When a youth worker says their students are not ready to lead, what they mean is, their students don’t have up-front skills. But we tell students all the time, it’s about servant leadership, so which one is it? Is leadership about being loud and up-front or is it about caring for the needs of the people you lead? It’s about serving people but our value for leadership is still on up-front skills. We ask our students to escape this mentality but we still choose to place priority on it. If we really think leadership is about leading through serving then leadership is for everyone because everyone can lead through serving. I know that because Christ calls us all to serve the least of these.

I think the church makes more leadership positions then it does disciples. At the same time the church is starving for leaders. Creating leadership positions doesn’t make leaders; making leaders is all about development and the reality is the church has no idea how to develop leaders. Leadership development is long hard work, requiring mature people to spend lots of hours pouring themselves into potential leaders. Jesus spent three full years just walking the road of life with this disciples. The model is the same for us. If we are going to have leaders in our churches we need to start mentoring a new generation of leaders. Unfortunately we live in an instant church where change must produce huge results almost immediately. Last year a student told me they could not follow God because he was too slow. He wanted an instant God who made and communicated decisions within 15 minutes of a request. Yep, the God who created the entire universe in only 6 days is evidently too slow for modern day Christians. We think like this because our church leaders have taught us to think like this. The church’s leadership strategy is to hope new leaders show up or give a person a leadership tittle and magically you have a new leader. Either we need more time to mentor leaders or we need to start when they are younger. It only makes sense to start when they are younger. I just wonder how long it’s going to take for church leaders to wake up and start leadership mentoring programs for students.

As I spend time in youth ministry I notice two different kinds of student service. The kind that engages with student’s hearts, and the kind that is forced on them because of their age. Having students serve their community is good and often produces maturity. When students see real needs, they don’t usually have to be asked to help, they will jump in and make a difference. Often, they are willing to spend all their time and money on the problem. But when adults think its a good idea for students to serve and they create an opportunity to serve for serving sake, students rebel and display a selfish attitude. Adults mistakenly judge this behavior and condemn students for not caring about their community. As adults we don’t have to make up service opportunities, there are plenty of them around. What we need to do is engage students with the stories of the people in pain. These stories will unlock our student’s desire for service.

This year, as you are planning for the summer mission trip, don’t focus on the location of where you are going. Focus on the stories of people you will serve. This will take time on your part. You will have to run down the stories and a few pictures, but the work will pay off. Your students will go on the mission trip connected to the people they serve instead of the cool stuff to do at the location. I believe this will make a mission trip that helps students grow in maturity.

My new book “The Disconnect: Bridging the Youth Pastor and Senior Pastor Gap” is now on sale, in both print and digital form. I’m really excited about the potential this book holds for helping youth pastors and senior pastors improve their relationship. This book covers 5 key areas in dealt with in the youth pastor/ senior pastor relationship: communication, core values, money, expectations, and shared mission. The book is actually two sided, so there is a chapter dealing with each of these topics written to both the youth pastor and the senior pastor, along with activities to help them discuss these topics. Here’s a small excerpt from the youth pastor chapter on core values:

Appreciate Others’ Core Values

It’s easy to look at life just through the lens of our own core values.  If focus is a big deal for you, then you may get impatient with a lot of relational time with seemingly no clear purpose. If discipline or routine is a high value, a staff member who values spontaneity and flexibility may frustrate you. Expecting people to have the same core values will only disappoint you. I’m not saying that your values are wrong or unbiblical, but the extremity to which you desire to live them out is not realistic for every person. They can’t live out your core values any more than you can adopt and passionately live out theirs. The answer? Offer grace. Other people are wired differently, and it’s a good thing. You and your church need a diversity of gifts and passions to minister effectively.

If you are interested in picking up the book, you can get it in stores and on Amazon soon, or at the Simply Youth Ministry Store.