Brandon tells us at the beginning of each podcast that the ensuing conversation will help us to become better teachers, better counselors, better parents…better people. I always like hearing him say it. Because first of all it reminds me of who our intended audience is, and that’s important when you’re doing a podcast. And second because it reminds me that I am all three. All adults, whether it’s their occupation or not, whether they have children of their own or not, serve in each of these capacities at some point to some person.
Take youth ministers for example. They are teachers of God’s word, counselors to the teens in their group, and parental figures to young people who have either lost a parent or who, for some reason, tend to dismiss the advice that their own parents provide. A wise friend of mind describes the teenage years a black hole that teenagers get sucked into and then have to find their way out of. The voice that calls them back from the abyss is often not the voice of their birth parents. It’s the voice of someone like Jeremiah Woodring, youth minister at Pomona Christian Church. That would be oddly specific if we weren’t going to talk to Jeremiah right now, but we are…so, yeah…not awkward.
