I have been doing ministry full-time for 5 years, part-time for 2 years, volunteer 4 years and as an adult leader for over 5 years. All in all I have been doing ministry for the last 16 years. I have held many positions within a ministry. I understand what it means to be unpaid, to provide for your family via another job. I have taken classes in youth ministry and I have been to many conferences. I love doing youth ministry. I have been the only adult with a group and I have led a team of 45 adult leaders with paid staff.
So what does all this mean, not a whole lot. Just that I have been doing ministry long enough to know that I don't know everything. I just finished my second move for a full time position and I am realizing how much I am still learning. I moved to Kansas City having never been a full time youth pastor. What I knew was for being a volunteer, so I started off open to anything and building slowly. My move to Newburgh has been a little different.
I started this position looking to build sustainability from the beginning. I never want a ministry to be about me or my ideas. The adult leaders at Newburgh were incredible. They have been with this ministry for many years and at least two youth pastors. They were hungry and ready to be taken to the next level. I was excited. I knew this was going to be a great start to our ministry. My big focus was figuring out what had been done in the past and how to use the adults to their best ability. The gathering of information took a while because it seemed to come in small pieces from many different places. The former youth pastor even left me a nice letter to help me along.
My adult leaders have pushed me. They have wanted more from me than I expected. This isn't a bad thing. We had different expectations but I believe we are past them. They wanted to help work and I didn't want to push them to hard. Each of us coming from opposite sides but heading the same direction.
We, as a team, were able to get things going. We have two big Sunday night events with families. Youth Group on Sunday nights will resume this weekend. We have our first "official" outing (we are actually staying in) this Friday. Our first lock-in is planned for November. The first youth service in two years will take place on Nov. 13th. And We have planned out the next 12 months including the major summer activities.
I am excited about what God will be doing in our ministry. We have some great students, parents and adult leaders. The church is supportive and wanting to see us succeed. I will continue to recruit and build a sustainable youth ministry because this is the only way to be successful.
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