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10 Commonly Asked Youth Ministry Questions
1. Q: What is your testimony?
A: I was raised in the church and attended services 3 times a week (twice on Sunday) and accepted Jesus as my Savior at a very early age. However, I never really took God all that serious. In high school, most of the kids knew that I went to church but I was your typical high school student and my walk and my talk never matched. I got involved in Young Life as a student and then as a leader after graduation. Once again my walk and my talk were not the same, but I was growing. I went away to the army and started to find my relationship with Jesus again. However, I still had a long way to go. I came home started looking for just the right church and in doing so became very ecumenical or even non-denominational. I started going to church with some friends at a Church of God and saw something in the pastor that I had never seen before and right then and there rededicated my life to Christ. My walk continued to go up and down until I met my wife, and then it really went crazy. Because of my loving wife who was very committed to our marriage and supernatural intervention from God found areas of my life that needed to be healed. We started attending Northside Fellowship and for the first time in my life understood what forgiveness and healing was all about. I continued to do youth ministry at Northside and began to lead worship and in 1996 I began my music ministry full time. I traveled all over America and in Europe doing concerts and slowly getting involved in and understanding what true worship was all about. The last 2 years of my traveling I found myself doing more and more worship events and more specifically youth worship. As the Lord continued to heal my life and my marriage He began opening doors that I never knew I wanted to go through. We had 2 beautiful girls at this point and the Lord said that it is time to come off the road and in 1999 I took a full time position at a church doing the two things I believe I was called to do from the beginning, worship and youth ministry. I am still growing in my relationship Lord, but I know that if I continue to seek His face and His will for my life, then I will continue to grow.
2. Q: What are your spiritual truths?
A: My
faith is in the living God who created all that exists and who continues to
sustain all of creation. Because
God is the creator of all, God is also Lord of all.
This means that no part of creation is independent from God and no person
or power has authority over God.
All that God created was very good.
Peace prevailed among all creation and in relation to God.
However, the people God created to rule over disobeyed their creator, and
destroyed the perfect people whom God created, I have experienced this
fear-guilt because I have disobeyed my creator, and fear because I know that the
Lord of all punishes disobedience. However,
God’s people were not left without hope.
Hope and peace are yet possible because God
took the initiative in restoring the relationship between all people and their
creator. God entered into a
covenant by choosing a people through whom all the nations of the earth would be
blessed.
My faith is also in Jesus Christ, who is the
fulfillment of God’s covenant promises. In
Jesus Christ, the all mighty God entered into history at a particular place and
time, and took on the limitations of our earthly bodies.
Jesus became like us and could stand in our place as a sacrifice for our
sin. Because Jesus is God, the
death of Jesus on the cross was enough to save all people from their sins.
Through Jesus Christ, we can know the living
God. We learn from the words and
deeds of Jesus that God is concerned with freeing the captive by physical or
mental chains and for those who are spiritually oppressed, as well as freedom
from the oppression inflicted by the unjust upon anyone whom God has created.
My faith is also in the Holy Spirit.
The spirit is the one whom Jesus sent to teach us, comfort, convict and
empower God’s people. With the
power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to be God’s people. With the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to be
God’s witnesses to the world.
As God’s witnesses, we do not stand-alone. We are a part of the church, which is made up of all who
trust in God’s covenant promises. Together
we seek to reconcile all people to God and to each other.
We long to share the good news of God’s
grace to others and we invite them to share in the abundant life Jesus gives to
the church. This life is expressed
in the Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In
Baptism people enter into the covenant community and become entitled to it’s
special care. In the Lord’s
Supper, we not only remember the sacrifice of Jesus that makes our
reconciliation possible, but we are renewed by the presence of the risen Lord
with us at the feast.
My faith in the Living God gives me hope and joy, because I know that Jesus will then restore God’s perfect peace and reign in glory forever.
3.
Q: What are your strengths?
A:
My strengths are a relationship, worship and evangelistic based purpose
driven youth ministry. I took a youth program that had a long history of having a
low attendance of about 7-10 students per week. I started doing worship with the
youth and developed small group. I went to the high schools, hung out with
students and their friends and brought the attendance up to 40-50 students (and
still growing) each week. I was
only able to do this because I offered them something that they weren’t
getting anywhere else, including their own churches.
I took each and every student as they came along and let them know by
praying with them, listening to them and talking with them that I cared about
them as people and that they were important. I developed a leadership training
that was not only focused on adults, but also college, and high school students.
My approach is this… “People do not care about how much you know, until
they know how much you care”.
4. Q: What are your Weaknesses?
A: Administration. This is one of those areas that I am continuing to grow. I CAN do the administrative tasks needed to run a youth ministry, however, I believe that there are those people who really enjoy doing these administrative tasks. As a part of my job as youth director I will find someone like that to help me. Not only does that allow others to use their gifts and talents but it frees me up to spend more time with students.
5. Q: What programs or strategies have you implemented in the past?
A: I think it is important for the growth of a youth ministry to give up areas of ministry and allow others to do them. I emphasis the, “Priesthood of the Believers”. Each of us has a gift that can be used to further the kingdom of God. Youth ministry is like a church within a church. There are so many areas of ministry within the youth ministry itself. It would be a shame to not give other people of the chance to do ministry not to mention the ministry would never grow if I did it all myself. So, soon after I would arrive I will set up training for volunteer leadership. I also developed bible studies in each of the high schools, and did discipleship with the students.
6. Q: What programs or strategies will you use to reach out to the students in schools?
A: Reaching unchurched kids is very simple. It all goes back to grass roots. We have to go where they are. Be with them, spend time with them, develop relationship with them and ask them what they want. At that point if churched kids like what you are doing they will invite their friends. These could be churched or unchurched kids. When you start something that brings in kids, then their friends will come also. The key to this whole process is “don’t guess, you don’t have to”. Just be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and listen to the students. If you ask what they want, they will tell you.
7. Q: What are your long-term goals?
A: I just want to be obedient to where the Lord might lead my family and
me. Recently I believe the Lord has been calling me to go to seminary or Bible
College. Whether or not I become a Sr. Pastor or just the best youth pastor I
can be, well that’s up to Him. Until
this happens I will continue to do what He has called me to do and just keep
listen and serving Him.
8. Q: Describe in Detail the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)?
A: The Youth Advisory
Committee is a committee that I put together to help monitor the progress of our
youth ministry. It was a team of 7
or 8 adults and students with the purpose of helping the ministry become the
best it could be. It had two major
functions, accountability and planning. It
met once a month and discussed 3 things; what has happened so far, what will be
happening and are we doing the best we can. It was important to include youth
and adults to achieve a balanced perspective of what the youth wanted and
needed. I believe it is a must in
every youth ministry.
9. Q: Describe in Detail the North Columbus Youth Leadership Network (NCYLN)?
A: I developed the North Columbus Youth Leadership Network as an ecumenical network of youth pastors, youth leaders and youth directors. We met on the third Thursday of each month and had lunch together. We began our meeting with about 15 minutes of worship. After the worship we would listen to a speaker (usually one of the local youth guys or gals) share their perspective on an area of youth ministry in which they excel. We would then take time after the speaker and talk at our tables about our joys and frustrations in our ministries. We would then finish the meeting with prayer time in small groups. In addition to our monthly meetings, several events were planned through out the year to get our youth together. It was a good opportunity for churches that have small youth groups to be a part of a larger community. It was also a great way to break down the denominational barriers.
10. Q: What is 3-2-1?
A: 3-2-1 is a very simple but very effective tool to reach students. The 3 indicates sending 3 students a note or letter. In each of the notes 3 things should be covered. First let them know you're thinking about them, second let them know you're praying for them and last ask how you can pray for them more effectively. The number 2 is making 2 phone calls to students. The same three things should be covered. And 1 is one hour. The only thing that entails is hanging out with a student for an hour or more. I get very excited when it comes to 3-2-1 because I know it is a great way to build relationships with kids.