(Hi, I’m Chris, the youth pastor down the street from Nick’s church.)

Nick and I have been working on this project for some time now, discussing ideas and sharing dreams and vision and I have yet to contribute to our blog. Fail.

Well, we have finally arrived at my first opportunity to share some of my own thoughts with the greater community than just our local body of youth pastors that have been trying to kick-start something bigger than ourselves in Sunland-Tujunga.  I hope that my mistakes will help you learn what not to do.

So how do you fail (in epic fashion of course) before you even begin your youth ministry network?  The answer is simple and if you follow these steps, you are sure to never move outside of your walls let alone get to the point where you are even discussing an idea.

1. Stay So Busy You Hardly Have Time to Breathe.

This is where I am most guilty and I think that many other youth pastors are in this same boat.  We have so many items on our plates (not just one).  Camps, retreats, leadership training, recruiting leaders, selling parents ideas, phone calls, cleaning up the mess, leading worship, doing some crazy media stuff… and that is probably just the tip of the iceberg!

How to eliminate some of these things are for another blog at another time, but if this cycle continues, you can rest assured you won’t have the opportunity to step into the batters box for a chance to get things started.

2. Stay Inside of Your Comfort Zone.

I just started my stride, got my schedule down to a science and I’m finally able to keep my head above water.  Now you want me to change that all around and work with some other youth pastor? Yep.

Or maybe: I’m not a very outgoing talkative person. What am I going to say? That other youth pastor seems much more confident than I am…

If God wanted you to be comfortable, He wouldn’t have asked you to be a youth pastor.   If you aren’t being stretched then you aren’t growing and being a youth pastor is more than just growing students, its about growing yourself as well.  If we stick to what’s comfortable, we become like that saying many of us use when we compare Christians to stagnant water.

Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” This applies mentally as well.  Some of the ideas that Nick and I have come up with are much better than things we would have come up with on our own.  Also, working together with our differences helps each other see things maybe the other has missed in regards to our cultural context.

3. Stay Competitive

Although I personally believe competition is good in many circumstances, there is no place for it within the parts of the body.  When are we going to get past this idea that it’s my church vs. their church, my ministry vs. theirs?

First, this mindset is very selfish. When I give into this mindset, I am transitioning from a Kingdom of God mentality to a Kingdom of Chris(me, not Christ) mentality.

Second, it leads to personal comparisons.  Sorry to say, unless your one of those Youth Specialties guys, you are always going to be measured wanting… (just kidding Adam!)  It’s not about who’s better, it’s about bringing what you have to the table.  Nick has strengths that I don’t, and I have strengths that he doesn’t.  He’s better at some things, I’m better at others, but together, we combine our strengths and do something better together than we would have done alone.

Now what?

Get over yourself and get out of God’s way.

Here are some practical ways to do this:

• Reduce your workload
• Recruit volunteers and empower them
• Step outside of your comfort zone (Sooner or later, meeting with that other youth pastor will be comfortable enough.)
• Allow a relationship to form (Let it be organic without an agenda.)
• Hang out with each other (ORGANIC)
• Create a sense of safety
• Share dreams and hurts

Look at it this way.  You are on the same journey and already have something in common.  Why not take that journey with someone instead of alone?

This past weekend our church put together an event, and while I didn’t do anything worthy of the FailBlog, I certainly made some mistakes. And I post these mistakes here so that other people won’t make the same ones.

The event: We organized an event called the Cool Water Tour (a name I stole from the church I used to work at) where we hit up Raging Waters water park in San Dimas and Zuma Beach in Malibu. We stayed overnight at a couple church member’s homes and spent a few hours each evening up at the church doing worship, activities, and a message.

Our theme was pirates! and our theme verse was Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” We focused on the reality that our behaviors are influenced by our values.

While a lot of things went well, there were a few gaping holes that needed to be filled.

Here are some mistakes I made:

• I did not begin preparing for the event soon enough. If you think it will take X amount of weeks to prepare for an event (get the word out, plan a schedule, recruit leaders, prepare lessons, book activities, etc.), multiply that by 3 for a more accurate measure of how long it will take. I left myself one month to plan a 3-day weekend trip, which might seem like a lot of time, but I would have better served my students and myself had I left two more months open. This is especially true for parents who are spending the money! Fail.
• I did not make sure everyone had a ride for the whole weekend. Double check every place in your schedule where students will need to be transported and make sure everyone has a ride. This last weekend, I had one leader need to leave early, but I did not consider he was a ride for at least 4 kids. I had to ask another adult to drive at the last minute. Fail.
• I did not clearly communicate to my leaders. For some reason, I always think that they are on board with my thoughts, as if we were somehow telepathic. One of my leaders thought she was merely chaperoning, until I dropped the bomb that she was leading two discussion times with the girls. Fail.
• I did not expect to pay for parking. Silly thing for me, living in LA. Fail.
• I let the kids bring whatever they wanted into the water park. I had to take a few bags back out to the car after they did not fit into the lockers. Fail. Shoes/flip-flops, sunscreen, and a towel should do.
• I did not charge enough for the event. These costs were absorbed by the youth budget (which isn’t very large, anyway): parking, lockers; I did not charge enough for gas expenses; I did not charge enough to cover the cost of the other leaders, who I invited to come for free. Fail.
• Expect to say everything at least three times, even if you were completely clear the first time (because obviously you weren’t).

Overall, I would consider the event a success, and many of the kids said they had lots of fun. I’ll have to quiz them and see if they remember any of the talks we did.

Your Turn

What sort of mistakes can you use to teach others?