What to say to a new youth pastor (part 7)

Establishing our core values – our why – allows us to focus on what really matters.  You can't accomplish much without focus.  The difference between a light bulb and a laser is focus. 

Your why helps you define your “win.”  Your team must understand what a win looks like, or they won’t know what we’re after.  In American Football, we celebrate first downs, but they don’t win a game… touchdowns do.  And even then, just getting a touchdown doesn’t mean you win the game.  We need to spell out for our people what it means to have a win in our ministries.

In order to do this, you need to put a face on the vision.  Let me illustrate: When we were pastoring university students in Texas there was a young man that I had invested in a relationship with.  I had earned the right to tell him about Jesus, and he committed his life to Christ.

A little while later I was talking with this young man during a college retreat.  As we were walking he put his arm around me and said, “Jon, I want to thank you.”

I asked, “Why?”

He said, “Since I’ve given my life to Christ, my life has been changed.  I haven’t smoked a joint in a whole month!”  And when I cast the vision to our team and our church, I told this story (with his permission).  I helped them see what a win looked like in our ministry: a lost person coming to Christ and growing in his/her relationship with God and with others.