MOTIVATION FOR MINISTRY: THE LOVE OF CHRIST (Part 2)

In my previous blog I addressed the first motivation for Youth Ministry which is Jesus receiving to himself the reward for the suffering he went through, which is the salvation of you and me. 

It is sometimes hard to maintain motivation in Ministry. What do we keep doing this for? After we realize that we are doing ministry to possibly obtain for Jesus the "rewards for his suffering" then we look forward to how to maintain that motivation. I dare pose that question because many times I have lacked motivation. When the Elders seem to be against you, a Pastor doesn't understand the loud music you use, or a parent complains about the how long a missionary service project went, or the dread of every youth pastor when your teens start attending the cool youth ministry service down the road. What keeps us going to not give up in Youth Ministry?

One of the most difficult times in ministry for me was to see young men and women that I had poured my life into and discipled for years walk away from the Lord. One evening I had just left youth group and was going home. On the way home I had to get gas. I stopped by one of the 24 hr gas stations and noticed a young man that I had poured years of ministry into. He approached another customer and asked him to buy him some alcohol. After the person bought the alcohol for this young man he walked across the street to a group of guys who were obviously smoking up. I knew from other kids that this young man had walked away from God and even to this day is full on in that world. It made me so sad. I am sure you have had that moment where you were so saddened to hear what happened to one of your students who you poured so much into. It is hardest for me to keep my motivation up in those moments. In these moments the Love of Christ has to be or compelling motivation. 

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 which describe us as ambassadors and that our motivation should be The Love of Christ! His love compels us...

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:14-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

1. The Students We Serve Need Jesus THEY Need Love & Message of Reconciliation That We Have to Give.

I was a youth pastor for quite a long time in the San Francisco Bay Area. I worked and lived in Oakland. I often would take kids home into East Oakland neighborhoods. I myself lived in a pretty rough neighborhood, but some of the kids I would take home lived in scary places. I remember one time feeling such a sadness that kids in 7th grade had to live in such a scary place. I remember feeling such a sense of, "wow, how is this kid going to experience the love of Christ?" I knew that he would never experience the love of Christ if our ministry did not bring that into his life. That became my motivation for this one kid. We cannot just let terrible circumstances for some kids build for us our motivation. We have to be inwardly so motivated and compelled that every kid in our ministries is in eternal need of the love of Christ and we are ambassadors of that love and message of reconciliation! You can't take every kid home with you like I wanted to do those nights, but you can be an ambassador of the love of Christ. 

I had a student for several years who had Autism. He was an awesome kid. Our ministry somehow had built such a loving atmosphere that we were able to love and serve many students with disabilities. This young man was exceptinol he didn’t not have a filter for his mouth wich was awesome. One evening he came into youth group with a full order of chili cheese nachos. I was like, “Thank you for bringing those buddy." reaching out to take one. He said "NOT APPLICABLE" as he pulled them away from my reach. He did this type of stuff all the time. He was so funny. We loved him! One day his mother called me and just wanted to thank me for loving and accepting him. She said that he came home from school everyday crying, but never wanted to ever miss youth group. She described in sad details how he was picked on and bullied everyday. I was so touched that a group of kids could love and accept a young man with no filter and express the love of Christ to him. One time in the middle of a deep and serious discussion, he asked, "I don't mean to be gross or anything, but does too much masturbation cause cancer in your testicles?" If it had been my youth group when I was growing up we would have all been on the floor laughing. Our group took it with such grace. Because these kids had created a safe place no-one even laughed out loud. We were able to handle it with love and grace and this young man felt heard, and loved. I am sure someone was messing with him at school and told him this. Through the love of Christ and motivation to love each other we were able to build something where this young man with Autism and no filter was loved and accepted. It was awesome to witness. 

I was a youth pastor right out of college at a young church plant. during that time I started a fall retreat called the "Fall Brawl" it still lasts nearly 20 years later. I returned to this church recently to present our ministry in Germany I reconnected with the church administrator. He had been in my youth ministry many years earlier. It was so great to reconnect. He and his wife invited us out to lunch after the service. He told me a story about how during the Fall Brawl one year I came into the room late at night and was talking about him with another youth worker. I thought he was asleep but he wasn't and he said he overheard out our conversation. I was thinking, "OH NO! What did I say?" I was thinking it was going to be terrible that I was making fun of him or something. I could not for the life of me remember what I had said. He said I was expressing concern at how things were going in his life with difficult family situation, and my hopes that he would grow to love Christ, and that God would touch his life despite all the hurt he was going through. He expressed to me with tears in his eyes how much that had touched him. He was so touched that I would care so much about him. He said it transformed his life. He is now in ministry as that churches administrator. I could not believe it. But when the love of Christ compels you you will build loving attitudes and habits. I do not remember it, but all I can say is that I was speaking about someone out of the compelling love of Christ that had been built into my life. Funny enough, that same retreat nearly 20 years later, a silly idea that I had called "Fall Brawl" is still the main attraction at this church every year! The love of Christ is compelling and what you are building will last beyond you if it is built on the love of Christ!

2. As leaders WE ourselves need Jesus and the Love he gives

When we seek to love and invest in teenagers, we will be the recipients of the things we are working toward now for all eternity. I was invested in an incredible way by my own youth pastor. I can say with a high degree of confidence that Chuck was compelled by the love of Christ! Chuck died about a year ago of cancer. I was ministering at a youth retreat during the time that he was placed in hospice and died during that time. I wrote a letter to him that I want to share. 

Dear Chuck,

I wanted to write to you as soon as I heard that you were placed in hospice care. Right now as I'm writing this letter I am preaching at a Christian school's retreat here in Germany near Stuttgart. I write this to tell you practically what your investment has produced. Through your influence and pouring Christ into me you have multiplied that in the nations. When you said yes to being youth pastor at our church, and said yes to me when I asked you if you would disciple me, you decided to make an investment for the kingdom. And that investment even further than you could have imagined. 

I can't begin to describe what you mean to me. I don't know how to put it into words, but I'll try by describing to you the two most recent encounters we've had with you and Amy. The one encounter is when our car broke down on the freeway and you came to pick us up and we stayed with you overnight. I tell you that story because I remember that so vividly how you had discipled me and it was a perfect example of your input into the difficult and hard moments of my life (i.e. Broken down car and broke newlyweds) And how you encouraged us to lean on the goodness of God in the hardest times. Through deep deep pain and through heavy tears I cannot begin to thank you for that investment. We were made ready for our most difficult journeys together as a couple because of your example and leaning on the goodness of God in the hardest of times. Your life and your testimony were such a strong encouragement in that time when you picked us up, and so early in our marriage. You and Amy encouraged us through a difficult time with our car breaking down and that's a perfect example of your testimony in our lives. 

The second time I want to remind you about is when Simone and I came down to visit your church and present our ministry. This encounter reminded me that we are partners in kingdom work. It was so good to hear you preach and again to be ministered to by your love for the Lord, your heart for people, and your heart for his church. Then we had some lunch together and again you showed us how you are humbly leaning on the grace of Christ. You said that day you really knew and had experienced what the scripture meant when Paul wrote "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." I can't begin to tell you what that little bit of time meant to Simone and I. I felt like I was sitting at one of the apostles feet just listening to the wisdom and grace that came from every word. 

Your lifelong encouragement and discipleship have been an integral part of my life, ministry, and walk with Christ. I just preached today that Jesus is the bread of life, and anyone who continually comes to him and continually believes in him will always be satisfied! You exemplify that. You will and have always sought to be satisfied in Christ. You are a giant in the faith for me, and I will always be grateful for your influence in my life. 

I wanted to share this verse with you so that you know that the Lord is rejoicing over you, and he is quieting you with his love, and exulting over you with loud singing. 
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:17‬

And this last verse is who Jesus is. He is our hope our resurrection and our life...
“Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"”
‭‭John‬ ‭11:25-26‬

I will close with this as a final encouragement. This last year Caleb our 4 year old boy had pneumonia. It was real bad. He was as sick as I had ever seen him. However, He recovered wonderfully. The next day I asked him how he was doing. He said, "daddy I'm doing better. I'm not dying anymore!" So funny, but then I thought that's it, that's it! That's what we have in Christ. In Christ we are not dying anymore! Christ has overcome death! This body will surely die, but Christ has defeated death, hell, and the grave and we will not taste it because he has tasted fully for us. He is the resurrection and the life, and we believe it!!!

I am sure you are familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer the famous German theologian who was hanged by the nazis. He wrote in a letter the day before he was hanged “This is the end–for me, the beginning of life.” Bonhoeffer "knew whom he had believed and was persuaded that he was able to keep that which he committed unto him against that day." My dearest big brother in Christ if this is the time that Christ is calling you home, then it is for you the beginning of life. I am only very sad that I cannot see you one more time. However I am not sad for you because you are not dying anymore! And I will see you soon! I love you! 

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
‭‭Jude‬ ‭1:24-25‬

Your son in the faith,
Richard Moore
Acts 20:24

This sort of love compels us and it is our great motivation to lead students to the know and experience the great love of Christ. I hope you are compelled to love Christ, love students, and stay in ministry. We do this because Jesus is worth more than anything...

Motivation for Ministry: The Reward of His Suffering (Part 1)

What is our motivation for ministry? That is sometimes hard to pin down as youth ministers. We find motivation from many sources. One of my motivations in ministry had been for a long time the investment that my youth pastors made in my life. Being youth Pastors like them motivated me for a long time. I wanted to be the same type of youth pastor that these guys were to me. But I have seen that over the years being a cool youth pastor is not a proper motivation.

I came across a story recently about the Moravians. It was the early 1700’s in Germany when Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Herrnhut were compelled to reach slaves living and working on the islands of the West Indies. John Leonhard Dober, and David Nitschmann were brethren from Herrnhut. In 1732 they both decided to set out from Germany to these reach these slaves in the West Indies. Their plan was to sell themselves into slavery and travel by slave ship, and work there among the slaves, to have the chance to preach the gospel to those living and and suffering under slavery there. And so the story goes as they were leaving on the ship to travel to the West Indies, thinking that they may never see their family and friends again, it is said that one of them from the boat shouted these words back to their family and friends on shore…

“May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering.” 

These men stayed on that island for two years. And after two years returned to Germany. The Moravian missionaries of Herrnhut continued to send missionaries to the West Indies. The Moravians baptized throughout the West Indies some 13,000 people before any other missionaries ever arrived there. This is an amazing story of a few men who believed in the power of the gospel to save people. and acted radically on that gospel. I want to focus on the thing that they said to their loved ones

“May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward for His suffering."

What is the reward of His suffering? It's us. It's those we minister too. It is all people who have ever, or will ever believe in Christ. This will transform our ministries when we view youth who come to our clubs, our youth groups, our Sunday Schools, our outreach events, or whatever our ministry is involved in not just as attendees, or another kid, but a possible "reward for the suffering of Christ." This kid that annoys me, that smelly teenager, that wild kid, the rebel, the kid with autism, or cerebral palsy, or the quiet kid in the corner, could possibly be a "reward" unto Christ! This will drive and motivate us to present our service to God as a pleasing sacrifice. Everything will change for us when we are not just creating an AWESOME youth ministry program, but seeking to present Christ with the reward for His suffering! Those students in your groups who might one day trust and come to know Christ, they are the possible reward for Christ, they may well one day be His offspring! Lets look at a passage in Isaiah 53:2-11

“For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53:2-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Why was it the Lord's good plan to crush His son? So that he would see His offspring: us, those who would trust in Christ, we are the reward unto Him for the suffering that He endured. That kid who annoys us, the details of pulling off another lock in, or preparing for your next youth service. Let your motivation be presenting Jesus with the reward for His suffering. You will never lack motivation in ministry ever again.

Let’s rededicate ourselves to this great call, seeking to win kids to Christ. We work daily in a profession where young people can find Christ That's AMAZING! You are His reward, they are His reward. Let’s think this way as we move forward and minister to to young people. Matt Papa below explains the great Mission that the Moravians took on and gives us motivation to reach people for the reward that Christ will receive. Check it out! Blessings as you serve Christ by reading youth!

Superstar Preachers, Pastoral Moral Failure, and the State of the Evangelical Church

There has been a rash of moral failures in high profile pastors in the evangelical world in the past several years. I will not name any names, because I think that would be counterproductive, and not graceful to the families and men who are involved in these failures in ministry, envethough they had very public ministries and very public failures. In a quick count off the top of my head I counted more than ten pastors that I could think of off the top of my head in the last few years. What I would like to address is the current state of the American Pastor and church. What I do believe is that these failures in ministry are not about adultery, or pastoral abuse, or pornography, or alcoholism, although those things are very wrong with terrible consequences, but rather these are symptoms of much deeper issues that the church is facing and must face and come to terms with before we can move forward or ever be a righteous "city on a hill" once again. I want to first address personally what I faced in ministry, and secondly what the Church has taken on in leadership structures that I believe are unbiblical, and should change through the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit

The Current State of Pastoral Ministry

Pastoral ministry is challenging for many reasons, but most of all because you are seeking to lead people into a relationship with Christ. Because I want people to know Christ above all things, I will do whatever it takes unless it is plainly unbiblical, unethical, or immoral. But sometimes those lines can become a little blurred. This has been what I believe has happened to many pastors in my opinion over the last few years. The Slippery Slope starts with small decisions to not do the biblical, moral, or ethical thing. Let me explain.

Pastors do not decide one day that they are going to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from their churches. They decide that they will use their ministry credit card once and then twice for personal items. Pastors don't decide one day that they want to cheat on their wives with the secretary, they make one decision to have a "working lunch" with their personal assistant and then decide to have dinner with her a few months later. A pastor doesn't decide one day that he wants to topple a church with his power structure and have that church crumble under his failures. He decides to change the church bylaws to get "everyone on board with his leadership." A pastor doesn't want to be an alcoholic, but he gradually slides down that slippery slope because he comes home in the evening and wants to "take the edge off" when faced with the unbiblical model of a multi-site megachurch that he is the superstar of. These are the small compromises that I have seen and experienced in my years in ministry. Men In ministry must take measures to be "above reproach."

Let me give you a personal example of this. When we moved to California to become youth pastor we were required to register our car 90 days after the first day it was in California. Of course I waited a few days too long. When asked on the form when the first day the car was in California, I lied that it had been in California less than 90 days to avoid the penalty. I was so convicted that I returned to the DMV to tell them that I had lied and I was there to pay the penalty. The woman at the DMV was shocked that I would even want to return to make things right. She even said I should not worry about

it, but I insisted that lying is not acceptable for me as a Christian and if you let me get away with it now then on another occasion I might also lie. I had to pay a hefty fine, but that was a powerful lesson for me and through that and other lessons I was able to build honesty into my life and ministry. Later on I accidentally used my Church credit card for personal use. I realized it later, and immediately went to our church administrator to pay back what I had spent. Integrity means that what you say, do, and think are all consistent with each other. The slippery slope that we find ourselves on is sometimes very hard to discern in pastoral ministry. The word of God gives us clear parameters, and the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin and righteousness.

Pastor, some questions that might help you avoid these pitfalls are, do you have a living, humble, needy, celebratory, affectionate, meditative, worshipful, loving, and tender, communion with Christ? If not why not? Has the ministry become your identity in Christ? or is Christ alone still your identity? Or do you, as I did often say, "I am not an emotional person." Maybe you need to open your personality up to godly changes. Ask the Lord to make you a tender, emotionally connected person, like Jesus our master. Lord remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)!

The Current State of the Evangelical Church
I would like to address what I also see as systematic problems within the evangelical church in America. There is such a thing as an ungodly unbiblical model of church governance and I believe the evangelical church is flirting with those unbiblical models. Here are the problems we face...

1. We are attracted to the superstar preacher. If he is charismatic and funny and a great preacher we listen and good preachers gain a following quickly in our information rich culture.
2. We are not self feeders anymore. Christians have a hard time because of superstar evangelical preachers. We don't feed ourselves spiritually we look first to those leaders/pastors.
3. We have innovated ourselves to death. Megachurch structures, multi-site campus churches, and entertainment/superstar preacher driven ministries are the byproduct of our over-engineering of church ministry, and I believe are not biblical models and should die with the pastors who plant them.
4. We overlook serious moral character flaws or outright sin (i.e. the "cussing preacher") in pastoral leadership if they are charismatic and entertaining preachers
5. We have forgotten the mandate of leadership in 2 Timothy 2:2 especially in regards to empowering and multiplying new preachers and teachers. Instead those preachers hold on to their pulpits with Kung-Fu grip.
6. The entertainment mode of ministry has so enamored the church in America it is hard to imagine any other way for the average Joe who is not gifted so charismatically to be seen and understood as successful. The average Joe minister may be very successful at making disciples, multiplying leadership, and planting new churches, but he doesn't have 5,000 sermon views a week and so we discount him as unsuccessful. We need a new ministry scorecard.
7. We have forsaken personal holiness for a consumer driven brand of church. Look at the numbers on divorce, pornography usage, alcohol abuse, etc. and it becomes clear the church of Jesus Christ looks exactly like the world. How can we be a mirror of the gospel if in reality we only mirror the world. My brothers and sisters this should not be. Ephesians 5 describes how we should walk in holiness as the church...
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” (Eph.‬ ‭5:1-12‬)

I am so sad about this current trend in pastoral failure and so that is why I am writing to at least bring the topic up and investigate some solutions to systemic problems that I see. Most of all we can pray that God would bring us back to sole devotion to him, his word, and his glorious church and the proper government of that church. The hope that we always have even as fallen pastors is that the immense Grace of God extends even to us who have fallen in ministry. God is sovereign and even when we walk through the fire, even in our brokenness, and our failures, he is there and he will and can restore us. He may not restore us to ministry, but he will forgive and his grace knows no bounds. This however does not mean that we can treat his grace cheaply or take advantage of it. Thank God! That is the good news that is available to every man woman and child. It is also available to those of us who serve the Lord in professional ministry. He has taken our punishment and wrath upon himself that we might be credited with his perfect record of righteousness! Hallelujah!

Recovering from a Battered Ecclesiology Part 3

Maybe, like me, you have faced ministries that slowly grind away at your view of Church. In my previous posts I addressed this slow grind in a Recovery from a Battered Ecclesiology and Recovering From a Battered Ecclesiology Part 2 please take a moment and read those posts to catch up with where I am in the discussion.

7.  Most youth pastors are young when entering ministry and have an underdeveloped Ecclesiology. This is my admission of poor theology (when I was younger), and if most veteran youth pastors are honest they also have entered youth ministry at a young age, and they also had a lackluster view of the church. We were just having fun, and hanging out with students and pointing them to Jesus. Since then I have grown in maturity (hopefully) and in my high view of the church. In the meantime in ministry I did not view the Ekklesia of Jesus with as high esteem as I do now. This hurt me in my early years because I let fun and reaching teenagers overshadow my desire to disciple teenagers into the life of Christ which is His body life. So part of my recovery was to grow in my high view of the importance, and heart for the body of Christ. Now mind you, I didn't grow in my view of the institutional church, the hierarchy, or the programs of the church, but I grew in the view that Christ's redemption reached out to people whom he called to Himself. I grew in understanding of the redeemed and His glorious work in making them the Church, making them priests, and kings forever. So my view of the people, the Ekklesia of God that He redeemed from every tribe and nation grew, and yours can too. Let Him recover that in you. Let Jesus speak to your heart how much more His Church means to His heart than just the programs, structures, buildings, and bylaws that you maneuver in daily in your local Church life and ministry. It is His Bride! We are His Bride. The Bride that he died to marry!

8. Christ (not a person in leadership) is the head, cornerstone, and leader of the Church! It is so hard not to confuse this consistently. We don't see Jesus standing up in the pulpit every week. That would be cool for sure to see Jesus preaching every week, but we don't. We have flawed, fallible, sinful men standing up in pulpits around the world every week, and we have deeply flawed pastors on Church staff, and elders and deacons who also continually need the Grace of the Lord Jesus. Our leaders are totally screwed up! This just displays the great grace and kindness of Christ that he is the Cornerstone of the church, but places men in his stead who must hold on tight to the grace of the Lord just to make it daily in this work to lead God's people, pointing to the that Chief Cornerstone. This is where I have royally screwed up in leadership. When I fix my eyes on a man rather than the Chief Cornerstone, I have lost sight of the true nature of the Church. Hebrews 12:2 says "let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." When I have definitely let my Ecclesiology be battered is when I have let a man or a group of men take the place of the Chief Cornerstone in my mind. Let us return our gaze to the "Author and Finisher!" Only then will we recover a truer Ecclesiology.

9. Most youth pastors have the "fun" personality and so the Entertainment/Attractional church model lends to youth pastor burn out because they carry much of the burden for programming. I can remember when I realized this, that I was the fun bringer, the announcement clown, the one that everyone liked to laugh at. I was in ministry for quite some time when I signed up for a men's retreat. The leader asked me if I would do the games for the retreat? I had done them the previous several years. I had to say, "no". I hated doing it, but I had to not be the game guy, the clown, the entertainer. I wanted to be taken seriously and I am sure you have felt that way too. You have asked yourself, "When will they take me seriously?" I have a few suggestions. Learn to say "no" when the things that you are being asked to do do not fit into your ministry priorities, or into your job description. You can quickly be taxed and burned out with all the "fun" things that you are asked to do. It could also hurt your view of the church when all you are asked to do are the funny video announcements, church picnic games, concert nights, halloween alternative programs, or being the dunk tank guy every year at the Church Carnival! you can find yourself asking, "is this it?" "Is this what Jesus died for? That I am the dunk tank guy at the Church Carnival again this year?" As a youth PASTOR you are more valuable than being the entertainment door mat at your Church. So let yourself be respected and heard as a PASTOR in your congregation. Now do not get me wrong, do fun stuff, but be careful to balance it out so that you do not get burnt out, and so that your people respect, and hear you as a legitimate PASTOR/ELDER of your Church. And Church, what I am asking you to do is, that if a Youth PASTOR is hired as a PASTOR in your Church treat him like one, and make him an elder! If he is qualified to be a PASTOR in your church then he is also qualified to be an ELDER. And if he is not Biblically qualified to be an ELDER than he is not qualified to be a PASTOR! and don't hire him! So set him up for success by giving him the position that he is qualified for PASTOR/ELDER when you hire him!

These are just a few suggestions to recover a biblically Christ honoring Ecclesiology when it seems to become battered by years in ministry. Ultimately we need Christ to recover a truly honoring Ecclesiology. If you feel that fade toward a, "Is this all?" type of question, then do whatever it takes to "fix your eyes on Jesus." This might help...