The Potter's Clay Podcast

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 "Bible Reading Plans" on Spreaker. Remember those days before ministry while you basked in the sermons of great men and enjoyed the word? We do! We remember those days well. Since starting to work at the church, it has become increasingly difficult to stay in the Word. It's a struggling in ministry to read the Bible! Ligonier ministries puts a number of Bible plans out each year. You can find their plan HERE . Syler is currently trying to devotionally read the Bible through what he is teaching. While not always recommended, some times ya gotta do it!  ESV Online is where Matthew generally goes for Bible reading plans. They have a couple easy plans that will send you email reminders etc. You can find those HERE . What is a Bible reading plan?  Various plans that structure reading over a period of time. The varieties of options are unlimited! Different translations, different speeds are just a couple of options for you. If you don...

Listen to "Busy or Burnt Out" on Spreaker. What is the difference between burn out and business??? Ministry Burn out looks like you doing absolutely everything you can, even the extra things! It is hard because everything looks good and you can easily try to accomplish everything. Family Family life burn out looks like signing up for everything as a family. The tricky thing is that there are  a lot of non sinful things that can CONSUME out time. Have you signed up for too much? Student Things aren't just about homework, they are about all the things you are supposed to be signed up in. Homework, sports, and the arts consume so much time. All of them can be great but life gets busy quick with all of those things. Burn out is a real issue What is the main issue and how do we fight it? Where is your heart at? Are you doing things for the wrong reasons? Have you grown numb? Burn out can feel similar to being busy yet procrastination also se...

Listen to "Spiritual Heros" on Spreaker. Who is a Sunday school teacher or church volunteer who had a massive impact in your life? It is good to have people to follow. People have an impact in your life, embrace it! Always test everything with the Scriptures, but follow and learn from someone. Syler and Matthew's number ONE! The Pastor at the small church where Syler got saved. He was a man committed to faithful ministry in a little Baptist Church in Delta, Utah. The man didn't have a massive church but loved his congregation and teaches them the Scriptures. Not only did he preach it, but he LIVED IT. Matthew learned a lot from his dad. His dad was always willing to share what he believed whether people cared or not. As a model his dad would consistently read the Bible early in the morning and led family devotions later at night. Though Matthew didn't interact in those moments they were noted and had an impact later on as maturity set in....

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...

About a month ago this video was dropped by Gillette... What were your thoughts on the video? Matthew felt like the video addressed some key issues in our culture regarding masculinity, Syler thought otherwise. Check out our podcast to hear the discussion. Listen to "Current Events Gillette Video" on Spreaker.

Listen to "What is Love" on Spreaker. For many, Valentine's Day is a pain in the butt, a disappointment, another opportunity to waste money. Well, we aren’t necessarily taking that issue on today.   What we want to talk about is an aspect of love that is often portrayed in Valentine’s Day. You better listen to the audio to hear about Syler’s first love story. It is worth a good laugh. Matthew has an awkward story as well. I’m guessing many of us do. Do you remember your first relationship? Do you remember when you first “fell in love?” So, what is love? Love has already been defined for us in the Scriptures and we need to bring that reality into our relationships. The Bible has more verses in it than only the famous love chapter found in 1 Corinthians (13). The verses that come to Matthew’s mind are 1 John 4:19 which states, “We love because he first loved us” and John 15:13 which states, “Greater love has no man than this, that someone lay down his l...

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 "Ministry Resolution" on Spreaker. Hey all, we are working to update the blog for all the podcasts that happened before we did the website. This may take us awhile! Sorry if it creates and inconvenience. 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 "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.