the    sides

Had a hard meeting this week with another ‘co-hort in crime.’ Yep - a youth worker.

“This is a complete joke. I mean, in my darkest moments I feel like all I do is provide an arena for social clubs to exist. The minute I start challenging you’d think the sky was falling.”

Welcome to student ministry in an affluent area.

I felt for the guy. I was pretty fortunate - I had Mark Schatzman. A directional leader/senior pastor who encourages and goes to battle with his student pastor is like having a battalion in reserve. (Sorry for the war metaphor, marko.) I don’t think I’ll ever know how many times Mark defended me. I stopped counting how many times he encouraged me.

I do vividly remember one particular instance. I was sitting in his office one night when everyone else was gone (which at the time was HUGE! I mean, we could have put like 2 VW bugs in his office. The rumor was that your office size was proportional to your salary size. Which is why we put the Children’s Minister in a closet…).

I said “Is this worth it? I mean, I just got done shrinking your youth group to about 15 students.”

“Yeah, well…what else.”

“What else??”

“What else are we going to do? We have no marketable skills and we’re called here. Besides, would we really rather be doing anything else? I mean, really?”

What else…and he said ‘we’. He may never know what that meant.

So my buddy got done venting. And he looked better. And I smiled.

He said “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

“Yeah, well…what else…”

Bro - I’m praying for you. Your success will not be defined by one location, by one set of people. Your value is not determined by your constituents. Your calling is secure. Your mission is clear. Your heart is golden. Follow God’s story. Keep stumbling forward. I’m here. I’m your biggest fan. Would we really rather be doing anything else?