YPT in Action: Kyle Kennicott
We like to talk about the importance of theological depth in youth ministry - but what does that actually look like? YPT isn’t promoting a one-size-fits-all approach to youth ministry. Instead, we want to encourage youth workers to be anchored in the biblical essentials while practicing wise contextualization in their particular setting. “YPT in Action” will be an ongoing series where youth workers in a variety of contexts answer the same questions.
Name: Kyle Kennicott
Church/Ministry: Radiant Bible Church
Title: Student Pastor
Location: Avon, Indiana
Ministry Setting: Suburban
How long have you served in this ministry: 2 years
How long have you served in vocational ministry overall: 6 years
Average Church Attendance: 1000
Average Youth Group Attendance: 100
Age range of students in ministry: 11-18 years old
What are your ministry's regularly scheduled programs over the course of a month?
Our student ministry prioritizes Sunday nights, and are light with events. We have three weeks on and one week off. This helps give rhythms of rest to our leaders and opportunities for families to be together.
Since we prioritize Sunday nights, once a month we have what is called late night where we extend student ministry by an hour, order food, and have games for leaders and students.
Last year I initiated a Jr & Sr discipleship team where they practice and grown in discipleship. Every other week they meet at my house to discuss a book that pertains to discipleship and we encourage one another in different discipleship efforts that they are involved in.
Are there any retreats/camps or other special events that are semi-regular or annual features of your ministry?
Retreats: We have two retreats a year, one for high school and middle school. These retreats are great opportunities for us to be more intentional with their specific age demographic.
Cross-Con: Every year we take our Junior and Seniors to Cross-Con for two reasons: 1) that they learn to prioritize ministry, even at a young age; and 2) so they can rub shoulders with college students who are taking their faith seriously.
Go-Trip: Every year we take students that are 16 & up on a mission trip. The last two years have been to Belize. This is a great opportunity to help instill the desire for and practice of ministry.
Camp: Camp is an excellent time to be away with friends so that they can mutually grow in the Lord. We choose to do Student Life Camp because they place an emphasis on studying God's Word with your leaders in small groups.
Parent Meetings: At the beginning of each semester we do a parents meeting to not only inform them, but utilize that opportunity to train them in ministering to their teens.
Graduation Breakfast: At the end of each year we have a graduation breakfast for our seniors, their parents and leaders. This is so we can mutually celebrate God's work in our their life.
What does "Youth Group" look like in your ministry?
We begin at 5:30 with a leader meeting. This is so I can update leaders on any announcements, encourage them in ministry, discuss the passage & small group questions, and pray for one another and the evening.
Students start arriving around 5:50, and they typically socialize or play games until 6:15-6:20PM. Since we don't prioritize games in our ministry, I have designated this as Hangout time. It has become a great way to break the ice for new students and for all students to socialize.
Then we begin with worship, which leads into teaching. Around 7:15, students breakout for small groups. Our end time is 8PM (unless we have late night), but I allow for students and leaders to linger so they can socialize and play games until about 8:15.
How would you describe your teaching style in youth group?
My disposition is more of a sermon for students, though I have been trying to add more conversational elements to help keep our middle school students' attention. I usually teach for 30 minutes, which can be hard for middle school students but the high school students have grown to appreciate the depth. This has led us to consider for this upcoming semester a change where I teach high school and middle school students separately, while they alternate lesson-small group times.
I take a sermon approach for two reasons: 1) because students need to learn to appreciate sermons as they move on from student ministry; and 2) didactic learning prioritizes the content of God's word being learned.
What are some recent series you’ve taught through, and how many weeks long were they?
This last year we called our series Established. The first semester was dedicated to Colossians. Our theme verse comes from Colossians 2:6-7, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith." This last year we learned what it meant to be established in the faith so that we wouldn't waiver. Colossians taught us this by prioritizing Christ above all.
During the second semester of last school-year we studied Exodus, which taught us how God's people were being established in moments that gave us glimpses of the gospel.
YPT values teaching theology and doctrine to students. What does that look like for you?
1) Teach students biblical theology by teaching the Old Testament: from my experience, most student ministries almost exclusively teach the New Testament. When we teach from the Old Testament we show our students that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable, and it helps them to see Christ in all of scripture.
2) Teach hard subjects: This doesn't just mean culturally-sensitive subjects, but expository teaching forces us to teach the hard realities of God's judgment on sin, hope in the midst of suffering, and other subjects we may be less familiar with.
3) Be rooted: Let the intention of the text connect to the gospel of Christ, which results in the application towards students being theological rich by giving us a grand view of God and culturally relevant by informing how we should live in light of Him.
How do you prioritize partnering with parents?
We have a parents meeting at the beginning of every semester where I seek to equip parents in how to minister to their students. This is a great time to not only strengthen them but to connect them to their son or daughter’s leader.
I also provide a reading plan for our students, which parents are encouraged to urge students to read throughout the week. Along with the reading plan, I provide some table talk discussions to help families discuss the text and their time in small groups.
Finally, I provide monthly emails with necessary information, encouragement on discipleship, and resources from websites or podcasts to assist them in family discipleship.
How do you integrate students into the life of the church?
The primary way is that we encourage students to serve in our Kids ministry on Sunday mornings and during our week-long summer program. Some students also serve on the connections team on Sunday mornings. We can make intergenerational integration more of a priority for our students. Finally, I encourage students to participate in church-wide events like praise and worship night (once a month) and serve at church outreach initiatives.
What are some particular issues your students and families encounter that may not be prominent in other ministry contexts? How does that affect the shape of your ministry?
For our suburban context, we pull families from multiple towns and schools; I would like more from the town we reside in. This makes it difficult for students to build friendships with one another and for us to do much outside of Sunday Youth Group because students are traveling 30+ minutes to attend youth group. Lord willing, we will plant a new church in the next year or two, and I would like for us to prioritize the town our church resides in so we can grow our local student base.
What are some of the books you think every youth worker would benefit from reading?
Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry, edited by Cameron Cole and Jon Nielson
Guidance and the Voice of God by Tony Payne and Philip Jensen
Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves
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