It’s you!
You are the one thing holding it back. You might think something else is, but you are the one. It’s time to stop complaining, and to dig deep to own your ministry. There is no game, or teaching series that will help grow your ministry to be the potential that it could be.
A few years ago, I was meeting up with a friend for breakfast. He said 5 words to me that I will never forget. He said, “Why are you so negative?”. My first response was, “I’m not”. On the way home, that question haunted me. It destroyed me. I was wondering why I was like this? How come I wasn’t prepared to deal with the complexities of ministry? Why didn’t Bible College, or Seminary teach me to be a great leader?
Here are a few ways to help you and your ministry,
- Always Be Teachable. I have learned from every ministry experience. I am constantly growing and developing. Lately, I have been learning how to lead teams. Always being teachable means that you need to accept where you are and constantly see your weaknesses. For me, this means seeking out mentors, and going to conferences for more than networking.
- Preaching the gospel to yourself daily. Students today have a bs meter. They know when you really don’t believe something. If you are needing the gospel daily, and are really preaching your messages to yourself your students will know. I don’t know about you, but I know when someone really doesn’t believe or live out what they are preaching.
- Don’t fear evaluation. I am working on a evaluation for some of my leaders to fill out each year. I want all my staff under me to have people evaluating them. It’s not about being critical, its about transformation. Brene Brown in her book, Daring Greatly states, “Without feedback there can be no transformative change.” Brene Brown has a great evaluation statement for people who are doing the evaluating. For some reason we have a negative view of evaluations. When ever you talk about evaluations, pastors, and especially youth pastors freak out. They think it’s going to lead to them getting fired. Evaluating each year can help you and your team to be the best, it might help you see blindspots that you never knew were there.
Don’t be the one that holds your ministry back. Be a youth worker who is always seeing to learn, preach the gospel to themselves daily, and to be evaluated.
