GUEST POST: Coaching and Youth Ministry

This is a guest post from my friend Grant Diamond.  He currently serves as the Director of 5th-8th Grade Ministries at First Baptist Church Geneva.  Grant is a great guy with a huge heart for students to come to know the Lord.  This is a unique opportunity and can be truly the new frontier between children’s and youth ministry.  Like what he has to say, hear him some more on Twitter.

Any Youth Worker worth their salt is familiar with coaching. We’ve all spent enough time at student’s athletic events to become intimately familiar with the role of a coach in student’s lives. These coaches come in all shapes and sizes, some are Dads who’ve been drug into it because the team was desperate, some are veterans who coached their kids and are now coaching the next generation of kids, and others are first timers looking to relive their glory days of playing.  Although there are a plethora of coaching “types” for any athletic event, one thing is certain, there’s always a coach. Try and imagine showing up at a student’s ball game and watching them play a coachless game, total chaos right? But if we assume the necessity of coaches in sports, where the rewards of success and the consequences of failure are pretty minor (a win and a loss), why isn’t coaching more integral to the fabric of Youth Ministry, where the rewards and failures are major (eternal bless and eternal torment)? You know I’m not talking about coaches for students; I’m talking about coaches for the Youth Workers. The question that I can’t stop mulling over is this, why is it that so many Youth Workers go it alone in their ministries, and are largely content to do so?

Let me take a step back and explain why I’ve had this question on my mind. I’m a relative newcomer to the world of vocational Youth Ministry. Although I did plenty of volunteering throughout College, I’ve only been working as a Youth Pastor for the last year and a half. When I got hired onto my Church it was as an intern. Initially I wasn’t too excited about that title since I was looking for full time work but I was engaged and needed a job before I could get married, so I signed on. As soon as I started working I knew that I’d made the right decision. My boss was the 15 year Junior High Pastor, about as seasoned a veteran as you can find in the world of Junior High Ministry. Within the first week he’d made it clear that he wanted to make sure that each week we made sure to have a day where we’d grab some time together to hang out, go over anything that had happened the week before, and vision cast for whatever was on the horizon. In short my boss was, within the first week of my employment, not shy about his desire to “coach me up” into the world of Youth Ministry as I embarked on my Youth Ministry journey.

This coaching has been beyond invaluable for me in my first year and a half of ministry. We’ve sat down to chat over “Meal Deal One” at Taco Bell countless times since I started at the Church and those conversations have covered the gamut of topics. From ministry challenges, to dealing with in-laws, to dealing with angry parents, the coaching has been holistic in its scope. Although every topic has been beneficial what I’ve benefited from the most vocationally has been the time I’ve gotten to spend each week with my coach kicking ideas around and reviewing the successes and failures of the week gone by. If I had a dollar for every time this 15 year veteran has uttered the words, “Oh yeah, I’ve done that before…” to go on and share about some success or failure he’d experienced while I was still in Elementary School I’d be retired and living in Tahiti by now. Those stories of past successes and failures have been priceless though. I have no doubt that this coaching and those stories have saved me from any number of mistakes whether they be leading students in a stupidly dangerous game, being too defensive in dealing with an upset parent, or selling my family out to ministry and failing to “win at home.”

More than merely saving me from mistakes though, this coaching has set me up for great ministry success. The coaching gives me a chance to have my ideas honed by a guy who’s largely seen, and experienced it all before. The coaching alerts me to blind spots that I’d otherwise be unaware of and ultimately sets me up to successfully execute an ideas as the developed plan hasn’t just passed through the filter of a 22 year old “new guy”  but has been critiqued and sharpened by the eye of a veteran. The coaching allows me to have my strengths celebrated and my weaknesses developed. It helps separate the great ideas that can, unfortunately only work in a dream world (Casino Night Outreach Event), from the ideas that are both good in theory and practical in execution (Outreach event with raffles and prizes that definitely DOESN’T involve the words casino or gambling).

In short the coaching I’ve received over the last year and a half of ministry has been invaluable. So where do we go from here? Well if you’ve made it this far into this post you’re in one of two situations, you’re a seasoned vet who’s not coaching anyone, or you’re a younger guy who could use a coach. If you’re a seasoned vet who’s not coaching a younger guy, reach out! When Jesus sent the disciples out for their initial ministry tours he sent them out two by two, community is critical to ministry success. You can bless the next generation of Youth Workers immensely, and I’m confident you’ll be blessed by the differing perspectives and fresh energy the young workers tend to bring. If you’re someone who’s not getting coached the charge is simple, get a coach! Start the search close to home, if you’ve got a direct supervisor who isn’t coaching you consider asking them to, chances are they’ll be flattered and you’ll greatly benefit. If you don’t have a supervisor you report to or have a supervisor who’s unwilling to coach, consider checking out the organization Lead 222, an awesome international coaching and mentoring program for Youth Workers (no, they didn’t pay me to say that.)So what are you waiting for? Get coached!