What is your church's vision?

I recently heard of a church that hired a youth pastor for 5-month period.  Now I’m not sure of the details as to why only 5 months but I have also heard of churches hiring youth pastors for a year at a time.  I’m not sure of the thinking or reasoning behinds such decisions.  What I do know is that it screams “No vision!”  What is the vision of a church if it is only looking months ahead and not thinking long range?  What would you do as a parent of a teen in this situation?

How does a youth minister function in that setting?  I know, because I’m a family man, I wouldn’t take on a position in a church with no vision.  I need to know I have a job longer than 5 months or a year.  I also want to be part of a church with vision, huge vision.

Some steps a youth pastor in this type of situation can take:

1. Find out the leadership’s expectations for that small time period.
2. Pray for God’s vision for both the youth ministry and the church.
3. Plan out a year’s calendar even if you won’t be there when some of those events or activities are scheduled to happen.  Don’t just fill the calendar for the sake of activities but plan on purpose with the goal of building a healthy youth ministry.
4. Map out Bible studies for youth worship gatherings.
5. Keep church leadership informed on what is going on in the youth ministry.
6. Build and equip a youth ministry team because one person can’t effectively minister to all the students.  This will also equip a team to carry on the ministry should your position truly only last 5 months or a year. 

An Inviting Building

When we built our building part of the purpose of the design was that the front of the building would have lots of windows so guests could see what they are about to walk into.  I've heard many comments about our building, the blue roof, all the windows, "doesn't look like a church"(that's the point), "where's the steeple and cross?", "looks like an airplane hangar", "looks cool".  I can't think of all the comments I've heard. 

I try to hang out after the service as Rick talks with the guests so I can hear what our guests think.  To find out what they think we are doing right, and what they think we are doing wrong.

Today I heard what I've been waiting to hear.  When asked how they decided to attend NHC, a local guest's answer was, "I drive by everyday and the building looks inviting."  It worked!  I love it when a plan comes together.

I'm excited about the next phase.  Today our phase 2 team met to discuss the steps to finish off the children's area and the youth room.  Our pre-school room is about maxed out, it's gonna be sweet when the upstairs is finished.