Today I'm joined by Ryan Howard, an LC—MS DCE (Director of Christian Education), to talk about youth ministry.Follow Ryan: @BigHowie8 on X

@BigHowie8 on MediumPlease Consider GivingNifty Links: Join the Community Click Here to Check Out the Store Click Here to Donate Greatest Theology Newsletter on the PlanetTranscript[00:00:04] Remy: Thank you so much for joining me on Lutheran Answers.How you doing?[00:00:11] Ryan: Doing okay. It's been kind of a crazy couple of weeks. We had a really big wedding at our church, and we were involved in that. It was our. Our senior pastor's daughter got married, so.[00:00:24] Remy: Oh, wow.[00:00:25] Ryan: Really big deal. And my kids were in it, and we were in it, and we were doing all kinds of stuff. And so that was last week, and then this week we've been trying to recover, and of course, you know, my kids got sick, of course, and all that. So crazy. And we also have family in Florida, so we've been worried about them, but they're all okay. Everyone's good.[00:00:47] Remy: Good, good.[00:00:49] Ryan: So how are you?[00:00:50] Remy: I'm all right, man. Tired. Just, you know, working and school and everything else. Just getting through it. Thank you for asking.[00:00:58] Ryan: Yeah, of course.[00:01:00] Remy: So we were talking a little bit before we got started here, and you're a DCE, and you come from a long line of DCEs, or educators in general, I guess.[00:01:10] Ryan: Yeah. Yeah.[00:01:12] Remy: Recap that for me.[00:01:13] Ryan: Yeah, so I. I've been a DCE for almost 10 years now.I'm currently serving in the Houston, Texas area. Before that, I was in. I was on Long Island, New York.That's a. That's a distinction. You can't say in Long Island. You have to say on Long Island.[00:01:30] Remy: Okay.[00:01:32] Ryan: What I learned that I'm not from there, but. Yeah. So I got my DCE certification at Concordia University in Chicago, and that was great. My father is a DCE now. He does primarily music ministry.He's an organist and choir director, but he also did youth ministry before that. And his parents were both Lutheran educators. My grandmother taught kindergarten for, like, 40 some years.My grandfather was a teacher and then a principal in Lutheran schools for a long time. And. Yeah, so it's kind of run in the family. This Lutheran education has always been a part of who I am and. And hopefully will continue for a long time.[00:02:23] Remy: Yeah. Good. That's awesome. What's your favorite part about being a dce?[00:02:29] Ryan: I love.I love lots of. About being a dce. Probably one of my favorite parts is the awesome people that I get to work with, like other DCEs and other pastors, you know, being able to connect with other Lutheran teachers and. And learn from them and grow with them and talk to them. And, you know, you're the. The ministry team that I have, you know, and even my. You know, it's just me and. And my pastor at my church, which is great, but, you know, just in our District, we have other DCEs and other workers and professionals that I get to connect with regularly. And, you know, the Lutheran world being kind of small, I really enjoy that because I really love meeting people and seeing what they're doing and, and yeah, just we're all, we're all going about the same mission in lots of different ways and it's really coo...

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