I just recently just finished my two year Cadre journey with Jeanne Mayo. Judy Gregory, one of Jeanne’s key staff members is convinced that Jeanne is one of the best kept secrets in youth ministry. After my experience, I would one up that and say she is one of the best kept secrets on the planet for ministry in general. The Cadre was one of the best experiences in my life

If You’re In Youth Ministry and You Don’t Take Advantage of The Cadre... You’re an Idiot!

Jeanne is the Real Deal -when you see leaders from a distance, it’s easy to question if they’re the real deal or not. Jeanne is! She has been in ministry for over forty years! She has so much wisdom, loves people more than anyone I’ve ever seen, and will literally do anything to enable you to do what God’s called you to do! I’m so grateful that I’ve gotten to get to know her and interact with her!

You Make Friendships that will Last a Lifetime -Looking back, the greatest things about the Cadre was the relationships you build. I have 5-6 guys that I know we’ll stay connected for the rest of our lives. People in other states, that don’t know your church or the people around you, who can give you perspective and encouragement to get through anything!

You will Have Life Experiences You’ll Never…I Stress Never, Forget - Jeanne is beyond intentional with creating life experiences for people. Things most people would never have the opportunity to experience. I’ll never forget my Cadre experience.

To Jeanne, Judy, Jordan, Bethany, Christina, Adam, the MC students, and everyone else who made this experience possible: Thank you so much. It’s definitely a huge mile marker in my life and ministry! You’re all such a huge blessing!

I am so excited! I’m leaving today for Atlanta for our Cadre Advance with Jeanne Mayo.  I’ve had a few posts on this experience so far:

• Ministry Highlight: The Cadre -> A Must for Youth Pastors
• My Life Changing Trip to Atlanta
• It’s Ok to Not be Ok

Here is a picture of our Cadre this year! I love these people like family! I can’t wait to see them!

¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. -I Thess 1:11

So last week I got to go to Jeanne Mayo’s house for our 2nd Cadre Advance. It was an incredible time! I’d like to share a few things I took away from the experience.

It’s Ok to Not be Ok – One night we broke into our iron groups and shared our deepest hurts, fears, and secrets. It was definitely a bond breaking moment as well as a moment that brought the people in our groups together as a family. We then prayed for and encouraged one another. How great would it be if we did this in our homes with our closest friends? Who are you being real with? Praying for? Encouraging?

The Thing about Leaders is They are Just Like You - It is an amazing privilege and honor to be mentored by Jeanne Mayo. I love how honest, transparent, and vulnerable she makes herself in order to invest in leaders. Jeanne really helped me realize that no matter how much influence someone has or how big their name is, they have to go through life just like anyone else, they experience problems, become lonely, have struggles, etc. Once we recognize this we can take our eyes off the leader and focus them on God. This enables us to be there for the leaders, add even more value to their vision, pray for them, and encourage them.

Character is Everything - we hear it over and over again, but character is absolutely essential to accomplish and sustain what God has called us to do. Talent is able to get you to the top, but character is what keeps you there.

Excellence Matters – One thing I see at every successful church, business, family, etc. is that they do everything with excellence. Jeanne is a master at this! Literally every second we were down there was intentional and done with excellence. The outcome? A life changing experience that nobody will ever forget. Excellence will get people saved, change peoples lives, and keep people coming back. What experiences are we creating for people with our commitment to or lack of excellence?

Tokens Are the Best – Jeanne is the queen of giving tokens away. By tokens I mean items that are given to the audience to symbolize and represent a main point of a message. I.e. a paintbrush when the speaker talked about life being a painting and we’re the artists that paint the strokes. I think I have 4 or 5 tokens from Jeanne’s, and because of them, I’ll never forget the lessons she taught. I actually took home something tangible. Do you use tokens in your sermons? Camps? Retreats?

There are so many more lessons I learned on the trip… perhaps I’ll share some more tomorrow!

If you’re a youth pastor – you should seriously consider applying for The Cadre!