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The goal of "Welcome to Student Ministry" is to post interviews that help guide both new and experienced student pastors toward faithful ministry over many years. This 21st interview in this series is with Kyle Fox. Kyle serves as the Discipleship Pastor at Lewis West Bridge Church in Danville, Indiana!

1. Tell our readers some background information about how long you have been in student ministry, how you started, and anything else that you think would be useful.

I’ve been involved in student ministry in some capacity for most of my adult life. I started serving vocationally in student ministry back in 2021 at West Bridge Church in Danville, IN. I stepped into a broader discipleship role but have had the ability to remain interconnected within the lives of students. 

I think student ministry is one of the most strategic and joyful places to serve in the church. Personally, the Lord saved me during my senior year in high school so I've always had a spot in my mind and heart for this demographic. It's sweet to see students engaged in God's Word, passionate to share their faith, asking questions about faith, relationships, purpose, etc. It truly is a remarkable gift to work alongside students in some of the most pivotal years of their life. 

2. How has your view of youth ministry changed from when you started to now? 

In some ways, it’s changed quite a bit, and in other ways, not much at all, ha! I stepped into student ministry right after completing my MDiv at SBTS, and I can look back at some of those early lessons and cringe a little bit. My desire to get students into God’s Word was absolutely there, but I don’t think I always did a great job helping them understand why what we were about to study actually mattered for their lives. Over time, I worked much harder to build that bridge in trying to help students see why a truth was significant before we dove into it, while still trying to teach the Bible with depth.

I think the same thing happened with my philosophy of student ministry more broadly. Youth pastors can sometimes lean toward one of two extremes: everything is about Bible study and events are tolerated begrudgingly, or everything is about creating the most exciting environment possible and substantive Bible teaching gets pushed to the side. I have had more of the lean toward the first camp, but over the years, I became much more convinced of the value of doing excellent, engaging events - especially when they created an easy opportunity for students to invite friends who otherwise might never walk into a church. 

What probably changed the least was my conviction about discipleship and leaders. I wanted adult leaders to really be integral to the ministry we were doing through them being equipped to know students, pursue them, open God’s Word with them, and genuinely pour into their lives. The same was true with student leaders. I’ve always had something of a low-hanging fruit philosophy that I heard along the way where the aim is to invest deeply in the students who are hungry to grow, equip them well, and watch them begin reaching and discipling their friends.

3. Share one of your favorite student ministry moments. 

Such a hard question because there truly are so many. But the one that comes to mind was seeing the whole of discipleship play out in the life of a student. Not long after I started, a student came into our ministry who we eventually had the joy of seeing come to faith in Christ. Over the years, I had the privilege of being part of discipling him and watching him grow in his faith. He went to school, eventually graduated, got married, and then came back and served in our student ministry for several years. It truly was so incredible to watch a student I had the opportunity to disciple turn around and begin doing the work of discipling other students himself.

4. Share one of your least favorite ministry moments

Ahh, more that could be shared here too ha! On the more serious side, one of the hardest parts of student ministry is watching students you have genuinely loved and invested in eventually walk away from something they once seemed to embrace. It's heartbreaking to have a front-row seat to that. Those have easily been some of the most painful moments in ministry.

On a much lighter note, losing my glasses in the ocean immediately after a student told me, “You should probably take your glasses off,” is up there. I told him, “Oh, they won’t fall off.” Almost immediately, a wave hit me directly in the face and my glasses disappeared into the ocean. Had to hop on a flight without really being able to see for those next few hours. Few things will humble a youth pastor faster than being proven spectacularly wrong by a teenager within about five seconds. Ha!

5. What resources do you find helpful to use in student ministry? 

Specifically in reference to student ministry, there were 3 that came to mind. I’d recommend The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School, which does a great job helping students see how knowing Jesus speaks into the realities they’re actually facing. Loved walking with students through that. And for adult leaders, Discipling by Mark Dever is excellent because it gives them a simple framework for what it actually looks like to intentionally help another person follow Jesus. The last one is actually one I've written called With Him: A 90-Day Devotional to Grow Deep Roots in Christ. I wrote it out of a problem I continually saw in student ministry: we tell students to read their Bibles, but often don’t teach them what to do when they open it. So this was my attempt to meet a need to provide a framework for what following Jesus actually looked like that would serve as a launch pad to diving into the Word themselves. 

6. What is one or two things that you do to make sure that you do so that you don’t burn out as a youth pastor?

Of course, before anything practical, we have to remember that we need God before we can “give God” to anyone else. That said, two practical things have been huge for me: 1. Take vacation. Seriously. Prioritize your weekly rhythms of rest - ideally at least one full day - and then find ways to periodically get outside your normal rhythms, whether that’s a weekend away or a week-long vacation. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but having real rhythms of time off has been incredibly helpful.

2. Refuse to make yourself indispensable. Youth ministry will consume every hour you’re willing to give it. There will always be another student to meet with, game to attend, or event to improve. So by remembering that Jesus loves these students more than we do, we can have healthy priorities.

7. What advice would you give to yourself when you started as a youth pastor if you could go back to that time?

I was given this advice actually, but I'd tell myself  again. Play the long game. You don't have to prove yourself or need every student to think you're awesome.

Invest in your students and love their families to the best of your ability. Point them to Jesus, and pray far more than you think you need to. And then trust God with whatever comes of it. 

Thank you, Kyle, for taking time to answer these questions in the 21st interview of Welcome to Student Ministry. Keep an eye out for our next edition in the coming weeks.