So you want to be a Youth Minister?

Thought I'd hit on something that anyone in Youth Ministry for more than 2 years already knows but it is a truth. I was asked by a friend of my wife, "What advice could you give to someone who wants to go into youth ministry?"

Here's my advice! Be prepared! You’re entering the fishbowl of church ministry. You'll be under paid or not paid at all. You’re not the senior pastor so you’re always the new kid on the block even if your older and been at the church longer (love you Bro Matt!). Everyone waits on you to mess up. When you do mess up it will be like someone just dropped an atomic bomb on the church. If you have an innovative idea it will be shelved since it hasn't been done like that before. You'll be over worked and underappreciated. You'll put in long hours at lock-in's and over nighters. You'll be hounded by parents who think their kids are being overlooked even if you spend every waking moment with said kid. You'll always be asked, "When are you going to grow up and be a real pastor?"

However! If you do chose this path, your heart truly breaks for teenagers, and you know beyond doubt that God has chosen this for you.......there is nothing more rewarding in the world. When you watch a student who has been raised in church all his life finally get "it". The message he's heard all his life finally comes to life in front of his eyes. Or a teenager who is fully in depressions grasp, with no hope in their eyes and no will to go on. When they finally hear of the redemptive power of Jesus Christ and God uses you to breathe life into that teen.....that will change your life forever.

I tell anyone who wants to go into youth ministry to be prepared. These teens will disciple you, minister to you, and love on you just as much as you minister, love, and disciple them.