432. Bringing Teens Closer to Christ with Randy Harward

I’m Jody Moore and this is Better Than Happy, episode 432, Bringing Teens Closer to Christ with Randy Harward.

This is Better Than Happy, the podcast where we study what the healthiest, most successful people in today’s world think, feel and do. And we leverage this knowledge to create our best lives. Are you ready, little bird? Let’s fly.

Okay you guys, I’m so excited about the guest that I interviewed for today’s podcast episode. I’ve got to tell you, I just started recording the intro and then I realized I was going on and on way too long. So I’m going to try to keep it concise here. But I just have a little bit of background I feel I want to give you to set up why I brought this guest on the podcast and who he is. And I also want to fill in gaps for those of you that may not be members of my faith of the LDS Church.

So we have this class that we encourage our high school students, our high school kids to go to, and it’s called seminary. And it’s a scripture study class. They study the scriptures and it provides community for them and things like that as well. But in a lot of places that class happens before school early morning. That’s how I went to seminary growing up. I went to it at 6:00am. And that’s because I grew up in a part of Spokane where there just weren’t enough LDS kids to have a class for it during the school day.

Out here in Spokane Valley where we live now, my kids get to go to it during their school day. It’s what we call release time seminary. And all of that is to say that my experience with seminary growing up was sort of hit and miss. I had some good experiences there. I learned some things there. But I also had a lot of not great experiences, at least the way I interpreted them. I have some somewhat negative memories of certain teachers and the way I felt when I went there.

And probably it being at 6:00am didn’t help either. I guarantee I had a really bad attitude. But at any rate, my husband and I don’t make our kids go to this class. We encourage them to and they both have really not pushed back on it. And so one day, though, one of my kids casually mentioned something and this is when they first started attending seminary. One of them casually mentioned something about how great their seminary teacher is. I was like, “That’s cool.”

And this happened to be one of my children who doesn’t just dish out compliments easily all the time. And so the fact that he would say that really stood out to me. And over time I started noticing not only do they think that he’s a great teacher, but they actually totally worship this guy. His name is Randy Harward, but all the kids call him Broha. Maybe you know in our religion we call each other brother and sister, Sister Moore or Brother Harward. So they call him Broha for short.

And he is just so good at connecting with these kids. I can’t even tell you how appreciative I am as a mother who wants my kids to have positive experiences as they study the principles of our religion. Who wants them to feel more than anything, I just want them to feel loved. I want them to know that they’re loved by God and by Christ and by their dad and I. And so I feel like what Broha does so well is create an environment where they feel loved. And whether my kids stay active in the church or not is really not the point to me.

The point to me is that they have experiences and they have moments where they feel the power of God’s love in their life. And that is tricky to do with teenagers. Is it just me? I feel like connecting with teenagers, being able to even just teach things in a way that they want to be open to receiving it, you have to have the right personality for this. And you have to have the right mindset and you have to have the right heart. And Broha has all of those things. I can tell you because my kids get excited.

They constantly come home telling me about things that they’re doing in seminary. They tell me stories about Broha. They get so excited if they get featured on his Instagram page, which he’s going to talk about. So I just said, “Hey, listen, Broha, would you please come on my podcast and share all your secrets with us? Tell us, how do you think about kids today?” And he’s going to give us some really specific strategies.

So whether this is useful for you as a parent with your own teenagers or if you work in some capacity with youth, especially in the LDS Church, Broha has some awesome ideas and I can’t wait for you to soak them in. So here you go, here is my conversation with Broha. Let’s go.

                                                                                                                   

Jody: Okay, everybody, today on the podcast I have Randy Harward, but it feels really weird for me to say your first name because in my house you are Broha.

Randy: Yes, I am Broha. This is Randy Harward, my first teaching assignment in Oregon, I had a student that said, “Harward’s a weird last name.” And I agreed. I was like, “Yeah, it is.” He said, “I’m going to call you Broha for short.” And it just stuck, it’s followed me for 10 years.

Jody: It’s so good. It’s so good and it’s so fun and it suits you because you are just a fun, light hearted person and anyway, it suits you well. Okay, so Broha, I’m going to let you introduce yourself. But first I’m just going to give the introduction of what I know of you which is very little. But I asked Randy to come on the podcast today because he is my kids and a lot of other kids’ seminary teacher right now. We live in Spokane Valley and we have release time seminary here, [crosstalk].

Randy: Isn’t that awesome? We’re so blessed.

Jody: Did you grow up in this area by the way?

Randy: Jody, I teach in the exact classroom that I went to seminary being taught by Mike Toth. It’s so amazing. I love it.

Jody: No way. I didn’t know that. Okay, that’s cool. So I grew up on the South Hill, which is another part of Spokane and we didn’t have release time. I had to go at 6:00am. It’s cold and dark here in the winter and I didn’t have the best attitude, but anyway that’s another story for another day. So anyway, we have release time seminary here which is awesome. and I just want to say that, so you know my kids pretty well. My oldest son Isaac, doesn’t just pass out compliments freely let’s just say. Maybe he’s a little bit of a glass half empty kind of guy. Maybe you’ve noticed.

Randy: I haven’t.

Jody: You haven’t, okay. A couple years ago, so we do also have early morning. The kids can choose what they want to do because they do have to make up credits and things like that. And so my daughter Macy, was trying to decide if she was going to go early morning or release time. And this was just after COVID when we were finally getting back to life as normal. And Isaac said, “I would do early morning so I have to deal with the credits but the teacher at release time is just so good.” And I was like, “What?” Because Isaac doesn’t say things like that very often.

Randy: Oh, my gosh, that’s so nice. He’s such a nice young man.

Jody: Anyway, and so ever since then, Broha’s like a celebrity in my house. And literally when you even just have a picture on Instagram that one of them are in or mention one of their names, they’re so excited. They’re like, “Did you guys see, I’m on Broha’s Instagram page today?” So anyway, you’re really good with teens and youth. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and introduce yourself.

Randy: So yeah, I grew up here in Spokane Valley and I come from a family of teachers. My mom has taught preschool. Well, she did teach preschool for 40 years. The great majority of that time, she taught it out of our home. And so if I go anywhere with my mom, it’s not Broha, it’s teacher Barbara everywhere we go. We went to Silverwood, a theme park and ran into two separate preschool alumni that she had taught. And so she’s taught a lot of my students, which is pretty fun.

Jody: That’s pretty awesome, yeah.

Randy: And then my dad is a great teacher too. He taught gospel doctrine, constantly growing up and he would bring in clips of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back and compare it to the gospel. And people always tell him he’s such a great teacher. So I come from a family of teachers. And I served a mission after I graduated high school in Australia. I learned that I love to teach people and to kind of learn their stories. That’s the best part of the mission, it’s different than a vacation. You’re learning their stories and you get in with these families.

I learned that I love to teach. I came home from my mission, I thought well, teachers don’t make any money so that’s out of the question. And I thought, well, there’s got to be a job that’s service oriented, that’s art teaching so that I can earn a little bit more money. So I looked into physical therapy. I think there’s teaching there, there’s service there. And it took one physical health class at BYUI to learn that I would never be passionate about the human body. It put me to sleep and I just thought, I can’t do this.

Jody: That’s not going to be it.

Randy: I’m going to have to bite the bullet and I’m going to have to be a teacher. And so I switched my education path to music education. And that’s actually what I graduated in, is I graduated from BYUI with a degree in music education. I wanted to be a band teacher because I had a great experience in band at high school. Toward the end of my time at BYUI I had a religion professor that was like, “You should check out seminary.” And so I did.

And long story short, I was able to student/substitute teach a class in Rigby, Idaho, a city close to Rexburg. And it took one day, one class of teaching seminary and I thought, this is where it’s at. This was so much fun and this brought a smile to my face and from that moment I was like, “I want to try this.” So I went through the pre service program and got hired. And my first assignment was in Hillsboro, Oregon at Glencoe High School, a shout out to [inaudible]. And then I was blessed to move back to Spokane and now I’ve been teaching here for five years, so 10 years ago.

Jody: Okay, that’s what I was going to ask you. So you started just a little bit before the pandemic. What school were you at before?

Randy: I taught at U high, university high school and at Central Valley High School Seminary.

Jody: I see, okay. So how many years total have you been teaching seminary?

Randy: 10 years since Oregon.

Jody: 10 years, okay. Yeah, you’re a pro. Wow. Alright, you look too young to have been teaching for 10 years.

Randy: Thank you. I appreciate that. I do have a baby face, it’s commented on all the time. And I’m like, well it’ll pay off when I’m 60 and I look 50.

Jody: Clean living goes a long way. That’s what I would say.

Randy: Yeah, that’s got to be it.

Jody: Okay. Well, one of the things that some of us find to be more challenging than it seems like it is for you is figuring out how to connect with teenagers. And just I think that we all, mostly we have really good intentions of wanting to be available to our kids. Whether they be our kids or kids that we’re working with through our church calling or a job or something like that, we want to be available to these kids.

We know, I don’t know about you, but I look at the world they’re growing up in and I can’t even imagine how you would keep your head straight with access to social media and just all the challenges that they’re dealing with. And at the same time, I think we get it wrong sometimes in terms of how to connect with these kids. And I know you’re not perfect at it either, but I have noticed again from the stories I hear from my kids that you do a lot of things really well.

And so I want to get inside your head a little bit and understand it and have you give us any just practical tips and advice too. So first of all, tell me, what is your overall thought about teenagers today and the world that we live in and the kids these days, how do you think about teenagers today or youth?

Randy: Oh, my gosh. I get a different response to everyone who finds out what I do for a living and it’s one of two extremes. Either people find out that I teach teenagers the scriptures every day and their response is, “That’s got to be the best job. Is it just the best?” I’m like, “Yeah, it is the best.” Or the other response is, “I’m so sorry.”

Jody: That sounds hard.

Randy: “Is that just a struggle?” And to which I respond, “Yeah, it’s a struggle sometimes.” These kids, they’re just growing up in such a different world than you or I did. I graduated in 2004, so next year it will have been 20 years. Just a 20 year difference. It’s really insane between comparisons on social media to certain values that are being promoted today, the norms that they’re dealing with, the things that they can get their hands on. There’s a lot of really hot topics regarding identity right now that are really hard for teenagers to come to grips with, like who am I on a deeper level?

Last year I taught a lesson that was about the prophet, Joseph Smith, when he was wrongly accused and he spent some time in a jail, in Liberty Jail. And I want to approach this lesson in the right way. I wanted my students to kind of relate to the prophet Joseph Smith and to feel not only the truth of the savior’s words and Joseph’s teaching, but also to feel the raw feeling behind Joseph asking, “Oh, God, where art thou?” And that’s in Doctrine Covenants section 1:21.

Joseph had a moment where he honestly felt abandoned on behalf of himself, on behalf of the members of this very young church that he was just trying to look after the people. And as part of that activity, I felt prompted to make a little questionnaire for my students to fill out regarding their own thoughts on their self-esteem. And I arranged it with a number system. And so a five was I constantly feel this and a one was I’ve never felt this ever.

The questions were pretty vulnerable, but it was anonymous obviously, no one wrote their name and I made sure that I didn’t know any of the answers. I gathered them up. I shuffled them. And I just had them circle answers. But I put statements like, I feel lonely in my life right now or I feel like my family or friends don’t understand me. And it kind of worked its way down all the way to a statement of, I have considered taking my own life. And the statistics I got back from that, from that questionnaire were astounding.

And these kids, they come into the seminary build, they’re so positive. They are the cream of the crop of these teenagers. They’re just trying so hard to be good. And yet over 80% had considered taking their own life, which absolutely blew me away because it’s not what I see on the surface. On the surface, I see smiles. I see friends talking. And so to get a glimpse into what’s happening under the surface just blew me away.

I remember my wife and I actually went on a date that night and I told her, “I don’t know what to do. I have to do something.” And so I went and got donuts that night. And the next day I went into class and I said, “Today in class, you’re going to sit down, you’re going to eat donuts, and you’re going to listen to the nice things I have to say about you.” And I had typed up just a list of things I had noticed about each of them that day and told it to them. And my heart just went out to them.

I wanted them to know that I saw them in their struggle. I didn’t want to demean it or push it aside. And so I just want them to know that no matter what they were going through, that they were loved in this building, here at the seminary building. And so it was just, it was such a great experience and I felt closer to my students. The class culture really just took off from there. It was a really good experience that we shared.

Jody: I asked my kids in preparation for this, they knew I was going to be talking to you today. And I asked them a few questions about you, one of them was, I said, “What is it about him that”, they like their teachers for the most part at school. My kids are relatively positive about their teachers, some a little less than others. But there’s no one that they talk about with as much fondness as they do you. And I said, “What is it about him that’s so different?” And this was Macy I asked this to. And she thought about it for a few minutes.

And she said, “Well, it just seems like he really cares about us.” And she said, “I feel like our other teachers care about us. They all say they care about us. I think they do, but with Broha, I just know that he does. I know that he cares about me.” And she couldn’t articulate why, at her age. But it’s things like that, that you take time to think about what’s going on for them, to ask them those questions. And then even I can only imagine the time it would have taken to think about something to say about every student.

To really know every student well enough to be able to comment on that. So I mean when it comes to working with youth, I know I’ve had a calling. I’ve been in Young Women’s before and it’s challenging to get to know them. It’s challenging because I don’t have a lot of time with them. I’m seeing them at activities here and there and at church here and there. And now we only have Young Women’s twice a month and it takes effort. It takes effort, I guess is what I’m saying, but getting to know someone goes a long way in showing that you genuinely care. So, thank you for that.

Randy: Macy’s so sweet. I just have to say, Jody, I’m just waiting on your parenting book that you’re going to write, because I’m going to be first in line, because Macy and Isaac, they are just so wonderful, just so well adjusted and grounded and I love both of them.

Jody: That’s nice of you. That’s very nice of you to say. I think they are amazing kids too, but I don’t take either the credit or the blame for my kids. It’s my theory. They really are pretty good kids, my husband and I say it all the time. We hope we’ve had a positive influence, but we also, a little bit got lucky with them. When it comes to teaching the gospel especially, these are topics that we’ve all heard before, I would imagine a lot of your students were raised in the church, right?

Randy: Yes, many, a great percentage.

Jody: And so you’re teaching things that aren’t brand new. How do you keep it fresh and interesting? How do you come up with ideas like you do?

Randy: It has to be relatable. The church puts a lot of resources into our young people. We have a brand new manual this year that we’re teaching the New Testament. We’re following the Come, Follow Me program and the pacing. And the questions are so different. It focuses more on doctrine and it focuses on bringing that doctrine into 2023. Just yesterday, we’re studying in Second Corinthians right now.

Paul teaches a lot about trials about what he’s been through. He mentions that he had whippings and that he’s had rocks thrown at him. He’s been shipwrecked. And then he talks about the glory that he gains as a result of those trials. And how the Lord told him that it’s in his weakness that he becomes strong through the grace of Him, of Jesus Christ. And so we talked a lot about that. And at the very end of the lesson, this is straight out of the curriculum. This is not from the mind of Randy Harward.

It said to write a statement on the whiteboard saying, if I pray enough to my Heavenly Father, He will remove all obstacles from my life. And then the manual told us to give a red marker to a student and ask that student to be like an English teacher. To make annotations, little markings, to turn to the class and ask them for feedback, to cross out things, draw arrows, replace it with other words.

And by the end of class it felt like all my students had gained an understanding that even when you’re trying to do the right things, bad stuff is just going to happen to you completely out of your control. And so we talked about some of those bad things that are happening today. And so just relatability, to know what they’re going through. And it’s hard because there’s a certain amount of vulnerability. Students have to feel comfortable sharing what they’re struggling with. And so my heart goes out to youth leaders and to parents.

I’ve got a nine year old and a 10 year old, man, our 10 year old is already like a teenager, somewhat. And I’m so glad that my students have nice things to say about me. But I’ll be the first to say that a teacher’s relationship is definitely different than a parent’s relationship, absolutely, and I know that first hand. My kids actually have some special needs and it’s hard for my wife, Ellie and I because we can’t be their speech specialist. We have to be their parent.

And it’s hard as a parent to try to put on both hats to teach our kids the scriptures and to also love them and tell them that we’ll always be there for them. And so if anyone’s struggling out there, just know that I feel you. I’m there with you. I’m struggling too with my own kids, you would think, he’s a seminary teacher. He must be having scripture study every day, and it’s always just such a spirit filled, it’s not.

Jody: Yeah, I do think that’s part of the divine inspiration behind the way our church is set up. I’m a life coach and that doesn’t mean also that my kids are mentally and emotionally healthy and strong all the time either. Sometimes they’re going to hear it better from someone else. They’re going to be in a different place and be more comfortable and I love that we have a lot of support through the structure of our church.

If I were the only one responsible for teaching my kids, we might be in trouble. But I know they’re getting it supplemented by a lot of other people. There’s a couple of traditions I know that you, I’ve kind of seen or heard about that you do in your classroom or that my kids have told me about. That I thought maybe we could share as just good ideas. The Thanksgiving letter.

Randy: Yes, absolutely. Hopefully it doesn’t get me in trouble. I hope I still have a job.

Jody: I hope not too. I mean, if anyone does, we’ll change your name in the editing process. Last year and I don’t know if you’ve done this every year, but you did the Thanksgiving letter. And my kids both had a really good experience with that. Will you talk about the Thanksgiving letter, what that is?

Randy: This is a tradition that was actually implemented by brother Mike Toth, who taught me seminary back in the early 2000s. In my first year I just asked my students openly, “Would you be interested in continuing this? Is it something that you just kind of humored your past teachers?” And the grand majority, maybe one or two people didn’t think it was a big deal but almost all of them said, “Yes, let’s do the Thanksgiving letters.”

So the Thanksgiving letters is I take everybody’s names in class and put them in a hat and you draw out the name. Sometimes you don’t know the person whose name you draw out. And so we go through names in a class so everyone knows who they have. And I try to do this at the beginning of Thanksgiving because teenagers sometimes procrastinate. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that.

Jody: I’m just searching up right now your post that you did last year about it. Do you remember this?

Randy: Oh, my gosh, yes I do.

Jody: I’m going to find it. We have to read it.

Randy: I do because they were driving me crazy. Anyways, I’ll continue. Their assignment, before they draw names they fill out a form and their job is to list three people that are close to them, family members, friends. And so a lot will do a parent, a sibling and then a friend, some do a parent, a friend and a Sunday school teacher or something like that. They give their name and their number and their relation to them. So everyone has these forms and you draw someone else’s name in class.

And then I give you their form with the three people they wrote down. I don’t know if I’m explaining this very well, I apologize. So at the end of the day you have someone’s name and three people that are close to them. And so your assignment is to contact these three people that are close to them, and to say, “Hi, I’m writing a Thanksgiving letter for this person. Would you please just answer a couple of questions?” And the most successful way that we found is just to text them.

But the questions are like, what is something you admire about this person? If this person were here right now, what would you tell them? What do you want this person to really know or do you have any funny stories to share about that person? And then they send back a text and then the student just writes all that information down. And then we have a few days before Thanksgiving break that we take time in class to read these letters.

And so students will stand up at the podium and they’ll say, “I had Hannah. And this is what Hannah’s dad had to say about her.” And they just read the letter from beginning to end. Again, not an original idea, but you can see the impact that would have on a class. It allows kids to get to know each other on a deeper level. It helps students to feel seen. It helps the whole class learn details about that student that they never would have known before.

And that student will feel love from the parent, the sibling, the friend that wrote those things about them. And so it’s really a special experience and I can’t claim the credit for that. It is a lot of work. Do you have the …

Jody: I have the post here. Are you ready? I’m going to share it. Okay, so the reason I’m going to share this, because I got, I think it’s your sense of humor too that the kids love. So Broha has his own Instagram page which everyone should follow, by the way. It’s seminary.cv. So we’re just going to get your followers up a little here. And he said, here are some tips for making this a fun experience. One, don’t procrastinate. This is the most common mistake. If you wait until the last minute, chances are you will not get a hold of your person’s contacts. Then it turns into something stressful instead of fun, start tonight.

Two, send a text first. Most people will ignore a phone call from an unknown number, so send a text first.” And then you gave an example of a text. Three, ask good questions.  And you gave some examples of questions. Four, don’t procrastinate. This one’s really important. It would be really awkward if everyone in class got a Thanksgiving letter except for your person. Don’t procrastinate, start tonight.

Five, add something from yourself. And you gave some examples, and then six, ask Brother Harward for help. And then seven, don’t procrastinate. Seriously, if you run up to me Tuesday afternoon in a panic, “Brother Harward, I haven’t done anything and we’re reading them tomorrow.” I’ll probably help you but only after I throw a rock at your head. It’s so good.

Randy: To this day, I just want everyone to know that I’ve never thrown a rock at one of my students. I like my job, I’d like to keep it.

Jody: We know you would never actually throw a rock. And speaking of Instagram, I think having the Instagram page, we always talk about social media. These poor kids growing up with social media and it’s so bad for them and etc. But a lot of them are on there. What made you decide to put up an Instagram page?

Randy: Jody, exactly what you just said, because whether or not we like it, they are on there. I respect all parents. Some of my students don’t have phones which I totally respect and understand. Grand majority do have phones and they’re on Instagram if their parents allow them. And so my whole idea behind this Instagram is for that, for the uplifting content to pop up on their feed when they’re scrolling through stuff at night. Sometimes I’ll put little reminders to read their scriptures. Kids mostly love to see pictures of their friends and themselves in class.

And so it’s a way to kind of bring the seminary in as a community because kids are on there and so I just wanted to just put a little light in their feed, in their Instagram feed.

Jody: And you do some high quality reels by the way.

Randy: Oh, my gosh. I do not understand what goes viral. Recently, you probably know what I’m going to talk about. I did this reel that has a Spiderman across the spider verse reference about Canon events. It’s so dumb. It’s so dumb, Jody. I did it a week ago, it has. 61,000 views on this reel. I’m like, “I don’t understand.”

Jody: It’s so bizarre. What the algorithm, I know.

Randy: They just gravitate toward. And then I made this back to seminary video, I make one every year, that one has 4,000, which is cool.

Jody: And I love that one, by the way.

Randy: Those are fun to make. I make those for the freshmen who come in thinking that seminary is going to be a really boring experience.

Jody: But I’ll tell you, your back to seminary reel when I saw it and my kids saw it, and we all liked it. And I was like, “Do you guys realize how much time that takes?” You’ve got to set up your phone and take the footage, and then you’ve got to edit it. It looks so simple. It’s a minute long on Instagram, but it’ll take some time.

Randy: It does, but it’s so worth it. It’s so worth it to get the feedback from the students.

Jody: I mean, it makes them look forward to coming to seminary, instead of it being one more thing that we have to do and whatever. You’re creating, like you said, it’s relatable to the kids. You bring the spirit into their lives in a way that’s relatable. Okay, the next thing that my kids said after the Thanksgiving letter that stands out that they love that you do is waffles or donuts.

And I know you bring in treats, you mentioned that earlier. And Macy said, “It’s cool, a lot of times he’ll bring us donuts if it’s finals week or something.” But she’s like, “Sometimes he just does it randomly.” Again, obviously they all like treats and food, but I think it does make them feel like you’re thinking of them and you appreciate them. So food is always good.

Randy: It’s a love language and kids, they’re so complicated, but at the same time they’re also really simple. If you want a key to their heart it comes in a baked pastry all the time. It’s so simple.

Jody: And mine too. I think I’m like a teenager in that way.

Randy: And I just get them from Walmart but they’re just, they’re always like, “Thank you, Brother Harward.” But I have a budget with my job. I’m not taking food out of my kids’ mouths but they’re always so grateful.

Jody: That’s sweet. What about Macy, also mentioned that she loved speed friend-shipping.

Randy: Yeah, absolutely. I call it speed friending because in our church, we encourage kids to date once they’re 16. And I have many 14 and 15 year olds. So we call it speed friending. I arrange the [inaudible] sitting across from each other like in a speed dating setting. And then I’ll just project questions on the board. And I never ask questions like, what’s your favorite color? I always ask my students on feedback and ask them for ideas for questions. And they will come up with the funniest stuff.

Shout out to Campbell Baird, who gave me the idea of, would you rather fight a chicken every time you opened a car door or something, or fight a gorilla? It was crazy, it was a weird question. But students love that. They love the weirdness. And so much, whether you’re a parent or a leader or a teacher is meeting the kids where they are. And this generation, they’ve got a weird sense of humor. And you’ve got to try your best to meet them where they are.

I had a student last year, Ethan, who I would consistently ask almost weekly, “Ethan, you’ve got to fill me on the latest lingo. What are they saying? What does it mean?” And so he would teach me the ways of [crosstalk].

Jody: That’s useful. I need Ethan.

Randy: Yeah, everyone needs an Ethan to get them up to date because I hear things, I’m like, “What, does that mean? Is that inappropriate?” I don’t want anything to go over my head. And so I’m consistently trying to meet them where they’re at and to find out what these phrases and words mean.

Jody: Well done. Is there anything before I let you go, is there any advice that you have just from the slightly different perspective you have again as being a teacher working with these kids? Any advice you would have for parents of maybe things we’re doing that we don’t realize we should stop or things that we should start doing that haven’t occurred to us? I know everybody’s doing their best and none of us are going to be perfect at it, but any advice?

Randy: Isn’t that the truth? I feel like all of us are just out here doing our best.

Jody: Yeah, I think we are and I think we’re doing okay some of the time, we’re fine.

Randy: I’d say the majority of the time, but sometimes we make mistakes. My whole approach to teaching is, I mean this is such a seminary teacher answer, but it’s a scripture in First Peter in the New Testament, we’re going to be reading it soon. First Peter, Chapter 4, Verse 8 says that charity or love covers a multitude of sins. I am not that great of a teacher, meaning my teaching methods and even my knowledge of the scriptures. I’m not the most knowledgeable guy and I make mistakes in teaching all the time.

Sometimes I feel like I have a great idea and I do it in class and it just goes so terribly. But I know that if the students know that I love them, that love covers a multitude of my sins, my mistakes that I make. And I think that crosses over into parenting a lot and as a leader. You have to find out what makes them feel love. We talk a lot about love languages in our current day. And it’s good that we know that there’s different ways to reach people. Sometimes it’s through gifts, donuts.

With teenagers a lot is words of affirmation, quality time. I try to make it to as many concerts and games and plays as I can. That’s quality time, trying to just be there and to tell them you’re proud of them. And so, yeah, love will cover a multitude of mistakes if they know that you love them.

Jody: That’s so good. I believe it, I agree. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come on. Again, if you guys want to follow, seminary.cv on Instagram, lots of good content there. If you move to Spokane Valley and attend Central Valley High School, your kids can go to seminary with Broha as well. But otherwise we will take all your good ideas and run with them and I appreciate you taking the time to come on, Randy.

Randy: Jody, thanks so much for having me.

                                                                                                                   

Coaching changed my life and I’ve watched it change the lives of thousands of men and women since, but is it right for you? You’ll only know by giving it a try. Try it out today at jodymoore.com/trial.