Well, I just ended a year-long search for a student pastor. The journey wasn’t for the faint of heart. Still being somewhat new in my role, it was the first time I’ve ever hired a student pastor. My world is and always has been Children’s Ministry, so I won’t kid you into thinking that I’m any kind of expert. However, I’ve been in ministry long enough to know what I was looking for and when I wrote down my criteria, I knew that I was in for a lengthy search.

Several years ago someone was speaking about hiring and said, “Student Pastors are a dime a dozen, but finding a strong Children’s Pastor really takes time.” I’d like to submit that what I heard isn’t exactly true. I got about as many resumes for Children’s Pastors as I did when looking for a Student Pastor. Finding just the right Student Pastor takes every bit as long as a solid Children’s Pastor.

Now that the new guy will be here in less than a month, I’m more excited about the future of Gateway Church than I’ve ever been. I believe that the NextGen team that I lead is shaping up into a solid team that works well together… and we’re building a ministry that values families, both those that are strong in faith and those that are far from God. A lot of what we’re venturing into is uncharted territory and I’m so excited about what lies ahead.

So, that’s a little update on what has overwhelmed me for the past 12 months. I’ll be writing a few additional posts in the coming days about what I’ve learned about student ministry over the past year as well as introducing the newest member of my staff.