14. What Do You Do All Day? Part 2
Back in the mid 90's there was a masked magician who put out videos revealing the secrets behind "magic" tricks, better known as illusions. He had to wear a mask, of course, because if other magicians found out who was giving away trade secrets they'd blacklist him at the very least. Well, at the risk of being on the black list I am going to peal back the veil and give you an answer to the question, "What do you do all day?"Youth pastors get asked the question, "What do you do all day?" about 5.7 times per day. Last Friday I wrote about the perception of the typical day in the life of a youth pastor, today's post is an actual look at a day in the life of a youth pastor. The most difficult part of answering the question, "What do you do all day?" is that there is no such thing as a "typical" day in youth ministry. As a youth pastor, I had a very long list of things to do (yes, a literal list that I kept on the right hand side of my desk) and I prioritized the items on my list. There are some things that wouldn't get touched for months at a time and, obviously, things that had to be completed that day. Sometimes a phone call comes in that is more important that anything on that list and changes your whole day... or week. So here's my best shot at giving a glimpse into a day in the life of a youth pastor.
7am time to wake up with the kids (as in my own children. I take turns with my wife getting up with the kids, but on a typical work day my sleep in would be till 8am if Beckee's getting the kids). Get them fed and dressed and ready for school.
8:45am Head off to church for prayer. (At my last church we had prayer meeting everyday at 9). If it's Tuesday that means meetings until lunch time, if not I'm at my desk by about 9:30. Check mail, email and phone messages. Some days this takes an hour or two, other days only a few minutes.
Between 9 and lunch time I try to return emails and phone calls. Whether it's calling about camp reservations, calling parents, returning emails about a missions trip or booking a hotel for a youth convention there's usually plenty of phone calls and emails. I would typically try to spend some quiet time with God before lunch. I was once told by a supervisor that pastors shouldn't use "work" time for their "quiet" time with God. I personally think that's ridiculous. First, isn't that the most important thing a pastor can do? How can we empty ourselves if we are not first being filled? Secondly, a pastor's job doesn't end at 5pm, we are on call all the time. I spent many hours at home in the evening working on church stuff. I don't stop answering my phone or texts because it's no longer "office" hours. So yes, I did spend "work" time with God, and I don't feel bad about it.
At lunch I would come home some days but quite often it's a chance to meet with students and leaders. One day a week I would head down to the local high school for the Christian club meeting, other days I would try to meet with my students and leaders.
After lunch it's back to the office. I would try to work on my messages during the afternoons but often there would be a number of interruptions. We had a large staff so there were lots of "pop-ins" asking questions about different things. They say for a typical sermon you should spend one hour in preparation for every minute of teaching. I didn't do quite that much but I would put in 10-15 hours of prep for a message.
I would need to take breaks from my messages, I just can't work on them 4 or 5 hours straight so during my breaks I would go to my list and do things that needed to be done like work on the calendar, design brochures, update the Website, line up speakers for upcoming events and other tasks.
If it's a Tuesday of Friday I would have to spend some time getting things ready for the evening. If it's Tuesday that means pulling music, putting together the presentation stuff, connecting with leaders and making sure the room was ready for that night. Friday means a lot of different things depending on the night, but typically a lot of set up was needed for Friday events.
Other things that take up time, if the students were free in the afternoon that's a great time to meet for coffee. Texting and calling about different things from worship teams to drivers to leaders. I have students' school pictures taped to my wall that includes students from 2003 to the present and I would pray for those students a few times a day. Talking with students on Facebook is a also a great way to connect but takes a good chunk of time away from other work.
As I mentioned, a pastor's job doesn't end at 5pm. If there's not youth that night there are often sports games, plays and concerts that students are involved in. And it doesn't happen often but we get our share of phone calls at night from students who truly need some help. Sometimes it's a call from someone you know, other times it's a stranger need spiritual guidance. So that's what we do all day.
It's not as flashy and exciting as it sounds. It's typically not very physically demanding but emotionally and mentally it is an extremely demanding job. I don't think someone could do it for very long if it's not something they are truly called to and have a passion for. Your youth pastor would surely appreciate your prayers and support!!
I think now I have a strong hold over the topic after going through the post.
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