Usually, I just post the letters and responses without an explanation--because if you have to explain satire, it's probably not good satire. But I've received a couple of comments from readers that have made me think otherwise. Here's a comment regarding Youth Pastor's advice to a struggling youth worker on how to appear cooler to students:
This sounds disgraceful! I would never do any of these things, as all of them would cost me my job and the respect of youth and their parents. Kids gossip too much to make these things a good idea.
And here's a comment regarding Youth Pastor's advice for how to stay away from youth ministry networks:
When did networking become such a bad thing. Also when did reaching students for Christ become such a territorial rivalry? Networking is a good thing. Many of the top guys in youth ministry agree with this. Doing ministry in a city is not a good thing. It leads to burn out and stress. Telling a guy not to network is not a good thing. You should encourage him to maybe change the format of the meeting in discussing where everyone can help to bring more students to Christ in the city. It is not about being the best youth pastor or youth group in town that shows no humility just arrogance. Your advice is just appalling
Given those comments, I assume there are more folks who don't comment that misunderstand what "Dear Youth Pastor" is all about. So, in case you're wondering, "Dear Youth Pastor" is not to be taken as good advice; it's meant to make a point with a little bit of humor. Hopefully no one has actually taken any of Youth Pastor's advice seriously (if you have, you'll probably get fired soon). And don't forget that you can email Youth Pastor with any of your own questions.
