Ten Things A Youth Worker Has To Do Every Day

This is my own take on a couple of posts from Josh Griffin a while back (some is reworded, some just straight plagiarized). It's not a complete list or a perfect list, but maybe a good reminder for those who are in youth ministry.

Ten Things A Youth Worker Has To Do Every Day

1. Connect with God
The life of that connection is the foundation for ministry. Put the oxygen mask on you before you put it on your neighbor.

2. Connect with a Student
Shoot a text message of encouragement to a student (or a few at once, they won’t know) or take the time to jot a hand-written note to a student who could use it. Be on campus, at their sports event, or just a simple phone call… It would be a mistake to not connect with a student every day.

3. Connect with a volunteer
Quick email, text, coffee, lunch… If a day goes by when I’m not connecting with a volunteer, I’m wasting my shepherding time and jeopardizing the infrastructure for growth in our student ministry.

4. Connect with the team
Spending a little energy on staff / ministry leaders will be healthy relationally for the team now, and may save having to spend tons of energy later by minimizing crisis mode. TEAM!

5. Connect with a Parent
It’s not just the reactive contact when we’ve messed up or their kid has caused problems or we need something from them, but a proactive contact to let them know you’re praying for them or staying in touch or just to say hey.

6. Connect with family
Refuse to cave in on family time. It is that important.

7. Connect with our philosophy
Read, think, zoom way out and touch the big picture. Connecting with your philosophy will help you continue to cast that vision and leadership, as well as be contagious to your team.

8. Connect with the Calendar
What needs to be marketed? What should be added? Do the events on the calendar match up with our philosophy? Is there adequate margin in the calendar? What could be handed off, what could be delegated? Is there a week or two of vacation on it? Let the calendar speak to other areas of your ministry, it will usually do a lot of talking.

9. Connect with Resources
You probably don’t have to reinvent the wheel every week. Find help to get started and tweak it for your context.

10. Connect with Fun
It’s important to laugh a little. (Or a lot!) It might be just the thing you need to get over the hurdle in message preparation or help you relax after dealing with a difficult situation.

Technorati tags: ythmin, griffin