Home Sweet Simple Home

 Note: This is a series of posts as I found it would be tremendously long as just one post!           

Some changes have been made in my job description at church.
     Allow me to share some background- I lead youth ministry in my home church- the church I was born, raised, baptized, married and dedicated my children in.
     Youth ministry kind of fell into my lap. I didn’t grow up wanting to be a youth pastor (nor did I grow up desiring to be a stay at home wife mom and homeschooler but it’s God’s plan not mine!) and I don’t have any formal training to be one.
     I can honestly say it was totally God directed. I was in our youth group when I was a young teen but that was the extent of my involvement in youth ministry. Mr. Steady led our youth group when he was in his young 20’s and then volunteered when he was asked to step in and fill in for a couple of months after the youth pastor was asked to leave (this was during our early marriage). He was part of a team of volunteers who were each assigned a month or so to lead the ministry until a replacement was found. Fast forward a few months later: one Sunday evening, one of the teens came up to me and said that there was no one in the youth room to teach the youth. It seems that the schedule of volunteers fell to the wayside after another key person left and no one had noticed (meaning key people- like board and pastor). I didn’t hesitate- I grabbed my bible and followed the young woman to the youth room. I don’t remember what I shared from the Bible that night but I know it was only the beginning. With God’s leading, I put together a lesson and came the next week and the next and the next. We started with 2 teens and they spread the word that someone was leading and so more came and weeks became a month. I was named acting youth president (which came with a position on the church board) and then voted in as youth president during church elections the next month.
     God just moved and I was in awe. The teaching came with ease, my rapport with the youth shocked me as did the heart I developed for them. I knew it was all God’s doing. During this time I also ended up teaching the Sr. High youth Sunday School class and spent around 15 hours a week doing volunteer youth ministry. A few months into the ministry, I began to campaign in earnest to the church board that we needed a youth pastor. We were able to bring in an intern from Olivet Nazarene University for that summer. The intern was great- I learned from him (and he, in turn, from me). After he left, I took on some of the new programs he had implemented and began reading everything I could on youth ministry. As I continued to grow heart deep in youth ministry, I also continued the push for a youth pastor. The following spring our church board met with our district superintendent and he engaged me in a wonderful conversation about the youth ministry. Of course, I also took the opportunity to speak to him of our need for a youth pastor. A few weeks later, my pastor approached me and shared that the district superintendent had recommended that I be asked to be the church’s youth pastor.
Stay Tuned: Part 2- My Answer