I remember a professor at Eastern Nazarene telling the graduating 'ministry majors' that, statistically, 50% of us would no longer be serving in a pastoral ministry setting beyond five years out of school. He believed that history had proven his statement to be a relatively safe bet. I have heard and read other statistics that claim that the average stay of a Sr. pastor is around 3.5 years while youth pastors average closer to 2 years. What is scary about a statistic like that is that I feel like I am just recently becoming rooted in the Fort Osage/Independence community and I have been here for 6 years. And while I am still relatively young and growing as a minister, there are a few things that I have learned over these 6 years and I thought I would share them :-)1. Rarely does the apple fall far from the tree. While there are many books, studies, and people that talk about the increasing influence that friends and the media have over the shaping of student's lives, I would strongly argue that parenting still reigns (by far) as the most influential contributer in the shaping and molding of a students development and life. And while my last name is not Dobson, unstable and inconsistent parenting produces students who develop similar traits in their own life. It is very rare to look at a student and to be surprised who their parent(s) are. I am a firm believer that the greatest gift a mother/father can give their child is to model an uncompromising love and commitment towards their spouse along with intentional and involved parenting.
2. Empower others to do the work of the church. I am still learning the importance of this. When I started at Fort, I remember I would take it personally if a student gravitated to another adult sponsor and could care less about getting to know me. Now I celebrate it. How silly it is of me to think that every student would connect to my personality, interests, and background. It is essential to empower a team around us to engage in God's work. God equips all people with unique gifts and it is the church's responsibility to encourage and empower others to utilize their gifts.
3. They won't remember much of what you said. I am sure this last one is on one of those corny inspirational picture frames with the silhouette of the person climbing a mountain with the sun in the background... But people will only remember a handful of lessons/sermons/discussions. Instead, they are much more likely to remember the 'heartbeat' of their teacher. Again, not so much the individual messages, but the 'over the course of several years' heartbeat of what was taught. There have been many times where I have thought to myself: "I wish I emphasized this more over the last several years," or, "It would be nice to start all over with what I know now." And while it would be nice to start as a 23 or 25 year old with 50 years of wisdom and experience, it is simply not a possibility. What I do hope is that over the course of 6 years is that the students have come to know and see my heart and the heart of the youth staff. I hope that we have demonstrated to them what it looks like to strive to love God and love others.
This list is somewhat random and I am sure if I thought about it some more, I could add to it. How about you? What are some things that you have learned that you would like to share?
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