1 Soul Matters Podcast
Where Faith, Community, and Transformation Meet
Fostering spiritual growth, emotional well-being, and authentic connection through candid conversations rooted in faith and mental health.
1 Soul Matters Podcast
Youth Matters: Faith in the Classroom
What happens when faith meets education in today's high school classrooms? Teacher and former pastor J. Todd Bruning reveals the delicate balance of bringing values into secular education without imposing beliefs. Through candid conversation with host Rev. Jermine Alberty, Todd shares how his approach of being "wise, kind, and fair" creates a foundation for meaningful student connections that transcend traditional boundaries.
The conversation takes an illuminating turn when Todd discusses the unpredictability of student behavior and how authentic listening transforms these relationships. "The moment there's a situation where they know that you're listening to what's important to them... it changes everything," Todd explains. This philosophy manifests in heartwarming ways, like students who aren't even in his class stopping by just for a morning fist bump.
Most compelling is Todd's revelation about impact: "I do more ministry every day in the classroom than I felt like I would do in a week, or maybe even a month" in a traditional church setting. His three-part approach—listening authentically, building genuine connections, and "bending along with grace"—offers profound guidance for anyone working with young people. This episode reinforces the research-backed finding that one caring adult outside the home can significantly influence a child's development, making this conversation essential listening for parents, educators, and community leaders alike. Join us to discover how compassionate presence in everyday spaces can create extraordinary change in young lives.
Welcome to an episode of Soul Matters. This is my guest, Todd Bruning. I'm Jermine Alberty, your host, and we're going to talk about a very important topic and that topic is youth matters.
Todd Bruning:Okay, so you're in the classroom, right? I'm teaching high school now.
Jermine Alberty:High school yeah, my goodness, what do you see in the high school setting with the young people?
Todd Bruning:Just about everything, okay, yeah, it just depends on what day it is. They can be some of the most wonderfully polite folks, or you know not.
Jermine Alberty:Wow, yeah, yeah. Well, I get that. You know this podcast is an intersection of faith and mental health and so forth, and so I know that you also have served as a pastor for a while. How do you bring your faith to the classroom in a way that's not really like in your face but yet still the kids know that there's this other side of you, that is that love and kindness. How do you do that in the classroom?
Todd Bruning:Things. That's been the hardest as a new teacher is to kind of try and figure out how do you set values within a classroom system, Because you can set rules, you can do all kinds of things, but really, while I'm teaching English as a second language, I think really what we're doing is helping people prepare the present and the future. And so over the years, my wife and I have been trying to think through how do you talk about faith in a way that can help us resolve disagreements, cross barriers and that kind of thing, and we have something posted up on our wall that is wise, kind and fair.
Jermine Alberty:When I met you, I admired the work you were doing at a church where it was a bakery right, almost a restaurant right.
Todd Bruning:Yeah, Chances Pie and Coffee Shop.
Jermine Alberty:I love the connection with learning, disabilities and so forth, and it was such a joy to see them actually contributing and doing good work. Whitney Houston sung a song. I will be the children of our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Todd Bruning:Show them all the beauty that's it.
Jermine Alberty:That's it. Let's sing it, let's sing it. Let's sing it, let's sing it. Give them a sense what Pride to make it easier. Yeah, so, as we wrap up our podcast episode, what three things would you say that we could do to help our children? Just three things.
Todd Bruning:Give me one or two. The first thing that always comes to mind is is the importance of listening yeah and it's not just listening because I mean that's that's students.
Todd Bruning:That's the difference. I mean you can tell them all you want, yes, but the moment there's a situation where they know that you're listening to what's important to them and you're listening they are important changes everything. And you're listening, they are important, changes everything. And I mean the most rewarding thing after having done this for two and a half years is when kids are coming in the morning my class. They're not in my class, but they're coming in to get a fist bump before they go somewhere else.
Jermine Alberty:Yeah.
Todd Bruning:My vantage point that just that speaks a lot to just having somebody know.
Jermine Alberty:Yeah, the way. Research tells us that for our young people, one protective factor is having one caring adult outside the household. One caring adult, so listening is one. I heard you say making a connection number two, the connection, the fist pump. So listening, the connection.
Todd Bruning:The third one what would you think? Well, I mean and I'd have to think about it just a little bit because you know, often what I will say to somebody is I do more ministry every day in the classroom than I mean in the school, just the whole school itself. Then I felt like I would do in a week, or maybe even a month, because I'm, I'm there, are 2000 living, breathing, important people in my context, as opposed to me being inside of the building. That's. It's meeting people in a real situation that's so important.
Jermine Alberty:I literally would say the third thing you said is just being the love, being the love which is always the challenge, because there have to be boundaries.
Todd Bruning:You have to be able to say this is what the expectation is. On the other hand, it always has to be done with love, absolutely, or my favorite way of saying it, with grace.
Jermine Alberty:I define love as kindness and compassion. That's how I define love. So being kind to young people and compassionate makes a world of difference. My friends, we're listening to Soul Matters with Pastor Teacher Todd and Jermaine Alway. Tune in again for our next episode.