My Journey as a Youth Communicator (How I went from High School Senior to National Conference Speaker)

THE DREAM

I remember sitting in the auditorium at Kentucky Christian College in 1993 and listening to the youth speaker on stage. I was mesmerized by his stories, his passion, and watching God use him to reach hundreds of students with the Gospel.

I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I not only wanted to be a pastor to students, but to me, the epitome of “youth pastoring” was being “that guy” on stage speaking at a national youth conference.

Fortunately for me, God’s timing wasn’t my timing.

I was young. I was immature. I had A LOT to learn about life and ministry. I was full of ego, pride, narcissism and a ton of other garbage.

God had a significant amount of work to do inside of me before He could use me as a national youth speaker.

SMALL BEGINNINGS

“Do not despise the day of small things.” (Zechariah 4:10)

In the era of instant stardom on YouTube and reality TV, it is easy to think the path to greatness is lined with shortcuts.

In the Kingdom, the path to becoming great is to become the least of the least.

We all have to start somewhere. 

On multiple occasions, Jesus encouraged his followers with the Kingdom principle that when you are faithful in little things, He will give you charge over greater things.

As I reflected on my path to becoming a youth speaker, I began to write down “little” opportunities that I had to prove faithful in over the years.

My journey began as a college intern in my home church youth group. As a 19-year-old, I had the opportunity to deliver a session at a summer youth camp for inner-city kids that was being deaned by my youth pastor.

Two years later, I was the “keynote speaker” at my home church’s Fall Youth Group Retreat as a senior in college.

FULL TIME YOUTH PASTOR

As I graduated from college, I was hired as the full-time youth pastor at my home church in Michigan. As any youth pastor will tell you, full-time student ministry is at least a 60-hour-per-week job, with little time for outside speaking. My focus was on the students, volunteers and being faithful as a student pastor.

Yet, this being the case, I still had some opportunities to sharpen my skills as a youth communicator:

=> I led a week-long student-leadership workshop at a high school summer conference.

=> I regularly spoke in youth group and in the main church service a couple times a year.

=> I led numerous workshops at a youth weekend that our church would host annually.

MY NAME IS MATT... I AM A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER

Before you read on... Here’s the classic Chris Farley Sketch “Matt Foley Motivational Speaker”:

Fast forward a number of years, I found myself out of student ministry for a season. My wife and I had stepped out of our first student ministry (after 11 years) and found ourselves working five jobs to make ends meet.

During that time, I had the opportunity to deliver career success presentations at high schools and colleges all around the United States for Monster.com’s Making it Count. This season was a great sharpening season for me as a youth communicator. I consider Making it Count, the American Idol of the youth speaking industry. 

The Making it Count (MIC) selection process began with a speaker video audition. Each speaker had to submit a fifteen minute sample speaking video. The MIC recruiters would then select around 100 speakers out of the 10,000 audition videos they would receive each year.

These 100 chosen aspiring professional speakers would gather in a conference hotel ballroom for a weekend of around-the-clock intensive speaker training, coaching and certification. Each speaker had to learn two 45 minute presentations that would be used over the next two semesters. This was a snapshot of the Making it Count certification weekend.

My first experience at an MIC training was humbling to say the least.

I had always considered myself a pretty strong youth communicator. I typically had no problem engaging the students. I was funny, spontaneous and passionate. Imagine how  humbling it was to receive a fair amount of correction, criticism and feedback from multiple communication coaches during the three day training weekend; not to mention, being surround by 99 other great communicators all trying to out-communicate each other in the training rooms.

I would go on to speak for MIC for a total of five semesters (even after I re-entered the world of student ministry). Overall, my youth communication skills were sharpened immensely during that time period. I had also determined (after having traveled full-time my first semester) that I no longer wanted to be that full-time, traveling professional speaker “guy” any longer. It was challenging being away from my family Sunday night - Friday night each week. Not to mention, the long hours of driving rental cars, sitting in airports and hanging out in hotels in the middle-of-nowhere got old pretty quickly.

In short, I had done the “Matt Foley Motivational Speaker” thing and it was time to get back into full-time ministry where I belonged.

THE MEGACHURCH EXPERIENCE

After having moved my family across the country to Colorado, I found myself interviewing for a student ministry position at a bonafide mega-church (a church with over 2000 people in attendance).

God was about to teach me some significant realities about ministry. 

I wish I could say that this season of our lives was full of tons of amazing fruit for the Kingdom, deep relationships and powerful movement of the Holy Spirit.

It wasn’t.

God had to crucify a huge ministryidol in my life:  Being a megachurch youth pastor.

I had always believed the myth that once you started youth pastoring at a megachurch, you had finally “arrived” in ministry. It was the big time. I wouldn’t have to design my own graphics and make my own copies anymore.

What a joke.

While it was fun communicating to hundreds of students each week, worshipping with hazers and intelligent lights, and being on a huge church staff, the whole thing was too comfortable. Lots of systems and man-power, very little dependence upon God.

After serving for two and a half years at this megachurch, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart one day while driving back to the church office on a lunch break,

“Do you want to just be comfortable or do you want to make a difference for my Kingdom?”

That day, I smashed my idol of megachurch student ministry and decided I wanted to make a difference.

THE AFFORDABLE SPEAKER’S NETWORK

Early on in my tenure at the megachurch, I had joined The Source for Youth Ministry’s Affordable Speaker Network (TSFYMASN). I remember the day that I got the acceptance email. I was now officially recognized as an actual “youth speaker.” My picture was even on the website! My phone was going to begin ringing off-the-hook and my voicemail box overflowing with speaking requests.

That didn’t happen.

In fact, the first time my phone rang with a real speaking opportunity from TSFYMASN was over a year later from a little church camp in Durango, CO.

THE SUMMER CAMP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Four Corners Christian Camp is a small church camp outside of Durango, CO. The dean of the student camp that summer wanted to bring invite a “real youth speaker” for the forty students attending camp that upcoming summer.

As it turns out, only about 18 students showed up for camp that week.

If I had learned anything over the years, it was the importance of being faithful in the little things.

I preached my heart out all week. I enjoyed connecting with the students over the meal times. I played wide games in the field and enjoyed sitting around the campfire. I knew all of their names by day two (it wasn’t that difficult, there were only 18 students). I treated the entire experience as if I was speaking to a camp of 200 students.

As it turns out, I believe God honored my faithfulness.

I received a phone call two months later from Summit Christian College in Gering, NE with an invitation to speak at their high school preview weekend in November of that same year (their Director of Recruiting was a leader at the little camp outside of Durango). This time it was an opportunity to speak to over 150 students from over a dozen churches.

I finally had come to the realization that it is not the size of the audience or the church that matters, but the size of our God. Jesus himself (while he had opportunities to minister to thousands at a time) really took joy in investing in his twelve disciples. They are the ones, as it turns out, who would go on to change the world.

I was invited back to Four Corners Christian Camp the following summer to speak at two weeks of camp. God has a great sense of humor. At the same week of youth camp the following year, there were only 12 students who showed up.

TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE DREAM

For over twenty years I had been waiting for this moment.

I didn’t realize that the moment would happen in the middle of Nebraska in over 100 degree temperatures in the middle of the summer.

As you recall, at the age of 17, God had put a dream in my heart to be a youth speaker on stage at a national youth conference. Much of that dream was rooted in ego and pride, which explains why it took two decades of God humbling me and preparing me so that my motives would be right.

It was no longer about me, it was about the Kingdom of God and the students seated in the auditorium.

Here I was, standing backstage pacing, praying and preparing to share a message with the 1500 high school students who were gathered for the Christ in Youth conference. I really wasn’t nervous. I was actually incredibly eager to speak the truth of the Gospel and see students come to know Jesus Christ.

I had diligently been preparing a message for this particular event for over four months. I had prayed, studied, brainstormed, refined and rehearsed the talk up one side and down the other. It knew it forwards, backwards, and sideways. I think the months of preparation ahead of time had built a level of confidence in my content and removed the opportunity for nervousness to kick in. 

I knew what God wanted me to say. 

It wasn’t a confidence in my abilities, it was a confidence in Him and the Word that he had put in my heart for these students. 

“You’re on,” whispered the backstage manager.

The lights came up and I walked on stage determined to deliver the message in an engaging, energetic and compelling manner.

“Each one of us has moments in our lives… Moments that we look back on and will never forget…”, I began.

After I stepped off of the stage, I was virtually in tears, worshiping and watching countless students respond to the Gospel, walk forward and make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

Months of prayer, preparation and rehearsal (not to mention the twenty years of faithfulness) and a mere thirty minutes later, it was over.

LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS

Here are a few thoughts I have learned over the last twenty years:

-It really is about the journey and not the destination.

-When you are faithful in the little things, God will entrust you with greater things.

-Local church youth ministry relationships is where a majority of the fruit is found.

-A GPS isn’t worth much if it’s as lost as you are.

-The cinnamon rolls at Holiday Inn Express free breakfast buffet are the best.

-You are not as great of a speaker as you think you are.

-Don’t give up on the students who you think wont amount to anything, God can use anybody.

-You are building God’s Kingdom, not yours.

-Make sure that you use the restroom before you get up to speak.