Isn’t that what we want from our Core Members? If you’re anything like me in my early stages of youth ministry, you’re just happy with anyone who wants to be a part of the Core Team. As long as they were Catholic and breathing, they had a spot on my Core.
And guess what? We struggled. That’s not to say that these people were bad people. They were just in the wrong ministry. And as time went on, I realized that I didn’t need lots of bodies to be on my Core Team.
Honestly, if I could do it all over again, I would have been more intentional about engaging in Parish Staff Meetings. Not only were they a great opportunity to be an advocate for the youth, but they were a chance to genuinely take an interest in the work of my fellow staff members. Maybe if I had done that, they would have taken a greater interest in my ministry.
During my first few years as a youth minister, I was just happy that teens were showing up. In fact as long as they showed up, I considered my ministry a success. After all they had a lot of other choices, so if they were coming, I must have been doing something right.
If you had asked me during that time how my ministry was going, there’s no doubt that I would have responded the same way every time:
“It’s good.”
For any youth minister, there is nothing like watching a teen come to understand God’s unconditional love for them. There is nothing like seeing a group of teens in line for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And there is nothing like knowing that a teen who just went off to college knows that the God of the universe is truly present in the Eucharist in any Catholic Church they attend.
Too often as youth ministers we try to please everyone. We want to say “yes” to everything, but the problem is that the more we say “yes,” the more we risk over-complicating our ministry, watering it down, and burning ourselves out.
We do high school youth ministry, middle school youth ministry, and Confirmation preparation. We host Bible Studies and prayer groups. We plan multiple retreats, service projects, and mission trips throughout the year. We try to please teens, parents, our pastor, the parish staff, the diocese, parishioners who have “an idea of ways the teens can serve,” and more. It’s all very noble. It really is, but sometimes, we have to be willing to say, “no.” And the sad thing is, we don’t think we can.
There’s just something about a handheld microphone that gives you instant credibility as a youth minister. Maybe it’s because you can have the loudest voice in the room. Maybe it’s because it allows you to have better command of your youth group. Maybe it’s because it makes you look like some sort of youth ministry gangsta even when that battery cover is held together with 2 rolls of duck tape.
Thankfully, God was only preparing me for my future career. After all, as youth ministers, we know that there are only so many times you can shave your head until you have to find a new way to get teens to come to youth group. Why not try a costume?
Oh how thankful I was for our maintenance man. While the bookkeeper couldn’t understand how chocolate syrup, marshmallows, and a marshmallow shooter could lead teens closer to Christ, the maintenance man had no questions, only suggestions:
“You know, Eric. If you take the marshmallow and dip it in butter first, you’d be surprised how far they go.”
As youth ministers we love our over-the-top kickoffs. It’s our chance to show the teens that contrary to popular belief we do get outside our chapels and know how to have a good time. Hey, and maybe, just maybe if we do it well enough, they’ll come back the following week. One could only hope right? After all, what’s the point of a great Fall Kickoff if the teens don’t get to experience Jesus the other various times we meet throughout the year.
“Eric, Jesus walked the Earth and only 33% of the world is Christian. How can you expect to do any better? God isn’t calling you to be successful. He’s calling you to be faithful.”
Boom. That was it. My pastor had just given me a spiritual roundhouse kick to my face, and it was the wake up call I needed.
For a long time I had focused so much on the numbers and all the things I was doing in ministry that I neglected to see all the ways God had been moving. To be honest, I had gained a Savior Complex.