Years ago attending Willow Creek’s Student Ministry Leadership Conference, Bo Boshers explained how on their team they used the phrase “do your job” to encourage one another to be dedicated and work hard. The massive temptation in youth ministry is to slack off and not be as efficient as we could be and that is often made possible by the relatively low level of supervision most youth ministers experience. We tend to complain about the fact that our bosses show little interest in what we are doing because it communicates to us a lack of interest. (I know some who are in the opposite situation and long for some space however) Where this leaves us is free to waste lots of time and not be exactly efficient. At the same time, we all live in a world that we experience as so busy that we feel overwhelmed or think that we are buried in work. I believe that is partly about not being good stewards of our time, but the reality is that we tend to feel slammed. Now, if you can juggle those two perspectives on our time and use of it, then think about what Jonathan McKee has to say in a recent article. I don’t generally agree with him about much, but in this one I think he nails an important point. He suggests that we need to be remembering our calling, do what we say we are going to do, and be missional. Have a read of his article and see if it challenges you to think about your time and how it is used. The money quote (one that I feel strongly about) is this “A youth pastor’s job isn’t to do it alone, it’s to equip the whole church to do youth ministry.”
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