It's What We Do - Student Ministry Podcast
Join host Zac Priest and special guests as they share stories, give encouragement, and make connections from people living the life of ministry.
It's What We Do - Student Ministry Podcast
Episode 2 - CREATIVITY and Laughter in Student Ministry w/ Guest Jake Anson
When I sat down with Jake Anson from FBC Ardmore, we couldn't resist taking a stroll down memory lane, laughing at the slip-ups and sentimental moments that make student ministry so enriching. Our conversation took us from the high-energy escape rooms to the hilarious 'F word' incident, showcasing how creativity in youth programs isn't just about the big events—it's woven into our everyday interactions and the personal growth we witness in the young leaders emerging from our communities. This episode is a testament to the vibrant tapestry of life and faith that we're privileged to be a part of, and we're inviting you to laugh, learn, and grow with us.
If a university mascot's tumble can land on SportsCenter, imagine what everyday creativity can do for youth ministry. That's what Jake and I dissect, illustrating that the genesis of inspiration can be as simple as Waffle Wednesdays or as grand as a community-wide event like D-Now weekend. Our dialogue bridges the gap between the necessity of preparation and the beauty of spontaneity, offering practical advice for infusing your ministry with creativity—regardless of budget constraints. From the legacy we leave in our students to the ingenious reuse of decorations, our tales are sure to spark your own ideas.
This episode isn't just about looking back; it's about reaching out and moving forward. We're thrilled to announce that our student ministry adventures are expanding onto YouTube, ready to connect with you across new horizons. As you join us on this journey, feel free to engage, share your thoughts, and become part of the vibrant conversation that extends beyond the church walls. Welcome to an episode packed with encouragement, innovation, and the shared laughter that binds us all in this calling of ministry.
Hello and welcome to It's What We Do, the Student Ministry Podcast. Join your host, Zac Priest, along with special guests, as they share stories, give encouragement and make connections from people living the life of ministry. Now let's dive into today's episode.
Zac Priest:Well, hey guys and welcome. It is episode two, very excited. Last time we got to talk to another friend of mine over in Duncan, Matt Henderson. He did a great job and we're very excited and I told them I just said it again, I didn't mean to. I said excited in my first episode, like a thousand times I think. And then the first episode was about excitement and ministry. That was.
Jake Anson:I counted 337 excitements.
Zac Priest:I'm a little bit of an idiot, but so anyway, but I am very excited to have all you guys here with us again. I'm glad that you decided to give me another chance, and let us listen to episode number two. This one, though, is creativity and ministry. I'm here with a good friend of mine, a colleague. We worked on a lot of stuff together Jake Anson from FBC Ardmore. Hey, Jake, how's it going?
Jake Anson:It's going great, man. What's up? Not much.
Zac Priest:I'm glad to have you here and I'm glad we're here. Like I said, we're talking about creativity and ministry and we'll get to that and just really how we can use that and, once again, like I said, just how to practically use creativity inside of the stuff that we do, leveraging that to create excitement, how to build a program, how to engage students and community. And so I've always said, man, one of the most creative guys I know is Jake Anson, and you can come up with a camp that has all the stuff that you do, but then go to a camp and one of the themes is squirrels.
Jake Anson:Yeah, man, Ninja Squirrels Who Wear Red Bandanas. Let's go.
Zac Priest:And that's one of my favorite shirts ever because it has the stuff on the back side of that shirt on the bottom hem. Big old bushy tail. It was a big bushy squirrel tail. This is okay. So we got to talk to this guy a little bit about that. But anyway, and so we'll just we'll get right into it and kind of getting to know Jake. Jake, like I said, a good friend, young guy, got into ministry and just really loved it. And so, Jake, just tell us a little bit about yourself to start with.
Jake Anson:Sure. Well, my name is Jake Anson. I grew up in Piedmont, Oklahoma, right outside of Edmond, went to UCO, did some fun stuff over there and at 19, I was like I think let's go work at a church and see what happens, and some church was dumb enough to be like yeah sure you're worth it, we'll give you $50 a week.
Zac Priest:Yeah, and that's an exciting thing. I mean not too long ago, so my parents still are involved in the church that I grew up in. They have a new pastor that's coming in. I think he came from Louisiana, great guy. Got to talk with him a couple of times. Well, one of the things that he started a couple of years ago after he got here was kind of a heritage type of a month and so a year ago I guess, he asked me to come over and I got to go preach.
Zac Priest:And so it's great to be back in my home church, see some of the old faces. But one of the most rewarding aspects of that was when I went in and I looked around and kind of tried to see some of the different people that were there. But like some of the kids that I had when I was there in youth ministry, just starting out, I didn't really see them. I knew that they were there but when I walked around and kind of saw different stuff, they were the ones that were there working.
Jake Anson:ot only is it an encouragement to you, but man, what an encouragement to that church to like, look and see, the legacy of what they've done isn't just in their home, like, hey, we sent this guy off, he's doing all these things and now exciting doing this and so, and legacy is huge to return to, but then also to remind your home church of, like, hey, you guys helped me get here, yeah, it made an impact and that was a really cool thing.
Zac Priest:I remember. You know I've got a friend that he, you know, is in Oklahoma City now and lives and working there. He actually helped write some curriculum, you know, while back for Super Summer and stuff. But like he was a year younger than I was in school but we were ordained on the same night you know, and so it was a great deal.
Zac Priest:And he went off and there there are multiple you know ministry leaders, whether they're, you know, in missions or in pastoral positions or worship ministry and things like that. They came from that little little Poe Dunc, you know church, in the middle of nowhere and you know it has this great impact and so that's, that's always good. But okay, so you went to you said you're married.
Jake Anson:Yes, Jordan is you're much better half, yeah man.
Zac Priest:Keeps you and everybody around you that's sane.
Jake Anson:We'll tell you this like, if you want to talk about creativity, you can talk to my wife, because all the good ideas are hers and all the bad ideas are mine, and you could tell like, oh yeah, she helped do this.
Intro:Yeah, for sure.
Jake Anson:She's probably the real youth pastor. But I mean, you know we're not going to go out there and say all that, but I get the paycheck.
Zac Priest:So there you go, you know, and so that's a bringing that vision to life. That's right, this is what we do and so there's no real original idea in ministry anymore.
Jake Anson:Anyway, you know we just steal that from other people. I'm still on left and right and that's like how can I make this better? But no, you're asking about my wife. I didn't even.
Zac Priest:I'm so crazy yeah no, I'm not my wife at UCO. He apologizes. He's going to get in trouble. Sorry, jordan, that's what I'm we're getting back on track.
Jake Anson:Yeah, I met my wife at UCO and it's a fun story and how I met her. If I could tell you that, I guess Absolutely.
Zac Priest:Because that was I give each one of our guests a sheet. Hey, tell me a little bit so I can kind of follow. Make sure that you know I'm not chasing squirrels and that kind of stuff, but what I was like. So where did you meet? You said UCO, this is a good story, it is. She hated me and I worked my way into forever and ever and I was like, okay, I definitely have to hear this story now.
Jake Anson:So I'm at UCO and I'm taking the long route right. Most people get done in four. It took me a little extra.
Zac Priest:Yeah, you're going to be a doctor.
Intro:But we'll just say that the Lord.
Jake Anson:yeah, I could be a doctor, but definitely not. The Lord was prolonging my journey. I'm wandering in the wilderness of college and so I'm hanging out and I'm dating this other person. Names will not be revealed.
Zac Priest:And for your safety, yeah, for my own safety.
Jake Anson:And she asked me this she goes, am I what forever looks like? And dude, there was like this, like hesitant pause because I'm going, no that's a hardcore question.
Zac Priest:That's not a good question.
Jake Anson:And so she asked me that am I what forever looks like? And I hesitated and it blew up into the biggest fight ever. And so that next day is the first day of class and I'm sitting next to one of my good friends and I tell him, I say man, can you believe this? He's asked me this and I just didn't know what to say. And Jordan walks in the room and I've never seen her before. And I told my friend I go, that's what forever looks like. And he went oh, for real.
Jake Anson:And I was like, yeah, that's forever. And so, instantly, right there, I start to shoot my shot, I start to spit game, I start to do everything I can. And she hated me because one. She's like aren't you in a relationship? And I'm like, but it's not forever, define relationship.
Zac Priest:You know it doesn't work.
Jake Anson:And so, anyway, we eventually graduate college and that former relationship comes to a close, and I got some really good advice from some married friends that kind of guided me in that path, and they said, hey, you know, they gave me direction on what to do and where to go from there. And I instantly just said, man, I want to call her. And so I tricked her into taking me out, or I tricked her into letting me take her to Q-Doba.
Zac Priest:I was about to say, if you tricked her to taking you out, man, that's.
Jake Anson:And at Q-Doba I just continually talked about how I'd never had sushi. So she was like, I guess if you'd like to go have sushi, we could go get sushi. And I almost threw up sushi everywhere, all over the place. But we made it work. The bad deal is is our first date was on 9-11, you know many years later and so I wanted to do our proposal on 9-11. And I was like, nah, just never forget. So I waited a day, and 9-12, I asked her to marry me and it was a great day.
Jake Anson:The state fair was opening, so of course it rained and it run, all of that. But man, she said yes, and we've been having fun ever since. It's been so cool and I'm lucky to have my wife. She is my true ministry partner. I couldn't do it without her. And then she's also giving me two of my greatest blessings, which are my children. I got Charlie Page she's going to turn six this week and then my son Barrett he turns three this week as well. And so I'm living in a madhouse, just crazy kids going nuts, and it's a whole lot of fun. My daughter's really smart and my son is really loud, so that's the life I'm living in right now.
Zac Priest:That's it. That's craziness, well, and that's the joy of kids and bringing them up in ministry. This isn't part of that discussion, but have you worked through some challenges in that? I remember when mine were little and trying to do ministry and all that kind of stuff, but then you're dragging these two little rug rats around with you everywhere.
Jake Anson:So just the other day I'm hanging out with a friend of ours, josh Crouch, and Josh is about to have a baby and he's asking us some stuff and he's like hey, so what's the big change from COVID? Like, covid is probably the biggest game changer in your ministry and I went nah, dude, having kids is the biggest game changer in your ministry.
Jake Anson:And anyway he was like wait what I was like get ready. But yeah, the challenges are there and what's nuts is? They're kids that you'd look at and be like I don't want you like holding my baby, I don't want you helping my kid. But honestly, man, those my youth. I have kids who are raising their siblings and are doing everything for their siblings, and they're the kids who take care of my kids best.
Jake Anson:And I love watching our youth engage with. My students and also my daughter said this the other day. She told the kids that I've been using the F word around the house and my kids are instantly like. He said whoo.
Jake Anson:And the bad deal is is fat, is the F word in our house we don't say fat, and so my daughter is telling all the youth like my dad's been saying the F word. You know it's so it's gotten me in a little bit of trouble, yeah, but it's good it's when you get that call to the pastor's office. Like we're hearing some stories, we're hearing some things from your home, yeah.
Zac Priest:Well, that's always fun. I mean just having them apart, you know it, cause it is family ministry. Like you said your wife does speak into that, but your kids do too. You know, playing to that One you get lots of good stories.
Intro:Oh yeah, a lot of stories.
Zac Priest:But two, they're just a part of it and I think that does create, you know, a connection with kids and, like I said, especially those ones that do have younger siblings or whatever else, you see some, some great interaction with them.
Jake Anson:It's cool to see my kids love my kids and I say my kids talking about my youth and, and I think that's what all of us do. But whenever I see my youth students love my kids, it just makes me really excited and then I'm just like man, I'm so grateful that they have these and we and we call them big kids. At home, you have the big kids, so they have them showing them away and leading them well. So yeah, it's fun.
Zac Priest:I have a really cool picture. I remember one of the churches I served that up and still water at Pawnee. When I was up there the guys and girls were both making runs for state championships, and you know one, you know several, you know each. And I remember one day we were there and, like, the girls were in the state playoffs, the guys were in the state playoffs but the girls played in the morning and then our guys played that evening and so we went and watched the girls play and then, kind of you know, waste of time to the day and went and watched the girls. Well, my oldest daughter, hannah, at the time, was really young, and so we went to watch this game by halftime of the boys game.
Zac Priest:She was just toast, you know it's like I've been up all day, been tired, jumping, screaming, all that kind of stuff. Well, she ended up over halftime laying down like on the stands, you know, right there, and we were down by the student section getting crazy and all that kind of stuff. When it got started, here we go. You know, music's going, people are screaming and cheering and stuff. Well, she's still asleep with her head on the bleachers in the middle of the student section.
Zac Priest:They've cleared room for her and she's laying down. Well, the dude that takes pictures you know it's like blonks, you know takes pictures of all those things. He comes up to me afterwards and says here's my card. On the back of this here's a code. He said there's a picture. Go to this picture. And he said download it, I'm paying for it.
Intro:And I was like okay, what is this?
Zac Priest:And I went and I looked and it's a picture of her asleep on that bleacher, and so I downloaded, like eight by 10 of it. It's hanging up in my office right now we got it, but that's, you know, just kids inside of our ministry and having that. Those are really cool experiences to have.
Jake Anson:I like to say that kids are the best, worst mistake you'll ever make. I love them. They're amazing and they've molded and shaped me into a whole new person since I've had them.
Zac Priest:So we, we definitely are blessed by that, and so one thing I do like to hear about again is a little bit of a claim, claim to fame. Again you see, I do. I have heard the story of slip and slide on sports center.
Intro:Yeah, yeah.
Zac Priest:In case that people haven't heard that Sure, yeah, yeah who hasn't.
Jake Anson:Well, first off, I was buddy the Broncho at. Uco. So I was the the mascot there, won a national championship. Yeah, and I'll tell people that I'm a national champion athlete. Yeah, I do not necessarily divulge that I was in a horse costume while at at leading, but that was just you.
Zac Priest:Right, it's just me, not a front and back. No, it's not a double horse. Okay, you're not the just a one stallion kind of guy, all right.
Jake Anson:But yeah, I was buddy, the Broncho Roll, chos and and that was awesome. But then I guess, like, what really sucks is 2020, the bummer summer. We're doing a fun thing called camp camp, where it's basically survivor, where I'm just like just just having so much fun being Jeff probes, the ultimate youth bouncer. And then from that we went to this guy's house who has a giant hill with a slip inside that he's built Right and we're flying down this puppy, like I'm saying, going 22, 25 miles per hour just downhill into a big puddle. He has, and I have one of these kids he's a big boy and I said, rick, let me ride you down this mountain.
Zac Priest:And he's great idea.
Jake Anson:Yeah, and he's in and so he puts it on tick, he records it Like I'm going to record this. So we have to attach a phone to a Polaris. Polaris flies down the mountain while we're flying down and anyway he he uploads it while we're still at the place, puts coming in hot. Thanks, Andy, Minio and LaCray, we appreciate that. So we put it on there and he has no ride home, so I'm taking him home that day and literally like hours have gone by and he goes. Man, only 13 people have watched my video. I think we're going to take it down and I was like dude who cares, man Like it's no big deal, it's fun and literally in my mind, I'm thinking great, I you know who needs to see that, right?
Jake Anson:And then the next morning he calls and he goes. I have 900,000 views on this video and I went wait what? And he goes. No, I just hit a million.
Zac Priest:Yeah, it was wild Sensation.
Jake Anson:And he said like it. He, he threatened cause ESPN took it and put it on sports centers Instagram page. There's nothing going on in the world. It's, it's COVID. Um, and what really sucks is it was also June. If you don't get the joke, man, it's, it's two men on a slivin' slide in the month of June, like ultimate sports here.
Intro:And I'm going.
Jake Anson:That's my ministry. And what really sucks is the comment section. If I ever want to be like broken down, I can go and read the comments on this video, but then it's like people saying all kinds of terrible things and then there's a youth parent who's like that man has blessed my son and he has touched his life in a powerful way, and it's like just stop talking.
Intro:Yeah.
Zac Priest:Don't tell anyone who I am. Thanks for the help. Thanks for the help, but please stop More fuel to the flame man.
Jake Anson:It was awesome. It makes it even better, but yeah, that's probably my horrible claim to fame. My 15 minutes was me on a slip and slide.
Zac Priest:Yeah, that's awesome though, but I mean, hey, you know, that's, that's great, that's what it is If, if youth ministry can't be about slip and slides, then then what can it?
Jake Anson:be. Yeah, if you haven't done a giant slip and slide in your youth group, it's, it's, it's, it's it's time, that's right. Just don't ride anyone while they're slipping.
Zac Priest:Especially at a time when there's nothing else going on.
Jake Anson:My pastor goes. Any regrets? I said, yeah, I wish I wouldn't have moved. Yeah, and he, he, he goes good. And he turned around and walked out of the office.
Zac Priest:That's great. That's great, well, um, so just about that, like I said, one of the things that I love about um, you know, being involved in ministries, you get to talk to a lot of people, you hear a lot of stories and those sorts of things. Uh, we got to hear you know about how you met Jordan and how she, pity, dated you.
Zac Priest:Um a little bit to start with, but uh, just I love to hear about the call that you got. How did you come into ministry again? Um, I know about that story. You know I've heard that before. But you know, one of the things that Matt and I talked about, you know, last time is that maybe there's somebody out there, um, because we we hope that not only is this just listened to by by youth pastors, of course so that's kind of what we started but then also there are so many other people that can listen to it.
Zac Priest:Hopefully, maybe some some of your students are going to listen to it and have support and some of those things, but but maybe there's somebody that's walking through that same thing that we are, and so that's what this part of it kind of it is about, that aspect of bringing our, our real life and kind of, you know, bringing that to to bear. Certain people can hear it and so, um, just to explain to us a little bit about uh, how did you really kind of receive that call to get into ministry? How did how did you kind of come to this point?
Jake Anson:Yeah, so I guess, um, even before that I I grew up in church. Um, my mom goes to church alone, Um, my dad's not really engaged in the church scene praying for him, and I believe he's more engaged now than ever, and I think the Lord's doing something there. But, but, early as a kid, like my mom would take me to church and I'd go and, and I was that kid that wanted to get saved, just so he could get baptized, you know. And so I did that like four or five times and I'm pretty sure the pastor's just like you need to stop getting in this pool, yeah, uh, but I had done that and and just didn't really know what was going on. I had the head knowledge, but I hadn't allowed Jesus to come and take over my heart.
Jake Anson:And, um, I remember in seventh grade I asked Jesus to be the Lord and savior of my life, and so I gave my life to Christ at Falls Creek on a Friday night and, um, man, it was. It was an amazing it was. It was different than every other time. I didn't do it because anybody else did, I didn't do it for attention, I did it because I knew I needed a savior and, uh, even that summer as well, at another camp called super summer, I, uh was present as a kid who's supposedly a leader, and probably not just loud, and uh, some guy named Craig his last name is really hard to pronounce. I hope he's doing well in ministry these days.
Jake Anson:I've heard great things, um, but pastor Craig's up there teaching and preaching and he, he says, if you're called to ministry, would you, would you be willing to stand? And um, man, instantly I knew like I was like I should stand up. And uh, he had presented and clarified what the call looks like. And so that moment I stood up and um, and then he just said hey, if you're sitting down, you're, you know, you're called, you know, and I'm, I'm, I'm up like one of like eight people, like, uh, and then he goes no, we're all called. And he reveals that the call to ministry is, is inside every single believer. Now, vocational ministry is, is for a few, and and and and is is in some, but, but we're all called to do the work of Christ. And so he said that and, man, I had a conversation with my youth pastor that day and we didn't rush into anything. There was no like, all right, we're going to get you in front of the church until the church is going to do this, yeah.
Jake Anson:And I honestly had no idea, like, what I wanted to do. I know it's not music ministry, you know, cause I don't have that gift at all, but I just was like, sure, whatever, I think God wants to do something. And uh, at 19, this church calls me on my second semester of college and they're like, hey, uh, we, thank. You Mentioned something about ministry when you graduated here. And I was like, oh yeah, and they're like, would you want to come and be our intern? And I was like, uh, you know, I thought about it. And then they go really, it's like an interim position, right. And I went, oh, yeah, sure, yeah, I'll come in, didn't even pray, didn't talk to anybody, didn't call anyone, didn't even like thank to talk to the Lord about it. I was just like, yeah, sure, yeah, you need me, you know I could do it.
Jake Anson:So, dude, I go in and it's, it's awful. Everyone is calling me saying like you shouldn't be here, you shouldn't be doing this, what are you doing? They're going to eat you up and spit you out. And he's like oh, just try it. But I, I literally called my youth pastor every day and told him what was going on and he helped me for many months and then eventually he was like stop calling me. And, uh, we took kids to camp. So many fun stories about our first year at camp. I'm the guy. It's like we're leaving Monday.
Jake Anson:You could sign up, you know, 10 minutes before the bus is pulling out, you could walk on the bus and we'll get your paperwork later. That's my mindset to camp, and so I've talked all these kids into coming. It's going to be awesome. And, um, we get there on Monday and, dude, I'm, I'm boo-hooing because I have these kids here, I have some lessons planned, I have some games planned, I have stuff planned, but I'm not capable, qualified, good enough, I'm not going to be able to do a good job. So I go behind this cabin and I'm losing it.
Jake Anson:Um, tobin Jackson. He's a youth pastor at Quill Springs. At the time he sees me, comes over and talks to me and I'm a kid who's been to his youth group a few times and I don't think he really knows my name. He doesn't remember me. But he just starts saying hey, I think you got this. Like I'm going to pray for you. He said tell me what you're doing. I give him a little plan. He goes okay, yeah, this is going to be great, this is going to be good. Meet back here Friday night and let's talk. And so, um, camp's going. We have all kinds of disasters happen. Uh, the speaker ran over one of my kids with his golf cart there was a miracle healing like Benny Hinn couldn't even compete with the healing I saw.
Intro:Yeah.
Jake Anson:But uh, it was nuts. And then that Friday they bring us all the decisions they didn't. They don't bring it every day, they brought it on Friday and I'm holding this envelope and every kid that came to camp now don't think like.
Zac Priest:Whoa 500.
Jake Anson:No, it's like 13 kids were at camp with me and I have a card for every kid who's made a decision or rededicated whether that's salvation, rededication or surrendered to ministry and I just lose it again. And, um, I go out and talk to Tobin and he prayed over me. And he just goes look at this, isn't this awesome? And right there I heard God just basically say like hey, don't worry what you can do, yeah, let me work through you. And this is going to continue to happen. And so from that moment on, man, it's just like sure, whatever God wants, I'm in, let's go. And so, um, it was a horrible first year of camp. I bet those kids have so many worse stories than what I have.
Zac Priest:Yeah.
Jake Anson:But that also it was an awesome. I was called at seventh grade and I was confirmed at 19 and I just been patient ever since. But here here's my two cents. I guess, if somebody's out there and they're wrestling with the call, if you're called, ministry doesn't start when you get a job. Ministry doesn't start when you graduate. Ministry doesn't start when there are a hundred kids in the room. Ministry starts the day you're called. So if you're called, say yes and just trust in what the Lord can do and don't keep waiting. Don't even like, think you have to further everything. Even if you're a sixth grader and you feel called to ministry, start ministering right now. So that's, that's my advice in ministry.
Zac Priest:Yeah, that's great and I mean just hearing those stories and again, people pouring into you. Know, you and Matt talked about that in our last episode with people that were in his church and involved in his life, that just spoke you know that truth into him and so, and I would probably say you know, offer to say that probably those tears at the beginning of the week were completely different than the tears at the beginning of the week?
Zac Priest:Oh man for sure, yeah, yeah. So just what God can do, you know, in those times and when we're obedient, I think is a really cool deal. And so, and you've done that, you served at other places and what's kind of led you, you know, at least footsteps, you know here.
Jake Anson:Well, so I'm at this. I'm at this first church. That's crazy enough to take a shot on me.
Intro:And.
Jake Anson:I mean. I'll tell you what, dude? Yeah, so they offer me $50 a week and I'm like whoa, that's amazing. And kids I had six kids my first time and I cleaned up the youth building through way. Bunch of stuff got out rid of all these couches that were covered in cat pee and I preached. I preached my first sermon that I thought was going to last 30 minutes, lasted about six, and then I had three kids come back the next week. So I was rocking and rolling.
Jake Anson:I was doing a really good job. But but no, I like I learned a lot and got to, got to figure out some things, and so steps have just been made and taken. And while I was there, they were really strong on my, my education, where I didn't care, like I don't need to go to college, I'll just keep doing this. God's kids are getting saved. This matters more than me going to college. And they were really pushing this but not communicating clearly why they were pushing that.
Jake Anson:And my pastor was very sick. He had, he had cancer and he was wrestling with that and I knew like man, if, if he goes down, I'm out next, like they're just going to come to me and be like you were his project, not ours. See you later, Bye, bye, See you later. And crazy thing is my youth pastor called and he's like dude, you got a ton of middle schoolers over there and I was like, oh yeah, it's like middle school city. And he goes. I need someone to come help me do middle school. And I went oh yeah, and he goes why don't you come work with me and don't worry about school, Don't worry about anything, that's. He's speaking my language.
Intro:I'm like, yeah man, school sucks so this sounds awesome.
Jake Anson:So I go talk to my music pastor. I call my mom. She's spiritual guide in my life, helping me in every step. And I went and told the pastor like, hey, I think I'm going to quit. And literally moved over to another church in O K C Southside O K C now to do middle school ministry. And when I got there they said, hey, we know, we told you not to worry about school. And here's what we meant we're going to pull back on work and we're going to force you to finish school and we're going to help you finish school and you're going to get a degree, because you need a degree to keep going. And and man, they took a burden of ministry off of me and put a hand behind my back, pushing me towards school and helped me finish up college, which I was just ready to be done with. And the mindset was I could do ministry, but whenever school got overwhelming, I focused to school and the high school guy would pick up all the ministry stuff at that point. And so it's such a perfect environment.
Jake Anson:So, cool to have them kind of hold my hand. And then, while we were there, I graduated college, surprisingly, and met my bride, asked my bride to marry me and we got married in April, about to be 10 years. And in August we went in view of a call to Ardmore and had no idea what we were doing. And, dude, my wife made a joke. She said if there's not a Chick-fil-A, we don't even need to pray about it.
Intro:And we're driving around the Lord's chicken man.
Jake Anson:We're driving around town and then there's a banner that just getting put up and it's like Chick-fil-A coming soon and she goes ah, I think we need to pray about it.
Zac Priest:Great, and so so y'all are the reason that Chick-fil-A came to Ardmore.
Jake Anson:So you're welcome, Ardmore, everybody in.
Zac Priest:Ardmore say thank you to Jake and George Dude so the owner of Chick-fil-A.
Jake Anson:He heard that, like he heard that joke, yeah, and he's like y'all want to come to our soft opening and so, like we got to come in and do all that cool stuff. It's so cool and if you ever get an opportunity to go to a soft opening of Chick-fil-A, I highly recommend it, it's free everything, free stuff.
Zac Priest:Everything Nice, nice. You got to love that, and so see that that could be a claim to fame.
Jake Anson:Dude, yeah, soft opening Ardmore. And so there it was Ardmore Hardcore.
Zac Priest:That's one, that's only one of course.
Zac Priest:That was the one we are about halfway into this and that was the first one, and so. But that kind of leads to kind of what we're talking about with that man. You kind of created that brand here. People hear Ardmore Hardcore, they hear Jake Anson, they think Ardmore Hardcore. We see stickers of it and that kind of stuff and so but that's creative. You know it creates a brand. It creates, you know, word of mouth, familiarity, you know with the program, and so that's why I wanted to talk to you about creativity. You know, specifically inside of this, have you always been a creative person? Is it something that you learned or had to pick up from somebody else? Or I mean, first of all, do you consider yourself a creative person?
Jake Anson:Yeah, that's a good question, I don't know. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, for sure, I think I think I am creative, but I think all people are creative. You know what I mean? Like just everybody has different amounts of creativity inside of them.
Zac Priest:That was a very political way to put that. Well, I am creative, you are creative.
Jake Anson:We're all creative. It bums me out when I'm talking to a guy or anyone in ministry and they instantly throw out I'm not creative, so you do that work and it's like no, no, no, no, wait, we serve a creative God. There is no denying our God is creative. Like look at a duckbill platypus and tell me that God is not creative. And then look at a more basic animal like an ant, and there's this tiny thing that can just work and haul whatever. Like God is creative and we are image bearers of the Lord and so we all have creativity in us and I really loved listening to Matt's episode talk about like there's some things you have to work on, there's some things you have to work out, there's some things you have to build up in your life, and I think so many guys cop out on creativity. Where reality is is like no, no, no, you are creative. You just haven't learned how to like bring that creativity out. So if you ask me, am I creative? My answer is this I have a big imagination.
Jake Anson:There, you go and and I'm in on imaginative play and just going there, but it's, it's bringing that imagination into real life and seeing that happen. So I think that's how I answer that we're all creative.
Zac Priest:No, I like that and I mean that's a good word and and like I really love that same thing. You know, matt said I mean because we all do we have things that that we need to work on. Instead of working on some of those things we do, we cop out and go. Well, that's not really me, that's somebody else.
Jake Anson:Yeah, you got the wrong ministry and it's like, well, wait a minute, like we, we're supposed to be all things right, like we're doing this to bring people in. And something about creativity is, I strongly believe that ministry should be fun. The church is a place of fun, the place of a place of enjoyment. If, if you're not having fun at church, you're probably not doing it right, because Jesus is where true joy resides, right. And my creativity is just to remind people that, dude, we're going to have fun, we're going to do this Right.
Jake Anson:And whenever I do interesting things or different things, it's to see people come in and not just be a numbered account, but to be someone who can hear the gospel and have an opportunity to respond to it. Whenever we instantly cop out on our creative, creative ability, we just start saying like, well, I'm not going to try and pull that guy in here, I'm not going to try and pull those kids in here, and so I I think it's something that we all need to work on. So fun, fun is a big part of what we want to do and that's where our creativity is driven towards.
Zac Priest:Yeah, and I think that's important Cause, like I said it does, it draws people. You know they want to be involved in in things that seem fresh and new and they want to be involved in things that are exciting and that, and so it was the same thing. It's one of the ways that I've kind of operated. You know, my ministry and I said that with with Matt, you know I don't care what brings them, I care what they take away. I know when they come into our doors they're going to hear about Jesus.
Zac Priest:Now, what they come in for might be different, for for each kid and kind of you know where their you know natural tendency is to be a certain athlete, or if they're a you know artsy, or if they're you know into to ag or whatever it is, shooting sports, if they're into that man, we want to be able to provide something for them to plug into, but it's it's for the gospel, you know, and we want to be able to transmit the gospel through that, and so that's awesome. And so, talking about creativity in ministry, some of the things, I think that that oftentimes it does hamstring that a little bit Cause, like you said, some people view it as you know what. That's not me. You take care of that.
Zac Priest:And so when you start thinking about being being creative because, again, you work not only in a church and involved in ministries here you work with Oklahoma Baptist and have worked on Falls Creek, you know work group teams, yec and some of those things your, your wife, still works for for you. You've been involved in Super Summer, oklahoma student leadership and so much. Just so you know, shout out to to. You know Falls Creek and Oklahoma Baptist, shout out to to Super Summer for that, but not only you know in that, but but now you're the you know director of Super Summer, and so inside of all those things, you've had to work with several different groups of people, oftentimes in that trying to be creative with a group, getting everybody into the, the, the as, as you know, one of my pastors you know said is you're trying to get everybody on the bus to head the same direction. Is is sometimes a struggle.
Jake Anson:And so that's so true in youth ministry and church ministry overall.
Zac Priest:Yeah.
Jake Anson:Get all the buses, let's go.
Zac Priest:You know, and so trying to do that, and so whenever you you've had to do that, let's talk about facing difficulties a little bit.
Zac Priest:And so whenever you start thinking about whether it's a school that you're working with, a Super Summer or work group and groups of people that you're trying to deal, you know with, either you know through your, your church ministry or state ministry, through Oklahoma Baptist and Falls Creek and those types of things yeah, whenever you start to approach developing creativity inside of a group of people, how do you come towards that in order to share vision a little bit and some of those types of things?
Jake Anson:Well, I guess, like, something I think about is is that I'm always thinking towards the next thing, or I'm always evaluating the thing that was done Right. So I'll have a note in my phone, like communicating, like here's my note for Falls Creek, this is my note for my cabin, this is the note for my ministry, this is the note for the camp, this is the note for Todd and and the people in charge to know, like hey, here's some thoughts and ideas. So I'm not just like sitting in a meeting and coming up with stuff. No, I've, I've, I've lived through it, and so I'm coming into it like here's, here's where we are Right. And then same thing with Super Summer.
Jake Anson:I remember early on coming to Super Summer exec staff retreat and spending time with guys and and it's just like spitball and ideas. And you're just pulling stuff out of your pocket Like what about this? You know what about that? And and nothing sticks to the wall. It's it's kind of flat. And so I'm not great on the spot.
Jake Anson:Sometimes people might think different, but I'll come in now with the plan to super summer. And so I have a one sheet, because this is what everyone will say, like I'm not creative. So you come up with the idea, and so now I come in with a one sheet with an idea of what it looks like. I've designed the room and I've communicated the way in which we could design the room, but then also I've got things we'll say language will build stuff to be done, and now I've just made it easier for everyone to say yes, because I'll hand them that one sheet and I'll go hey, so here's my idea.
Jake Anson:What do you guys think? And here's the truth when they have that paper in their hand, they're able to read the scripture reference that we're gonna refer to throughout the week, they're able to see the direction and the thing that we want to do, and they're able to see how much easier it is because they don't have to come up with it. Right, I got an easy yes, yeah, oh, you've already done a lot of work, and it's like kind of but really like a little bit.
Jake Anson:I just typed this up.
Jake Anson:I did most the words I even spelled, right you know, so I don't know, I guess like coming in prepared rather than like trying to come up with it on the spot is a big idea, especially in working with groups, and so in difficulty you kind of just got to learn the room. So maybe the first time you come to that meeting you're not like listen to my ideas, I know everything. You're sitting there just observing and watching and recognizing. And then the next time you come to that meeting you go okay, I know how this room operates a little bit and I know what to come in with, and so then the next time you're more valuable because you come in with more so that's, that's maybe my idea towards creativity, especially kind of working with groups of people and stuff well, that's good.
Zac Priest:I mean because that that also shows kind of the heart behind it, because a lot of times, like you said, I think people think that spontaneity is creativity and that's it.
Zac Priest:But you know thoughtfulness, you know behind it preparation and let's be perfectly honest, I think overall student ministry kind of has a bad, you know taste in the mouth for a lot of people. You know, flying by the city, your pants and doing some of those things. But you know, being thoughtful kind of kind of helps inside of that to to kind of defer away from, from that thought process, but also that preparation, you know, let you come in and go. Okay, this isn't just something that you know, I'm just gonna, let us just throw something together. Sure, and it's not me, because you know we we use that term with Super Summer, the, our, our previous director, you know, chris Gully. So shout out to Gully what up.
Zac Priest:Chris I mean he's gonna be doing an episode for us later. But one of the things that I think that he really brought to to our board is that idea of doing things with excellence. Yeah, and a couple years ago our church staff has like a yearly theme and we kind of talk about things do that. Our pastor was like okay, doing ministry with excellence.
Zac Priest:And I think, when we're thoughtful and we prepare for those things, man, it shows that it's important to us. And so I think when people see that, maybe that helps, you know, in, in buying into that that idea, you know, because sometimes that's, that's what it is. I mean you're, you're selling something right? You know, to somebody, and so you want to make sure that it's palatable.
Jake Anson:You want to make sure that you know they want to do that and so so, but something also to that is you got to come in with something that's still flexible, right? So, hey, I'm presenting this to a bunch of people. Their ministry structure is different, their mindset's different, and you have to have some give and take. And so whenever you eliminate that, they don't necessarily have the same buy-in. But whenever you show them like, no, no, let's add, I need to add that to this. Right, your idea has value in this idea, so let's, let's build there. And so it is coming in prepared. It's coming in with structure, like some type of walls, but then also saying like but the house is ready to be decorated so let's decorate it together and and stuff, and it gives everybody an opportunity to speak into it.
Jake Anson:Yeah, I think that's a real. That's a real struggle sometimes we have whenever it's our idea. Yeah, no, I don't want anyone to put their fingerprints in this and I know I've been accused of that and I've been guilty of that easily, but I've learned in time, like no, no, no like everyone's gonna do it how they want to and everyone's gonna bring their own personality to it, so you have to allow them to do that now.
Jake Anson:Sometimes their personality is not really personality, it's just laziness, right, and and that bums me out. But then again it's like well, I'm glad I gave you what we gave you so you could do what you did with it, but I wish you would have tried a little bit more so well, and I think that again, you know we get hamstrung by that a lot, you know in in laziness, in some apathy yeah and I think and and I know that I struggle with, and I've shared that with other people.
Zac Priest:Do you know?
Zac Priest:pride yeah, man, oh, that's me all day, you get super excited about this idea that you have and it doesn't. You know, yeah, that's not the one that's picked, or they go in and change it and you're like, no, that's not what it was, you know. So dealing with those things you know is definitely a struggle, but again, a lot of that's, you know, with you, you got to work past you know some pride things in order to work with teens and and some of that. As far as you know creativity, again, you, you're I feel like again, you're a creative person. You, you do.
Zac Priest:You know a bunch of different stuff. And so, just with the ministry as a whole, you know, when we start talking about you know different things, it can be you know an event that you're gonna do, sure, yeah, ration, it can be some of that kind of stuff. And so how do you specifically try to use creativity inside of your ministry? And so I gave you some notes, you know, before. So, just like in in your events, you know our weekly events, your events, special camps, themes and decoration, because you always, you know, kind of knock that out inside of yours.
Zac Priest:You know small group space is communicating, yeah, I think, with with parents and, you know, with students inside your ministry. So let's start with, like, maybe some events and things, your weekly stuff, what? How do you use creativity to kind of leverage that excitement for for you guys here at Armore? So I?
Jake Anson:this is weird, but we do the same thing all the time structure matters.
Jake Anson:Students love structure because if it's not structured then they're not going to be able to communicate to their friends what they're doing right.
Jake Anson:So our services and our weekly activities, they all have the same structure and then we add a little bit of fun or flair to it and so we'll design things with like a theme, whether it's for a month or a series, which might be one month long, it could be 10 weeks long, and then we try and kind of model that and build those things in there.
Jake Anson:And so if the series is something about like you are what you eat, then maybe we'll modify what we're doing with our food, we'll modify what we're doing with our extra stuff from our concession stand, but also like theming out with food in the message and bringing in that. I remember one time we did a series called where's the beef and we're talking about like how you know, we can't be Christians who just are consuming milk we got. We have to be growing in our faith and it's time to eat the steak, and so for that sermon or that teaching point, I had a steak brought in on a nice table and plate and I'm just eating steak in front of kids and I'm like, let me tell you what this is.
Jake Anson:This is some good beef you know like putting this out there and, hey, it's great, the church paid for that steak. It's a great meal. Thank you, fbc already. But also like just throughout the week, it's it's doing the things, the small things, the little details. The little stuff slides making sure that that's kind of the same channel and the same conversation that's put out in social media, right, but then also no one with the kids are wanting. So they love to dance, they love to do the silly stuff. We're all tired of the church clap, right, so now we're going buck and they think that's cool and I'm like I think this was 2004, I don't know, I can't remember.
Jake Anson:But everything comes back, it's back and it's not the church clap, so let's do it. And so you learn what they're doing and you bring it in and you make it work. But but really, like I'm not wasting time figuring out another game or new game for the next week, we have games that work, games that are free, games that can't cost anything, so why waste time? I'll I'll just do the one they love, or we'll put it in the group, me like hey, what game do I want to play tonight? And I'll give up three options. They'll all vote and then they'll show up and we'll do the one that I wanted to do right so, but everybody voted for it because they don't know that.
Jake Anson:I'm glad you guys wrote it. This is the winner.
Zac Priest:Did anybody? Yes, everyone did, that's you didn't.
Jake Anson:But everybody else did. But that's, that's our weekly and then I think, like to go away from that is the the big events would be next, and so, like for big events, like we just got done doing our D now weekend, we call it United.
Jake Anson:We partner with a couple other churches in our community which I think is really cool it's awesome, man, partnering up with people matters, and that's that's a great place for creativity, too is just spending time talking to them and hearing from them and learning what they're dealing with in your community. But for that, fortnight's huge. Right now it's back again. You know OG season, save fortnight. So we're doing a ton of video game stuff and my boys are locked in. They're happy. If they're not playing fortnight they're probably playing Madden or nine square. And and then for our girls, we just decorated tote bags and stuff. And it's just stuff we see online and we just take a picture of it.
Jake Anson:We go out that that'd be cool, that'd be fun. We see another ministry do it right, thank my wife's. Also, one in the 918 pull off this tote thing. So, hey, we'll steal it like we could buy totes. But then, like a meal, we're doing a big dinner. I have a ton of Italian decorations, so we do lasagna and we all wore chef hats and walked around and we acted like we're in a restaurant. We decorate the table. But.
Jake Anson:But something huge to creativity is, I think people think you can't be creative if you don't have a big budget, and that that's not the truth at all. Like you don't need a budget to be creative right now. Fun things do cost money. Jets, jet skis cost a lot of money. If you have money and you have a big budget, you can have a lot of fun, right. But you don't need money to have fun, right? And so something else we do is buy gold medals from Oriental Trading, and so I'm paying $17 for like 500 golden medals and they're on a little ribbon or whatever, right?
Jake Anson:And when a kid wins a game, we give him a gold medal, whether that's a game of a week, whether that's a game at a big event, whether that's a game, you know, somewhere else. Here's your gold medal. Dude, I'm so proud of you, and it doesn't cost me anything maybe 40 cents of metal, yeah. And, dude, I had a kid text me the other day his 2023 medals. He goes, I can't wait for next year to add to these, and so he says to be a picture of all the medals he's earned at church. That's hilarious, and they're, they were, they're they're worthless, yeah, but to him they're valuable, right, and to any kid who gets one, they, they're all cool, they keep them. I have in my other office. I have so many medals just sitting on the wall, because I've won a few and I'm like, I'm never losing the keepin these.
Jake Anson:But Bob, bob Goff talks about how people are happy. If you give him something, whether it's a five cent tattoo or it's, it's something of grandeur, like right, just hand it to him. And so I can't give everybody something a grandeur, but I can't give him this thing and it'll make him happy. So why not celebrate him? Give him something. That's, that's creativity on a budget, and then we'll do waffle Wednesdays. It's not expensive, that's not hard. So we give kids waffles, one every Wednesday. That has every month that has five Wednesdays we'll do waffles. And I asked some people in our church to help make waffles and sure, like, if I'm gonna do it, I bought a big waffle maker like a nice Carnival King, like the best you can get. But you don't need that, you just go to Walmart or ask somebody if you could borrow theirs and so we love to do creativity, and that's that's the thing.
Jake Anson:Like I said, I have Italian decorations. I don't throw anything away. I'm borderline hoarder, but I know I'm gonna eat Italian food again with my youth group, so I take it all down, I put it in a tote, I put it in a closet and I'm gonna pull it out next time I need it and next time I have more and more and more well, and that's the great thing about that, you know, with, with saving and repurposing and doing those things you can, you can kind of build.
Zac Priest:Yeah, what you have are we've got a guy that I work with it, his former youth pastor there. Now he's our children's pastor. Less last year, he, to shout out to him, less does a great job with that. I mean, he's got these totes everywhere and it's like man, you know, it's like oh, I'm gonna go buy you know some, some ribbon, yeah, what kind of you need, you know? And so it's like there's, there's always this stuff. Yeah, don't waste any money.
Jake Anson:We got it. So, like a big idea that we do is Super Bowl. Everyone's got to have a Super Bowl watch party. I don't care about sports. I care about the sports my kids play, but I don't really worry about anybody else. So I'm not gonna watch the Super Bowl. Maybe that's your thing, but your kids aren't gonna watch it, right, like they're not gonna sit down for four hours when they're all together.
Jake Anson:So we started doing escape rooms upstairs in our in our youth facility, so we convert the Sunday school classes into escape rooms, and this, this can be costly, but you can also start out by doing one room right by locks.
Jake Anson:You buy keys, you buy puzzles that you can color and draw and do all this stuff and and you spend some time making it happen. And, man, when that year's done or that event's done, you put them in a box and now you can buy more next year, right, and we're up to a place where we had eight escape rooms, maybe last year, wow, and I have kids from all over our community come to our Super Bowl party, yeah, and now I have kids who want to watch the game sitting downstairs watching the game, and I have kids who couldn't care less about the game competing in escape rooms upstairs Right and man. It's so much fun because it's something that we've just continually poured into and the first year it costs a little bit and the next year I keep putting that much money towards it and my workers have bought into it. They love it. They love seeing kids come into our building and when kids come into our building we're able to invite them to come back and hear the gospel.
Zac Priest:Yeah Well, I think that's great too, Because, like you said, I mean, a lot of that again goes back to some of that preparation.
Zac Priest:It's the legwork ahead that people think, well, no, it's just, it's thrown together. Yeah. But when you're intentional about those things, one like you said, I really like how you put that to where they like that structure, so you're not having to reinvent the wheel every time. You're decorating it a little bit different, you're packaging a little bit different, but it's the same thing, yeah. And so your kids know what to expect, your leaders know what to expect. But then that little extra legwork that goes into it to make it special, something simple, so I'm stealing the Waffle Wednesday thing.
Jake Anson:Oh, every fifth Wednesday.
Zac Priest:Making notes in my mind so I can put them on my phone when I leave.
Jake Anson:I'll give you this week. We call it big night. Yeah, there's nothing big about it. Yeah, it's just Waffles.
Intro:Yeah, there you go.
Jake Anson:It's the same thing we do every Wednesday and kids will be like, hey, you going to big night and it's like, yeah man, yeah man, it's the same thing.
Zac Priest:Everything's the same, except we have Waffles here, and so that's it. I love it, though I mean, and that's what? Sometimes I think that people think that, you know, creativity, or something that's great, has to be big and has to be flashy and has to be. Now oftentimes what I've seen, at least with our ministry, is that it's the simple.
Zac Priest:You know almost. The more simple it is, it's easier to grasp, it's easier to buy into it. Like what you said, it's easier to communicate to the friends what it is. If it's super complicated and super, it takes forever to put together, it's forever to explain, and so I mean it might be great once or twice flashing the pan type of a thing. But, the consistency and simplicity is what can help.
Jake Anson:I've. I'm glad you said that I've been called the flash in the pan a few times, you know.
Jake Anson:And it's just like no, that's not the case at all. It's, it's. I'm going to do anything short of sin to see kids come to know Christ. And if that's where you are, don't don't be jealous, you know, just ready to embrace the other people on the same team, hey, so one other thought towards kind of like creativity and the idea of like the structure that we have in ministry. So we have weekly events, we have annual events and then we have camps.
Jake Anson:I love to be creative at camp because camp matters and you have to, you have to bring something towards camp. We, we in Oklahoma, have great camps set up for us to where you could literally walk in and don't have to do much of anything, and that's awesome. That helps out so many people. But for those of us in ministry who are in a position to do more, you got to, you got to invest in that camp and you got to make that camp be even better. And what's great is you could come from a church. You can come from a mega church and go to Falls Creek and your kids are going to say best summer ever, best week of my life, and you could go to the tiniest church in town in the state and they will say best week of my life. It is the same answer, but you get the opportunity to pour into it, make camp fun, make camp cool, make, make these things happen. And and it's just about thinking about it you don't think about Falls Creek or camp in May. You think about it all year and you work towards it and invest in it.
Jake Anson:And so something big that we've done is we make camp our theme for where we're going, our theme for what we're doing. So, like camp last year is in Oklahoma, we all go to Falls Creek because we love Jesus Camp. Last year's camp theme is Jesus period. Right, our, our camp theme was no other name. And so we're pointing back to the story in Acts where it says by by no other name is their power to be saved, right. And so this year, on our Wednesday night series, we're emphasizing the names of God, and so we're pointing back to the truth that we've beat into them at camp. Right, there is no other name by which you're saved.
Jake Anson:And so here we are in in January, and our theme for this month and for the next month is promise keeper. Like God is a God who fulfills the promise. That's, that's a name we can attach to God. And so we go all in and and and then we, you know, we gave kids popcorn at camp because we made it like a movie theater, and so every time they came into camp we're handing out popcorn. I've got people handing out tickets and that's, that's easy. And then I got bouncers, like using a flashlight, making sure that they're in the right seat, and just being silly, and so that that's extra.
Jake Anson:that's called creative, but, but really it's just. It's just asking people to do fun stuff, right, and then also making sure that where you're putting all that creative energy isn't over in five days, right, but it's going to continue on throughout the year, and so that's that's a big part where I think it helps you continue to communicate clearly like this mattered, and not only does it matter why we're there, but it's going to matter all year long. So don't miss it. Yeah, excuse me, be a part of it and and be here for it. And and then they they, the kids who didn't come we keep pointing back to it Now they're like I have to go. And then the kids who were there, they're like yeah, I know, so we picked this up, and then it's able to kind of keep going and recycle itself a little bit.
Zac Priest:Well, and I think that's big and thankfully, you know, I kind of had that same you know thing inside of of the youth pastors that I had. I mean because it was never like camp was just a one-off in the summer.
Zac Priest:It was never like this is ending, or? You know my first youth pastor, john Moles. He was there kind of through the the summertime and did a lot to help create excitement for you know our faith and doing that. My next pastor was Mike Ebone. You know now he's a pastor in Lawton and so, but but they both I remember growing up and being in their youth ministries and it was all you know. Camp was the springboard. Yeah, it's how we started our year.
Intro:It wasn't the end of our thing.
Zac Priest:We use that to go into the rest of the year, and so I've tried to emulate that in my ministry, and that's what you're saying. And so, whether you use it as a whichever book, you enter, whatever, way it is, make it intentional, you know, and so and again, I think that's that's what we've kind of said through this whole time.
Zac Priest:And what you've said is just, you know, creativity isn't just the spontaneity of coming up with something in the moment. Yeah, it takes planning, it takes, you know, some forethought and diligence in what we do. But again, there's a purpose behind that.
Intro:Yeah.
Zac Priest:And I think you know you can come off as you know. Oh, they're just waiting for that next big thing. No, it's all about making people receptive to that truth that we want to share with them, and so that's, that's great, and so we're getting close to our time here, just any other things. I mean. You know, we had one of my former churches. Again, there was a guy that was a longtime teacher. You know that was at the school. I guess he ended all of his classes this way, and so I, you know just about all my meetings and any you know.
Zac Priest:thoughts, comments, read remarks last things that that you can think of, on this idea or this concept of creativity and ministry.
Jake Anson:Sure, I guess, like I guess I want to say this, is that the gospel is appealing and students won't hear your Wednesday night invitation if they're not coming Right. It's possible to take God serious while not taking yourself seriously. I believe God wants us to enjoy his house, not just check the box that we were there. Church can be entertaining without becoming entertainment. Enjoyment has strategy. No need to draw a line in the sand that says entertaining things can't happen in God's house. So be creative and remember you are creative because you are made in the image of a creative God, and so stop making excuses. Invite people into your creativity and watch it grow. Man, that's that's awesome.
Zac Priest:That's a great word and I appreciate that and so you know any anything if you got. You know people that are listening that you want to plug for stuff that's going on.
Jake Anson:I'm totally offline.
Zac Priest:Yeah.
Jake Anson:I'm not on the internet whatsoever, but if you want to follow our student ministry page, it's at 580 students. And then my wife has internet stuff. I've no idea what her stuff's called. I've been offline for about nine years now, and that's another podcast for another time, man, I'll tell you what I'm grateful to be off the internet, and maybe you should. Maybe you're listening and you should be off it too.
Zac Priest:Yeah, just not podcasts.
Jake Anson:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I listened to a ton of podcasts.
Zac Priest:But that's good and so just stuff coming up. Like we said we've got. Our next episode is going to be with one of my personal mentors, mainstay inside of youth ministry in the state of. Oklahoma, kent Epling at Mediwood.
Zac Priest:Baptist Church. We're going to be talking with Kent about longevity in ministry. Again, I love his story. You and I were talking before we started actually recording. I just I got into ministry and there were a couple of guys that just just spoke into me and were mentors and helping me go. One with Steve Bullard when he was in Tulsa and you know I met with him monthly for a whole year.
Zac Priest:And through that process, was able to learn what it meant to be in ministry and how you schedule your day. You know what do you do when you do, because we get that comment he's like well, what do you do all day?
Zac Priest:You know, you actually go to church every day, you know. So what else do you do? And so you know he helped me to answer those questions in ministry, but then also can't, can't just, you know, poured into me through different things and and was able to kind of help me, you know, learn what it meant to care for people and pastor students and those types of things, and so that episode will drop on February 13th and so look forward to that one, but we're going to be talking with him.
Zac Priest:It's going to be great. So thank you again for everybody that decided to tune in. Thank you for sitting down with me, jake, and being able to talk about this.
Jake Anson:Thanks for coming to the art. More hardcore, there we go.
Zac Priest:And so we, we love it down here and we, we love Jake and your ministry, and so we're really excited to see all that kind of stuff, and so, again, you can like all of our stuff, connect through social media, again, where it's what we do. It's what we do Student Ministry podcast, and so we've got Facebook and Instagram, twitter I guess it's X now but we are looking to do YouTube. Some stuff will be posted on there, starting here in this next week or so, and so we do ministry is on YouTube, but you can connect with us. If you have thoughts and ideas, comments about stuff that you would like to share with us, then, of course, you can email us. It's what we do at gmailcom, and we would love to be able to talk with you and connect, and so thank you very much for for joining us, thank you for listening and I hope that it was a blessing for you. Love you guys. We'll talk to you next time. Bye.
