Many of you responded to my struggle yesterday – I appreciate your feedback and ideas. Every time I talk about the relationship between youth workers and senior pastors I get strong reactions. It seems to be a problem that is always present for youth workers. I get the sense many of you feel powerless to do anything about it, as if the tension between you and your senior pastor is  just part of the job. I want you to know that it’s NOT part of the job and the leader of your church is required to care about you and help you grow. If the leader or leaders don’t, they misunderstand God’s call on their lives. We are all to care about our younger brothers and sisters. We are all called to live in community, loving each other for who God has made us to be.

I am overwhelmed by how many youth workers have a sour relationship with their sr. pastor. So many youth workers coming into my office telling me stories that break my heart. In fact I have had to look hard to find a youth worker with a good relationship with their sr. pastor. There are a few out there but they are rare.

This got our publishing team thinking: what if we surveyed youth workers and sr. pastors to see what the problem was. So we did – we asked a bunch of pastors from both camps to help us out. The information was interesting and somewhat consistent. To summarize: youth workers value impact, not years spent on the job, while sr. pastors wanted respect for years on the job. There is a lot more to it than this but you will have to read the book to get all the information.

My struggle is what do I call this book – so far I got “My Sr. Pastor Sucks” which many youth workers have told me they love but falls right into the thinking by sr. pastors that youth workers don’t respect them. I would love your thoughts…..

At what age can a student begin to learn leadership? Why do people think it’s age that allows you to be a leader? I believe that leadership is a set of principles that you live out in life experiences. These principles are universal truths and many of them are found in scripture; for example, navigating obstacles. I get this from the teaching that Jesus gave about counting the cost before you build a tower. So the question becomes when can a student learn a truth and when do they have the maturity to apply it to their lives? I think a lot of jr. highers can learn leadership. I’ve seen first hand young teenagers lead their peers and I have seen them apply truth to relationships and tasks. What saddens me is when adults use the excuses of age to keep students from leading or learning about leadership. I  say, start whenever the students are interested; who cares what age they are.

So many of us place our volunteers by need. I need a small group leader for 10th grade girls so if you’re a new female volunteer, you get the 10th grade girls. Why? How do you know if this new volunteer is right for that position or even knows how to lead a small group or even cares about 10th grade girls? There has to be a better way. We need our volunteers to have confidence that we have placed them in the right position by their passions. If a volunteer is placed by passion then they will stay longer, be more effective and enjoy the ministry.

LeaderTreks has produced a new product call The Sweet Spot. It’s a placement assessment for adult volunteers. This assessment will tell you what your new volunteer is passionate about, the area of impact they want to have in youth ministry and what types of students they feel a burden for.  With this information you can place them in the right role and have them on your team for years to come. Check it our at http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/resources-leadertreks-youth-workers-the-sweet-spot.html