I know senior pastors can go through some pretty depressing thoughts on Sunday afternoon, and monday. Re-hashing what they said, what they could have said, what the church needs to do better or differently, feeling like a failure.
Well youth pastors can go through that too. I’ve been feeling it lately. I know that the size of our ministries weekly attendance is small, and I have a certain amount of internal and external pressure to see it grow. And that sucks. I try to play it cool, like it doesn’t affect me, but it does. The frustration grows and the ministry doesn’t.
This morning I started my work week by sending in last nights youth group numbers. And I commented for the first time on my frustration. I never do that. I usually just email in the numbers and move on. I didn’t know why I did that. I cleaned out my inbox, and then went to my google reader account to read some of my blog mentors. I find this is a good way for me to start the day. Email, check the blogs, and then focus on my projects the rest of the day. That’s just my process.
The 2nd blog I read was from Craig Groeschel. He writes short weekly series around a central theme. This week his theme is on success. Man I needed to read this. Go read the post, and keep up with this weeks series it’s going to be great. the central idea is this:
The size of your ministry does not determine the level of your success.
So where am I seeing success in my ministry? I see success when a student wants to take ownership over our missions giving. I see success when a parent says “Thanks for investing in my child.” I see success when I go to Kellogg Middle School, and the students want to just talk to someone, and I’m available to be there and give them the attention that they deserve. I see success when students tell me they’ve been thinking about something we talked about, or that they disagreed with me and they want to talk about it. I see success when prayer request go beyond school and into matters of life and death. I see success when students actually pray for each other.
Jesus drew a crowd on several occassions but his ministry was 12 guys and one of them wanted him dead. So I find great comfort in that.
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