Tales of an Unemployed Youth Pastor

Where has the time gone?

JR — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:26:46 +0000

So… it has been some time since I have been on here. With school, work and family things have been a little on the hectic side. I have still been working to find a youth ministry position and struggling with the call. But, God has been work with me and through me. I need to come up with a plan for what this is going to be and go forward. Stay tuned.

Failure…

JR — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:14:42 +0000

Driving around all day, as I do, I listen to ESPN radio. Those of you that listen may already be ahead of me. Colin Cowherd has a bump that talks about failure. Basically, he says that we need to get over this idea that failure is bad. All that failure means is that we are competing against the best. Now, I will tell you that I don’t buy everything that the Herd says, but this one got me thinking. Is this what failure really means? Is there more then one kind of failure? Do the things that I count as failures in my life mean that I have been competing with greatness?
I think what I have to do is rethink some of the events in my life. I like the idea that failure is not bad. So, then what do we call those things in our life that really are a lack of experience or common since? Mistake sounds like a cop out. But, I can’t put my finger on it. Any thoughts?

Praying for change…

JR — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:48:19 +0000

Melissa and I have been talking off and on about praying for change, and I think that I have been missing the point. When I was praying for change, I was praying that God would change the things around me to make me and my life better. Can you see the issues yet? When an intelligent person thinks about praying for change, they pray that God changes them. So, being the serial copycat that I am, I want to follow the smart people. I have started praying that God would change me, to make me the person that He wants me to be. Not to change my situation, unless it’s what He thinks is best. Who’s comin’ with me?

Read this and had to post it…

JR — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:46:59 +0000

This is something that every search committee should read. This is so good that I have thought about stealing it and attaching it to my resume packets that I am sending out.

Open letter to youth ministry search committee

So I found out today that I am a winner…

JR — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:11:55 +0000

I got home work tonight and sat down at the computer to finish up some final work things and go through some of my favorite blogs, and I found out that I am a winner. Over at Josh Griffin’s Blog, (More Than Dodgeball), he was running a contest giving away the new Live Curriculum (Live). Simply posting on his blog, I won. I cannot tell you what this is going to do for a person, like me, working to find a youth ministry position and wanting to be a better youth minister. I look forward to checking this out and letting everyone know how great it is.

Thanks Josh…

The big contest over the weekend had a ton of entries in the form of comments – everyone vying to win Simply Youth Ministry’s new LIVE small group curriculum and online leader center. The winner was JR, he will receive a username and password to LIVE and get Year One absolutely free (a $499 value).

There’s been some solid buzz around the new 4-year youth ministry curriculum resource and unique delivery method to volunteers, if you haven’t checked it out you can right here and since you didn’t win (sorry, man), maybe consider picking it up.

Congrats, JR!

JG

TiVo…

JR — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:18:27 +0000

There are days that I wonder if I love my TiVo more then I love, say my children. I know how this sounds, but think about it. Now I have the real, deal TiVo. Not the junk that Time Warner or Comcast call a DVR. Unlike my children, my TiVo does not cry at you for food or have a poopie diaper that needs to be changed. TiVo doesn’t hit you in the head with a plastic sword because it was funny. TiVo doesn’t talk during the movie or eat all my popcorn. It doesn’t unpause the game while you are in the bathroom because it’s tired of waiting for you to get back. TiVo doesn’t talk back. It doesn’t wake you up in the middle of the night crying. TiVo is the greatest thing ever… but the kids are more fun. I love my boys more than thing in this world… mute button for them would be nice to have, like my TiVo.

Classes are starting on Monday

JR — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:33:13 +0000

It has been said by everyone, but the summer is for the most part gone. Jerrick is excited about going to school for the first time this year and I am trying to keep that excitement up by not grumbling about my classes that are starting.
The class that I will be starting with this time around is Multi Staff Ministry. You can tell that you are getting close to the end when you starting taking those classes that you may not be able to put into practice until you are in the job. But, like I said there is a light at the end. Still small for now, but it’s there. 49 more hours to go. This is the point that I roll my eyes and wonder if this is even worth it. I’m going thousands of dollars in debt to pay for school that I am not sure that I will be able to us. Again, this leads back to what I posted last night. Should I look at going to Devry or something? I wish I could just get a peek at the road map that God is using. One little peek might be just want I need to keep the eyes on the prize.
Would this really help? I always explain the people that I work with, is that a little information leads to a lot of headaches. If we say that map and saw that on December 26th 2020 I was going to poop my pants in front of Jerrick’s girlfriend, how does this change the way that I look at my life? I know that this is a bad example, but I think that we all get the point. A little insight can really change how we see ourselves and the world around us. I just need something to know that I am going in the right direction.

And please someone meet me December 26th 2020 with a clean pair of pants… you know just in case.

What to do, what to do…

JR — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:50:50 +0000

This one is basically for me to dump the garbage out of my head. I have been trying to figure out what to do what I thought was a calling to youth ministry. I guess I still do think of it as a calling, but I can not figure out why it seems to be on hold. I have had 2 full time positions (bi-vocational) and have done some in the arena of volunteer youth ministry. But, it has been almost 2 years since I have done anything in youth ministry. I feel dried up inside. Melissa has almost gotten to the point of begging me to do something with the youth at our current church. I haven’t felt that I this is a place that I can serve. Now, I don’t know if it is me or if I am ignoring something.
Anyway, I have been sending out resumes left and right for the last 3 months with very little return on investment. So, this has gotten me thinking. Can God call someone to full time volunteerism? Have I completely missed what was being said to me that day in Mexico? If I am called to full time volunteerism, what do I do to make money?
I know that God calls everyone on to some sort of service for the body. And I think that I can deal with the idea that I am not a full timer, but what do I do to keep the family afloat? I have not given up on a full time youth ministry position, but it is therapeutic to think through all this. What to do, what to do…

Sometimes you have to be ok being the Toe…

JR — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:58:47 +0000

I have been trying to figure out what is going on in my life and ministry for the last few months. To be truthful, it’s been longer then that. Anyway, I have been dealing with the idea of where I fit into the body of Christ. If you have spent any amount of time in church, you have heard about the body of Christ.
Like any competitive person, I want to be the head. I would even settle for being a hand because they are the ones that are doing to work. But, lately I have been feeling like the toe. Not so much the foot but the toe. I mean worst come to worst, the foot would have still been OK. The foot is what takes the body to the work at hand. The toe just gets stubbed in the dark. The toe always seems to be there when you drop that curiously heavy stapler. So, you can see why I am having such an issue with this.
So, I am discovering with the help of the wife and God, that it is OK to be the toe. The toe was designed by God and therefore is useful to the body. Yeah the hand does the work, the foot moved the body, but the toe it stabilizes the body. A stubbed toe is an early warning that something bad is coming. The toe can be just as valuable as any other part of the body. I just have to learn that I am the tool and not the craftsmen.

So…

JR — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:02:30 +0000

Melissa was telling me the other day that I need to start a blog. So, here it is. I guess this might be a good thing for me as I needed to find a place to put down all these thoughts that I have floating around in my head. Let’s just hope that I can stick with it.