I just posted an article from Jim Clark on the PDYMCommunity.com website that talks about getting back to the basics of youth ministry and spending time with students. Here’s a clip, head there for the rest:

But for several different reasons, graduate school didn’t seem like the right fit. I was restless with classes that only talked about ministering to students. I was eager to begin. Shortly before beginning the fall semester, I agreed to help out a friend with his week of junior high camp. And I’m glad I did. It was during that week that God laid on my heart the desire to minister to students full time. As I looked around at the other counselors who were serving that week, I realized that they were doing what I wanted to do in terms of serving, leading and guiding students toward the cross and the Savior. My heart was changed that week. A few months later I found myself working the “best job ever” in a local church.

Fast forward to the present… This week I found myself lying awake in bed for the countless time. I was thinking about everything and nothing all at the same time. I was thinking about problems that had come up over the weekend. I was thinking about tasks that were looming and not yet completed. I was thinking about obligations that I had made but had been either unwilling or unable to follow through with. I was thinking about church office politics (and how much I hated it). I was thinking about lessons that needed to be written, messages that needed to be finished, emails that needed to be sent, phone calls that needed to be made, meetings, to-do-list items, projects, trips, calendars, attendance…

And then it hit me: Why don’t I feel the same way about ministry now that I did eight years ago?

JG