why i shouldn't be a youth pastor; or, why i should be a youth pastor

I once read a job description for a youth pastor position which specified  that applicants should have "an athletic background." I read that and thought to myself, "I suppose I need not apply." It made me sort of angry, but then I thought, why shouldn't a church want an athletic youth pastor? Isn't the youth pastor supposed to sort of be the jock of the church staff?

I remember that I first felt a call to ministry when I was in high school. I knew that I felt God was calling me to honor him with my career, but I had no idea what that looked like. As I thought about it, though, there were two ministry careers I had no desire to pursue:

1) Worship Director - mostly because I do music only casually and had neither the passion nor the skills to step into a musical lead role

2) Youth Director - for reasons below:

Youth ministry seemed like something that could never work for me - I felt like it was a bad fit for me, and I was a bad fit for it. Even as a high schooler I didn't particularly enjoy going to Youth Night every Wednesday night at the church gym - I went because I felt I should, but on the nights when everybody played basketball or volleyball I just felt awkward. This wasn't what I liked to do, I wasn't good at it, and I just felt like I didn't fit. So when I looked into doing ministry, I thought, "Put me behind a pulpit, put in an office, even put me in another country - just don't put me in youth ministry!"

Low and behold, one faithful day I was sitting in Panera Bread typing away on my computer when Jonathan Tarman, an acquaintance of mine from Fuller, walked by. Full disclosure: At first I ignored him. I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just focused on what I was doing and didn't want to be distracted by small talk. (This is a fairly common occurrence at that Panera - while studying at Fuller, I probably saw people I knew from school there nine times out of ten.)

Jon saw me anyway. He waved and made it over to where I was sitting. I sighed and thought, "Well, I guess I'm not getting out of this one."

After a few moments of chit-chat, Jon said, "Hey, a friend of mine told me that you're looking for a job." This was true, so I nodded. Jon said, "Well, I'm the youth director at a church down in Torrance, but I'm going to be leaving in a few months and the church needs to find my replacement. I know you worked with Filipinos last summer, and the youth group is mostly Filipino. Would you be interested in applying?"

I perked up at this piece of news - not at the word "youth director," but the word "job." At this point I'd been looking for a while with no leads, so anything was welcome. I did have experience working in a Filipino setting, and I'd be able to use my Cross-Cultural Studies degree. I told Jon I'd like to hear more and e-mailed him my résumé later that week.

As I went forward with the application process, I had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind. The doubt was this: I'm not the youth minister type. I didn't take any classes on youth ministry, and had very little experience doing it. But more than that, I just came circling back to this thought: I'm not that guy. I'm not the guy with the soul patch and the backwards baseball cap who has a ton of hilarious stories from college. I'm not the guy who talks to everyone about everything and gets to know all the intimate and exciting details of everyone's life. I just didn't feel like I fit the mold.

All that being said, I did feel called to look into this opportunity. And it turns out that I actually got the job.

Since then, I've learned that in not being that guy, I have other strengths to offer. It turns out that youth really appreciate spiritual practices such as prayer stations, something few of those guys might consider.   It also turns out that when you let kids have a conversation about points of faith and what it means to be the church, God works in them and they draw closer to him and each other - so apparently I don't just have to preach at them. It also turns out that I know enough silly games and diversions to keep the kids entertained... so maybe I'm like that guy a little bit.

My point isn't to bash the stereotypical youth pastor - my point is to not bash myself. God calls all kinds to different works, and some churches need people who break the mold. I'm grateful that the young people of Torrance First UMC are teaching me how to use gifts I never knew I had. I'm grateful that they open my eyes to the wideness of God's purpose for my life. I hope I make a difference for them as well.