Fullness of Joy | Aaron Wine | Episode #28

In this episode, Blayne and Ben sit down with Aaron Wine — youth pastor at Lake View Baptist Church in Auburn, AL — for a wide-ranging conversation on calling, seminary, and what it means to steward an ordinary faith in an extraordinary-obsessed world. Aaron shares his testimony, the two providential phone calls that led him to Lake View, and nine years of shepherding students. From there, the conversation moves into what seminary training actually looks like, whether local churches can raise up their own pastors, and why faithful preaching resists the pull toward spectacle and novelty. The back half digs into discipleship at home: the sobering stats on teenage faith retention, why parents — not youth pastors — carry primary responsibility for their kids' spiritual formation, and how to guide the next generation through AI and social media without outsourcing contemplation itself. Aaron closes with a picture worth remembering: the Christian life as a cup you spend a lifetime making bigger, so that when you finally see Christ face to face, there's more room for joy. 00:00:00 Intro & welcome 00:01:55 Aaron's background, family, and salvation testimony 00:06:20 Sensing the call to ministry 00:09:53 Providence and the road to Lake View 00:13:15 Internship to youth pastor — nine years in 00:18:43 What seminary is really like 00:23:55 Can churches raise up pastors without seminary? 00:28:52 Finding your preaching voice & the "five stones" lesson 00:35:50 Spectacle vs. the ordinary means of grace 00:44:04 The gospel: the track, not the gunshot 00:51:49 Why students walk away from faith 00:58:05 Church as family — and not choosing one for your kids 01:04:07 Whose job is it to disciple your kids? 01:12:05 Raising Gen Alpha with AI and technology 01:26:00 Closing: what Aaron's been entrusted with