If you follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/studentministrymatters) or Instagram (instagram.com/studentministrymatters), you may have already seen some news we shared. During the month of May, we hit two major milestones with the Student Ministry Matters Podcast.
First, we hit 10,000 downloads since beginning this journey in February 2020. While still small compared to many mainstream podcasts, I am so excited about this number. Our podcast is meant for the full-time, part-time or volunteer student ministry worker in the small to medium-sized church. That is a small segment of the population. We have some episodes that are great listens for anyone, but we try to stay focused on helping those that are seeking to impact the next generation for Jesus. That means a limited audience.
The second milestone was hitting our biggest month with 1,016 downloads. To give you an idea of the shift, we had 307 downloads in January of 2022. While numbers do not always indicate true success, they do show us that we are choosing good topics and that people are listening in as we continue the conversation about student ministry.
Why do I share? I always want to brag on God when I have the opportunity. God is the one who has orchestrated our growth, and I am so thankful to know that our efforts are of value to others. We now have listeners in 47 of the 50 states. For some reason, South Dakota, West Virginia and Maine continue to elude us. In addition, we have listeners in over 25 different countries. Who knew that our little podcast was going to find its way around the world?
Let me ask a few things of you:
• Give us a listen. If you work with students in any capacity, you will find some useful topics as Chris Vines and I share and interview others. You can find the 118 podcast episodes at studentministrymatters.podbean.com or through most major podcasting apps. At around 30 minutes each, there is a lot of content available.
• Share with others. Let the youth workers in your life know about our podcast. During May, we shared four interviews with faith-based counselors from Fresh Roots Family Counseling of Rogers. There is a lot of good information that the student ministry workers in your life may need to process. You can find links and promotional posts on our social media on Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter.
• Consider supporting our podcast financially. There are some costs involved with our podcast: equipment, annual fees, etc. We would love to have you and/or your church as a financial partner. If you need to know the best way to do that, contact me at info@studentministrymatters.com.
• Pray for us. We want the podcast to continue to be of value as we move forward. Pray for direction as we step into future episodes.
We know God is good all the time, but it sure is fun to share when He does the unexpected in our lives.
