I heard a story one time of a runner who was running a big race and in this race you had to run 4 laps around the track. One runner in particular got out to huge lead and lunged toward the finish line with a strong sense of accomplishment only to realize as he stopped…the other runners kept racing by. He still had a lap to go!
I have learned lately that be careful to look around and think you have your race won only to realize that you have more to do before you can declare it a win.
This past month has been tough for me in Youth Ministry. I have had some beats lately. A student who was feeling called into the ministry got another student pregnant, several students struggling with homosexuality, we had to expel 3 students from the campus for drugs. I don’t care if you are Doug Fields, Jeanne Mayo or the volunteer youth guy at First Baptist Small Town, that is a tough week!
The thing is many people kept encouraging me by letting me know it was just the Devil attacking…stay strong. I believe that is wrong.
Sometimes we give the Devil too much credit and not near enough credit to God.
I don’t thing it was an attack…I think it was a wake up call. I think it was God revealing to me that I was too confident in feeling I had this race (youth ministry) won when in fact I was aiming for the WRONG FINISH LINE!
These are some success indicators we have kept an eye on lately. (see if they look familiar to you)
- How many students were at our BIG meeting
- How many new students were at our BIG meeting
- How many students raised their hands when the speaker prayed for salvation
- How many students were in small groups
- How behaved the student were
- How active we were on campus
Those were our success indicators. They are not bad and all those things are important. But they cannot be the sole indicators if your purpose is to move students closer to Jesus. I know this because we have done WELL in all these areas and we are FAILING. We are running over 300 students every week, we have 10-12 new students every week, kids raise their hands for salvation every week, we baptize students regularly, we have 30% of students in small groups and we are active on every campus in the area. If I were not in a non-denominational church in the middle of no where I’d be teaching conferences on youth ministry…yet in fact we are unhealthy. We have grown too much in one area and not enough in others.
It is not that the program is designed wrongly, we are not a fun only ministry. We preach the Word…hard. We create an environment of worship. We have leaders who genuinly care for the students well-being, however…
I believe we have to add a few indicators…
- How is (insert name here) doing?
- Are our students engaged in spiritual disciplines (prayer, Bible Study, Community Impact)
- Are students who accept Christ growing?
- Are mature believers in the ministry serving?
- Are we developing Parents to be the primary discipler of teenagers?
This list is not exhaustive but it is a beginning of a new process of evaluation. I will in the coming months hone it down to 5-10 no compromise indicators. We need to make sure that when student graduate they FINISH STRONG. Big is not bad it just is. Small is not good it just is. I thank God for revelation. I thank God for patience. I thank God for the unending drive of 2 forces. 1) We need to grow closer to Jesus and 2) Better is always better.
Sean Rheaume 
Sean,
As I read this bog I had several feelings running through my head. One I see that you are very hard on yourself. From where I stand you seem to be doing a great job. But here you are pushing to do more and working even harder to get those kids closer to God. My hat is off to you. It is few and far between when you see someone try so hard. You are in my prayers and so are all those children you were talking about. When I see stuff like that I dont blame satan or anyone. God gave all of us free will and some times youth who are great kids just use that free will and make bad choices. But you have been telling them what they need and with any luck those word of wisdom will stick with them and help them see the errors they have made and show them the way back. If I can do any thing to help you in anyway to reach the goals you have set I am here. I believe in what you are doing and you with God’s help are making a differance to alot of people. Keep up the good work and dont give up. With God all things are possible.
Jess
Powerful words, Sean. I believe you are heading in the right direction. As for your student who “messed up,” this doesn’t negate the call of God on His life. God knew before it happened that it would happen, and He called him anyway. God’s ways are not our ways and His plans are not our plans. I trust that your youth advisors are standing ready to support this couple through this life-altering time and that God’s grace and forgiveness will be extended to them.