what, i’m a youth pastor?

Well, it’s been three months since my last post.  Now I sit here as a college graduate in my own apartment.  That still hasn’t hit me yet.  I read in Lance’s blog that he was going to use this summer to work on his photography.  It’s funny how college students think of a year.  College students divide a year into four parts: 1st semester, Winter Break, 2nd semester, and summer.  Now my year is just one whole year.  Yes there is still summer, winter, spring, and fall, but there are no more breaks.  It hasn’t actually sunk in yet, and I don’t think it will until school starts up again.  Then a lot of my friends will still have classes, but I won’t.

A lot has happened since my last post.  As I stated before, I’ve graduated college and I am a youth pastor Pelzer Wesleyan Church (soon to be renamed).  That still scares me a little; I have my own youth group, whom I am to minister to.  It blows my mind how God can pull things together.  Before Phillip contacted me, I had only received one other call and that was from a church in Columbia.  After I met with Phillip for the first time, I felt that Pelzer was where God wanted me.  I didn’t want to make any hasty decisions though, so I just prayed that God would show me what he wanted, and he did.

In order for me to discuss God’s work, I have to go back before I even met with Phillip.  To be totally honest, I was really nervous about the whole thing after I got Phillip’s first email.  I actually went and talked to Doc McKenzie when I first heard from Phillip and he mentioned that I should visit the church, without telling anyone.  So I did.  I went without knowing anyone and I didn’t even let Phillip know I was going to be there.  I was just curious to see how the church would respond to a visitor.  Well, I went and right from the get-go I felt like I was back home at Eden.  I’m not sure what it was about it.  The music was different, the building was different, but there was just something about Pelzer that made me feel at home.  I think that was God’s way of telling me that it was going to be ok if I left Eden, because I have been so scared of doing so.

That next week I met with Phillip.  After our meeting I knew that Phillip and I would work well together.  I then decided to come for a Wednesday night service, just to see how their youth was structured.  I was impressed to see that there were about 14 youth there, because  I hadn’t seen that many on Sunday.  But even that Wednesday night, God continued to speak to me.  A lot of the teens had talked to me and told me that they remembered me from camp.  Then, when Rick introduced me and mentioned that I might be taking over as youth pastor, most of them seemed to be super excited about it.  By this point I was like, “Alright God, ya got me,” but God continued to show me.  The next Sunday I went and when I sat down, I sat by myself and thought to myself, “It would be cool if some of the youth invited me to sit with them,” and then, not even a minute after I thought that, some of them came over and asked me to sit with them.  I was astonished.  I knew that if I asked, God would lead me, but never had I imagined that he would make it so apparent of where he wanted me.

So, here I am, two weeks into the ministry and I’m loving it.  I’m still trying to get a grasp for it all.  Last week I sat around in my apartment, just wondering what a youth pastor is supposed to do.  I mean, I know I’m supposed to minister teens, but I feel like a lost puppy.  I even texted James last week, asking him what youth pastors did with their time.  I’ve just begun reading Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry and even after the first chapter, I’m getting ideas.  I love the group that God has placed me with and I’m so excited to see what God has in store for us.

My first big task…  Getting as many teens as I can to youth camp.