Youth Ministry 2.0

I served in some capacity of youth ministry from 1994 through 2005 before taking this role as the Ministry Pastor. And now during this time of transition at Hillcrest, I have the pleasure and privilege of stepping in and leading our 180 student ministry yet again. I really mean those words because it's really been a blast this past month getting to hang out with some very neat and gifted students and also work alongside a committed and dedicated group of volunteers. In some ways, not much has changed when it comes to student ministry and in some ways, it has changed, at least from my perspective. First, the things that haven't changed too much:

• Generally speaking, high school students prefer not to hang out with middle school students (and to a lesser extent, vice versa). Not rocket science here, but my first leadership meeting with the students I combined the groups. This Sunday, I'm splitting them!


• While this stereotype doesn't hold true for everyone, the gals prefer to have more time for small group and discussion and the guys prefer more time for gym time and hanging out.


• People like to have fun- doesn't matter if you're a student or a child or even an adult, who doesn't like to have fun? Fun is always an emphasis for student ministries and it's been great to have fun with these students each Wednesday night- and give away some fun prizes too! Hillcrest's facebook page has some pics of the fun we're having.


• My increasing waistline! Seriously, my first year at Hillcrest as youth pastor I put on 15 pounds. I blamed Sunday night meals at church and a Burger King within walking distance from the office. This past month or so I again have put on some pounds, but this time I blame my slowing metabolism and my standing addiction to pop as we no longer do weekly meals at Hillcrest and I rarely visit BK.

And the things that have changed:

• I am a dumber now than I was then! When I was in youth ministry, I didn't have any kids and even when I did have kids, they were babies and couldn't mouth back yet. I had the audacity to host parent meetings- sometimes 4 a year- and teach them on how to better parent their teenage son or daughter. Now with my oldest only three years from entering our student ministry, what was I thinking?!? I can barely keep my head above water parenting my own kids, much less giving advice to someone else, and giving that advice without being a parent myself!


• Our students face lots of pressures- I know that perhaps that could be one of the things that has stayed the same, but I think as our world gets more complicate, those pressures and anxieties trickle down to our youth, whose world is more uncertain and unstable than mine was growing up.

Well, that's about it for now. Time to grab another Pepsi . . .