Point of clarification before you continue reading: If I were to give my job here at St. Thomas’ a title, I would say I am a youth director. I help plan and lead many groups, all of which involve youth or young adults. Now you may continue...
I remember in High School joking around with my youth pastor, Andy, and asking him what he did when we, the youth, weren’t around. I mean I knew he worked, but we occasionally gave him a hard time about his job being hanging out with us - rough life. Didn’t sound like a hard job to me. In college I remember giving my campus pastor, Pastor Chris, a hard time when he would suggest meeting over a meal or cup of coffee, because that meant he got one as well. But that was his job. I distinctly remember giving these two people, two people that I look up to and admire a great deal, two people that have helped me reach this place in my life of discerning a possible call to public ministry, a hard time about their jobs and the ease of them.
Well now I am one of them. I have realized over the past few weeks that during the week when we weren’t at church, Andy was planning for events that were a month or more in advance. I realize that when PC and I would go out for a cup of coffee or lunch, it was him setting aside a time to talk and catch up and show me that I was worth his time.
I am, what most would call, a last minute planner. Whenever I have had to do a vespers at camp, or lead a group for campus ministry, I was always still forming my thoughts as the event began. It didn’t take a long time in my position here at St. Thomas to realize that wasn’t going to fly. The first couple of Sundays I was planning for the Sunday school class I teach on the Saturday before if not before church that Sunday. I was putting together the lesson for the Thursday lunch group that morning. It wasn’t until I saw the amount of planning and forethought that Sue had to put into Messy Church, an event that is put on once a month for primary age students, that I realized there was more than just the day before planning. There were things that needed months of time planning, especially when they involved volunteers, advertising, and getting materials.
I have now planned out what I will be doing on the rest of the Sundays from now till Christmas. These lessons may not be planned out fully, but I have a topic and an outline. The same goes for the Thursday lunch group, and the young adults group I help lead. I have been planning for this alternative Halloween party for the youth since the end of September, and now that it is two weeks away, I am practically done. I sure am glad I learned this lesson within the first 3 weeks of my time here. It has made and will continue to make life so much easier.
I have realized in my time here over the past month that there is so much more that goes into this job than just hanging out with young people. There are meetings you have to go to, people you have to deal with, parents that are going to complain, and countless numbers of hoops to jump through to get things done. There are late nights, followed by early mornings, and wacky schedules that are never the same week to week. It’s a job, and there are always going to be things that aren’t perfect.
What really made this topic pop into my head was something that happened this past week. On Friday I had everything planned for Friday Night Drop In and I knew what games I was going to teach. These were games that I grew up playing or played at camp. But then it hit me, I don’t want to be stuck in a rut and only play games that I know, so I decided to do a google search for “fun games to do with youth.” The results were great. I was getting so excited about some of the games I could teach the youth at Drop Ins to follow when I realized, that was my job. It was part of my job to go online and look up new and fun games for the youth. It is my job to teach these games, and play them myself with the youth. It’s my job to plan Sunday school lessons that I think will challenge and engage these youth that are coming on Sunday mornings. It’s my job to think of wacky Youtube videos that the youth can relate to in order to make a Youth Alpha lesson more interesting and entertaining. It’s my job to hang out with youth, be their friend, and get to know them. It’s my job to get a cup of coffee, an ice cream, or a meal with them and show them they’re important to me. It’s my job to go to their football game or school play. So I’ve decided that I can deal with the boring meetings, working with some people that may be difficult, and parents that complain, because on a daily basis I say to myself “I love my job”. And what I’m left with is, “Who wouldn’t want this job?”
Some fun facts:
I haven't learned the lady at the Jack Spratts name, but she knows my order when I walk in - this is progress.
and
I am leaving for London tomorrow, Monday, for a Time For God (TFG) conference, and I'll be there till Thursday.
and
A good portion of the youth now know that if I am wearing orange on Friday or Saturday that means Clemson is playing, and if I'm wearing orange on Sunday, that means they won. Good thing I brought a decent amount of orange :) 
The banner and the vine were made at September's Messy Church. The theme of it came from John 15, "I am the true vine." The vine on the left is full of grapes. These grapes were given to the youth and they were asked to put their name on it as well as a gift that God has given them. It was really great to see the youth helping each other out to identify the gifts that God has given them. This was a really cool visual for these youth to see how fruitful they are even though they may feel so young - they have something really great to offer those around them.
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