Life of a youth pastor .

Partner with a campus ministry.

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I am super excited about something that happened last week. I sat down with a a former youth worker from my church who also participated on staff with young life. As we chowed down on breakfast tacos I confessed my envy of young life and their fantastic contact work/ministry they do with high school students. I also confessed my frustrations of feeling like I had to compete with this ministry, wanting to see more of these kids plug into the local church, selfishly my local youth group and not just attend a YL club.

After feeling like I revealed my deepest and honest feelings, I then proceeded to share what God had been doing in my heart. I know at the end of the day I will have to give an account to my maker for what I have done with the time given to me, the resources entrusted to me, and the people put in my path. For this season, God has placed almost 2,500 students right down the road not only in the churches path but also young life. We will both stand side by side one day to give an account for the students on that campus. We serve the same God and are both trying to reach students with truth in a relevant way.

So, what is the best thing a local church can do for a campus ministry like young life, FCA, Cru? Find those who are doing the ministry and simply ask the questions, “How can I partner with you?” “How can I serve you?” “What do you need?”

I began this conversation today and already something amazing happened tonight… more to come.

Church & School – Build the Bridge! (DIY9.10)

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blueschool-hallwayThis is in response to a former article I wrote on DIY Student Ministry. This is the ninth of ten areas that I’m covering in this series.

Nothing says, “I want to be in your world” more than a visit to the student’s school. Whether it be for lunch in the cafeteria or sitting in the student section at a football game – when you approach the school you approach where they do most of their life. Now before I get into this, we must make an observation…some schools are open and some are closed, meaning some schools will let you and your volunteers into the building for lunch with your students while others will not. There are some loopholes. Some campuses would like to make you think they are closed…start asking questions of where they need help or how you can meet with an individual student. The administration may start by asking you to fill out a volunteer application or have a written letter on file from the parent of the student you are meeting with.

When you get into a student’s world at school, you will better understand the crowd you are trying to reach on a weekly basis. If you lose touch of this, you diminish your effectiveness as a student pastor. You might as well be teaching an empty hallway.

When I was in Chicago the campuses were closed but I was able to apply for a mentor program that allowed me to get on campus and meet with students that needed help thinking through the process of going to college. This allowed me to see some of my students but also meet students I didn’t already know.

Here in Austin it’s a little bit of both, it’s actually not even consistent within each school district. I had a regular habit of visiting the closest school this semester until things got ridiculously busy. One thing I quickly discovered was that my HS group of 60 students represented 16 different high schools in the Austin area. Knowing that I barely had the time to visit one school, I knew that do-it-yourself student ministry would not have the impact that these students and schools needed from the church. I currently have one HS volunteer visiting (going through the application process) the school I was visiting and one MS volunteer visiting a MS just down the road. Slowly but surely I hope to get more of my leaders and volunteers to help build the bridge between the church and school.

Here are some ways to get started:

  • Do a prayer walk. Pick a Saturday morning, invite your volunteers and walk the campus asking God to open doors (literally) for you and your team.
  • Just do it! Try to meet with one of your students with lunch. Make sure to check-in with the office.
  • Schedule a meeting with the principal, let him/her know that you and your volunteers are available for anything that they may need help with.
  • Go to the games. Students love to be supported, make a sign, paint your face, make it memorable!
  • Send a gift basket their way with a card in it on teacher appreciation day.
  • Offer to plant flowers or do landscaping to make the campus a more enjoyable place, see if the garden center in your town would donate flowers and plants to this.
  • Recruit specific volunteers to be the liaison for a specific campuses. Get this team together in the late summer to strategize and set goals for the school year. Talk about what success looks like.

How have you made a presence on your school campus? What is your success story of partnering with a local school?

This is in response to a former article I wrote on DIY Student Ministry. This is the ninth of ten areas that I’m covering in this series.