Developing your network

You and I need to spend time with other youth pastors. Actually, that is what I get to do and love it. You are some of the coolest peeps I know. The ones who want to put time into students and give up you life, or what is left of it now, to the future of tomorrow. We need to support each other more than ever. With all the madness going on and everything that kids have to deal with today, they need us and the leaders that we build. And the more they need guidance, the more we are going to have to rely on one another to keep our sanity. You have a testimony and reason for doing ministry just like the guy or girl at the church down the road. And others need to hear that story. I don't think that I have ever heard a story from a youth pastor that did not inspire me.

There are blind spots in your ministry. There are blind spots in mine. The problem is that we all are so busy that we say we do not have time for a lunch with other pastors on a regular basis, yet we wonder why we do not grow at a rate that is pleasing to us or in many cases our senior pastors. Well, you need to be spending time with other youth workers on a regular basis. Others need to hear what you are doing to make sure you are not off your rocker. They are the ones who will keep you from the many pitfalls of ministry. You will learn stuff from them that you will think, “wow, I should have known that.” and these are the blind spots. You can overcome and beat them, but not until you take action to do so. I know you are busy, but that is not an excuse.

We all have tons to give and tons to learn from others. I remember when Cobb would take me along to chill with him at a monthly youth pastors lunch with all the peeps doing youth ministry in our local area. They were pretty cool. But they soon stopped and it was always really hard to get peeps together. But those who stuck with one another continued to grow. Many fell out of ministry, however, I do not know if these meetings could have helped. But I know that there is no way that they could have hurt them. Look at your schedule. Do you have other youth peeps in it regularly? Develop your network. It will add value to your ministry... sooner than later.