I started being a hospice chaplain a couple of months ago.

I tell people all the time; it’s not easy but it’s very rewarding and it’s an honor to walk with people and their families as they face death.

I think every Christian needs to be a hospice chaplain.  Okay, they don’t need to be a paid staff chaplain but every Christian should be doing what hospice chaplains do.

1.  Remind people that death is real and it’s just around the corner.

2. Help people have a good death.

Death is going to happen to each person you interact with, are they prepared to face death? Facing death well involves multiple layers but the eternal one, is pretty significant.

3.  Being with people is more important than having all the answers.

I’m not against giving answers but the gift of presence and empathy is often the most precious gift.  How often do we give that to each other?  Too often we are more concerned with our agendas than providing an incarnational presence.

That’s only a few things but I hope you start with them as you shine where God has you.

I wrote this in January, 2008 for Group Magazine/YouthMinistry.com:

The other day I was talking to one of my youth ministry friends about the rarity of long-term youth pastors in a local church setting. In the course of that conversation, I realized that there are a decent amount of guys who have been in youth ministry for a long time (20-30 years). These guys often speak at various youth ministry conventions and other training opportunities. However, very rarely are those guys in a local church setting. They tend to be youth ministry professors, camp directors, denominational leaders, parachurch ministry professionals, or professional speakers. Some have even started their own non-profit ministry to do what they’ve always loved without the headaches, heartaches, or hurts that come from local church ministry.

I’m glad that some guys have gotten out of youth ministry. Not because they were horrible, but because they had gifts to share with the larger body of Christ. They include numerous former youth pastors who have become church planters. Some have taken on a senior pastor position. Others have moved on missions or other forms of influence. Personally, I’m glad that Billy Graham, Ted Engstrom, Andy Stanley, J.C. Watts and Dan Kimball stopped being youth workers. If you need to quit youth ministry to pursue a new passion or your gifts have changed, great! Keep serving Jesus—but remember to give your youth pastor a good budget and salary when you’re in charge or on the board.

I can understand the appeal of those positions and I’ve considered almost all of those different ways to do youth ministry without being in a local church. But the question remains, why don’t more of us remain in full-time local church youth ministry for 20 plus years?

I remember being in seminary and talking with all my fellow youth ministry seminarians who were convinced that they would be doing youth ministry until they die. If commonly used statistics are true, fourteen years later 25-40% of them aren’t even in ministry, let alone youth ministry.

It’s a shame when youth ministers quit because of discouragement, hurt, isolation or pain from being in ministry. These dangers, toils, and snares can come from within the individual or from within a local congregation. After being fired abruptly by a stereotypical CEO Senior Pastor, I’ve now survived my own year and a half “dark night of the soul.” It took time to heal and thankfully we found a great church that allowed us the time and space to do so. Because of my time in the Youth Pastor ICU, I’m now able to be back in local church youth ministry.

It’s glorious. I’ve been back in the youth ministry saddle for almost nine months and there are still days where I go to work giddy. It’s my goal to retire in local church youth ministry. Is it because I can’t do anything else? No, it’s because I can’t do anything else! I’m compelled to care for students and their families in a local church setting because I think it’s the thing that I can do best to make Jesus smile the most.

So when you become discouraged in your church, push through, keep loving the local church, and I’ll save you a whoopee-cushioned rocking chair in the youth pastor retirement home. The harvest is plentiful but quality workers are few.

An Army of One: A blueprint for maximizing your impact by nurturing your relationships with area youth workers From Group Magazine Sep/Oct 06

The Only 8 Things That Really Matter from Sep/Oct 09 Group Magazine.

Please pray for the We Love Our Youth Worker USA group that is meeting in Washington, DC today and tomorrow. We Love Our Youth Worker started in the UK. Marv Penner is coordinating the Canadian version and the US version was introduced at the National Youth Workers Convention last year but will officially launch this year.

It’s a group of denominational and organizational youth ministry leaders who are ironing out details.  If you are unfamiliar with WLOYW, visit the UK site and imagine the good it would do in America if churches began living out those values.

Pray because it could be an amazing game changer for churches and youth ministry.

Aug. 4, 1983 – Robin Venture challenges a 6’2″ cattle rancher to a fight in the middle of a baseball game and learns the meaning of “Don’t Mess with Big Tex”.

Video of Nolan Ryan vs. Robin Ventura

I was in seminary during this season and we attended the game after this one. I have never heard such loud boo’s as Ventura received the next night during the entire game.

Below is an occasional hobby of mine. I customize plastic toy soldiers/figures into Marvel super heroes, and normally they are from the long line of potential Avengers.  The ones in the front are all customized either by simple paint or by cutting and adding accessories to make them complete. My favorites that I made are Nick Fury (old one) and Hercules. How many can you name?

Want to change the world?  The best place to start is in your own backyard. Take a minute or two to quickly list at least three big needs in your community. Now look at your list and pick one that seems to capture your attention more than the others. Then cold-call a ministry or organization that is trying to meet that need and ask how your ministry can partner to help make it happen.

Networking not only fuels your ministry passions, but gives you a priceless perspective you just can’t get inside your “comfort bubble.” It might not be sexy to change your little corner of the world, but your little corner of the world is the entire world to some people in your community. And when you’re faithful with little things God has a way of entrusting you with bigger things.

March/April 2011 issue of Group Magazine

1. I’m leaving Thursday for the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago. I’ll be packing long sleeves & my jacket.

I’ll be there with a good portion of the NNYM field staff helping youth workers understand what we are about and how we exist to help them and their churches have a stronger youth ministry.

My primary responsibility is helping coordinate a great team of conference pastors, spiritual directors, and coaches/consultants who will meet privately with youth workers.

I will also be serving on two panels: “Holding Steady: Coping With Transitions and Turmoil in the Church” & “Leaving a Ministry Without Losing Your Heart”

2. I was asked to write a chapter for an upcoming youth ministry book.  Please pray for wisdom as I share principles that can help youth workers.

3. Here is the latest PDF update on the ministry and the family:  PL_2011_03_LE

4. We’re still working towards being fully funded and I’ll be sending out a wide variety of ways (beyond monthly support) you can help that become a reality in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for being in our corner and for interceding for the ministry and our family.

Keep Lovin’ Jesus,

Len

There is one serious danger — that of developing a superficial type of Christianity, a youth program whose key word is fun. The emblem of the church is a cross, not a magician’s wand. Churches that have catered to every whim of youth, making concessions in order to win them or to retain them in the church have discovered before long that they have been unable to compete with the forces outside of the church. On the other hand, conservative churches that have had a Christ-centered and youth-participating program have not only held their own young people, but have attracted others. A Christian youth program is not an upgraded children’s program not is it a diluted adult program. It is geared to adolescence.

Our primary goal should be to win youth for Christ and to integrate them with the adult program by means of adventurous activities that shall be youthful in spirit, but at the same time be truly Christian.

Our ideal in youth work in the local church should not be a Christian adult, but rather a Christ-controlled adolescent gradually becoming an adult. He is to be a Christian personality now, not by-and-by when he has matured into adulthood.

The Church and Modern Youth by Peter. P. Person

(C) 1963 by Zondervan