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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 17th interview in this series is with Micah Marshall. Micah serves as the Executive Director at Refuge Youth Network in Altoona, Pennsylvania!

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 in student ministry for 17 years now, 15 years of those in Altoona PA. I am a graduate of Zion Bible College and started in youth ministry volunteering as the leader my junior year. 

My wife and I moved to Altoona years ago and were hired on at a local church here. Over time, that turned into something way bigger than I expected. We went from one youth group to building what is now Refuge Youth Network a multi-campus youth ministry with 5 campuses across Central PA reaching hundreds of students every week. Refuge became a nonprofit in 2017 so we could do more for the community. From just me being on staff to now having 8 on staff. Somewhere along the way, we realized we weren’t just called to a church… we were called to a region. That shift changed everything for us.

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

When we started, we thought youth ministry was about building a great youth group. It was about stage design, lights, lasers, smoke machines, and hype. Early on, we cared way too much about numbers, energy, and what looked successful from the outside.

Back then, it felt like we could compete with culture. You throw a pizza party, a lock-in, some games and kids would show up. That worked for a season. It doesn’t anymore.

Now, students have access to everything, all the time. We’re not competing with the church down the road we’re competing with an algorithm that knows them better than we do. So if your whole model is built on attraction, you’re going to burn out trying to keep up. That shift forced us to rethink everything.

Now we care way more about consistency, relationships, and whether students are growing. We’ve gone from a performance-based ministry to a relational-based one.

Because at the end of the day, you might attract students with hype, but you only keep them with connection. And more importantly, that’s where real life change happens. It took us awhile to adjust but we were able to.

3. Share one of your favorite student ministry moments.

Honestly, some of my favorite moments aren’t the big events, they’re the transformation moments.

I love watching a student go from just attending Refuge to stepping into leadership. There’s something powerful about when they don’t have to be asked, they just start leading. They take ownership, they care about others, they step up. That’s a huge win to me.

Another big one is when students start bringing their friends. And not just bringing them, but watching their friends encounter God, give their lives to Him, start growing, get baptized… those are the moments where you see it all click. Those “light bulb” moments never get old.

And honestly, building memories with them is a big part of it too. Being able to be there for their first experiences like riding a roller coaster, going tubing, boating, just doing life together. Those moments matter more than we realize.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about what we teach, it’s about what we experience together. And those relationships are what make the impact last.

4. Share one of your least favorite ministry moments

One of the hardest seasons of ministry for me was in 2019 when our area experienced a string of suicides among young people.

It wasn’t just something happening “out there.” It hit close to home. We had multiple students take their lives that year, including a young man who was part of our youth group someone we knew, cared about, and had real relationship with.

I was asked to speak at his funeral. That’s something you don’t prepare for. Standing in front of a room full of grieving family and friends, trying to bring hope in the middle of heartbreak it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in ministry.

Moments like that stay with you. It reminded me very quickly that youth ministry isn’t just games and messages it’s stepping into real pain, real loss, and real-life situations with students and families.

It’s still one of my least favorite memories to this day. But it also shaped me. It deepened my awareness of what students are carrying, and it reinforced how important it is for us to be present, to pay attention, and to create spaces where students feel seen, known, and not alone. Because sometimes what looks like “just another night” to us… might be everything to them.

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

I’m less about finding the perfect resource and more about understanding the generation in front of me.

That said, a few things I lean into: Conversations with students (honestly, this is the best “resource”), cultural research on Gen Z and Gen Alpha and leaders and voices who work with students, not just talk about them

There are also some great organizations putting out solid research and tools like Download Youth Ministry, Barna Group, Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, Fuller Youth Institute, and Pew Research Center. I’ll pull from those to stay sharp on what’s happening culturally.

But even with all of that we create a lot of our own content because what works somewhere else doesn’t always translate to our context. At the end of the day, the best resource is proximity. If you’re not around students, no curriculum is going to fix that.

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

Honestly, this is something you must be intentional about, because burnout doesn’t usually hit all at once it builds over time.

For me, it starts with boundaries.
If you don’t set them, ministry will take everything you have and then still ask for more. There will always be another need, another message, another situation. You must learn where your “no” is, or your “yes” won’t mean much.

The second thing is perspective.  I remind myself often I’m called to this, but I’m not responsible for everything. That’s a big difference. I care deeply, I give everything I can, but I’m not the Savior. That takes pressure off in a healthy way.

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

Don’t let your need to be right rob you of relationships. When I was younger, I wanted to be right. I wanted to be seen. I wanted to be loud. I thought leadership meant having the answer, winning the moment, proving a point. But what I didn’t realize is you can win the argument and lose the person. And in youth ministry, if you lose the person… you’ve already lost.

I would tell myself to slow down. To listen more than I talk. To value connection over correction. Because students don’t open to leaders who are always trying to be right they open to leaders who are consistent, safe, and care.

I’d still say what needs to be said, but I’d say it with more wisdom and way more patience. At the end of the day, impact doesn’t come from being the loudest voice in the room. It comes from being the one who stays, who listens, and who builds real relationships over time.

Thank you, Micah, for taking time to answer these questions.  In coming weeks I will post our 18th edition of "Welcome to Student Ministry."