I would like to add one.  Allow us to disagree with you.  Just because you think something is not going to work doesn’t mean it won’t. 
Also am I the only youth pastor this happens to.  Every October during pastor appreciation month the staff gets invited to peoples houses for dinner.  Always, ALWAYS My wife and I sit with the kids while the other ministers sit with the adults.  Hello!?!?!  Now granted I am a youth minister, but that don’t mean I don’t like to talk to adults.  I am one!  Have been for awhile now.  Am I alone here?
Sorry got on a Soap box.  For the most part however I have had really good relationships with my Senior Pastors.

“YM is not the dumping ground for what the church doesn’t want to do – Please don’t give us the chores that the adults don’t want to do around the church. If only I had a nickel for every meeting I was in that the phrase, “that sounds like a good project for the YM”, was used.”

May I suggest a tactic? Next time you attend a meeting like this, bring up your own vision, mission, and request for help.  Rather than being quite and taking other’s work, explain the programs you are working on and the help that you also need… in short, turn the tables on them… Maybe you’ll find this advice taking your job more seriously, and others will look-up to you and respect your work/vision?  If you have nothing to do but fire-fight, then they’ll give you more fires to fight…

If you want respect, earn it.  Learn the issues at Church, and take a stand for how to resolve them.  Be informed and vocal… in short, a serious contributor.

As any and all associates in ministry, you are there to implement and complement the completion of the mission of the church.  The vision has in most cases already been defined before you got there.  You don ‘t have the privilege to just pursue what you think God would have you to do.  You are there to discern what the Lord is doing and move towards that.

Senior Pastors, other staff members and Elders were there and they added to their staff someone they thought would be able to help them accomplish their mission.

If you want to develop a separate entity, go into church planting, not join a staff.

I’ve been both youth pastor and senior pastor.  I’ve hung around with both and I can readily attest to you that the biggest conflict comes when associates think the church exists to fund and support their ministry rather than the other way around.

Youth pastors will get along famously with their senior mentors if they show a spirit of cooperation, humility and selflessness.

I understand what pjlr is saying, but I still disagree with it. God has given each of us a vision for ministry. We each work best when we are given the freedom to excel and pursue that vision with the encouragement of those around us. That is what my sr. pastor does for me and what I do for my adult youth leaders. The sr. pastor equips me to pursue my calling in ministry and I do the same to equip and invest into my youth volunteers so they are as effective as possible in implementing the passion God’s given them. My sr. pastor gives me the freedom to go wherever the Lord is leading with the youth ministry. He comes along-side me to make sure I’m successful in it. I do the same for my leaders. My dream becomes his dream. The dreams of my youth leaders become my dream and we pursue those dreams together.

pjlr:

“In a good church, the vision is set by the presiding Senior Pastor and Elders.”

“Any associate who pursues any other vision other than the one that has already been defined by the church is engaging in subversion.”

Hey, pjlr, would you please give us the Scriptural support for what you contend?

I consider the Early Church and those that immediately followed, to be more than a “good church,” and yet you want find them setting vision statements and certainly not governed by pastors and/or elders.

The only “vision statement” that they received from Jesus (you know, the One who builds the Church) lived on was “Go.” And this wasn’t just for the “leaders,” but for EVERYONE.  The marching orders still stand for us today. 

Anything beyond that is concocting a straw man for controlling others...plain and simple.

pjlr (and others like him),

Please stop being a CEO and start being a shepherd. Granted, there is no room for mavericks. Like an arial flight team the wingmen take their cues from the point pilot, but each “pilot” has his own aircraft to fly and has to respond to the instruments giving him the signals.

It just might be possible that from time to time senior pastors have to come with a spirit of cooperation, humility and selflessness as well.

Work together to accomplish the purpose. Iron sharpens iron. You might gain some wisdom and learn to “discern what the Lord is doing” as he speaks through your “junior” staff. Allow the staff to grow together in wisdom together as you wrestle through issues together instead of from the top down.

I would add this one:

Youth ministry is valuable in itself and is not just my way of ‘paying my dues’ in preparation for a real ministry role.

Ok so I started doing youth ministry back in 1978. And new programs have come and gone and new formats and styles of music-- One thing has never changed in youth ministry
Relationships!
No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
I don’t care how you do it but unless the kids you work with see thelove of Christ flowing out of your life and how you relate to them everything else is secondary.
We need to stop trying to be te coolest peron around and being a reflection of Christ-- this ismore importat than anything else we can do with todays broken homes and dysfunctional families. We cn truly be a lamp in their life!
One of the best things I have seen happen to youth ministry is way back when- All youth pastors were right out of bible college or seminary and it was a tempoerary step to becoming a “Real pastor” There was no longevity in the miistry.
Today there are many of us who have been working with the kids for years-- and it takes time to develop the relationships and to disciple our kids. My job as a youth pasor is not a stepping stone to anything-- this is my ministry and where God has called me.

But the blessings come when you have had a kid just “Showing up” for several years and then all of a sudden see the light go on and their life turned aroud for Christ. Oh ad the joy of seeing the “kids” you had in their teen years now being leaders in their curches and how they are loving parents and walking wit their Lord in all they do.
I want to encourage any and all of you that are discouraged- Hang in there- This is a wonderful ministry and you are needed

Pjlr,
I can promise you I would never serve alongside you.  Not trying to be harsh but just from you wording I can tell you are Dictator pastor.
“You don ‘t have the privilege to just pursue what you think God would have you to do.” Are you serious?????????  Reread what you wrote and tell me this is not unbiblical
“Senior Pastors, other staff members and Elders were there and they added to their staff someone they thought would be able to help them accomplish their mission.”

Ok it is not their mission it is God’s mission. Again I would not serve with you and I would discourage anyone serving with you until you let God change your attitude.  “you don’t have the privledge.” Where do you get off!??!?!?!?!?!

Pjlr,
“Associates are called to assist a church in fulfillilng the vision that church has articulated through much prayer, fasting and discertning the voice of the Lord”
The associates are there to help cast the vision.  Of course the pastor is the leader, but the associates input should be valuable and help with the vision casting.
It is a partnership.
“Youth pastors as a general rule are inexperienced in ministry. They need the gentle guiding hand of senior brothers and sisters to help them discern the voice of the Lord.” Again are you serious?  You honestly think your associates need your help to discern the will of the Lord.  They need you to help mentor them, yes, discern no.  That is something God will teach them.
Again i can tell you are a little bit of a micro manager.  Sorry if dictator was too strong of a word.  I was not trying to imply you are bad senior pastor.  I just would not want to work under you. We Y.P. are REAL ministers too.  We don’t need to grow up someday to be Senior Pastors, nor is the SP job any more important than ours.  One can’t function with out the other.  It is a team effort.
To me your statements says:  “A YP needs to do what his told, because his thoughts about the direction the church is going is not important.  And because of his lack of experience I need to watch carefully or he could wreck my church.” Did I get it wrong.  Then tell me so.  Share your heart with me.  As for your current staff.  Ask them if I am wrong or how they fell about your statements.  See what they say.  Of course if I am right about you, and I think I am, they will be afraid to answer honestly.

Jade, I took your advice, I assembled my staff together (3 other pastors, 1 secretary, and 2 maintenance personnel)to get their reponse.  I gave them two simple rule to follow.

1. Read the post carefully and each comment carefully.
2. Tell me what you think, and don’t hold back anything.

Their responses:
One laughed so hard I thought I was going to have to give him oxygen.
Another laughed but gained her composure.
Another was incredulous
Another was upset that someone would “diss” her pastor and friend.
Another stated that you weren’t even close.
And another said, don’t worry pastor if we ever had someone like that on our staff we would recognize it as a mistake and help you reassign him./her.

I then asked them what they thought your response would be to our findings based on the limited information you have provided in your comments.

One said it would only confirm in your mind that I am a dictator who has managed to brainwash the staff.
Another said you would become defensive.
A third said you’d be indifferent to anything other than what you have already postulated
Another said, I hope he apologizes, but I doubt he will.

Now I have a simple challenge for you.  Show your senior pastor the post and the responses and ask him if you are correct in your conclusions.

Based on what you have posted and only on that basis, I can only assume 3 things.  1.  You have failed to understand my simple assertions. 2. You are incredibly immature in your thinking. 3.  You are filtering your answers from a previous bad experience.

I doubt that I can say any of the above with any kind of certainty as I don’t know you. See what happens when you jump to conclusions without facts.

Now the good news.  You won’t ever have to worry about working for me I like team players, not individuals who are pursuing their own “vision.”

Bernie, with all due respect, you are wrong as usual. Your comments hardly ever have anything that is close to a silver lining.  You have a bad case of negativitis.

You have no idea of my staff relations.  And I feel confident, based on your negative comments on just about anything posted on this blog, that no matter how good my relationships with my staff are, you’d find some mosquito poop to concentrate on.

BTW, since you’re going to get the last word in, go ahead and say what you are going to say.  Make it good and long because I won’t be addressing it.

Jade:  I didn’t say you were immature.  My disclaimer was:

“Based on what you have posted and only on that basis, I can only assume 3 things. 1. You have failed to understand my simple assertions. 2. You are incredibly immature in your thinking. 3. You are filtering your answers from a previous bad experience.

I doubt that I can say any of the above with any kind of certainty as I don’t know you. See what happens when you jump to conclusions without facts?”

My sincerest apologies if I hit below the belt.  I was only making the point that I felt you read a lot into my statements that wasn’t there.  I countered (and not maliciously) with reading a lot into your statement that probably wasn’t there to make a point.

I prefer to think that you just misunderstood my original comments about leadership, vision and how a team members feeds into, that vision and leadership.

I will assume that you will forgive me, after all the Bible says to I hope you understood that I wasn’t attacking you personally.

Later friend.  No blood, no foul.