The Potter's Clay Podcast

Listen to "Tough Text Phil 4:13" on Spreaker. Syler... and his addiction to premium Bibles... folks, this guy is over the top! Here's his new Bible. You can find this Bible here:  https://evangelicalbible.com/product/crossway-esv-heirloom-study-bible-goatskin-dark-blue-preorder/ In some regard, Philippians 4:13 isn't really that difficult or tough, but it gets abused over and over again. Context is key when you teach. Context is key whenever you teach the Scriptures. The bible isn't written to bring you the most joy, it is about God's faithfulness and His glory! Let's face it youth pastors/leaders/volunteers... we are often guilty of having a great idea THEN finding a verse or two to back up our point. That is a flawed view of study and teaching. We want more than a verse tattooed on the body or written on a poster. We want to walk our students through the text of Scripture. That way all the topics whether more flowery or less flowery. ...

Listen to "Summer Planning" on Spreaker. Just a note about the blog. It doesn't always keep up with the podcast... sometimes weeks get so crazy it is just hard to pull it all off. Keep checking and at some point it will get caught up. We promise. Summer is coming! What do you have in the books for Summer 2019? Camps? Trips? For us everything slows down a lot. It is our time to let the kids go and live out what we have  taught over the last winter and it is also a time to begin teaching prep for the next season. Matthew's crew did a soft start last August and started "for real" in September. That was a really bad idea. It was a communication nightmare and pushing a double kick-off was kinda weird. Don't do it, start ONCE! If you have a solid conference/denominational camp, do you use it? It can be a great resource for you. Take advantage of the "easy" things set up for you. While there, you can take the time to connect with othe...

Listen to "Preach the Gospel to Yourself Everyday" on Spreaker. How do you preach the Gospel to yourself? It is so easy to flippantly make that statement. The Gospel is the reality that God created everything, man sinned and is separated from God but God, being rich in mercy sent Jesus, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins! That is some real hope! What is the message that you are giving yourself? Is it a positive message that is anchored in the reality that Jesus saved you? Often times we find ourselves down talking and attacking ourselves but there is a better message and it is given to us in Jesus Christ. What does this look like for us? When Matthew gets down his "self talk" begins to get low. Lots of discouragement through the little things in life. In the grand scheme of things, most things are not going to impact anyone for an eternity. God is still on his throne and will not be knocked off because he forgets keys. He needs to remin...

Listen to "A Discussion on Suicide" on Spreaker. Sadly, suicide's dark hand has slapped many of us in the face. Whether in your own family or a family friend it has probably struck. Stuff doesn't happen without a purpose. How have you been shaped through your circumstances? How has God tried to get your ministry/life/parenting attention as you have seen this around your community and life? The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention states that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death. 47,173 deaths happened in 2017. 47,173 deaths happened in 2017. 47,173 deaths happened in 2017. Let that sink in. What do we do when it hits near us? How does the Gospel apply to these situations? Too many people bow out of the conversation because they don't feel equipped to help. The Gospel is the HOPE that EVERYONE NEEDS. It's OK to NOT be OK. Too many of us feel like we shouldn't be sad or struggle. Where does it say that? We are told in the Bible that...

Listen to "Winter Blues" on Spreaker.  Depending on which article you read you will quickly learn that millions of Americans struggle with the winter blues. Have you thought about how you are impacted by the weather? While it doesn't seem super spiritual, we are humans who have bodies and many of us like to see the sun more often then not. Even as a self-described "homebody" Syler gets hit with the sluggish feelings that seem to come with weeks of cold weather. Matthew claims it. He's not officially diagnosed with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) but having kept track of the last several years it is clear that from the end of January through March gets a little bleak. While we aren't medical professionals we discuss the winter blues in ministry and life in this podcast.  When you work in student ministries you are inevitably going to hear other people struggle throughout the winter. It is important as you listen to people and help them, make sur...

Listen to "Wive's Role in Ministry" on Spreaker. Often within the church there is a discussion about the interaction of the Pastor's wife within the church. From my (Matthew) perspective in the couple of churches I attended when I was young, I can't remember an event where the pastor's wife wasn't present or hearing my mom talk about the pastor's wife putting on women's events etc. Is that the way it should be or have those days passed? We chat about that in the podcast above.  Syler and Chloe have been in ministry for about 3 years. He serves in Student Ministry while she works part time in Elementary Ministry at their church. Chloe serves with Syler in ministry as a small group leader with Middle School.  Matthew and Sharon have been in ministry for coming up on 14 years. Matthew's wife, Sharon does the exact same job at our church as Chloe. Back in the earlier days Sharon jumped into ministry as a youth leader and it was such a ...

Listen to "What are the holidays and should we celebrate them?" on Spreaker. Hey all, we are working to get the blogs updated for all the episodes that happened before we had this website. Currently, this one has not been caught up! Sorry! Please listen to the podcast and come back another time and we will have it done. Much Grace, Matthew and Syler

Listen to "Surviving the Holidays" on Spreaker. Hey all, we are working hard to update all these older podcast blogs. We haven't gotten to this one yet. Sorry! Please take time to listen to the podcast and check back for information mentioned in the show. Much Grace, Matthew and Syler

Listen to "Friends, are they important?" on Spreaker. Hey all, we are still trying to back fill some of these blogs as we did not start our podcast with a website! Sorry for the inconvenience but we have not gotten to this one yet. Please listen to our podcast and check back later to get links to things we referenced and other information. Much Grace, Matthew and Syler

Listen to "Future of Youth Ministry" on Spreaker. What next?! We hate to sound like Captain Obvious, but times are changing! Even in the 14 years Matthew has been in ministry kids have changed.  In this episode we dive into some of the hot button issues that seem to be happening and make some guesses as to what is going to be an increasing issue in the next couple years and ponder what could come next.  The main thing though, no matter what comes, is that the Gospel doesn't change and seems to handle every situation we could think of so well. God is good. 

Listen to "Gospel centered Teaching" on Spreaker. Hey all, we are trying to catch up on the older podcasts. As of now, we haven't gotten to this one. Please check it out and we will try to fill in resources with time. Much Grace,  Matthew and Syler

Listen to "What we mean when we say Gospel..." on Spreaker. The Gospel is a pretty hip and cool term these days. Sometimes we hear it so often and even use it so often that we forget what it really means. We want everyone of our shows to be about the Gospel or the hope that we have because of the Gospel.  This is why we made this episode. We aren't afraid of using the word "Gospel." We hope you hear it on this podcast a lot but in that we hope you know what we mean when we say the word "Gospel." The Gospel is culminated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In his resurrection he defeated the greatest effect of sin, death and in resurrecting he showed his supremacy over all things.  To get to the resurrection though one might ask the question, why did he die? If he died, how was he killed? The story really begins in Genesis 1 with God's supremacy over everything and his intimate creation of everything. Light, sun and stars, animals ...

Listen to "Training and Education in Youth Ministry Roles" on Spreaker. What is necessary for leading a youth ministry?  That's a big question and there are people passionate on all sides. For us, we don't think a college degree or seminary is necessary for leading and teaching a youth ministry. What is key though is a calling. A calling is a whole other topic. Is ministry a job to you or is it a calling? Is there an inner passion driving you to prepare yourself to teach or are you just getting stuff together for your ministry meeting? A calling is necessary and will most likely drive you toward learning whether it is in the Word on your own or working through a degree of some form with a school.  Obviously, there is NOTHING wrong with having a degree and we can only see pluses with having a degree.  School trains us to study and helps us shape our thoughts into different forms of presentations. Without it, it is more work. Sometime school pushes yo...

Listen to "Great Volunteers" on Spreaker.  FYI: The audio gets better in a couple weeks!  As leaders of youth ministries and parents of students in youth ministry we are grateful for volunteers! What would we do without an army who buy into the vision and the mission of our ministry? Many times we settle for warm bodies in the room, and sometimes we have to but what really makes a great leader? IN this episode we wrestle with this idea. Syler mentions the shift from calling the folks who help us volunteers to calling them leaders to help with buy in. They are PART OF THE TEAM! If you are part of the church, are you part of the team? Do you have what it takes?  1. The Gospel- you love the Gospel... you will lead out of an overflow of your pursuit of Jesus Christ 2. You love the Church- You are a member who loves the direction of the church and submit to the eldership of the church 3. You show up on time- Yes, sometimes flat tires happen and the cold and flu show...

Listen to "Host Matthew's Story" on Spreaker. Week number 2. God moves in mysterious ways is a common thought that runs through Biblically minded people because His ways are not often our ways. While we see only a few feet ahead (if that!) God sees everything within the scope of eternity at once.  Often times many of us don't think the story of our salvation is that exciting or awesome because we weren't saved out of alcoholism or drugs.... insert your big sin here. However religious zealots, though seeming to be so moral stand in a devastating place before the Lord. Check out Matthew's story to hear about the salvation of a religious zealot. 

Listen to "Host Syler's Story" on Spreaker. And so we begin. This concept has been in my(Matthew) mind for some time. Syler had been doing some Facebook live stuff and seemed to hit it off with folks well and that really caused me to look into the idea of podcasting more. For us, it is a wrestling with what we know. It isn't that we know a lot but God has walked us through some unusual things and while we have grown a TON walking through some of that, we wonder how the sanctification can go further in the sharing of it with others. That is our attempt. We look forward to sharing our stories with you all in the first couple of episodes. It's hard to start relationships when coffee, a table and chairs aren't involved... or any other food for that matter but this is our attempt to start a relationship. Ministry is hard and our guess is it will only become harder. Let's do it together.