Celebrating 100 episodes of The Word in Youth Ministry Podcast! Kyle Hoffsmith, Walt Mueller, and Chris Wagner all take a look back over some of their favorite moments and episodes. They look forward to what is to come and celebrate what God is doing through this podcast. They also offer encouragement to youth workers as they continue the awesome task of teaching the Bible to students. Here's to another 100 episodes!

Kyle invites veteran youth pastor John Kidd to join the podcast to discuss teaching about sex to students. John recently taught a series to his students on the topic, which he titled "Cheap Sex." John gives us insight into how he prepared for the series and some of the resources he turned to. He also helps us understand some of the differences between temptation and desire. They also tackle the idea that love is not affirmation as opposed to the cultural narrative that love is love. John also reminds us to know our audience, know the influences they are facing, and to know the parents of our students, so that we can tailor our teaching accordingly while always remaining anchored in God's Word.

Kyle invites youth pastors Ben Marshall and Marty Mandak, along with Aspen Ministry's Val O'Brien to join the podcast. Each tackle a statement from the 2025 Ligonier State of Theology Report and what it tells us about our culture, The Church, and our youth ministries. Based on the results of the survey, what holes do we need to fill in our teaching? What areas do we need a complete fix? These veteran youth workers tackle some difficult questions and how we can use this study to bring about lasting change in your youth ministry programs by clinging firmly to Scripture.

Kyle invites former youth worker and middle school volunteer Reagan Rose to join the podcast to talk about productivity. What does it look like for youth workers to prune their schedules? What things do we say "no" to? How do we avoid burnout? What are practical ways we can ensure that our schedules are focused on the right things? Kyle and Reagan talk about all these issues and then turn to addressing productivity with our students. Reagan offers us some Scripture passages we can focus on ourselves, as well as teach our students.

Katie Polski joins the podcast to discuss her book "Beyond the Back Row: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Local Church for Your Family." Kyle and Katie discuss stirring an affection for The Church among our children and teens. They talk about some of the reasons church attendance has declined in importance while also warning against it becoming a legalistic endeavor. Listen in to gain some great insight on the importance of The Church and how we can help our kids not only see the importance but also develop a love for The Church themselves.

Kyle invites return guest, youth pastor Foster Toft, to have a discussion about dating. They address the reality that parents and families are each going to have their own philosophy about dating and what is appropriate for their own kids. From there they take a look at ways we can reframe the dating conversation. Foster encourages us to note that marriage and dating are not the same. He introduces 3 biblical truths about marriage that can appropriately help us look at dating from a biblical perspective.

Kyle invites his sidekick Josiah Rios to interview him about 5 book recommendations. Though these books are great reads for anyone, Kyle specifically chooses these books as ones to put into the hands of our high school students. We also get a nice glimpse into the ministry at Old North Church, where Kyle and Josiah are pastors. Kyle also shares ways to create a culture of reading within a youth ministry.

Pastor Sean DeMars joins the podcast and Kyle interviews him about his book Redemption Song: A Primer on Singing for the People of God and what we can learn from it when it comes to leading our students to worship well through song. This episode covers topics like me-centered songs vs. God-centered songs, practical steps in helping congregations and youth groups join in singing, the nature and importance of community in worship, using songs to teach theology, the regulative principle of worship, and much more.