I would like to issue a challenge today to redefine your perception of a youth leader.
Dare 2 Share - A priest was walking along the corridor of the parochial school near the preschool wing when a group of little ones were trotting by on the way to the cafeteria. Little Johnny stopped and looked at him in his clerical clothes and asked, "Why do you dress funny?"
He told him he was a priest and this is the uniform priests wear.
Little Johnny pointed to the priest's plastic collar tab and asked, "Do you have an owie?"
The priest was perplexed till he realized that to him the collar tab looked like a band-aid. So the priest took it out and handed it to Little Johnny, to show him. On the back of the tab were raised letters giving the name of the manufacturer.
Little Johnny felt the letters, and the priest asked, "Do you know what those words say?"
"Yes I do," said Little Johnny, who was not old enough to read. Peering intently at the letters he said, "Kills ticks and fleas up to six months!"
Hmmm
I wonder how often we are like little Johnny and miss the whole point of why ministers do what they do: especially when it comes to youth ministers. Has there ever been a more misunderstood group of pastors? For some, they are understood to be the person who keeps away the ticks and fleas of sin in their students lives. For others, youth leaders are glorified babysitters who throw a verse a day their students way to keep the devil away.
I would like to issue a challenge today to redefine your perception of a youth leader. Believe it or not, these people are the most underpaid under appreciated people in all of Christianity. There are a hundred other pursuits they could have followed, but they have chosen youth ministry for two simple reasons: they love God and they love students.
Heres a letter that I have from one of the first youth pastors in all of history. Read it carefully and see if you can tell how youth leaders seem to all have this attitude:
We were as gentle among you as a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too. Don't you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you. You yourselves are our witnesses--and so is God--that we were pure and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you into his Kingdom to share his glory.
-The Apostle Paul
So how can you give a little boost to your local hero? Here are a few suggestions:
1) Pray. Your youth leader definitely needs prayer. Pray for him/her by name, and ask God to bless them, keep them, and make His face to shine upon them. Pray for his/her relationships, pray for success in ministry. If you have a problem with your youth leader, then pray also for yourself.
2) Encourage. Believe it or not, in the 15 years I have spent in full time ministry, I can count on one hand the number of times I have been truly encouraged. People have given me some atta boys and pats on the back, but what I mean is truly heartfelt appreciation that is Spirit filled and sincere.
3) Volunteer. It may initially give your youth leader a heart attack, but walk up to him/her sometime and ask: how can I help you at the next youth activity? You might think he/she has all the help needed, but dont count on it. Most youth leaders are completely understaffed.
Perhaps you can think of other ways to support you local youth leader, but the point is to go beyond thinking to the all-important stage of doing!
Questions:
1) What are three ways you can pray for your youth leader (s)?
2) What are five ways you can encourage him/her?
3) What are seven ways you can volunteer?