Have you ever been asked, "What do you do all day?"  If you are a youth pastor you've probably been asked this numerous times by your students, parents, staff and your spouse.  The position of "Youth Pastor" (or "Pastor of Student Ministries" for those a little more up-to-date or "Emerging Generations Pastor" for those who live on the bleeding edge) is shrouded in mystery.

     Today I'm going to share the common perception so that those who are in youth ministry can laugh at the silly commoners (or "civi's") as we call them and their misunderstanding of the role of the Youth Pastor.  Tune in next Tuesday as I peal back the veil to give an actual look inside, "A Day in the Life of a Youth Pastor".  But first, let's have some fun.

The Perception
     It's 10am on a Wednesday.  That means time for the youth pastor to get out of bed.  As he (yes, I'm using he.  This doesn't mean only boys can be youth pastors, it just means I don't want to write he/she and I'm a boy so.....) slowly opens his eyes to the bright morning sun he listens as his wife and children are playing quietly in the living room.

     He slides out of bed, finds yesterday's shorts and T-shirt, gives them a quick smell check.  They don't smell that bad so he gets dressed and goes to the bathroom for his morning ritual.  Empties bladder.  Brushes teeth.  Observes stubble on face, "Yes, the soul patch is growing in nicely... perhaps I should grow out the goatee for Ol' Skool Nite."

     Goes downstairs and grabs iPhone.  Checks email, only junk mail from the senior pastor, he'll get to that later.  Checks Facebook to see who's dating who and who's broken up.  Checks Twitter to see if Doug Fields finally reTweeted him... he didn't.  Checks his text messages, most of which start with , "Dude!"

     By 11:30 it's time to start the work day, but there's no point in going to the office for 10 minutes and coming home for lunch so he turns on MTV to do some "research" on teen culture.  It's noon and his turn to make lunch for the wife and kids so he warms up some pizza pops.

     By 1:30 it is time to get busy.  He slides on his flip flops and drives to his office, and by office I mean Starbucks.  He pulls out his lappy to get down to business.  As he sips on his specialty coffee (feeling good about his purchase because the posters in Starbucks tell him how great he is for purchasing Starbucks coffee) he takes care of important business.  That's right, he checks his emails.  Oh, another email from the senior pastor marked urgent... read that one later.  Check the Facebook, apparently those grade 9 students that were "in a relationship" since 9am have now become "single".  Text them quick to make sure everything's ok.  Within 3 seconds he gets two texts back, everything is ok, both students are now in a relationship with someone else.  Checks Twitter.  Still nothing from Doug.

     Around 2:30 he goes to the Youth Specialties website.  Nothing new since yesterday, checks job postings.  Considers sending in a resume "just for fun" but realizes that would mean writing a resume and decides to go catch up on Jesus Needs New PR see what's happening on the YouTube.

     By 4 he rolls into the church parking lot and checks in at the other office.  Realizing it's a youth night and he has to be home by 5 he gets to work on the message.  Carefully he pulls out a curriculum book and studies the lesson for tonight.  Feeling confident about the message he is back at Starbucks at 4:15 to meet with some students.  After talking to the kids about what happened last night on America's Got Talent he heads home for supper with the family.

     6:30 he's back at the church for youth.  Kids come in.  They go through their worship songs, he leads the Bible study (right from the curriculum book) and they go to small groups.  Afterwards he heads out to Taco Bell with some leaders and students and, of course, he's paying because of the two most beautiful words in the English language - "church budget".  He ends his evening with watching SportsCenter before bed.

     Have you felt this perception?  Have you never been asked, "What you do all day?"  Do you ask them what they do all day?  As you read this did you just realize... "Hey, that does sound like my Wednesday!"?  Subscribe/Feedback