Show Notes
Summary
This episode of the Child Discipleship Podcast centers on a confession before it becomes a lesson: Matt Markins openly admits he spent years treating prayer as a management failure — something you turned to when leadership wasn’t enough. That honesty drives the whole conversation. Both hosts work through how children’s ministry workers (and ministry leaders at every level) default to strategy, logistics, and human effort, then bolt prayer on as an afterthought. The corrective they’re arguing for isn’t a new technique — it’s a posture shift: prayer as the first, central, and last thing, not a transitional element between the “real” work.
The second half gets practical without getting shallow. They discuss what it looks like to model prayer for kids rather than just perform it, the difference between contending prayer and rote request-taking, the “God spotting” practice for helping children notice divine activity in their lives, and a striking story from Appleton Alliance Church where praying over popsicle sticks with children’s first names on them preceded unchurched kids actually showing up. They also discuss the book Lead with Prayer and close with the honest admission that no leader — no matter how gifted — is going to strategize their way to lasting faith in today’s children.
Show Notes
Episode Title: Prayer First, Central, and Last — Making Prayer the Foundation of Your Children’s Ministry
Hosts: Matt Markins & Mike Handler
What We Cover:
Why ministry leaders default to strategy over prayer — and how to recognize that pattern in yourself
Matt’s honest confession about how he operated at Awana for years before repenting of a leadership-first posture
The difference between utilitarian prayer (Hail Mary, last resort) and contending prayer (appealing to God to do what only he can)
What it means to “waste time with God” — and why that phrase is actually an invitation to intimacy
Practical rhythms for weaving prayer into your personal morning, your team meetings, and your ministry week
How to pray through Scripture when you don’t know where to start
Inviting senior saints into your ministry through intercessory prayer
Book recommendation: Lead with Prayer
Practical Takeaways:
Replace prayer request time with “how did God show up this week?” conversations with your kids
Give your congregation something tangible to pray over — names, not abstraction.
Start your morning in surrender before your brain is already three problems ahead
Pray through a passage of Scripture when you don’t know how to begin
The post Making Prayer the Foundation of Your Children’s Ministry appeared first on Child Discipleship.
More from The Child Discipleship Podcast
Despite decades of effort since George Barna popularized the “parents as primary spiritual influence” framework in 2003, children’s ministry leaders still report that parents aren’t consistently discipling their kids at home. Awana’s 2022 research reveals why: it’s not a motivation problem on either side — it’s a structural one. Kids pastors spend the overwhelming majority of their time on administrative and logistical tasks, while parents consistently say no one has ever relationallyshown them how to disciple their children. The result is a stalemate: both parties want the same outcome but the ministry operating system isn’t built to produce it.