Comments on: Youth Pastors

By: Jeremysargent

Jeremysargent — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:25:10 +0000

Thanks Craig, I love your dedication to empower and equp the wider body of Christ.You are true a servant leader, thanks for being so helpful and open, you have taught me so much. Thankyou

By: uthguy9

uthguy9 — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:56:07 +0000

We have committed in the youth area to share the Gospel every week. Since November 5th we have seen dozens come to Christ…not like 10 or 20 at a couple of events but we are seeing these commitments almost every week…this is our biggest joy

Biggest challenge is connecting them to the church, a small group, a mentor…something. We are trying to be faithful with what we have been given…we see fruit but praying for depth.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:31:31 +0000

They don’t know what they want. They don’t even know what they need. And that’s where you step in. Giving them what they need regardless of them wanting it or not. Plan, execute, and they’ll follow suite. Be open, honest, and transparent.

The cons:
-they don’t know what they want
-they seem hard to please

The pros:
-once you define what they need they’ll crave more of it
-this is a teachable environment… harness the opportunity

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:34:25 +0000

I Have a question? I’m the Youth Pastor at my church and the Youth are saying they are bore, but everything that is put out on the table they turn down. And when they are ask what are the thing they would like they say I don’t know. What can I do to turn things around?

By: Blake Canterbury

Blake Canterbury — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:07:39 +0000

Craig

- I’m a youth pastor in Cumming GA. Right beside 2 mega churches or mega youth groups for that matter (one being a branch of North Point). We’re a plant of ARC that’s been going about 2 1/2 years. I like most, wear multiple hats. I run sound, do the graphics for the church and youth, and the website. I work for a website company during the day and coach a high school team in town to connect with some of the kids.

I didnt read every post but Ive got some challenges I havent seen in other posts.

CHALLENGES
- Kids dont have loyalty. There are a couple youth groups in the city which offer something pretty cool and it seems like they are all options. Whoever has the “coolest thing” that week or the “coolest series” going on at the time, the Christian kids go there. No matter how much you try to get them plugged into a small group they still won’t stay. They love it and see the need but there is no loyalty. I’m wondering if anyone else is having this problem???
( There’s not a competition between youth pastors either. I play basketball with the Browns Bride staff once a week and love those guys)

The other problem that comes with that is when you do start the God conversation with a kid who has never had a God relationship and they start a brand new relationship. This is the loyalty they see and therefore they stay for a few months then hear there is a cool event going on somewhere else and they jump. They stay in touch and still love you and they’ll come back and hangout every few weeks. But no loyalty.

THE BIG EVENT MODEL

I think there is room for the big event. Even with the challenge in our city I still think its a good idea because this is where we see most “nonbelievers” show up. The Christian kids are more open to invite kids who aren’t in a relationship with Christ to these events. But I think they should stay events. Not the whole youth group based as the big event but have one a month or every 6 weeks. Its true we cant reproduce what Hollywood can or movies depict. But I dont think they expect it as long as we dont act like thats what we’re giving them. We have to act like the “big event” is just something fun we’re doing and not hype that it’s mind blowing.

We are currently switching to one big service a month for youth and 3 weeks of small group driven nights. We are going to implement this in June. I would love to hear how that is working for your guys at lifechurch.tv if possible.

By: K Ford

K Ford — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:01:23 +0000

I’ve been a youth leader at SOKC for about 3 years now. It’s been awesome to see how Switch is evolving. One of the greatest joys is pouring into one of my students, and then watching them as they pour into the lives of younger students.

After 3 years, there have been challenges. Our teens are dealing with issues I’ve never dreamed of a 14 year old having to face. Listening to them and counseling with them is emotionally draining. As a leader, I have to keep myself filled up in order to have something to give. I agree with Anna that more leaders are needed. But at the same time, they can’t be lukewarm leaders. I would rather sit with a group of 20 girls than have 10 of those girls go off with a leader who really doesn’t care that much.

By: riddle

riddle — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:47:48 +0000

Craig, what are the patterns you see in the posts here, if any? I’m excited that lifechurch is continuing down the road of dialogue with teens… good stuff.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:08:43 +0000

First of all, I’m blown away by how many youth pastors have responded. Obviously there are a ton of men and women in youth ministry who are seeking to learn from others, which is AWESOME.

As I’ve read through these comments, I totally agree with the comments concerning the produced “big events”. I’ve been in youth ministry for over 10 years now and I’ve always felt that big event youth ministry wasn’t going to produce disciples. However, as was often mentioned above, that is often what churches and parents desire/expect. I’ve just recently come to grips with the fact that I’m not a big event producer, but I can be a mentor. Right now, I have three young adult men (two of which came through our youth ministry) who desire to serve in ministry, so I am meeting with them weekly for mentoring. I feel this is the sweet spot of youth ministry. Relational mentoring that can be reproduced over and over. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did with his disciples?

Challenges:
- changing a mentality from “bigger is better” to truly making disciples
- trying to figure out what connects with teenagers in a rapidly changing culture.

Joys:
- seeing young people give their lives fully to the Lord and being open to go and do whatever the Lord leads them in

Prayer Request:
- the ability to stay the course in discipleship mentoring for long-term fruit for the Kingdom

By: Rahul

Rahul — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:38:30 +0000

Craig - I am a BCM director which is a ministry to aid churches with college students. I work on the USF campus to reach students as well.

What are your biggest challenges?
- Support: not financially but from churches to buy in to what we are doing. We are a funnel for the local church. my heart is to get college students from the campus into a church because after college, they are gone.

- Apathy: my best students are not the ones who grew up in church. These students are passionate. Church kids see this as a “YOUTH GROUP” which just makes me scream inside everytime someone says that.

- Time: with college students relationships are everything. Events do nothing if no one knows you care for them. Listening is the best way to reach someone here. The number one problem on college campuses is loneliness. I can only hang out with people so much without degrading my family.

What is your biggest joy? Seeing students get it. A former student took me out to lunch (and paid!) on wed to encourage me and tell me that he is thankful for the bcm’s ministry. We butted heads many times while he was here because he could just not understand what I was doing sometimes. But now he understands! Plus he is going into ministry! Woohoo

How can we pray for you?
I’m burnt out and recovering. Please pray that I recover quickly and I spend more time with my family.
Pray that I don’t get frustrated when results don’t happen on my timing, but on God’s

Also, what is changing about youth ministry? Everything! Holy Crap it’s hard to keep up. I’m a big tech nerd but when it comes to students I am so far behind! Events have gone, the biggest change is that people want to be heard. They are being preached to by screamers telling them they are going to hell. Professors telling them what and what not to believe. Parents griping at them to get a job/life/education. They just want someone to be real and authentic with them

Thanks for listening to me rant see you next week Craig - at exponential in Orlando, I’ll be at the Catalyst booth as a rep!

By: Jacob Kesling

Jacob Kesling — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 07:21:56 +0000

I am really struggling with what the church in America has become. I thought we were coming out of “fun events” but parents just seem to want their kids to have a fun place to go. I guess it is their desire to keep them off the streets. I feel they are desiring the wrong thing. Because youth ministry is “not important” as adult ministry for they have wallets to fund the church, adults don’t seem to see the importance in serving in the youth ministry. This is a shame. I have been around long enough to KNOW that Children, Youth, College, and Adult ministries are equally important. What has created this separation? Why have parents totally neglected their duty of leading their children spiritually and started pawning their kids off on the church to make an impact in 1-2 hours a week? What a shame! Did Paul and Peter preach to families? Did the parents learn from the Apostles and teachers and go home and teach their children? I don’t see “Youth Ministry” or “Children’s ministry” anywhere in the Bible. When I was hired, I was asked to put on a “Big Event” once a month. The win was numbers. The events were not pressured to have any sort of purpose, but only to give parents ease that the youth ministry was “Alive and working”. This made me a little angry seeing that time, money, and resources could be better used to feed the spiritually anorexic youth.

My greatest joy has been watching the kids “get it”. I asked the youth if any of them had devotion time at home or talk about God at all. ALL of them said they did not. I taught a lesson that night and asked them to go home and start a devotion with their family and lead it themselves. I had a 7th grader come back that Sunday so excited that he did it and loved it! Now that had me pumped. I used him as an example to the rest of the youth and celebrated it! Northpoint ministries says “what happens at home is more important than what happens at church” and I totally agree with that.

I am sad that we are more concerned with the sign in our yard than the Kingdom of Heaven at times. I guess that is because we have to report to our boss and give the roster showing the percentage of growth as we hope to keep our job or get a raise. It is sad. I have been working with 4 local churches asking the youth pastors to join with me doing a joined youth experience. This will allow us to come together in worship, teaching the youth to not take pride in our church but THE church. This will also allow us to use our talents as youth pastors and youth groups to create a great experience in worship, drama, and preaching. We are starting this by just getting together for service to get to know each other. Pray that God uses this in our kids lives!

By: Derek

Derek — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:05:51 +0000

Challenges:

Parents. I have been a student pastor for 12 years now, and I think the parents are getting worse. They focus more on their student’s happiness than on teaching them how to live according to God’s word.

Board Driven Churches. My church is run by the board. They make arbitrary decisions without facts or research. Usually does more harm than good.

Time. We only get so many opportunities to invest the truth of God’s word into a student’s life. Cannot waste a moment.

Joys

Students ministering to other students. Its like watching the body of Christ function the way it was intended.

Anytime a student says thank you.

By: John Buckner

John Buckner — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:56:30 +0000

I feel like I should be commenting on every post you have. I am on staff at a church of about 400. The church was planted 6 years ago and I have been here for 5 of those years. I came on as a children’s pastor. About a year in the youth pastor left and I was running Nursery through College. A bit o large gap.
Currently I am the Student Ministries Director. I have since built a team to over see these areas. My main focus is High School.
Along with those I also oversee our Adult Discipleship - which works closely with our small groups. When I am not doing those things I oversee our media and if I can breath after all that I teach to our adults about once a quarter.
I feel some of the challenges I have seen are finding the right people for the job. In a small church - especially just starting out - you tend to grab whoever is breathing and just throw them in. I have recently discovered that even staff sometimes are not that passionate about what they do.
When is the right time for change?
Can you wait it out?
Is waiting worse then acting on change?
In a small church setting, I see people get very comfortable with how things are. Even for a good thing - people are very hesitant for change.
In our youth ministry (High School specific) I have seen that relationships are the backbone. When we create environments where students and leaders can build relationships - they love it and grow.

By: Jesiah hansen

Jesiah hansen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:42:26 +0000

Next week we are going on a missions trip with 82 youth and we are taking radical to another level we are starting a mission trip called the 36 hour tour and what we are going to do is go on a trip and stop at every single pueblo from Tepic Nayarit mexico to prt. Vallarta Jalisco and do servant evangelism prayer for the sick and give food and clothes away… We won’t sleep for that day and a half or have much food to eat we need slot of prayer

I know this isn’t what p. Craig asked but I just thought what a better way to aak for prayer…

I will write back here if you would like to know how it went and we will probobly post a video on YouTube but that doesn’t matter I would just really appreciate any prayer or even advice if your youth group has done something similar

Muchas gracias

Jesse

By: Don Knoup

Don Knoup — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:57:06 +0000

challenges?
it’s funny but I’m not sure the challenges in ministry really ever change.

joy?
seeing people saved! That never gets old.

How can we pray for you?
Pray that God makes us effective.

changing about youth ministry?
Connection with disconnection. For example, teens to call each other, they text. They don’t hang out, they facebook/myspace/twitter. Youth are more connected than ever, but in a way that is less connected. Another change we have been seeing is that we have more teens bringing their parents to church than we have parents bringing their youth to youth group. The tide has shifted and our young people are making a big impact on their parents and even grandparents.

By: Mike Conner

Mike Conner — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:17:59 +0000

My biggest challenge as a Youth Pastor is balance. Trying to find that place of being a leader, but yet still being enough of a friend for students. Balancing speaking the truth, but loving students where they are. I never want my words to turn them away from God, but I also must speak truth to them. Also, my biggest challenge is learning to “turn off” youth ministry. I have work-a-holic tendencies and it’s hard to shut down.

My biggest joy comes from seeing students know Christ. This goes beyond just salvation. I’m not trying to discredit the great gift of salvation, but I get as much joy from seeing a student develop as a disciple.. I don’t want to be one to just have them “say a prayer, make the walk, join the church, or whatever” but see them grow and stay close to Jesus.

What I want my Senior Pastor to know is cast vision. When I have the vision to guide us, it makes student ministry easier. I want to develop our team and ministry in unison with my Pastor’s vision for where God is calling our church to go.

Mike Conner

By: Youth Pastors Unite! « Craig Stutzman

Youth Pastors Unite! « Craig Stutzman — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:01:57 +0000

[...] a great way to know what’s happening in the world of youth ministry everywhere! check it out. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)I laughed out loud…Spectrum of Youth [...]

By: John Wise

John Wise — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:56:30 +0000

if you read the latest blog that i just posted i somewhat go over the things you asked.

By: Brian H.

Brian H. — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:52:16 +0000

Been in Student Ministry for over 13 years and there are several constant challenges:

1. The challenge to be seen as a legitimate pastor and not be treated as a junior staff member.

2. The challenge to be relevant, but not pursue that at the expense of biblical truth, soundness of speech and honesty.

3. The challenge to stay true to a vision or philosophy for Student Ministry when parents and sometimes pastors tell us we need to change to suit the tastes of students who don’t think we are “fun”. This one irks me more than anything. A student doesn’t like our youth meetings because they aren’t fun, so we get a call from parents, asking us to make changes so their child will want to come. How many of those parents would ask a lead pastor to change his style, vision or philosophy so they could have more fun?

Greatest Joys

1. Seeing students make good choices.

2. Watching urban teens abandon the pseudo-masculine tough guy routine and embrace humility, gentleness and grace.

3. Watching students minister to their peers.

Prayer
That we would fall in love with Jesus more and love fads, entertainment and “relevance” less.

By: Brad Raby

Brad Raby — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:58:19 +0000

A couple of things I’ve learned are:
1) Churches need to let the Student Pastor minister in his or her areas of strengths.
In my early years I thought I needed to be so well rounded that I did everything. No more. I do what I do well, and let someone else do what I’m not good at. Some of your church systems demand that you do everything, but don’t compromise. You may pay for it as I have in losing a job, but one day you’ll reap the rewards. Today our student ministry has went from a depressed group of 10 to an excited can’t wait to bring my friends group of 60 in 6 months.

2) Empower students with ministry. In my early days I had adults do everything because I didn’t want to ‘rely’ on teens, or I was worried they would mess up too much. Not anymore. I have a team of students that do everything form the media to the worship to leading children’s worship!

Challenge: The transition of students after High School. Maybe some of you are like me out there…You work so hard to create an enviroment that is relevant to Students, then they graduate from High School and there is nothing in our church for them. Somehow the transition from David Crowder Band to Choir Robes, Organs and Southern Gospel music doesn’t come naturally.

By: Josh Turner

Josh Turner — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:25:28 +0000

The hardest thing for me personally is seeing the homes that these students go home to…..For the most part they are broken dis-functional homes that go against most things that Jesus preached….It is heart breaking to see students come in to a service experience God and then have to return home to a hurtful/dangerous place. I remember my youth pastor growing up could always look me in the eye and tell me you need to always honor your mother and father because they have what is best for you in mind….It isn’t that easy anymore….Parents sometimes don’t have the best in mind for their kids….

The biggest joy I have is seeing leaders come into their own as leaders of students…..When I see a leader pull a student aside to pray with or see a leader go that extra mile in a students life….Recently I had a couple of students get in trouble with the law and have to go to court, the awesome part of that was that there small group leaders were at there court dates as support to them and the family….THAT MAKES ME HAPPY