God definitely got our attention with Mackenzie's health issues. It was kind of a reality faith check. The best way to test your faith and the legitimacy of your dependence on God is through a storm in life.
May 2009, An announcement was made at our church that our youth pastor was resigning his position. My immediate thought was, "That is Bad." We did not have a huge youth group, but we had a good group of great kids. The last thing I wanted was for our kids to go without some kind of ministry. The group of youth we had may have been small, but they were giants in the faith. The church certainly did not want to lose them.
It is a sad fact, youth ministry is a very neglected ministry. Youth ministers typically do not stay very long. Burnout is high, and turnover is rapid. So many youth pastors either quit because of the high stress and emotional demands or they want to pastor their own church. I believe youth ministry is a special calling and should never be used as a stepping stone into pastoring a church. Unless the LORD leads you down that path.
My initial thought when the announcement was made was followed with a heavy heartfelt conviction. Not only did I think "that is bad." , I felt I had to do something. Immediately I went to our pastor and asked "What do you want me to do?" I was thinking, He would ask me to head up a search committee to find a new youth pastor. That was far from what happened. Brother Steve said, "Take over wednesday night youth." My immediate response was"OK!" Then reality hit me and I began to think "Wait, what just happened.? What did I just agree to? Did he seriously say take over wednesday night youth and I said yes? I had no idea how to lead a youth group. I just knew that I was going to kill the program. We were about to lose all our teenagers.
I promise, I really had no idea what I was going to do. I knew I had some pretty big shoes to fill. The kids loved their youth pastor. I knew there was no way I could even come close to what he had been doing. I met up with a friend of mine who was a youth pastor at another church and asked him, "Hey Randy, what do I do with a youth group?" his response, "Oh that is easy." "Really Randy, its easy?" "Yep, it is easy. You do what God tells you to do." I said, "Thanks Randy, thanks for your help." I was thinking, "Some help that was, a real friend could have offered much better advice."
Randy was exactly right, I needed to do what God wanted me to do. If I tried to fill someone else's shoes, then I was doing what they did. I would be serving God not man or youth for that part. In order to serve God, I needed to do what God wanted me to do. That should be easy right? No, it was not that easy. At that point I needed to figure out what that was. It became time to commit totally to His will and that was going to take some serious commitment.
At first, I was trying to mimic other youth groups. We had fun, played games, and I shared a short superficial devotion. Sure we had fun, me and all nine teenagers. However in my heart, I knew that what we were doing was not in God's will. At that point I began to search the heart and desire of God's will. I was committed to studying the bible and uncovering God's will and design for the church. I knew it could not be things we made up, there had to be some kind of structure. I was certain the church should not be a place of entertainment pleasing people's emotions and simply trying to make everyone feel good about themselves.
In my next story, I plan to share what God revealed to me. I took the picture a few years ago for a high school senior.
Isaiah 55:9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!
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