Ahead of the curve

I’m halfway through next week’s message, feeling pretty good about where I am in my job right now. I met with three people about different aspects of the ministry and I really felt as if it helped me move the program forward. In the past if I were to meet with three people it would have been so business and I could have felt frustrated afterwards. Doug Fields wrote a book entitled your first two years in youth ministry where he talks about how in youth ministry you don’t really find your groove until after the second or third year. Year two definitley had it’s growing pains, but year three was an uphill battle. Looking back there were times when I felt like quitting, the job was just wearing me down but in the end God was telling me to hold on.
I’m praying that with year four I begin to hit my stride, I want to get into a groove. And, there is no reason to think otherwise. Ministers seem more positive, program ran smoothly for the first week, I’m getting ahead with message writing and I feel that I’m communicating better.
But, I can’t thank God enough for showing me this past summer that in order for my ministry to grow I need to focus more on the relationships, and not just the relationships with teens but with the ministers and with the parents. When you preach vision, when you preach value and show value people will want to follow and listen more. When you take the time to sit down with people, when you show them that you are willing to invest in them they are willing to do the same.
Christ never had two or three point messages, His time with others was an investment. He showed them that He knew them and that He wanted them to count on Him. Christ was someone who wanted to spread God’s love to every single person and He started small, first with James, John, Andrew and Peter. Then the rest of the twelve and so on and so on. Anyway, I’ve said enough, got to connect to more people.