Professor McCart?

I had the opportunity to speak to the Introduction to Youth Ministry class at Charleston Southern University.  I graduated in 2000 with my Youth Ministry degree and have learned quite a lot (mostly by trial and error or from mistakes) about ministry.  I decided the most important thing I could say to a group like this was clear.  Here is my outline:

I.    The Easy Stuff
        – Programming: The nuts and bolts of what you do.
                * Production – The connection to your audience.
                        – Creative Elements
                        – Large Group Teaching
                        – Large Group Worship
                        – Technical and Media aspects
                * Groups – The community that your audience needs.
                        – Small Group is where life change happens.
                        – You must have the right people on board.
                        – If you do this well, everything else will work out.

II.    The Hard Stuff
        – Parents: The determining factor in consistent participation from students.
                        – You must communicate better than you do anything else with parents.
                        – The can be you most valuable asset.
                        – Parental trust determines student participation.

III.    The Painful Stuff
        – Pastors: The difference maker in the commitment your church has in your ministry.
                        – According to 1 Peter 2, our first responsibility is submission.
                        – There is nothing like working for a leader that trusts and believes in you.
                        – God always works through authority and never blesses rebellion. (Thanks Andy!)

Obviously that's not all there is to ministry but it was what I felt like I wish someone had taught me in the beginning.  Well, odds are someone tried but I didn't listen.  Here's hoping these students learn it quicker and less painfully than I did.