I can relate with the nameless youth pastor today. I know God has called me, He has confirmed it several times, but I can’t seem to find a place to serve. At times it gets very frustrating and exhausting. When I am down and discouraged, I stop and pray. It does not always help the discouragement, but I give to the Father any way. He will make all things clear in His time not mine.

I feel for the nameless youth pastor, I have been there.  I would suggest first and foremost get with your accountability partner, what you don’t have one?  There in is your problem.  Frustration in the ministry is going to happen.  Someone doesn’t pray to recieve Christ, a sheep passes away, a sheep bits you, a sheep won’t follow, the list goes on.  I have found that having someone to talk to who knows my heart for God and Ministry is essential to my survival.  I know you spiritual guys are enjoying this, you probably are pointing folks back to the Bible.  You forget that the Bible for many of us is our life, but sometimes we need flesh to help us see the truths of the Bible.  Please don’t discount the value of a brother in Christ who cares deeply for your ministry.  The unfortunate thing is that most of those who quit ministry never allow someone into there life to help them. We think we can go it alone.  How do I know?  Just last week a local youth pastor took his life.  I reached out to him on many occassions,his reply, “I’ll get back to you.” He never did, I only wished I could have done more!  The truth is he wouldn’t let me.  Read Hebrews 10:25, it encourages us to never leave the fellowship alone, even as the day grows darker. This past week, my daughter and I watched The Lord of the Rings, The King Returns.  In the middle of the movie I was reminded how our world is slowly moving toward the return of our Lord.  Mordolf (spelling?) was looking out over the plan with one of the little people.  The little person asked if the end was near.  I paraphrase the comment, “the end is only the beginning!” My friend you and I are living in dark days!  The end is near, as it nears the importance of uniting with brothers and sisters in Christ is paramount to survival.  In Ephesians 6 Paul encourages us to put on the armor of God so that we might stand, you will not find anywhere that we are told to fight, but only to stand.  It then tells of the pieces of the armor, the belt of truth, the breast plate, the boots, the helmet, the sword, and the sheild of faith.  The sheilds in those days were made to lock together enabling an army to form an impenatrible sheild.  There in is the secret to survival, brothers locking our hearts together in Christ, protecting one another from the enemy.  May God bless you and all those who are considering today as their last day of minstry.  Don’t give up, Don’t give in, Don’t quit!  Someone is praying for you today.

Wow, do I relate to this email.  Currently, I am searching out what God has called me to in ministry.  At times I feel He desires me to be a pastor, other times I feel He desires me to be a teacher.  Sometimes I just do not feel anything.  Always searching and discussing with my wife can really get you down not just on yourself, but your wife, life in general, etc.  The call is real, that I know, it is just the implementation of the call that is so unknown at this time.

I am currently undergoing the second extended period of unemployment in a 21 yr ministry career.  I am just 2 mths short of the 18 mths I endured 15 yrs ago.  I am just as penniless now, as I was then, but much more indebted now than I was then.  I smile when I read George Barna’s recent poll that suggests that most persons in the marketplace for a pastorate would not choose a small church, because the majority of my 200+ applications have been to small churches.  The negative or non-responses have been just short of alarming.  What is worse, is the apathy and indifference of my ministy colleagues, especially those of my denomination and my own city: it is a rude and brutal awakening.  Ministry colleagues are perhaps, the worst candidates for giving encouragement to a pastoral soul in difficult times.

Nameless Youth Pastor, all will be well.  WAITING on God is no big deal.  The frustrations of waiting would not cause most of uscommit apostasy or suicide, anyway!  What I have learned, though, is that it is the QUALITY of waiting that matters: shall we wait in agitation and seething anger at God, or shall we wait in QUIETNESS and JOY?  I have tried both, and have decided that the latter is BETTER.  I have no idea when my “night” shall end, and, frankly, there is a sense in which I care not whether it is sooner or later, but I know that when it ends, all will still be well with me, and I shall be place JUST where He who has called me wants me.  YES, at the heart of this is the CALL - the call, formulated before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs.

It is in times like this that we learn the PRACTICE of faith, which goes beyond the mere PRONOUNCEMENT of faith.  All will be well, Nameless Youth Pastor!  All IS well!

Faith in the one calling is the issue I have had to deal with most.  Do I really trust Him who has called me to serve His Bride?  It is not about me...It is not about you...It is not about us...It is about the One worthy of the calling!  I am the first to admit I am unable to fulfill the call placed on my life.  Yet, the Father has proven to me over and over, if I will step out of the boat, He will give me water walking lessons.  I must first get out of the boat!  My Boat!  It is hard to suck up the pride and the arrogance and the piety and step out there with only the Father supporting you.  It can be done.  It is being done.  It is time that more fully devoted followers step out of their boat and everyone else’s boat and walk with Jesus with bold faith that is scary and tests every fiber of your being and marriage and relationships and ministry and philosophy and ...  The church today is in desperate need of many of you who feel tired and worn to step up to the edge of the boat and show the way out of the boat into the freedom “in Christ” Many of you who read these are right where God wants you to be to change your world...trust and obey...obedience is better than sacrifice...He has called you...HE has called on you...I’VE GOT YOUR BACK...GO AHEAD JUMP OUT THERE...THE VIEW FROM HERE IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a pastor I have found myself at times wandering around in the wildnerness of too much informational demands as well as suggestions on “how to do” ministry.  The stress of it all almost become too much.  However I know that the wilderness can be a beneficial surrounding as God works best in the solitude of times ... at least for me.  In the pressures of life and ministry a person can become displaced in “hearing” the voice of God.  As a minister I was “handling” God’s Word, but I had come to a point of not “hearing” the Word of God.  There is a big difference.  At times I sense I am in the famine Amos spoke of ... a famine of hearing the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11).  I am striving to adapt my times with God in how I read the Word, where I read the Word, and even why I read the Word.  It helps me in the dryness of my own wilderness walk.  I see more and more that those in ministry are struggling.  I want to think this is not the way God would have it to be for us ... but then again there is so much superficial pretense in the ministry today to be “successful” ... maybe the down and out wilderness walks are the mode to which God can gain our attention.  A great read (older book) is “Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrone.” (Kent Huges ... I think).  Let us be encouraged to grab the Word and cry out as the Psalmist does in 61, “When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (vs.2b)

I stepped out of youth ministry recently.  I left a “big church down the street” to start a church because of all of the same things that are being posted.  The pastor that I work with is a man of real faith.  I am the assoc pastor and I work with college students.  It is a very exciting ministry to be a part of and I know that I will be the pastor in a year or so.  The refreshing thing about it is that without a doubt, the congregation is FREE!  They are free from the power struggles, free from the political garbage and that makes for a spirit filled experience.  When I walked away from my ministry with teens, I left the only salary my wife and I had, I walked away from the medical insurance and all the stability that the established congregation brought.  I beleive there is more to church than family centered control freak mentalities and the awesome thing is that God has blessed us more than I ever imagined.  I do work another job, and that can be difficult to keep up with all the responsibilities of a new church, but God is faithful.  My wife and I are living in a brand new home, we are financially blessed and on top of it I am at a church that I love and my staffmates are all people that I love and that are amazingly gifted. Our youth pastor was my intern for a couple of years with my other church and our worship leader was the youth worship leader at my former church and We are so close, because of the whole experience.
I guess what I am saying to my youth ministry compadres out there that are struggling, remember the words that God spoke to Joshua-"Be strong and courageous...Be very strong and courageous.” Maybe a church plant is not the thing for you and the ministry God has for you, but don’t forget the God that called into this thing is the same one that parted the sea, rained down manna, healed the blind, and brought back the dead, He will deliver you.

Justin Hill

Erik, thanks for your unconvincing, irratational and absolutely ignorant observation.

Are you married? If you are, get a divorce because just as Jesus was penniless he was also single.

Do you own a home? If you do, sell it or better yet give it away and live off of what you can get from others because Jesus didn’t own a home, have children, own a car or even in the slightest bit say we shouldn’t. So when you start spouting off about what you obviously know nothing about you confirm in others what they may have thought about you to begin with.

I understand what pastors go through since I am one. I went from pastoring a church with enormous growth in all areas (average growth in one year went from 211 to 265 and was climbing) but because there was a group of people didn’t like the fact that they didn’t know everyone anymore, then that was all they could take and I lost my job. I was making $57,000 per year and now I’m making $20,000 per year and working 4 different jobs trying to make ends meet. I’ve put in over 200 applications/resumes and Walmart won’t even hire me. I’ve got 4 kids and a wife that I’m tired of watching go to bed night after night crying because we don’t have enough to make it and chuches won’t respond to even say they received my resume.

Today I’m filing for bankruptcy and it’s a great day indeed.

For many of us who have been hurt in ministry or by ministry, these waiting times can be tremendous healing times. If they can become that for us, we will be much stronger and more able to minister when we find a new place of ministry.  I encourage you to find a healthy church and allow God to built health into you. Submit yourself to a caring pastor.  Do whatever your hand finds to do in the church but do it with humility and grace. Work at whatever you can find to do to support your family. God’s call will not go away and when the time is right, he knows where you are and knows how to get your attention.  Make the most of this time to prepare yourself for what God has ahead. 
It is hard and having people quote verses to us doesn’t really help.  It’s really interesting that the Holy Spirit is the one who is called alongside of us to help carry our load.  More often, those of us who are not in your situation use strong words rather than comforting ones.  Even though it may take some time and you may be disappointed by some of the people you approach to come alongside of you, keep looking until you find someone because it will make the journey easier.  My heart goes out to you and I will pray for all of you that God will encourage your hearts today and in the days ahead.

To Erik:

Got some unresolved issues, have you?

>>>All of you, just resign your ministry, go home, get on your knees, pray, and go out and get a real job. The ministry was never meant to be a full-time family-supporting job.

Wow, really?  Do you think that will help the American church actually become more responsible about doing ministry rather than leaving it to the “professional Christians?”

>>>>You get caught up in ridiculous things like “how good is my praise band compared to ...” and “what kind of windows would Jesus want in the new sanctuary” and so on. I was once at a church where they actually employed some one whose job it was to hire and fire. I’ve seen five-page employee evaluations. This is insane.

Now I couldn’t agree with you more here.  The American church is run more like a corporation than a ministry (in many churches), and this is indeed unfortunate (and unbiblical).

>>>Jesus was a penniless beggar who had nothing but the deepest contempt for religious “leaders”.

A) Jesus was not a beggar.
B) Religious leaders of His day aren’t the same as those today (well, at least a lot of them aren’t.)

>>>If you really want to make a difference, quit preaching to the choir. Reach out to people on the job, on the streets, and don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. When it’s all said and done, the way you lived your day-to-day life is what you’ll be judged on (Matthew 25).

True.  But then, isn’t that what vocational ministers do?

Its interesting too see the comments about hardships in the ministry.  I am not so young as most of you and I have only been in the ministry a short while.  I have had experience with basically only one church which I like because I do get to do some of the things I enjoy.  Mine is not a paid position but it is rewarding.  I conduct an early Sunday morning worship service thru our homeless ministry, and also volunteer two days a week with a clothing ministry.  My husband has to carry the financial load alone and it does get tough at times.  We don’t have a lot of extras but we do manage to get by.  I have sent out dozens of resumes and have yet to get even a response that the resume was received.  I have just come to the conclusion that GOD has me where HE wants me.  Totally dependent upon HIM.  I know that HE knows what is best as HE knows what the outcome will be. I pray a lot because that is all I know to do. HE has not failed us yet.

Unfortunately, not only is this a situation that is very prevalent in ministry, it is a vicious cycle. It seems to go like this: Bad situation- desperate to find something new- quick to move on to next bad situation. It seems like (easier said than done)that we need to be better about interviewing the church as much as they are interviewing us. I liken it to marriage. If we go into the marriage relationship thinking we’re going to change our spouse, then we’re in for a rude awakening. If you dig deep enough, and are truly honest with yourself, the situations you are currently in were waiting for you. The signs were probably there- you were just so desperate to get out of one bad situation that you didn’t do your homework or wanted to believe that you could change the new situation. There is no perfect situation this side of heaven, but God does have a perfect fit for each one of us. We just have to be better at discerning good from best. Like I said, easier said than done…

Justin:

It amazes me that churches put “5, 10, or whatever years experience a must.” I think many churches are missing out on very gifted ministers because they are focusing on degrees and years of experience.  I have a young man in my church who has no degree and little experience, but loves people and has a passion to lead others to Christ.  I wouldn’t trade him for anyone.  Interviewing for church positions can be very frustrating I know.  They never have a conversation with you, never meet you face to face, and yet God still tells them you are not the one???  It is sad to say, but I found that when I was interviewing for church positions it was not much different than corporate America...it is who you know.  With that being said, I am happy to say that God was always in control and lead me to the church He wanted me to serve.  Don’t allow search committees and deacon boards to discourage you or throw you off course.  Most of them have good intentions, but they have no more of a clue how to choose a pastor than I do how to choose a mechanic.  I figure since he has the Mr. Goodwrench sign on the wall and a certification he must know how to fix my car...boy have I been wrong a few times.