William: “Hey Jeff,
you know I love my youth group right?”
Jeff: “Yeh, what
happened?”
William: “Well, the
recent conversations with my Sr. high youth group have taken my slightly
mis-shapened heart and caused it to be remolded into a new piece of art.”
I can’t
help but to start off with this short conversation I had with a friend, another
youth pastor from the other side of town. The dialect that was to follow was
surely from the heart, and began to unveil the background of a painted youth
group.
Tonight, my
youth and I, along with their leaders found themselves gathered in a small but
cozy corridor of the local Soda Fountain. It’s an old school ice-cream shop
that is home of the “Spruce Goose”, a giant bowl of ice-cream filled with one
scoop of every 30 some flavors they have available, and on top of that is hot
fudge, brownies, nuts, cherries, whipped cream and God knows what else.
There, in
that tight hallway as we mowed down this Spruce Goose with 10 spoons, we began
to discuss success, both the worlds’ views, and what true “Christian” success
would be. Stemming from the words of Paul as he found himself bound in chains
rotting in a prison; there in the book of Philippians chapter 1 we found what
true success was. I sometimes wonder,
“When God is going to start speaking to my youth, rather than to me?”
As Paul sat
in prison he spoke these words,
Phil
1:12-14: “Now I want you to know,
brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to
everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the
brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more
courageously and fearlessly.”
How do we
define success? Forget typical worldly views. Cars, houses, white picket fences
and a dog; they mean crap, and I think we can all agree that it is obvious they
do not define “Success”. Here on the Christian level we define it a bit
differently. “How big is my church?” “How many people did I pray for today?”
“Did my message make people laugh, or even cry?” “How many kids come to my youth group?”
I highlight
that last one, as that too often is how I rate my success as a youth minister.
As the middle school has grown to almost triple where it was when I began just
6 months ago, I have watched my senor high climb then drop; from 13 to 24 (for
2 weeks), and now down to 7 tonight… So often I wonder what I have done wrong,
is it me or is it the youth or what? What did I do? I begin to set my “success”
in a number, rather than the goals for which the youth ministry stands.
Numbers
matter, but my goal isn’t a good time on Wednesday nights with 50 some kids.
No, my goal is that the youth in this city would have an invested interest in
the God who has invested so much interest in them. Invested to the point of
death.
You see, Paul
never measured success by where he was in life, or who his company was. Heck he
is rotting in a prison and wants to keep on preaching. It wasn’t about a
program that looks good, or a big old church. He measured success in the idea
that NOTHING else mattered but to follow Jesus and do his best to reach out to
those around him.
Tonight, as
I redefine success, I find myself recognizing that the youth I have in my little
youth group, “get it”. They know God, and this is where they come to be fed,
recharged, encouraged, and tonight they come to get some ice-cream. So am I a
success? HA, this “write” is not about me looking at something that is far from
perfect and trying to justify failure or placidity. No, this is not about me trying to tell you
that because I have a good heart I am successful.
Im not.
Not yet, but perhaps one day when I
get my heart truly in the right place and my focus is wholly and simply the
heart of God will I dare to say that I have succeeded at anything.
Truth is, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain”. Not numbers, not programs, not a darn thing,
just lives…
How do you define
success?
