Truth: Ministry

Anyone who ever said that ministry is easy...probably has NEVER been in ministry. I was asked today by a promising freshman in the Youth Min department named Shin what Youth Ministry is like. I went into a passionate talk with him. To summarize, here's what I said:

{Youth} Ministry is the most enjoyable job as well as the most depressing. It has extreme highs and extreme lows. It can be extremely rewarding and at the same time seem extremely dis-rewarding. It's both the toughest thing to do as well as the best thing to do. After this "philosophical" diatribe I said that if you're NOT called into church ministry, {contextually Youth Ministry} DON'T DO MINISTRY. I also told Shin that one needs to surround himself with people he can be honest with, people that will encourage him and people that he can confess with. I told him that if he were to try ministry by himself, with no support, he would most likely die in ministry. I let him know that it's not all spotlight preaching and teaching. It's not all X-Box 360 and laughs with the kids. That's a piece of it, but not nearly the core of it.

I talked for about 20 minutes to Shin's Intro to Youth Min. class and was pleased when he took my suggestion of talking with me. He is serious about Youth Ministry and wanted to know the hard truth about it. I hope I shed some light to him as well as any of you out there!