Time for a themed blog post. I chose the name "Life in the Youth Ministry Fish Bowl" for my blog because that is what it can sometimes feel like. Like we are along in this little microcosm of church environment, and the only time we have interaction by some church members it's because we knocked over the little diver guy or broke the treasure chest that spews the bubbles. I know that isn't/shouldn't always be the case and the teens need to swim in the open water of "big" church but sometimes that's not how it feels. But that's the topic for another blog post.
A day or so ago I get an invite from another youth group on a social network site, and I almost committed a cardinal youth minister sin. I've always heard it said that if you check out "large" church youth ministries you'll get jealous and think the grass is greener etc. Well I checked them out anyway! I defy your rules! However, the oddest thing happened. I appreciated out your ministry even more. Yeah they had more kids, but the programming looked far cheaper than the size would warrant. Now let me take a second to clarify some, I'm not saying that YM is doing a bad job or that the stuff you can't see like discipleship and deepness of faith isn't good. This is speaking from a programming perspective.
The point I learned from this is, don't try to swim with the "big" sharks if your a small fish. I gained a greater appreciation for the programming I have designed and use and all of the neat ideas I've had. This leads me to some thoughts,
1: Know your strengths. If your a smaller church embrace relationships, don't worry about your programming not looking as cool as a youth ministry with a budget the size of your entire church. Know that your strength is your size, you can know and be involved more in your teens life than a mega church youth minister can be. If your a mega church youth minister use your budget and programming to your advantage a build a team of great support staff to help you in that relationship area.
2: Fish swim in schools. Find or create a local area youth pastors network. Their ideas and support can and will be invaluable to you over time.
3: Embrace your individuality. Are you a clown fish? Don't try to be a shark. Are you a shark? Don't try to be a clown fish. I'm a clown fish. My youth ministry and my youth ministry style reflect that. I'm the crazy youth pastor your hear about doing off the wall wacky stuff that makes you mad cause you don't do that. But don't hate me. Your probably the youth pastor that has this deep seriousness that causes his/her youth group to be very serious about their faith. I don't hate you your just different. We both have our place, my kids have a blast having fun in Jesus name and learning a lot along the way. Yours are the serious kids who are bible quiz aces.
So embrace the fishiness! Just keep swimming my friends!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Top 10 Reasons You Know Your A Youth Minister
For this week I figured I would do a top ten list this week. Actually came up with a lot of these after reading a few tweets by Josh Griffin a few weeks back. I'll put JG behind the ideas he had. the rest are 100% mine.
Top Ten Way's You Know Your A Youth Minister
10: You find ping pong balls and hacky sacks in your pockets and have no idea how they got there.
9: You have morethandodgeball.com in your favorites.
8: Your Twitter timeline looks like this; Doug Fields, Josh Griffin, Matt McGill, Josh Griffin, SimplyInsider, Josh Griffin, SYM Soul Care, Josh Gr....
7: You have nightmares about 7th Graders with dodgeballs.
6: You use words like SYMC, NYWC, YS, SYM, etc. and no one has a clue what your talking about.
5: You make at least one purchase a year that causes the cashier to say " What do you need all of THIS for?!?" (JG)
4: You attempt to justify the purchase of 25 Nerf Guns as a tax write off.
3: At least once you have to justify to the treasurer why that trip with that "one kid" for pizza was nessecary.
2: You've heard at least once "Aren't you too old to be hanging out with teenagers?"
1: You have no idea why when you tell someone what you do. They pat you on the back and say "I'm sorry".
Top Ten Way's You Know Your A Youth Minister
10: You find ping pong balls and hacky sacks in your pockets and have no idea how they got there.
9: You have morethandodgeball.com in your favorites.
8: Your Twitter timeline looks like this; Doug Fields, Josh Griffin, Matt McGill, Josh Griffin, SimplyInsider, Josh Griffin, SYM Soul Care, Josh Gr....
7: You have nightmares about 7th Graders with dodgeballs.
6: You use words like SYMC, NYWC, YS, SYM, etc. and no one has a clue what your talking about.
5: You make at least one purchase a year that causes the cashier to say " What do you need all of THIS for?!?" (JG)
4: You attempt to justify the purchase of 25 Nerf Guns as a tax write off.
3: At least once you have to justify to the treasurer why that trip with that "one kid" for pizza was nessecary.
2: You've heard at least once "Aren't you too old to be hanging out with teenagers?"
1: You have no idea why when you tell someone what you do. They pat you on the back and say "I'm sorry".
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Youth Pastor Stories
This week was Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Unfortunately I was not able to physically attend, downside of being a tent making youth pastor. My other job would not let me off but I did catch a little bit of it online. What I was able to catch was awesome. Gonna have to make sure I get off next year for Indy.
We also started a revival at our church this week and something that the evangelist said made me think. He was relating a story of a youth pastor that was in his church that had messed up. Why is it every time I hear a story of a youth pastor it's a bad story? I know they are the juiciest but come on people does no one have a story where the youth pastor is just a great man of God, leads a godly life, is completely faithful to his wife?
I think it's about time that we talk about some. When I was in youth group we had three outstanding youth pastors. Two were near and dear to me. My parents were youth ministry volunteers. I call them youth ministers because they did a outstanding job discipling and counseling. Our senior pastor was our "youth pastor" as well and led the program. I think Rev Roger Peadro missed his calling as a youth minister. He was a great senior pastor but he also had a heart for youth. He and his wife, Annette, were great examples of Christian adults for us to look up to. It was an awesome time to be in that churches youth ministry and was the launching pad for my ministry.
If you have a great youth pastor story I would love to hear it, send it to madisonvillerunner@yahoo.com, but more importantly let the youth minister know and let the world know that not all youth pastor stories are bad.
We also started a revival at our church this week and something that the evangelist said made me think. He was relating a story of a youth pastor that was in his church that had messed up. Why is it every time I hear a story of a youth pastor it's a bad story? I know they are the juiciest but come on people does no one have a story where the youth pastor is just a great man of God, leads a godly life, is completely faithful to his wife?
I think it's about time that we talk about some. When I was in youth group we had three outstanding youth pastors. Two were near and dear to me. My parents were youth ministry volunteers. I call them youth ministers because they did a outstanding job discipling and counseling. Our senior pastor was our "youth pastor" as well and led the program. I think Rev Roger Peadro missed his calling as a youth minister. He was a great senior pastor but he also had a heart for youth. He and his wife, Annette, were great examples of Christian adults for us to look up to. It was an awesome time to be in that churches youth ministry and was the launching pad for my ministry.
If you have a great youth pastor story I would love to hear it, send it to madisonvillerunner@yahoo.com, but more importantly let the youth minister know and let the world know that not all youth pastor stories are bad.
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