Now that we have another daughter that's almost a month old, I'm interested to see how ministry will continue to change for me. It's already been an interesting ride, because Samantha has spent the last three weeks in the hospital, and she'll be there at least another three days. Since she's been stable most of the time, Jennifer and I have taken shifts at the hospital so that I can do some ministry and spend time with Bethany, our oldest. But there's no doubt that youth ministry as I knew it a few years ago is long gone. Late night conversations at the local coffee shop (Starbucks staff really means it when they say it's closing time) happen a lot less frequently, and after weekend evening events, I'm more likely to head home than hang out with some youth at the local Denny's. Sure, I hope to still be doing this in about twenty or thirty years when all of our kids have graduated, but by then, I'll have less energy to go with the additional time. In the mean time, I'll still do lock-ins and overnighters, I'll still do crazy things like play airsoft or ski down double-black diamond runs I have no business being on, and I'll still sleep with my cell phone by my bed when I'm not on vacation, because teenagers rarely seem to have the worst crises during my office hours. I'm still not sure what all these changes mean for ministry, but I do know I'm enjoying the journey, even if it's a bit different from the way it used to be.
Anyways, here's what inspired me to write this post:
I’m not saying that you become a better youth minister when you have children, because I was able to give differently in youth ministry before having children, ways that I often miss now (i.e. staying up all night telling scary stories in a tent during the fall retreat) However, I am saying that having children gives us new insight. Just like traveling to another culture where we learn new things and come back looking at life differently, it’s the same for youth ministers who become parents, we start seeing things through a different lens.
