Unlocking Purpose & Prayer: A Journey of Faith and Calling with Pat Kunkel

In this episode of Hope Unlocked, Kristin Kurtz is joined by Pat Kunkel, a passionate advocate for prayer and youth ministry. Pat shares his personal testimony of growing up in a devout Catholic home, his journey through seminary, and how a pivotal moment led him to leave teaching and launch a ministry focused on prayer, encouragement, and worship. Pat shares the mission behind his ministry, PEW35, which focuses on building confidence in prayer among middle and high school students. The ministry's signature Elevate events immerse students in prayer, offering them the opportunity to learn by doing. Pat emphasizes the importance of creating space for prayer rather than just teaching about it. Through his story, Pat inspires listeners to follow God's call, no matter where it leads, and to trust in His guidance. This episode is a powerful reminder that our actions, no matter how small, can have an eternal impact.

Pat's contact info:

Email - pat@pew35.org 

Website - pew35.org

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Hope Unlocked Podcast
• 18:58 Meet Your Host: Kristen Kurtz
• 39:59 The Power of Personal Stories
• 58:06 Guest Introduction: Pat Kunkel
• 1:57:32 The Value of Faith Practices
• 3:18:18 Journey Through Seminary and Discernment
• 10:14:21 Transitioning to Teaching and Finding Purpose
• 12:41:16 Launching the Encouraging Prayer App
• 15:51:18 The Impact of Students and Their Stories

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:16

Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm your host, kristen Kurtz, and I'm also the founder of New Wings Coaching. I help and empower wild-hearted and adventurous women of faith feeling caged and stuck, unlock their true purpose and potential, break free from limitations and thrive with confidence, courage and hope. If you're curious to learn more about coaching with me, head to newwingscoachingnet and be sure to explore the show notes for ways to connect with me further. Get ready to dive in as we uncover empowering keys and insights in this episode. So tune in and let's unlock hope together.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me. Welcome Pat Kunkel to the show. I'm very excited to have him here today. I feel like this is a long-awaited interview. I'm very excited to have him here today. I feel like this is a long-awaited interview. We actually met at a local gathering called Prayer Hub, led by a mutual friend, marie Larson, and I was just really awestruck by the things that he was sharing the ministry that he's part of, and I really wanted to highlight both his story and the ministry. So, pat, would you be open to sharing a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 3: 1:27

Yeah, kristen, I'm just so glad to be here and you know, like we talked about a little earlier on, I just, I just love to share the vision that God has given us for the ministry. And I know there's a power in our personal stories, and so I look forward to sharing both in our personal stories, and so I look forward to sharing both.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Yes, Well, where do you want to start? Do you want to start from the beginning? You know?

Speaker 3: 1:56

you can start anywhere in life. Yeah, I think that makes sense. I'll start at the beginning and share my personal testimony and then that will lead into it, weaves into the, the ministry, the launch of the ministry and what's happening now, and so, yeah, I'll just dive in. So I'm just, I'm amazingly thankful.

Speaker 3: 2:15

I grew up in a in a home where my father was a devout catholic the day he died and he really instilled in me an appreciation for the value behind the things that we do around our faith Faith, practices, right, value for him. But if I were to summarize it in one phrase, I guess I'd say he taught me that there's value to the practice of the faith if we value the practice, and so just really teaching me to understand why we do the things that we do, no matter what the practice is right. We do the things that we do no matter what the practice is right, and that there's beauty in that when we do those things to honor God right or to help ourselves grow in our relationship with Christ. I knew, even as a young guy I guess maybe junior high age, I think when I really became aware that that kind of upbringing was different from those of my classmates or those people my age, even, I would say, most people within the body that I was engaged in at that time in how my dad taught me to seek understanding Right and to really dig in. And my father was in the Word, which was also unusual among those in our church, but he spent a lot of time reading both the Bible and then he read a lot of what I'd call second source material.

Speaker 3: 3:58

Also, you know other other stories about faith by Christian authors and again that modeling really impacted me and really, as a result, when I was in junior high, I started reading scripture and even for my dad I wouldn't say that I was discipled, certainly not in any formal sense. I mean, he witnessed, he demonstrated faith constantly, right, but he didn't give me any guidance on how to approach reading scripture, how to study. I didn't really get any of that in those years, but we know the word penetrates us, and so I started reading and because I didn't know better, I started at page one and I read until I got to the end of the book and when I got to the end of Revelation I put my bookmark back at Genesis and I started over.

Speaker 1: 5:00

How old were you when you read through the Bible?

Speaker 3: 5:02

I was junior high, you know. So, whatever that is, I suppose 11, 12, when I first started, I would say, faithfully reading, and you know, I don't think I understood a lot, I probably still don't, but again, the word penetrates us and, man, I don't know how to say it other than, as a result, I really believe in large part of reading the word, you know God. Just, he took over my heart. You know, I fell in love with Jesus because of his word and so, of course, being a good young Catholic man who was in love with Jesus, the answer was, of course, to go to seminary. That's what I thought, and so, right out of high school, I did enter Catholic seminary. And a second, I would say really beautiful experience for me, like the experience I had growing up being under my dad's tutelage, so to speak.

Speaker 3: 6:14

When I got to seminary, I'd only been there a few months when the priest in charge got up in front of us seminarians and he said the words I'll never forget. And that is he said seminarians. And he, he said the words I'll never forget. And that is he said you know, if you're here to become a priest, you're here for the wrong reason. And he went to the board went to the. You know it was a chalkboard back in those days for the younger viewers that's. Uh, that was the predecessor of the white board, or what is now called the smart board.

Speaker 1: 6:42

I'm looking up missionary everybody if you want to hear more about the chalkboard.

Speaker 3: 6:48

Right, yeah, he goes to the chalkboard and he writes down vocation and then under that he writes vocal and he underlines it. You know, to call a vocation, a calling, and he turns around to us and he says you know, my heart and my prayer for you is that you'll be a group of men, a community, who will pray and encourage each other to discern God's will in your life. Don't focus on becoming a priest. Focus on what it is that God's calling you to. That's incredible, right, it's incredible, right, it's amazing. I so believe, kristen. You know, if this were the experience in seminary, regardless of denomination, right? If this were the seminary experience everywhere, shouldn't every believer?

Speaker 2: 7:38

attend the seminary. Wow, wow.

Speaker 3: 7:44

Yeah, yeah. So I was there a year and a half. I was in prayer and discernment and I really was, and I know I had many other guys in that community praying for me and certainly those in leadership. And then I went, when I made the decision, I went to father and I said you know I'm going to be leaving and here's why. And he did like he for me, excuse me, he did for me what he did for every other man who made a decision through discernment. And what he did is he got up that Saturday night. We always had a big dinner together Saturday nights at seminary. We always had a big dinner together Saturday nights at seminary.

Speaker 2: 8:26

And he got up and he said we're going to celebrate tonight Because Pat Kunkel has discerned his vocation.

Speaker 3: 8:34

God's called him to be a school teacher and I walked that up for 25 years. And what an amazing blessing to walk through life knowing my purpose and understanding what God had called me to do. Yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Initially, when you went into seminary, did you have the notion that you were going to seminary to be a priest? Was that?

Speaker 3: 9:01

Oh yeah, absolutely. To be a priest, was that? Oh yeah, absolutely. When I entered, I assumed you know that, really, that that's why I had arrived and, you know, not a bad motivation. I certainly wouldn't want to in any way, you know, misrepresent that. But what I found out is is really that through, through this prayer and discernment, I found out that that calling really was that I wanted to know more about him, I wanted to be discipled, I wanted to learn right, and those things were not happening in the body that I was engaged in at the time.

Speaker 1: 9:39

So that was instrumental for that word about vocation and that chalkboard moment like change the trajectory of your life.

Speaker 3: 9:53

There's no question, it was exactly that, a life-changing moment. And I was blessed in many other ways in that experience, many other ways in that experience Seeing my first healing miracle within that body and laying on of hands and calling out for healing. It was really a beautiful experience. And then again, the you know where I left off was the launching point, then, right of stepping in now to teaching. Understand that that's where god had called me and that, well, you know, many of us, right, we have jobs and we have vocations. They're not necessarily the same um, which is fine of mine, um, overlapped right.

Speaker 3: 10:40

And so 25 years of teaching, I think that I, you know, I was a good teacher. Most of the time I was effective. Right, there were certainly times that I was ineffective and in 25 years, I really believe I had two or three moments of brilliance, but yeah, but what I know for sure is God was effective through me because I was doing what he called me to teach Excuse me what he called me to do. And he really blessed me in that and even in my first teaching position, seeing students coming into relationship with families at a spiritual level, which, of course, years ago was, you know, quite a bit easier, I would say, than today. Things were more open, I guess I would say, but even to the last day that I taught just really beautiful connections with students and families, um, in a spiritual way. So I'll stop there. That's a big piece of it.

Speaker 1: 11:48

So, as you're, were you in public school.

Speaker 3: 11:51

Yes, yeah, yeah. I taught, yeah, all my years in public school. I was at, I guess, three different districts in those years, but yeah, all public school.

Speaker 1: 12:02

Okay, so I don't know about the, the listeners, but I'm a very curious person. These brilliant moments, you've got to tell us at least one of them yeah, yeah, well, where to start?

Speaker 3: 12:20

um, well, there was in in my first position. You know what can I say? I was a young educator and I was prideful and arrogant and I thought I knew everything right. I tried to emulate the person that I did my student teaching under, and he rolled in a lot different way than I did. I'm really very laid back and easygoing, and he was very much more a commander, and I don't mean that in any disrespectful way, he was just much more rigid, I would say, and I tried to mimic that.

Speaker 3: 13:03

But there was this mom.

Speaker 3: 13:05

I had one of her daughters in my program at the time I taught middle school band, and so she was in my band, and this mom just had a way of coming alongside me and I absolutely know this was God's intervention, because I know she's a woman of God, her family, they're people of God. She had this way of coming alongside of me, though and really coaching me, really like I was her own son. You know, hey, mr Kunkel, you know she'd always call me Mr Kunkel, never Pat. Hey, mr Kunkel, you know nice job with the concert, or you know nice job with this or that. And you know nice job with the concert or you know, nice job with this or that, and you know I was thinking, and then she would share some things that would help me to see the great opportunity that I had before me to improve my skills, you know, and a lot of it again, to just be humble and to seek help in the places where I didn't understand, and that just led to a long relationship, a faith relationship with her and her family.

Speaker 1: 14:13

So, yeah, Amazing and it and it goes back to it's even something that I talk about a lot Like. We really need people in our corner, right, and I can imagine just the brevity of how you were in so many kids' corners throughout all of those years.

Speaker 3: 14:35

Yeah, you know I just talked about humility and so, with great humility, I say I really believe that God anointed me with an ability to encourage, well, to really. You know it's almost a dirty word to say in the public school, but I'll say it here that he anointed me to love children. Well, and you know no one can deny love children. Well, and you know no one can deny love. Everybody understands what. Everybody understands that, even if they can't identify what it is or who. He is right, kristen. I mean like hope. We know who hope is and even though the unbeliever wouldn't name him as Jesus Christ, they can't deny him. Everybody understands when we're giving people hope, that that's what it is. So, yeah, it was a real blessing to have those years with students.

Speaker 1: 15:42

Do you have any testimonies or stories, as you were a teacher, like impacting one of your students or more?

Speaker 2: 15:50

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 15:52

I think, like most teachers I would say, especially, I guess I would say, are things that I've heard a decade or two past the time that I was actually working with those students, and so now a lot of 20, 30-year-old students who have reached out and reconnected with me, and I think you know there's a lot of powerful stories, but by far I believe the most impactful story is the story that leads to the ministry, and so I'll just jump into that if I could.

Speaker 2: 16:41

Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 16:43

Yeah, yeah. So about a decade back now, I think it was 10, 11 years ago um, I got this group of students in my band program, a group of sixth graders, and this particular group I also supervised at lunch and recess. And, and you know, if you ever want to really see how kids behave, don't go to the classroom, just follow them out to recess, because that's where you see how they really live, you know.

Speaker 2: 17:15

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 17:17

Yeah, so I have this group of kids at recess and I heard the language that they used and I saw how they behaved and, in particular, I saw how they treated other kids and, to cut to the chase, it made me want to quit teaching.

Speaker 3: 17:38

Yeah, and again, I had and it wasn't this whole group actually, I could limit it to four students in this entire group.

Speaker 3: 17:50

You know probably, well, definitely over 100 kids in the band.

Speaker 3: 17:55

There's only four kids. But again, just very consistently, I heard their language, I saw their behavior, I saw how they treated other kids and it made me want to quit teaching and I struggled with that for a year and a half and my prayer partner at the time, my accountability partner, is a teacher in a nearby town and I told Jerry many times I'm just like I just can't, I can't figure this out, because I knew God had called me to teach and it just felt so compelled to leave. I just knew I was supposed to leave and my wife and I talked about it many times and again, the short story is, a year and a half later I did leave and I left in large part and I'll just hit it one more time because of the language because of the behavior of these four students and, in particular, how I saw them treat others. And now this is where we have to ask the listeners to really check in here. I left because I wanted to be a lot more like those four students.

Speaker 1: 19:02

You want to impact more of those students.

Speaker 3: 19:06

No, I wanted my language and my behavior and how I treated people to align with the language and the behavior and how I saw these four treat others. Because what I saw is four kids who lived on mission for Christ, and they weren't carrying their Bibles into school, they weren't proselytizing out on the playground. It was none of those things, you know, that we often think of as the ways that we witness Right.

Speaker 1: 19:33

And.

Speaker 3: 19:34

I saw what I observed was the silliest things. Like we'd be out on the playground and kids at the school played a game called four square, you know, out there on the playground and, um, that kid would come through the doors out onto the playground, that kid being the one who was never going to get chosen to be part of it. They didn't wait for him to get rejected, they went to him and they brought him into their group. And you know, gosh, what can I say?

Speaker 3: 20:10

Again, the very simplest thing that God used to convict me over and over and over again of right, this is how I've called you to live, to simply love people. Well, and it just it broke my heart, kristen. It just it was. And I don't mean that I was living poorly or not living on mission, I was but it really convicted me to move to a platform beyond public education where I had more freedom in talking about Jesus, about, you know, preaching, right, truly evangelizing, etc. But it was really, I mean, it was God, but it was God through four little 10-year-olds, the impact that God will choose to have through us if we allow him to, no matter our age or our giftings or any skill sets that we think we do or don't have. It changed my life.

Speaker 1: 21:15

So those four kids were like the catalyst for you to launch into more in your life.

Speaker 3: 21:23

Yeah, yeah, actually it was.

Speaker 1: 21:26

Love your was love your too.

Speaker 3: 21:28

Thank you for being vulnerable right yeah, yeah, it was interesting that their whole sixth grade year went by and I was struggling with this and praying with my wife and with my accountability partner, and then that over the summer I actually did a fair amount of research around. You know where exactly are the legal lines in terms of spiritual conversation in the classroom, I guess for lack of better way of saying it because what I didn't want to do is cross that line, I wanted to be a respecter of the law. You know in how I did that, um. But then, in the fall of their seventh grade year, it was probably october, late october I think, um, one of them came into my office.

Speaker 3: 22:13

She came in with a friend of hers and you know, mr kunkle, my grandpa is sick, he's in the hospital. Will you pray for him? Um, and I knew the student, I knew the parents and so I knew their people, their Christians and so that. But I did pray and I went home and I told my wife, you know, I think you know God's been nudging me for a year and a half and today he hit me with the two by four because it was like hello. Can I make this any more obvious to you that it's time to move on, and that was really decision-making time for us that, yep, we need to do this.

Speaker 1: 22:51

So how old were you at this time, if you don't mind me asking when you were getting the impression to leave?

Speaker 3: 23:01

Yeah, so I would have been 40, 40. Yep 4647 somewhere in there.

Speaker 1: 23:09

Okay, Now you know most don't retire early, Right?

Speaker 3: 23:16

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 23:18

Tell us more about that. Like, what is it? What was that like for you? Like, bring us in a little bit deeper what that process was like, because, um, I mean, I know I went through that journey a few years ago, but if you could share a little bit more of what that process was like for you, because it it does feel like taking a huge leap of faith, right.

Speaker 3: 23:39

Yeah, yeah, it was beautiful and it was broken at the same time.

Speaker 3: 23:42

And the beautiful part was my wife was in such support of me and she, she's got a faith like wow, I'm just so blessed in my wife and the relationship she has with Christ.

Speaker 3: 24:01

And so we had, you know, by the time the student approached me for prayer, we really, I think, had I don't know if we were at that conclusion, because that's not fair to say we weren't but you know, we'd had a lot of discussion, a lot of prayer around it, and so in that moment then it wasn't so difficult to decide, said I, did.

Speaker 3: 24:26

We decided that what we would do is, you know, the thing about teaching that you said is it's hard to leave from a financial standpoint, right, to walk away, um, but you know, which is probably not uncommon in a lot of industries, you leave some things behind, but, um, but the other piece was to leave in the middle of the year and that just really didn't feel right and I didn't want to do that. And so we actually planned for me to leave in the spring, after the school year ended. That was our plan and as God would work it and only God he provided an opportunity at the semester break, or, you know, in the spring, to leave earlier, which made it, yeah, what it was, I guess.

Speaker 1: 25:20

Yeah. So what was it like on the last day? Remember what that was?

Speaker 3: 25:28

Did you say on the off day.

Speaker 1: 25:31

On your last day.

Speaker 3: 25:33

Oh, on my last day. Yeah, it was wild, that's what it was. Yeah, a couple weeks before I left, actually, I went in to each of my bands. I had, I don't know, maybe four or five different groups at that time, right, and I really don't know what motivated me other than the obvious God. But what I did is I took in a picture of my family and I put it up on the screen.

Speaker 3: 26:08

You know, I used a projector when I taught, right, and so when my students came in, maybe it was at the end of rehearsal I don't really remember, but I shared with them this photo and I said, hey, you guys probably recognize these people because I had photos around in my office and stuff, right, and I talked about family. I said, you'll, you recognize my family. You know, this is a group of people that I really love and respect. And then what I did is I brought up the seating chart, which was the best photos that I had of my students. I said I just want to show you another group of people that I really love and respect. I brought up their photos and I just reminded them of that in part, anyway, you know, in terms of the timing, knowing to be able to go the extra mile, I guess, in terms of loving, them.

Speaker 1: 27:06

Well, um was good. Yeah, so you, you're, you're set to leave. Your last day happens um, what, like? What did you have on the horizon? Did you know what was coming at that point?

Speaker 3: 27:24

Yeah, yeah. So really what I knew was that God was calling me to launch this ministry. I knew that it was going to be around prayer and youth and really I would say that was about it. And what I did was, for probably eight weeks I think it was eight, maybe 10 weeks it was kind of like going back to seminary. I just spent my days in prayer and in discernment and it wasn't, you know, for clarity, I wasn't making a big effort to pray or discern. That's just where God put me. He just put me in this place of spending just a ton of time with him praying and discerning about, okay, prayer and youth. But what is this to look like? And I believe that you know God speaks to us all the time. He's always talking to us. Sometimes we choose to listen and sometimes we have ears to hear Right.

Speaker 3: 28:25

And also, or in particular, I guess I would say, in dreams and I had a few years prior to this my wife had finally convinced me, after much effort on her part.

Speaker 3: 28:40

She had convinced me to journal, and so I'd been journaling pretty faithfully for a couple of years at that point and I journaled in those. Well, it was the first six weeks that I was off of school I journaled 13 different times, that I woke up with these dreams that were so clear and so direct, even things around the development of the phone app, technical terms that I didn't even know I thought they were like you know, there were words that I understood to be. You know, I understood the word like I don't guitar, right, and so I wake up with guitar in my head, except there's a technical implication to that particular word that I don't understand. So then I wound up sharing this story, right, this dream, with the techno geeks and they're like dude, are you kidding me? You heard that. And then they told me the technical implication of it and uh, yeah, so there's just a lot of that during that time. Um, yeah, it's incredible.

Speaker 1: 29:47

So you're in this, in this what you said about six, eight week time frame. You're really pressing in and being still and dreams and getting visions right, right, so, um, it's so beautiful that you're along the way as well right, um, what, what was next? What, what came? Were you getting print then in your dreams and in your journaling time and prayer?

Speaker 3: 30:17

yeah, yeah. So it's given a lot of the parts and pieces, I guess I would say for what it was to look like. And look like maybe isn't the right phraseology, maybe a better way of saying it was the core vision of q35 ministry. And I say that because I just think it's.

Speaker 3: 30:39

It's so very easy in our humanness right To start doing the good things and all kinds of good things and lose sight of what it is that God's called us to do and I'm not saying, I'm an expert at this but having had a really beautiful seminary experience that taught me, really trained me well on how to focus in prayer and discernment, again, that process over that period of time of praying and discerning, really led to giving me really sharp clarity on the things you know. I'd call it the things of God versus the good things right, all the other things that 235 can and will do someday but which are not God given right.

Speaker 1: 31:31

So he gave the name away 235. Tell us, tell us more about it away.

Speaker 3: 31:37

I-35, tell us, tell us more about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So really it comes from prayer, encouragement and worship. And then our initial launch was along the I-35 corridor, you know, which is maybe a little corny, right, I mean, hey, I'm not God, go ask him, don't blame me. But you know, it's interesting because it was so obvious to me through the, you know, through Revelation, that's what it was to be. And then, as I started thinking about it, I had lived 20 years in Albert Lee, you know, right on the south border of Minnesota, on I-35. I taught for a decade in Faribault, a little further north on I-35. And I live in Owatonna, which is in between those two, right on I-35. And so it's just a natural place to launch out and get our start there and the prayer, encouragement, worship part, as we've done, our Elevate events, our Day of Prayer we've really seen that come to fruition in those events.

Speaker 1: 32:52

So, yeah, I love that you said I just want to capture this because as a you know, as a fellow, you know, I'm a business owner and I I look to him for names and, um, you know different things that a business owner would need. I look to him for those answers. So often if somebody questions it, I'll say, well, just go ask God. Then he gave me that. So I love that you really are leaning into him for those answers. You know, it's really interesting. As you were talking about 35, I was just getting a vision of 35 just isn't just in Minnesota, it goes all the way to the bottom of the US right.

Speaker 1: 33:37

Yeah, that's right. Is there some?

Speaker 3: 33:44

excitement today. Yeah well, I'm really excited. So we've been a southern Minnesota minister I mean, that's where we've been for nine years but I'm super excited as we have spent the last 18 to 20 months really reorganizing, restructuring, building out support, bringing on new team members, defining roles et cetera, all this stuff to launch more broadly. And again, for clarity, I want to be really careful that and really direct and saying we do not want to be big or the next big thing. What we want to do is take what God has used so effectively in southern Minnesota and give it away nationwide. You know, and so I'm super excited, so interesting that you bring up that i-35 runs the entire length of the country, because I'm so excited to do an event down in texas on the southern border, you know where 35 terminates, wherever that is right, and then to do an event up in duluth, um, that we claim that whole corridor for christ right is that cool?

Speaker 1: 34:57

yeah, yeah I think in pictures a lot, so when people are talking, I'm constantly. It's almost like I'm seeing a movie, right, that's amazing. So tell us a little bit more about you, know your events and you'd never started a ministry before. So what did that look like? Was it challenging? Give us the ins and outs of what this looks like.

Speaker 3: 36:00

But I had, god had really positioned me well in this, in that I had launched a number of organizations, a couple of community bands that I organized and launched out in the first few years and other things, I guess, and so I had a lot of practical experience in that way, which was helpful. But the other thing is God put two people right in my lap, who it was kind of like this mom when I first started teaching. These two beautiful people came alongside me, grandpa phil um, I had his four grandchildren in my band program and phil stepped in as the treasurer excuse me, the secretary for the ministry, and he was I don't know, I would guess he was, yeah, probably in his 70s at the time, so fully wise and experienced and I mean just through and through lover of Christ, and then a good friend actually of my wife's and mine, dawn, who was the treasurer as we launched out, and she came with a ton of business sense and HR background from her corporate life and so so much of the work. I mean I'm not saying I didn't work at it, but those two really did a lot to get the ministry grounded in terms of you know all the, all the stuff right, you know the 501 C, three papers and the, the bylaws and the articles and the. You know a statement of faith that reflects well who we are and all of that stuff, and so that's that's kind of how we started out.

Speaker 3: 37:33

And then both of them after a time, approach me Phil Phil, I think, first, and then Dawn later, you know, and they both just said you know, I think my time here is done and it was hard and they were both right and I knew that when they told me, I mean, I know they're discerning too, and so it was awesome that season had passed and it was time to move in to the next, which we did. So, yeah, that's the initial launch, I guess.

Speaker 1: 38:03

Yeah, so tell us a little bit more about you. Know these. You said encounter events and like in between the events, like what is it that makes you be out there making an impact?

Speaker 3: 38:18

yeah, yeah, I'll just kind of give a big picture overview of 235 and what it is that we do. And so, to start with our mission, which is helping our target audiences middle school and high school students, and so the mission is building confidence in prayer, and so God has given us two specific tools. I would call them to do that. One is what we now call our elevate times of prayer, encouragement and worship, and that's what we've actually done. Are these one day events? So far, they've all been one day. They've been saturdays, from nine to four, and so I just walked through kind of what that looks like on a saturday yeah, absolutely yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:10

So what we've done is, you know, we've gone into a local community, visited with pastoral staff primarily other ministry leaders, like you know paraministries like Youth for Christ or Young Life, those kind of ministries that have traction within the community.

Speaker 3: 39:28

We've shared the idea that God has given us the vision for the day. And where they bought in right, where God's convicted their hearts and said, yeah, let's do this, we've partnered with them to make those elevate events happen. And where we haven't gotten that buy-in, then we've accepted the fact that, you know, it's not our role to convict people's hearts, right, our job is to share the vision and let God convict hearts. So we've just gone where God's led by people saying, yeah, we want a piece of this, right. And then, effectively, what it looks like is, if you picture, you know, most of our events have, most of our Elevate events have been in churches. Some have been in, actually in public schools. We've done one of them at a senior center. But if you picture a church with chairs in the auditorium, if you were to pull those chairs into circles, you know. So you've got an auditorium of circular tables, right, this is kind of the ideal. And you seat four to six students at those tables. At each table, middle school and high school students, and then two table leaders. One is a 20 something, the other one is what we call an experienced adult. You know somebody who is my age right, an old timer. And those tables are what I call our prayer centers, right, that's where prayer is going to happen is at those tables. Then up on the stage is a young, you know, vibrant worship band that can lead out. Well, when students come in at the start of the day, the staff is already up front on their feet in worship. The band's playing.

Speaker 3: 41:12

Students come in, they check in, they're given a table assignment, somebody helps them find their way into the table, they set their stuff down and they just jump right into worship. So we have 15 20 minutes of worship to kick off the day. Then there's a, an intro from the front, which I'll actually come back to, but kind of, you know the welcome and hey, let's find our seats at the table. And then, to get students into a time of prayer, we have someone come to the front of the room. This is someone that's been selected ahead of time and has planned for this. Right, this isn't a? Hey, somebody jump up here, but then this individual gets up and gives what we refer to as an activation, which is a term that you know sometimes is used in the prayer community, but others don't know. But activation really is simply a spark, right, it's a way of igniting the fire.

Speaker 3: 42:28

And so the way we coach people to activate, like you know, kristen, if you're going to consider being an activator, I'd say you know, listen, we've got this event happening. This we hold to is that we don't talk about praying and we don't teach about praying. What we do is we allow time and space for students to pray. They learn not by being talked at, they learn through immersion, they learn by doing. And so, kristen, if you want to be an activator, here's what I'd ask of you. You've got five minutes at the most. If you do it in two, kristen, if you want to be an activator, here's what I'd ask of you. You've got five minutes at the most. If you do it in two, we'll give you a bonus, right, but you've got five minutes to get up, and in those five minutes we want you to start here.

Speaker 3: 43:08

Start by saying hey, listen, friends, there's a lot of ways to pray. I want to share with you one way that works for me. It's not the only way, right, and it may not even work for you, but it's a way that I connect with God in a really sweet way. Right, this works for me. Here's what it sounds like, and here's here's, you know, kind of the approach. Here's what it sounds like. And then to wrap up with and now let's try it at our tables.

Speaker 3: 43:39

And then what we ask of our table leaders is the best they can to not do anything, don't talk about it, don't reteach it, just be quiet and let students start praying. And what we see, what we've seen in the last nine years anyway, is normally I would say probably eight out of ten tables a student will step into it, they'll start praying, and once one student prays, the rest of them will step into it. There'll be a table or two where it stalls. You know, it just isn't going anywhere. And we coach our staff.

Speaker 3: 44:17

When it becomes uncomfortable, that's okay, just be quiet, right, just let it happen. And when it becomes really uncomfortable, well then, don't talk about it and don't reteach the activation, but start praying in the way you know. Kristen just brought this activation Just start praying in that way to model it and then again be quiet and let students jump in. And it can be awkward. It is, and we really challenge our staff to be okay with the awkwardness that this is the piece that we so often will not commit to in prayer and because of that we miss the fullness, we miss the opportunity, students miss the opportunity to really enter into prayer. You with me so far.

Speaker 1: 45:08

Yes, You're facilitating space right.

Speaker 3: 45:14

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know I am. I am just wildly confident about what we do, and I'm wildly confident because it's not my idea there, say that again yeah, yeah, I'm wildly confident about what we do, and that's because it's not my idea.

Speaker 3: 45:38

This is god's idea. Now, there's a lot that we do in the day. You know we start at nine o'clock. Well, god didn't tell us to start at nine o'clock. We feed people lunch. He didn't tell us to do that. Right, there's a lot of things we do that he didn't tell us to do, but the one piece that was so clear was immersion Let students pray. And in talking to people now literally all over the nation, and not like I've talked to thousands of people across the nation, I haven't, but you know it's very much the norm that if and in my own personal experience, you know, I go to a day- of prayer I go to a prayer conference.

Speaker 3: 46:17

What does that look like? Well, at nine o'clock, someone gets up and presents for an hour around. Here's a way to approach prayer, right, or a way to pray, and that's beautiful and it's building and encouraging, right. And then we have a break at 10 o'clock and I go in the hallway and I find someone to pray with, and at 10 30 I go in and I listen to an hour or 90 minutes of someone else talking about how to pray, and it's beautiful and it's good and maybe even, um, god has asked them to do that right. There's no less value to it. It's just not what he's asked us to do. He's asked us to instead allow time and space to pray. And because I'm rolling, I'm going to just keep right on.

Speaker 3: 47:03

When I was a kid, I was a distance runner and I had run. I mean, I was running consistently six to eight miles a day. It was kind of my norm, right. And so you know people who train will say you know, I've gone through the wall, right, and I'd been through the wall many times. But then one of my older sisters called me she's going to school up in Duluth and she called me and said hey, let's run Grandma's Marathon next spring. I'm like, yeah, okay, so I start training for the marathon.

Speaker 3: 47:38

And now I'm starting to run 12, 13, 14, you know, 16 miles at a goal and I went through this wall. I'd never been through before Chris and I started. This probably happened for a couple months where I was running those kinds of distances and I was aware something was kind of weird. But one day I'm out there trucking along a mile 14 or whatever, when I became aware that my feet were moving underneath of me. You know, I I had gone through this wall to a place where I wasn't really even aware that my feet were moving, that I was actually running. I was in a different place in my head. Right, what we've seen at Elevate, not just with our students but with our staff, many who, I would say, are very seasoned prayer warriors they've gone through a wall they've never been through before, because of a very simple fact that they have the time and the space to go deeper than they've ever gone before and, more importantly, to allow holy spirit to come in through the door that they've opened for them. Right?

Speaker 1: 48:53

yes, so incredible. I I know when, when we were at prayer hub, you, you walked us through um. I believe you walked us through um. I believe you, you walked us through an exercise. Do you remember what that was? I remember exactly. I wish I could remember.

Speaker 3: 49:12

I kind of think I did Um, did I use the ax acronym?

Speaker 1: 49:19

I believe so, and you? I think you read a scripture.

Speaker 3: 49:24

Oh, yeah, yeah, no, yeah, we did. I'm praying through scripture. Sorry, I'm just I'm actually jumping into my documents here. So, yeah, we prayed through scripture together that day and this is we've seen activations, some, some that you know kind of repeat, you know, not the same presenters necessarily, but like using acronyms to to pray Right, I mean, or praying through scripture.

Speaker 3: 49:56

That's one that that comes up often, that comes up often, um, and so, yeah, that's what I presented that day was that idea of just, you know, um, a disciplined and measured way of taking a small passage of scripture, um and that's important that it's short and then just meditating, which you know again, you talk about the uh, emotionally charged words in today's church. You know, meditate. Meditate isn't a bad thing, right, it's to just allow God to speak to us. I guess is how I would reflect on that and then to really think, to contemplate and then to pray right, and this process of doing this over and over again within the word. This is a really beautiful way um to start and it's just so attainable for someone who maybe hasn't um spent a lot of time in prayer or maybe spent a lot of time in the word.

Speaker 1: 50:54

So you know what I'm really capturing and catching here with, with what you're doing. You know I feel like our world is is I mean, I said it before we even got started I'm like time goes by so fast. Um, I like we have to be really intentional to make room for the things that he's called us to do. So you are facilitating, um, the space for these kids that you know they're in this world in this time that is, you know, a very quick pace world and you're giving them the space to really slow down and you know just that uncomfortable it is uncomfortable If you haven't just a little bit of my story, like he had me really learn how to like unwind from grinding.

Speaker 1: 51:47

Um years ago I called it the unwinding process and learning how to walk again because my life was in such a quick pace. So I can imagine a lot of these kids. You know whether it's being in school or you know whatever else activities they have, sports. You know there's a lot going on, right, but to really be intentional and help them, you know, slow down.

Speaker 3: 52:11

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 52:12

Be, OK with no, that's absolutely right. And again, what's interesting, especially in the first events that we did, you know we started at home, right? I mean, the very first Elevate was in Owatonna, where I live, of course it would be. That's because that's where we've got my wife and I have the most connections right. And so we gathered people that we knew well and know to be prayer warriors, and that was our team right and that was our team right. And even among them, you know the impact that it had in their prayer lives in that one day.

Speaker 3: 52:47

It's just amazing, and for me personally to have gone through this, I don't know, I think we've done it 10 or about 10 times, I think now, and the impact it's had in my life in that way and a lot of it is just time and space, is that simple, I think. And you know what happens in that time and space, right, I guess, not to disregard the move of the Holy Spirit, because that's what's happening is, you know. I mean, what is prayer if it's not opening the door of our heart to allow the Holy Spirit in right, the door of our heart to allow Holy Spirit in right? And so when we hold the door open for a longer period of time. He can do more work really. So you know I started out with yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 1: 53:37

No, I was just going to ask do you have like a testimony, maybe one of these kids that came to an event and and left um with some some new keys?

Speaker 3: 53:46

that was really mind-blowing for you to hear the testimony on the other side yeah, yeah, yeah, one of the interesting things is we don't have a lot, we haven't captured um testimony from these youth who are now adults. Right, a lot of them have grown up and are adults, but because when they came to the event they were youth, they were minors we didn't collect any contact information. You know, we don't and we won't. I mean we're not going to do that, right, I mean, it's their youth pastor, or sometimes mom or dad, that registers them, and so it's actually this is one of our tasks and I'll be fully, fully disclosing here I don't think this is going to happen this year, maybe next year, but we need to figure out a way to get back to these, you know, quote kids who are now young adults and ask them you know, now, five years, a decade later, what has what has the impact of that day been?

Speaker 3: 54:51

But what we know, I mean we've had just that. I say we know, but the event right, the event, the event right, the event has had just phenomenal reviews, just amazingly consistent. And I don't mean, hey, it was a lot of fun and the food was great. I mean, yeah, we get that too right. Or the worship, you know, and those are all good things right, but it's really the things like you know, the impact in particular of um you know, of of god in the experience, and some students, for the very first time, have experienced what that feels like. And then others who have experienced it, you know, are experiencing it again, are thankful for that. Some, um, you know it went to a different level maybe than what they'd experienced before. But so much, I mean probably the most important things can't be measured. I mean, how do we measure the impact of the Holy Spirit in the day?

Speaker 3: 55:57

Well, I mean yeah, I mean, we can sense it because we're there, right, and people who have experienced that know what we're talking about. But not so measurable. But what we can measure the easiest statistic, if you will is what's your confidence in prayer? And so one of the questions we ask is well, it's two questions what was your confidence in prayer at the start of the day Sliding scale one to ten, right? What's your confidence in prayer at the start of the day Sliding scale one to ten, right. What's your confidence in prayer now?

Speaker 3: 56:23

And students report that, on average, their confidence in prayer increases 40% in that one day, and one out of three tells us their confidence in prayer doubles. And so this has become one of my kind of rallying cries. You know, hey preacher, hey youth pastor, hey mom or dad, youth leader. If you could send your students to a one-day event where this is what they're reporting you know, a 40% increase, one out of three that their confidence in prayer is doubling, wouldn't you send them? Because you can do this right in your church, and we don't want any money for this, we don't want any fame, we don't want to become big, all we want to do is give it to you. Do you want it. Yeah, so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 57:18

So let's just say somebody we're reaching a a lot of countries on here. Let's just say somebody in china is listening today like what would it look like for you to share this with others in other places, beyond the 35 corridor?

Speaker 3: 57:36

yeah, well, the timing could be more beautiful. You know, christine, you talked about at the start that it feels like this is a long time in coming, but in so many ways, you know again, god's timing is so perfect, right, I mentioned, you know, the last 18 to 20 months. We've been very purposeful about building out our structure and organization and part of that is to intentionally release Elevate at a broader you know, into a broader space. I guess I would say as a result of that, in just the last few weeks we've all of a sudden gotten. We have four new Elevate events jumping up and this one started I should back up. It started as a one-day or a yearly event and then we did it for a couple of years. We did it twice a year and then COVID and then, like everybody, it seems, things just fell apart and we had a couple of really dry years and really we're just getting back into it now.

Speaker 3: 58:34

But one of these elevates will happen in Seattle and we're in process. We have essentially built Elevate into a plan in the can. You know that as a teacher right Plan in the can. So here's everything you need to make this event happen. But we also know it's imperfect, and so we're in. You know, these events in the next, both this spring and early summer, will really help us sharpen that. But by fall I'm confident we're going to have a plan that we can give you know you mentioned China or wherever right that we can give them everything they need in terms of support material, training, marketing stuff right, of support material, training, marketing stuff, right, and they can host this event locally. And that sure is our hope, and our goal would be to again to just give it away wherever people want to use it. So incredible.

Speaker 3: 59:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 59:37

Scott, absolutely. Well, how can people?

Speaker 3: 59:45

get a hold of you to hear more. Yeah, probably easiest is just info at pew35.org.

Speaker 1: 59:52

All right, that's good, do you have a website as well? Yeah, it's just pew35.org. Okay, awesome, yeah, I'll have this information notes for everybody to access and, um, so at the end of every podcast episode, or, as the lord and I call it, a seed cast, um, I like the guests who just think of one person putting in today and do you have anything else that you would want to share and speak over this one, and then would you pray us out today.

Speaker 3: 1:00:27

Yeah, and I apologize. You cut out for just a moment there. Could you ask one more time what it is?

Speaker 1: 1:00:33

Well, I see you have a question here. Yes, you are absolutely open to sharing about your app. Please do that.

Speaker 3: 1:00:39

Yeah, yeah, thank you. Well, first of all, I'll just wrap up real quickly with Elevate. You know the format. We start out in worship, as I described. We move to the tables, we have an activation and spend 30 to 40 minutes in prayer right. Then it's worship time again. So everybody's up on their feet up front by the stage. We spend 15 to 20 minutes in worship and then it's back to the tables for 30 to 40 minutes in prayer. That's the model for the day. So, just so, that's out there the other piece.

Speaker 3: 1:01:11

So I said, god gave us two tools to help build confidence in prayer. One is Elevate, the other is the Encouraging Prayer phone app, and that phone app is in beta testing right now and content is being built out for it. This app, again, it's not going to be the next great thing. It's not going to be all that. It's going to be what God asked us to build.

Speaker 3: 1:01:36

And what he asked us to build is an app that has two functions, only two things. There'll be a lot more, but the two things that God asked of us is that it connects students one-on-one, based on their age, their gender and their walk, so you know their perceived relationship with Christ right, and that it will send content to students based on those same criteria. And so you know, I think of myself back in my junior high days, when I was reading the word but not being discipled, right. But if I had the Encouraging Prayer phone app, what I would have done is I would have clicked the button to say I want a prayer partner, and Encouraging Prayer would have said okay, take this little intake survey to help us understand where you're at in your walk. And based on that, it would have connected me, a middle school boy who was early in his walk, with another boy who was in middle school who was early in his walk one on one to pray for each other.

Speaker 1: 1:02:38

Oh, I love that, that's one piece, right.

Speaker 3: 1:02:42

And then the other thing is there's so much great biblical content out there now for kids to consume, and so if they're trying to figure out, you know, things around gender or identity or sexuality, they can find that, of course, the problem is there's so much that is not biblical living in the same space, and so what Encouraging Prayer will do essentially is sort that and send students biblically sound content. That's not only so, let's say, identity, right, there's a lot of content that's consumable for middle school and high school kids. But then there's some content that it's just too much for middle schoolers to consume, right. Well, the app will tag that, so it's not sent to middle schoolers, it'll be sent directly to middle schoolers, so that it's a good match. So that's the Encouraging Prayer app.

Speaker 1: 1:03:53

We believe it'll launch the end of this year and we're super excited to see what God does.

Speaker 3: 1:03:55

with that I mean we don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:03:56

We don't know what he's going to do other than build confidence in prayer, because that's what he's asked us to do. The app launches. Um, you know, we can always add the app information to the show notes later on, because this, this podcast, will be around for many years.

Speaker 1: 1:04:06

This episode will be so I'm very excited for all he's doing in and through you and um. I know you mentioned that. I kind of went out for a moment. But, um, to wrap up, one of the things I like the podcast guests to do or, like I say, it's a seed cast um is for you to to just really get a vision of the one that's listening in today. And is there anything else that you'd want to speak over the one, and would you pray us out today?

Speaker 3: 1:04:34

Yeah, yeah. I would just go back to the impact that four 10-year-olds had in my life, and again, I'm confident that each of them would say that wasn't them, that was God, and there's some truth to that. And yet they were obedient to living on mission. They were salt and light and because of that it changed my life. And so I would just encourage the one, the one be bold in how you live. You know, it's not always proselytizing, right, it's not always the big event, it's loving other people. Well, you know, he said right, what's the greatest commandment? And the second is like the first. He said right, you know, love one another. Not only love one another, but don't love them like they love you. Love them like I have first loved you, right, you know, love one another, not only love one another, but don't love them like they love you. Love them like I have first loved you, right. Don't expect anything in return. Don't go into it with expectation.

Speaker 3: 1:05:54

Love them not because you expect anything or because, yeah, you want anything, right, right, or because they've already loved you. Love them because it's what I've called you to do and that's what these 10, you know, these, uh, poor 10 year olds did. They just love people. Well, um, so, if you're the one, be bold in how you love people. Don't let um, don't be afraid to let people know how much you love them, in whatever words or whatever ways you may choose to do that, that they might know who love is our friend, jesus and Father. With that, I just I give thanks and praise for these little ones who you chose to use to change my life, god. I just pray a sweet blessing on each of them as they're now walking out their young adult lives.

Speaker 3: 1:06:47

God, I pray that they truly will continue to be salt and light and have great impact for your kingdom. God, I thank you for all who have been involved in launching 235 and for the great support we've had. God, I thank you, too, for everybody listening in today. For those who, maybe, are launching out in another direction, in a way that God has called them, I just pray, lord, that you give them good clarity and you give them commitment, lord, a real steadfastness to stay with it and to continue praying and discerning until they know truly, lord, what it is that you've called them to, that they do something that's of God and not that's just great or good. And, father, I just thank you and praise you for this time today and I ask your blessing on new wings and Kristen as she continues to do what she does In Jesus' name. Amen.

Speaker 1: 1:07:48

Thank you, Pat. It's been a joy to have you on today and thank you for being a brave voice who's setting others free. I'm going to close with the Hope Unlocked anchoring verse, which is may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, and believing that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. That's Romans 15, 13. So thank you again, Pat. As I mentioned, I will have all of his contact information in the show notes and I will be back with another episode next week. Thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:08:19

Thanks, my friend, bye, bye.