I was asked by a friend recently what three gifts any youth pastor would want from their senior pastor. First of all, I thought, “Huh, I just had Christmas and a birthday and I didn’t get ANYTHING from Pastor Rick.” Then I remembered I didn’t get him anything either, or have any idea when his birthday even was in the first place. Yikes.
After that little rabbit trail, I thought about how good of a question it was, and that I should blog about my responses and ask you to weigh in as well. If my senior pastor could give me 3 things (and it wasn’t something like an iPad, because I’d gladly take that, too) I would want these:
TRUST
More than anything else, I want to be given the leadership of the ministry. I want to be trusted with the vision and decisions of the ministry. I want a senior pastor who believes in me and trusts me to follow God’s Spirit and his/her leadership in accomplishing that vision.LOYALTY
Loyalty equals longevity. If you want me to stay in the trenches for the long run, stick with me. I’ll probably need your defense (hey, I’m a youth worker) and covet your partnership and friendship in the heat of the spiritual battle. A quick way to run a youth pastor out of town is to be disloyal.BUDGET
I hesitate to put this one out there on the list – but it is a HUGE gift to be well-taken care of as a pastor/family and a HUGE gift to have money for scholarships and programming. I put it last for a reason, but also included it for a reason, too. Take care of your people and they will take care of your people.
My hope is that you as a youth worker read this, nod your head and add another “gift” in the comments. That way, when your senior pastor Googles their way to this post, they’ll have lots of ideas and put one or two of them into practice.
What is another amazing gift a senior pastor can give their youth worker?
JG
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Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 15+ years and serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. [
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Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
Big shout out to my senior pastor, Tony Stinson, and our church, Cincinnati Christian Church for “gifting” these things generously to our youth ministry.
Affirmation. It’s awesome to hear some affirming words from your boss in any job. Even more so in ministry!
That’s awesome, Ray! We need more Tonys! AWESOME! JG
These are the best gifts I’ve been given from the parents of my youth… we’re without a senior pastor right now. It’s almost more important for me to be gifted these from parents rather than the pastor. (at least right now!) Great list Josh!
Great post Josh. I think these are three great gifts to give back to my pastor: Trust of my senior pastor, loyalty to him and his vision, and being a good steward of the budget that has been to me all help to create a win-win situation.
Just send this to my lead pastor … coolest bit is that he gets straight A’s on them all. So good!
@youthleader – it’s a good chance to put these into action yourself. Super cool!
@Phil – dude write up a guest post on the subject, I’ll post it tomorrow. Brilliant!
JG
@Dan That’s GREAT to hear. Super cool!
JG
Will do Josh!
I would add the gift of Time.
I don’t want a lot of time. But a little bit of relational time every once in a while goes a long way… a round of golf (eh Bill), a White Castle Cheeseburger (eh Bill)… just in case my awesome senior minister, Bill Maige, finds this post. It helps us connect relationally so that my senior pastor knows my heart and intentions and he can get my back better with the loyalty/trust gift. Additionally, it would allow me a bit of time to encourage my senior minister in his ministry rather than feeling like I was wasting up his time or adding to his schedule.
@Jim – strong, man, I like it! JG
I’m with Jim… What I’m really craving from my senior pastor right now is to feel like I’m a part of his life. I want to feel valued as a friend and human being, and not just as a ministry asset. I want to be a partner in ministry and not just a hired hand. I want to have the kind of relationship where I can lift him up when he needs it, instead of just feeling like the Mentee in a Mentor/Mentee relationship. That would be the greatest gift he could give me right now.
@Joseph – yes, agreed. That’s some of what I was expressing here last week as well: http://www.morethandodgeball.com/youth-ministry/good-freedom-bad-loneliness.html
JG
Great post, Josh! I am so blessed here at Ewell Baptist Church in Ozark, AL because this post is a perfect description of my Pastor, David Lewis! Thanks for your trust and loyalty, Pastor. Oh yeah…and the budget.