey, what do you think about this? I'm having these issues, and what do you think  about that? And we would just sit there and just have a conversation about, you  know, my perspective as far as some of the issues that they were dealing with,  and then we would talk about some other things. So I really developed a  friendship with the kids, and I think they trusted me, because they knew that,  Hey, I didn't have all the answers, but I. Knew that, but they knew that I would  work my hardest to be able to answer some of the most challenging questions in life. 

Ted - You just watched a part of the interview where I'm asking Janelle the  impact that transformational discipleship had on his Club Youth Program, and he talked. He started off by asking this question, how do I turn the club into an  enriching environment where kids discover identity and purpose and the divine  imprint. And it was interesting. He said it had to do with questions. Questions. I  began to ask them questions, and I asked them questions about their  perspective on life. And he did that by having them write down their questions,  questions they had about God, Christianity or life. That's why, in a  transformational discipleship ministry, you get your topics and your direction  from the questions that your youth ask. So you hand out a piece of paper the  very first time they meet. You say, I want you to write down any questions you  have regarding God, Christianity or life. I did this last summer. I was in Kenya,  and I was at a youth conference. Actually was a conference, and I thought it was going to be for youth leaders, but it wasn't just youth leaders, it was also youth  as well. And so I changed up what I what I was planning on doing. Instead, I  treated them like a club, like a youth club. And so I wrote, I passed out pieces of  paper, and I had them write down any question they had regarding God,  Christianity or life. Well, then I collected the questions, and I read a few of them  and responded to a few of them. But I just wanted to give them a sense, give  them a sense of what they were asking. And when they wrote the questions on I  made sure they knew. Look, know your leaders are not going to see this. Okay, 

these are questions. Don't put your name on them. These are questions are just  going to come to me, and I will look at them, and I will read some of them back  to you. But then, when I met with the leaders of the conference, I said, I can't  give you these questions, but what I can do is go home and compile them and  then bring send them back to you in terms of a in in in the as a report on where  your young people are at. And so I did that. I came back to the States, I looked  at it, and I there were 49 questions, and they covered a wide range of topics, but I condensed them into four areas, theological questions relating to what the  Scriptures teach on a given subject. Personal questions related to Christian  development and ethics, relational questions related to Christian behavior and  situational responses, and then service questions related to serving as a  Christian. And it was interesting, when you put these questions together, you get a sense of the felt need, and that's what Johnell shared. He said that, you know,  by asking these questions and by me designing topics around their questions, I  was impacted. I was speaking to their felt need. The reason why I know it was  their felt needs, because they're the ones that asked the question, and so now  he is in touch with their felt need, by the way, when it comes to questions, Bob  Biehl puts out a little packet, a little a little pamphlet called asking to win, and it  has got, let me see, 100 profound questions in it, learning how to ask questions.  There are questions that just have yes or no answers. There are questions that  draw out real important feelings. Learning how to ask questions is an important  skill for transformational discipleship. He once said he asked the question, Why  are questions so important? Bob Biehl did, and he said his answer was, if you  ask profound questions, you get profound answers. If you ask simple questions,  you get simple answers. If you ask no questions, then you get no answers at all.  And so your ability to ask questions that will draw out where people are at and  draw out what they're thinking, what they're feeling and what their felt need is, is  an important skill to develop as a transformational leader. So anyway, yeah, felt  need, discovering the felt need, and then bringing Jesus to the point of felt need. But then I thought his last comment when I asked him, what kind of difference  has this made on your club? This is, you know, before I did this, I club, they  would come, they were not really weren't engaged. I mean, they enjoyed the  food and fun, but they really weren't engaged. But then he said this as kids were actually coming because they were motivated to learn something new about  themselves that they've been asking for, he figured out that this is really what  they want, and now they're actually coming. They're coming because they're  learning new things about themselves, things that they've really wanted to know, things that really matter. And because of that, it's creep now that they're that  they're enjoying and being motivated to learn and that in that, in that time of  discussion and talk to it's created relationships. It's created trust, and it's created a sense of, I want more. That's pretty amazing. How many youth leaders do you  know can say that about their youth, that they have a context, an environment in

which there is relationship with kids, there is trust there, and they want more. It's a very exciting place to be. It turns you as a transformational leader, into  someone that Your youth will actually come to, because you're dealing with their  felt need, your you are addressing their questions, you are listening to them. It's  a very powerful experience. This is the impact that transformational discipleship, a transformational discipleship approach, can have on the youth leader and their ministry.