The Job Is Under Rated , Or Is It Overrated? 8/14/2026

Good Morning,

My Door County Breakfast Blend Coffee just splashed into my cup and it is time to write.

Today I would like to talk about one of the unsung heros and most churches have one. It is the person they call the "Youth Pastor". Typically they are fresh out of school or still in school when they answer the call. Then they are quite often underpaid and many times have to work a secular job as well to make ends meet. They exist on too much pizza and candy. 

1 Timothy 4:12 ESV Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 

As a youth pastor they spend a lot of time away from home where very often they have a wife with some babies to take care of. They are often last to be considered during the annual budget talks. 

I have said this and haven't even mentioned the teens just yet. They might range in numbers of 6-60 or even more. The youth pastor must develop his own volunteer leaders within and then be responsible for them as they work with the teens. 

I know a lot about being the youth pastor , youth director. I did that job for twenty some years. within three churches. I was blessed to have a secular job that paid well so my wife and I did not need or draw any pay from the churches we served. For the longest time we did not even have a departmental budget. We organized fund raisers that the teens supported with their labor. Car washes, rummage sales etc were the source of income needed as it is with many churches. My wife worked side by side with me for all those years. In youth pastor school they never tell you that your spouse is also part of the package. Your spouse is a new wave of indentured servant because they married the youth pastor. 

Then you give the you pastor a mixture of kids, from the church brats that often think they are God's gift to you, different races, checkered pasts, sweet kids, distressed kids and then you make sure to tell them "We Are Praying For you" All different ages, raging hormones, mood swings. Every teen is welcomed in. You then attend sporting events or musicals to show your teens support. And you are happy and proud to do so. You come to meetings at church and fall asleep. You often look like the teens kept you up all night long. Your spouse wonders if the couch snores all the time? Your spouse and you attend the God forbid,  funerals of teens that for some reason or another pass away often from tragedy that befalls a teen. You visit hospitals where the run aaway resides while getting mental health help. You comfort parents who have a runaway teen.

My point is this. Don't forget to truly pray for that youth pastor, their spouse, the leaders that serve with them and last but not least, pray for the teens that attend  "Youth Group". Give words of encouragement and be thankful that you have a youth pastor doing the job that most people could never do.  

Food for thought.

Marty