Blog
Last Friday I was in Palm Desert speaking about Intergenerational Youth Ministry. To my delight, one of the questioners at the end of my presentation asked, “So I’m a senior pastor. What are the first steps our church should take?”
He was sitting in my seminar with his youth pastor and his family ministry pastor.
They had come as a team. Brilliant.
Lots of times youth workers don’t feel like they have much power to bring about change in their churches. Lots of times they are right.
We hope that FYI resources are something that your senior pastor might be responsive to because they come from Fuller Seminary, and because they are based in research. We hope that our resources help your entire team get on the same page—or at least have a real conversation.
Trackback URL: http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2009/03/senior-pastors/trackback/
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:11 am
I was a “lifer” in youth ministry in my head for many years. Then one day God broke my heart not just for teens, but for the “future” of the church. So now I am a lead pastor, making life for my staff the way I wished it would’ve been for me.
What comes around gets redeemed going around.
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Good for you, Tony. I know there are lots like you who are now lead pastors and creating really healthy environments in their teams.
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
There are three resources that I’d recommend to those churches. Inside the Mind of the Youth Pastor by Mark Riddle, Sustainable Youth Ministry by Mark DeVries, and Practicing Passion by Kenda Dean. I think those three books would be a great place to start for a team asking those questions. I think there are other great resources that will become important to a church that tackles the ecclesiology questions first.