A youth member from Wetherill Park Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church (Sydney) has created a new podcast to help young people stay connected to Jesus and church during social isolation.
A five-minute daily podcast, “An Apple a Day” is created and hosted by Jaris Valls, a student and member of the Wetherill Park Adventist Youth (WPAY) leadership team.
“I brought the project to my youth group because I felt that due to the circumstances, we needed to keep some continuity within our group. In a strange kind of way, not being at church is kind of helping bring church members together,” she said.
With new episodes airing every Monday to Thursday on the WPAY Facebook Page, WPAY members, the Wetherill Park church family and the wider community have been tuning in to listen to Ms Valls devotional thoughts.
“I try to keep it to five minutes. On a good day, it takes maybe half an hour to record and then 15 minutes to edit it together. I didn’t realise how much work goes into [making a podcast],” said Ms Valls.
“So far, the response has been good,” she said. “The good thing is that we’ve gotten feedback from different age groups so doesn’t just apply to people in their twenties but also [to] even some older [members of the] congregation.”
Regarding the title—”An Apple a Day”—Ms Valls explained that the common phrase is a metaphor for the fruits of the Spirit from scripture. Each day, a short and practical devotional thought is shared on various topics like patience, Bible characters, inspirational stories, quotes or common phrases.
“In a spiritual sense, we need food to keep us healthy and stay away from spiraling into health problems,” Ms Valls explained. “I didn’t want to make it so theological [as Sabbath school]. The point is just to inspire people to have those moments with God and warm up . . . to pick up the Word of God for yourself and study more into the topic I introduce. It’s more of a tool.”
At this point, the podcast is still young and WPAY is deciding how far into the future production should continue. Ms Valls explained that when starting a project or ministry, it’s important to practise three things in order for it to remain healthy.
“I think first off you need to have a purpose for it. It can’t just be for fun. Once you make the purpose not about yourself, it makes what you’re doing more meaningful. And because God has given you a talent—creativity, conversation, analysis—you need to use that talent for God and work together as family. I would also add that you need to put God first and see where He takes you. We always pray about something before we start [in our youth group]. Do it for the glory of God.”
Listen to “An Apple A Day” podcast here.
