On this episode of Beyond the Event, we sit down with DJ Rodeffer, a student pastor from Frederick, Maryland. DJ walks us through the trials and triumphs of evolving from leading a small group to managing the growing congregation at Collective Church. His insights shed light on the dynamic roles within youth ministry and the art of fostering a community that feels both expansive and intimate. By sharing personal experiences, DJ offers listeners a glimpse into his journey of spiritual leadership and community building.

Our conversation takes a deep dive into the strategic planning and collaboration necessary for youth ministry events, specifically a four-day experience centered on the book of Hebrews. With a thematic focus on endurance and faith, we discuss how these teachings are tailored to resonate with both junior high and high school students, drawing them closer to the gospel.

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BTE4.05: Scaling for Growth: Time & Resources with DJ Rodeffer and Mallory Jenkins

Hi, I'm Brad Warren. This is Beyond the Event, a youth ministry podcast presented by Christ in Youth, where we help you maintain momentum between the mountaintops. So pumped for today to talk a little bit more about growth and how to grow well with a good friend of mine. His name is DJ Rodefer. He is a student pastor in Frederick, maryland, at a church plant called Collective Church, and I'm excited to have a conversation with him about the ways that his life and role have changed as his youth ministry has grown from a very, very small, tight group of people to something that requires a little bit more intentionality and management as it's, as it's grown. Uh, but we will get to that, we'll get to that. We'll get to that when we get to it first. We get to it first. I get to talk to mal. Hey brad, hey mal. How the heck are you? I'm good, good, good, good, good. I'm glad to hear that we're getting a late start today, mal.

Well now? Well, no, we can leave the people in mystery. No, you won't, okay. No, I will, we get my.

No, I overslept, Yesterday was Halloween. Okay, we had a lot of fun. So much fun. Scare, no share, not scare. Yes, I'm dyslexic, brad.

I'm not dyslexic and I say scare not share all the time it's so hard to get it right. It just feels more natural.

I'll say it and if Jennifer listens to this podcast, it's okay okay, whoever I feel, like Jennifer is the one that would correct me but it just feels. More's to say, I feel like Jennifer is the one that would correct me.

We got to go straight to the top, maybe, but it just feels more natural to say scare, not share. Yes, so we put on. Do the people know?

Do the people know? Maybe we put it on social media? Yeah, we do. Okay, it's like yeah.

Yeah, competition in our hallways. I'm in the west wing, we are three-time champions of this competition, um, where our different hallways have a good old you know competition. Competition where you, the staff, kids and you know community of of fun, fun children, uh, they come around and they trick-or-treat through our hallways and so we have different themes and it has become over the few years, a competition of you know hallways against each other, of like and as on, as we're prone to do.

Yes, the competition has become intense yes, when I started in 2016, it was a bowl of candy on a stool outside of your office and it was like, and the kids would come by and you go, oh cute you're a princess pre peach.

Okay, yeah, on to the next thing. On to the next thing. And now it has gotten a little out of insane, because I think we were, we, we are, you know, three-time champions. And so the garage, which is the northwest wing, but it used to be our old garage. They wanted the trophy so bad that they started working on it I'm gonna be honest.

They deserved it last year. They did not. They deserved it last year and they got robbed they? They didn't. And this year it was a little bit of a makeup call and the garage won. They did not. All of that to say I feel like we're vamping a lot about how you're late.

Okay, I worked really hard on that. And then I stayed up really late working hard on a Halloween party tonight and then, yeah, I was working on my costume for tonight.

Yes, right now it is november 1st but it's a friday, okay, yeah, yeah, no, totally understandable, my dogs are gonna be aladdin and abu are you the magic carpet? No, I am genie.

I am genie okay and so I was working on halloween costumes, stayed up late and then are you gonna be singing for us? Um no, but I'm a specific part of genie where you know he's the cheerleader and he's cheering on aladdin. He's like. He's like rick and rock and rock, a rake, stick that sword into that snake, and then javar is like stay out of it, because he's yeah, yeah and then he's like javar javar, he's our man.

If he can't do it, great. So that's me. And then they're a boo and laughing um so I stayed up way too late, and then I overslept. And then I texted brad 20 minutes before and I said bad news, it's filmed now, so I could have left my office, I mean my bed. I could have officed from my bed with a Zoom link, which could have happened.

Yeah, which is tough, so qualm, so I could have just done this from my bed.

Oh, that's all right and that is an intro Mal, I want to tell you, let's talk about Mix.

Let's do it, I want to tell you that Mix last year was spectacular. I loved it. Every youth pastor that I talked to loved it. I think it was a timely message for students, for youth pastors, for me and other members of our staff, and it was just really wonderful for youth pastors, for me and other members of our staff, and it was just really wonderful. I'm excited to see now what we come up with for 2025. Me too. So, with you being our lead programmer for Mix, I wanted to have you come on and talk a little bit about what we have to look forward to next summer.

It's so cool, it's so good I mean, you can see all of that online already. Yes, you can see how icom slash mix. It's all there it's so good.

I mean, matthew harris is just genius incredible and he's really the reason that the garage won, I mean yeah he's just sure not scare don't mention the wound if you went to mix this year. You understand, okay, anyway, um, and so, yeah, he is just so incredible, and so he. He made our poster last year for rest of your life. Um, we have so many talented designers.

I mean we have Tatiana, who made our amazing mascots. She makes our mascots, so she's working on them this year too, but Matthew just happened to make our poster last year and he made our poster this year as well, and so we are in this outer space world and typically our outer realm doesn't necessarily match our indoor, so it's kind of outside it's a ton little thing.

Yeah, it's a ton little thing and it's like, oh, like in 23, it was Western and then it was Western but inside was Doodle and it's like why? And it's like it doesn't need to have a reason.

Oh yeah, that is junior high. Yeah, we don't need a reason, and it's so fun because their brains and our brains are just like fun, and so we like to change it up. But this year it's the first time where they will align. So we are in this outer space world indoor and out, and so they are space cadets that are, you know, going through training for their outer space mission in the outer realm. But also we are in this amazing outer space look and feel, because our tour theme is in between and we're going um through the book of hebrews, but obviously we're only a four-day event. So you kind of have to pick and choose.

When you go through hitting the highlights, you're hitting the highlights, um, but Hebrews is just such an interesting book and the the author of it of course we don't know who, but, um, the, the author of it is just so compelling when they're talking about this amazing sacrifice of Jesus and encouraging us to keep the faith. And what was very compelling for me in studying the text was and I love that here on the programming team, like Mikey, myself and Nate, we get to kind of dive in and we collaborate together. But then we also want mix and move to feel different. We want the teachings also to align and that's why sometimes you're going to hear, if you go to a mix and move in the same summer you're going to hear some of the same stories or teachings.

So last year you but it's so age intentional which is like the beautiful thing exactly is you can't. Even if you take the same four verses out of hebrews chapter two and you want to teach into a junior high audience, you're just going to present it differently than if you teach it to a high school audience, which is what I think is so magical about move heard the core verses of um matthew 11, 28, 28 30, yeah 28 through 30 and um psalms 23 last year at both events.

But all of our jesus stories were actually very different. We at mix did not do the calming of the storm. We did not do mary and martha, because we had already done that the year before. So like that's the fun thing about like they are two different um experiences because one it's a different age, intentional um expression, but also we are two different programmers, like mikey and myself. We're two different people and, uh, god is speaking to us in different ways, and so it's really cool how we're able to collaborate but also be individuals as we look at these students and pray and see how the Lord wants us to really teach and lead as we go out throughout the summer. So what really stood out to me in reading Hebrews was Hebrews 7, 25, where it says it's on our poster and saying like Jesus lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf, and so that's really this meaning of in between is that you know the heart of the gospel is that you know we let sin come in between us and God, and then Jesus is what changed everything.

And so would we learn this week at Mix? Would we take those four days and learn about? Get mixed, where we take those four days and learn about, you know, the gospel and use Hebrews to kind of walk us through creation, fall, redemption and kingdom work and this hall of faith in Hebrews 11 on day four, and how there's so many kingdom workers of the past, there's so many of them that we turn to and we hear about. And then also this amazing in chapter 12, this amazing like just encouragement of endurance, of like keep the faith run with endurance. And so we're really excited to kind of dig in there and say, yeah, students, let's look and see how this letter was written for these church goers, these followers, to say, hey, jesus comes in and he is the way, he's the one that gets us back to God.

And so our daily themes are in between night one. Let's talk about this in between. What does it mean? What's this interceder like? What does god have to do or jesus need to? Why did we need jesus? And then, um, it would kind of flow from there like god and us, death and life, now and forever. So what's the in between of god and us, death and life, now and forever? Um, because they are the in-between of God and us death and life, now and forever. Because they are in this middle position, they're in in-between, they're middle schoolers.

They are Literally middle. You're in the middle. Yes, they are in between their adolescence.

They're still in it, but they're like in their adolescence and adulthood the rest of their life. Throwback to last year is ahead of them, but they're kind of stuck in the middle.

Sometimes people don't know what to do with them yeah, and it's like I don't feel like a child, but I'm not an adult. Yeah, it's like, yeah, there's a lot there yeah, so read that read, read your theme verse again.

Yeah, so it's Hebrews 7.25,. Jesus lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf.

So why do you think I'm going to ask you a hard question? Yeah. You ready? Why do you think that that verse is like uniquely going to speak to, or how do you think that verse is uniquely going to speak to junior high students this summer?

I think because students have always wanted someone to be there on their behalf. Like students, especially at this age, they get lost in the crowd. They get lost in just the sea of people, or maybe in the-.

Can feel isolated and oh yeah, they feel isolated, they feel shame, they feel guilt, they feel unseen, and so they feel so many things, so many emotions, so fast. And so when they're feeling that way, they would love someone to just stick up for them. They love someone to just come in and say, hey, I'm here with you. And so I feel like that word intercede another word they don't know.

It's like that we don't ever use that word no, no, no, no, not at all. Yeah, no, no, no, no, not at all.

But I think it's a word that's so important because they, in learning this word, maybe will realize that like hole that they've been looking for and realize it can only be filled by Jesus, and so saying like I love it. Yeah, like there's been a problem created by sin and Jesus fills it, and so, yeah, you've been feeling this this whole um, and Jesus is the true one that can do this, and already is yeah.

Yeah, that's incredible. All right, um Mal, thanks for sharing. I'm really excited to see all the different. You talked about you and Mikey having different personalities, and I'm excited to see all the expressions of you and how they kind of come out in the mixed programming. It'll be a lot of fun. So, um, that's all we're going to get people for now. You know, we got to just just a taste just a teaser, just a little breadcrumb.

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