What kind of Support Structure do you have?

As Youth Pastors, believers, husbands/wives, fathers, sometimes people with 2nd jobs, we have to juggle a lot.  I actually thought that when I got my first smartphone 3 years ago that I was going to be able to juggle things better and be more effective.  Boy, was I wrong. The problem I have felt many times is that I could be doing a great job – working 50-60 hours a week, meeting up and encouraging students, being really productive with my office time, YET still feel that you are letting people down and have no one to share with.  Have you ever felt this way before?

The question I ask is, what kind of support structure do I have?  For me, I have found being in partnership with other Youth Pastors and having a team of adults from the church to surround myself with have been very helpful.  It is great to have a friend who happens to be a Youth Pastor so I can vent to and talk things out with. He is someone who will be able to identify with exactly what I am going through and help me process things out.  Youth Ministry Networks are great to go to, but I find that individual, one-on-one times with other Youth Pastors as much more beneficial for me as there is a better chance to develop friendship and be real.

In the past, I have had an Adult Support Team that consists of men in the Church whose primary purpose is to help me process as I make critical decisions for our youth program.  They are people with strong business backgrounds and help me make some critical management decisions. However, as much as they help me process Church decisions, they help me more personally. We spend time talking about ways they can support and help me, Tom Pounder, and my family. They encourage me in my walk with Christ and spend time praying for my family and I.  This has been an extremely helpful group for me to be involved in.  That group has changed over the years and although I still do not meet with them as whole, I still meet with them all individually and is just has helpful and they are just as supportive and encouraging to me as ever before.

But, just as important as having someone for you, we need to have the support for our families.  There is nothing worse than having a family who feels that they are apart of the church (or even para-church organization) but not really apart of the church – they are more just apart of things because they are your spouse and family. Youth Pastors tend to work crazy, inconsistent hours, which drives our closest allies (our families and friends) nuts at times. Think about it, we work breakfasts, lunches, dinners, late nights, weekends, basically all hours of the day.  Some days, we’ll have the morning free, but then be out until 10 pm.  The very next day, we could be out at 5 am and back by noon.  Because of our very flexible, but inconsistent work days and weeks, we often leave our families without any consistency to rely on.  Therefore, it is equally important to have people come alongside our spouses and families as well.  These are people who can help out in a variety of ways.  For my family, this group of support helps out with babysitting, making an occasional meal or has even gotten my wife a Starbucks coffee before.  Any way this group helps my family shows them that they understand and that they care about my family just as much as they care about their crazy Youth Pastor.

Right now, TAKE A MINUTE and…

1. Examine what kind of support structure you have.  Do you have people in place to support you, your ministry and your family?  Are there people in the Church who you could ask to be that support?
2. Are you apart of a Youth Ministry Network?  If so, and if you aren’t meeting with other individual Youth Minister regularly, pick out 1 or 2 who you could meet up with outside of that meeting (this should be a no-brainer, but make sure that other Youth Minister is the same sex as you).

I have found that when you have people around you to support you and your family, it is such a blessing.  If you do not have people in place now for you, your ministry and your family, now is the perfect time to do it.

Are there other ways people can support you?  If so, post them so we can all benefit.