Youth Pastor Name: Brandon Childress

Youth Group Name: “4-Life Student Ministries”

Who: Life Tabernacle

Where: Grand Junction, Colorado

InsideOut: How many students are in your youth group?

Brandon Childress: 35

IO: What is their average age?

BC: 14

IO: What is the coolest event that you have put together for your group?

BC: Static. This is an event we put on every Friday night. The coolest one was when we played dodge ball in the dark in our gym with strobe and disco lights.

IO: What does your group do for outreach?

BC: We have what we call Exposure. This is from door knocking to just simply handing out flyers. We also have a church school, which has close to thirty young people that do not go to church. These teens go into our youth room for one of their classes. So as outreach we have decided to do a giant mural on the wall. We have every young person that is a part of our group paint their hand print on the wall with their name. If you want your hand print on the wall you have to attend a certain number of services for ninety days. We have already seen the fruits of our labor.

IO: What do you do to disciple those that join your group?

BC: I spend usually the last fifteen minutes of class talking about different topics from standards to the purpose of fasting and prayer.

IO: What is your group’s claim to fame?

BC: The young people say that their claim to fame is a friendly atmosphere and attitude. Anytime there are visitors, all the young people make a point to introduce themselves.

IO: Is there a “hangout” for your group outside of church?

BC: Actually it’s at the church. It’s our GYM. The gym is always open and the group loves to do different things in the gym.

IO: Do you do crowd breakers?

BC: Yes. I love crowd breakers. I have had thumb wrestling contests when talking about Jacob. We have had shooting competitions and marshmallow eating competitions. Every Sunday morning we have a different crowd breaker. The group loves it because they never know what is going to happen.

IO: When does your group regularly meet?

BC: We have class every Sunday and Wednesday. We also have Static every Friday night and once a month we do Exposure. We also have a youth service the third Sunday night of the month.

IO: Do you have a youth choir?

BC: No. We have a drama team and a sign language team that perform at youth services and special church services.

IO: What kind of music does your group like?

BC: Christian Hip-Hop and Christian Rock

IO: If you could narrow it do to one song what would be your group’s favorite anthem?

BC: “Freedom”

IO: Does your group have a worship band?

BC: Yes.

IO: If so, what style of music do they play?

BC: They usually play contemporary and black gospel.

IO: Is the ministry emphasis of your group more evangelistic or discipleship?

BC: Discipleship. We believe if we can help them to grow that they will reach others and help them to grow.

IO: Do you have a prayer meeting for youth?

BC: Monday at 6:00 PM with the church.

IO: How many people are on your youth leadership team?

BC: 6

IO: What is the vision for your student ministry?

BC: Our vision comes from our name which has two meanings. The first is LIFE which stands for Living in Faith Every day. And the second comes from the 4, which is our statement. “IV Life Student Ministries” exists solely to help youth live out their faith and personal calling by showing them how to Expose Christ, Exalt God, Extend friendship and Expand their understanding. Our scripture is I Timothy 4:12.

IO: What is the question that we’ve missed, and what would be the answer?

BC: Do you have a Youth Room? Yes. We have a cool youth room which is in the progress of an upgrade. We have an awesome sound system and fun games. The room is set up so the young people can either sit on couches and read, or sit at the counter and eat, or play games like air hockey or ping pong; or we have a stage set where we can just have church.