How to Lose or Keep Your Youth Pastor

Josh Griffin, High School Pastor at Saddleback, wrote a two piece article on his blog morethandodgeball.com over the past few days about how a church can successfully lose or keep it's youth pastor.  

This is a really interesting idea.  I've never seen a blueprint for getting rid of  a youth pastor before but if you check out his post about it here, you'll see that it's a foolproof way to get rid of your youth pastor.

His article about how to keep your youth pastor forever, found here, is equally as spot-on.

I've been thinking about what Josh has written and I'm pretty sure the church I serve at falls into the second category.  I've been here long enough that 'the honeymoon is over' as they say.  This doesn't mean I've become jaded, or upset or anything like that.  All I mean is that the initial puppy dog love phase has played it's course and now reality has sunk in.  And wouldn't you know, reality here is pretty good.  I'm defended, encouraged and believed in...even when I don't believe in myself.  I'm given responsibility and they expect me to lead and give me many opportunities to do so...they even let me preach occasionally.  And I feel fairly compensated for the work that I do.  I'm encouraged to go to conferences, to build my library, to continually learn, to meet with people and pick their brains, and to use my resources to develop as a follower of Christ both personally and pastorally.

I write this not to make myself or my church look good, but to encourage those youth pastors out there who are currently serving at church that is doing their best to get rid of them.  I encourage you to take inventory of how your church treats you. If you feel that you are not being defended, not believed in, or are not compensated appropriately...don't quit.  But take this opportunity to address the issues at hand with the appropriate people.  I encourage you to step up to the plate, bring the issues to the surface, and work towards change with the church you are at.  If the church leadership refuses to change in the way they treat you then you have a decision to make, but please do not make that decision before trying to fix the issues at hand.

So after seeing both sides of this coin, do you think your church wants to keep their youth pastor or get rid of them? I'd love to hear your comments!