If there is one leadership skill that makes leaders stand out, it’s their ability to “work a room” or simply to step outside themselves and acknowledge most if not all people wherever they are. Recently while visiting a parish I asked a teen how he got involved in Life Teen? He simply looked at me and said, “Tony, one of the Core team members came up to me at our school during a basketball game and just started talking to me. At the end of our short talk he invited me to come to Life Teen.
The past few months I have attended numerous youth leader gatherings and inevitably fall to the temptation to compare myself to those around me. I look at some of my peers and think “they look like a youth leader, they have the look that teens will think is cool.” I know I’m not supposed to compare, but being a Catholic youth leader can be one of the most inadequacy inducing roles you can ever take on in life. It brings out the brightest talents and the darkest most insecure parts in the best
I paused for a second as the youth minister I was talking to blurted out – “I’m officially burned out.” She seemed almost embarrassed to be admitting it. I could tell by the dull stare on her face that she was struggling to find any joy in her ministry. I had seen the look before and over the past 24 years in youth ministry I have realized that there are two key things that anyone involved in youth ministry must do to avoid burnout and by the way they have nothing to do with a more balanced life or hiring an assistant.
All of a sudden between innings the song “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber came over the loud speakers as I was sitting in the stands of a high school baseball game with a group of parents. By instinct I commented “Oh. it’s the Bieber!” I immediately drew the stares of my peers who quickly commented “you knew that’s Justin Bieber?” I replied – of course. The rolling eyes told me that while these parents may be my age, they may not be as keyed into the lives of middle school and high school aged
The people I am in closest relationship with are those people I have taken the time to find out the answer to one important question:
Last week at Life Teen Camp Covecrest one of our summer missionaries shared with a group of youth leaders how he had been active with Life Teen in high school. He shared how things really didn’t click until he started helping with middle school kids with their Edge program. One night he leaned over to a group of middle school kids who were talking and making noise during one of the teachings and said “Shhhh.” He realized at that instant he had become a leader. He knew at that moment he wanted
In the same way, we can model our youth ministry after the way that Jesus modeled his ministry. In youth ministry we offer programs, resources, Life nights, methods, conferences, rallies, mission trips, etc. All of these things only take us so far with teens. The heart of effective evangelization, catechesis, and the purification of youth culture is in discipleship – mentoring teens in personal relationships. People learn the faith from the example and witness of other people.
I was talking to a youth leader the other day and she lamented the fact that her parish staff didn’t respect her, in her own words, “They don’t think that youth ministry is a legitimate parish ministry.” The comment resonated with conversations with other youth leaders I have spoken with and it started me thinking. Are we as youth leaders doing anything to become better at what we are doing? Are we giving the people around us reason to believe that we are serious about being excellent at youth ministry? By
The past few months people keep sending me planking photos. Planking is an activity or game consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. The hands must touch the sides of the body and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the internet is an integral part of the game. Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play. The term planking refers to mimicking a wooden plank. Many participants in planking have photographed the
I’ve heard of recent surveys of “non practicing” Catholics tell an alarming statistic regarding the future involvement in the Catholic faith for current teens who are not involved in their parish during high school. Surveys are saying that only 3 to 10 percent of high school aged Catholic teens who are not active in some way with their parishes will become active Catholics in later years. In other words, for parishes that are waiting for people to get involved when they are older, the chances of