Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Why Youth Ministry Rocks

Sometimes youth ministry is hard, some times it is thankless, and it is often exhausting. There are days when you wonder if it is worth it to keep going. I could probably think of 100 reasons, but here are ten off the top of my head:
  • It's fun. Where else can you do cool and crazy things without people thinking you are a complete moron? Ok, they might think you are a moron for doing youth ministry, but at least you have some kind of excuse.
  • You can sleep in. This may not be the case for everyone, but a lot of youth pastors get to sleep in a little when they are working at night.
  • You get to answer ridiculous questions like, "When are you going to become a real pastor?"
  • You get the privilege of doing announcements on Sunday Morning.
  • You can take students skiing, have the church pay for it, and call it work.
  • You get paid to study scripture, that rocks.
  • You get to travel for mission trips, conferences, and continuing ed. Again the church picks up the tab. Those things are work, but it is still fun.
  • You have the privelege of telling your wife you need two wardrobes. One for working with the kids and one for working with the parents and pastoral team.
  • You get to officiate weddings for students whom God has impacted through your efforts. (Way to go!)
  • You get to brag about the students who were once in your ministry and are now serving God in ministry.
I probably missed a bunch, but these are some pretty good ones. Keep up the good fight.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Reading the Dead Guys

The older I get, the older the books I read get. I am going to do something rare and recommend a book, but before I do I want to suggest something else. Read the dead guys!!

So much of the time we are flooded with books to read. If I read every book recommended to me I would have to read a book every day for the rest of my life. That doesn't even count the books I see in the book store that I would like to pick up. The problem is you never know what you are going to get. So here is my suggestion, read the dead guys!!

The thing about reading the dead guys is this, they have been tested. There is a reason the names Spurgeon, Calvin, Boice, Luther, Augustine, Tozer, C. S. Lewis, and so on have so much meaning. Their writing has stood the test of time. They will say something significant in their writings. Besides the test of time, you sound so much smarter when you quote dead guys as apposed to quoting the latest author on a particular topic. I have been amazed at how culturally relevant these guys are. It almost seems like human nature doesn't change...hmmmm

Alright, here is the book recommendation. Spurgeon wrote this little book called Come Ye Children aka Spiritual Parenting. This book is a small treasure!! It is excelent for children's workers and youth workers alike. As a parent it contains some excelent advice. Pick this book up for under ten bucks and read it. After you are done reading that book, pick up the book I contributed to Youth Ministry Lemonade @ www.pjs-web.net. (can you say shameless plug?)