Rebel with a skewed sense of cause.

Youth ministry for me growing up was a bit of a let down.  The forty-hour per week working moms did the best they could.  Volunteers did everything.  For me, however, it was more of a source of frustration than formation.  Gathering at the church to be lectured at or going on retreats with little content and a whole lot of rules didn't exactly bring me closer to Jesus. So I thought.  The programming seemed contrived or fake.  The efforts of those women was lost. Or was it?

When I stumbled into a career in youth ministry I did so out of rebellion.  I know, not the best reason for entering into a career of low pay and fickle administration.  But, I wanted to be better.  With my little undergraduate degrees in theology and philosophy I was certain I held the key to the universe. I wanted to prove that teaching about the Lord to young people didn't have to be dram and boring.  It could be enthusiastic and engaging.  It needed to be real. But, I believed it still needed to be about me and my ability to manage the moment.  Are you picking up on a theme here?

I am at a loss when I look back on my adolescent experience of ministry.  I remember being angry a lot with the lack of quality teaching and engaging content.  I remember acting out and intentionally disrupting the efforts of the worn out volunteers for the sake of attention or, better yet, dismissal.  I was the kid that asked the hard questions, had high expectations and then quit coming.

Me, me, me, me, me.  I sound like a two year old with a messed up mission.

I suppose the value in my experience comes from the fact that I have a memory of it at all.  A whole lot of adults put in a whole lot of hours to try to teach me about Jesus.  Their personal formation might have been a bit lacking and their teaching style may have resembled a Charlie Brown character, but they were present and they cared enough to try.  

My rebellious roots in ministry turned to professional perseverance in my late twenties.  I discovered that the world of youth ministry was monstrously large and there a lot of people much more qualified at it than I.  When you want to be successful in something, you study people that are successful in that thing.  So I did.

Today, youth ministry or any ministry for that matter, is an intentional landscape of opportunity and growth.  I approach it with a sense of humility and joy.  I focus on fundamental faith development and the pursuit of personal spirituality in young people.  I try to let the moment be mastered by Christ.  In other words, I know to get out of the way.  I have learned to shut up.  I have learned to yield to the authority of the Holy Spirit and trust in the power of an open heart.  I have learned about the notion of the other.

Service is at the heart of all successful ministry.  From service flows discipleship and from their, the rebel in all of us can be used to build a kingdom.