I am a millenial. And a Youth Director. This is interresting because I am issentially a youth leading other, slightly younger youths. Talk about the blind leading the blind.

I was supposed to be older and wiser and more spiritual before I was given the responsibility of nurturing the faith every teen in my church and the surrounding area. I was supposed to have been nurtured. I was supposed to KNOW God, first. I was supposed to be able to read Greek and Hebrew. I was supposed to understand proverbs and psalms and I was certainly supposed to not be affraid of reading Relevation.

But God rarely takes my suggestions into play. I think it's because he likes it when I'm squirmmy and frustrated.

In September of 2015, I was temporarily subbing for the youth director I was interning under while he went through an adoption in Albania-wherever that is. "4-6 weeks," he said. On the second week of me pretending I had the entire youth program under controll while I was going to school full time, The head Pastor whoe was leaving, the interim that was filling in for him, and the associate pastor walked into "my" office and asked if we could talk. Terrifying, but okay. They informed me that the Youth pastor had taken another job and would be starting at the new Church a week after he returned from Albania.

In that moment, I knew that this is exactly what God had planned for me. I am not good at hearing God, but this was very clear to me. Before they had even officially asked me to be the interim until they found someone else, I was making plans. You see, the youth pastor and I had very different ideas of what youth group should be. He was all about Dodgeball and babyfood, and embarrassing kids; and I wanted to talk about their feelings and pray with them.

The pastors assured me that they would find someone to take over as they didn't want to take advantage of my time and wanted me to focus on school. A few weeks later I found myself signing a one-year Interim Contract, and a few months later, it was clear that they had no plans of looking for anyone else.

I am not about to tell you that youth ministry is the hardest field of work or that it takes a very special kind of person to be able to do this. But I am telling you that the average time a youth pastor spends at one church is 18 months, and they are, on average, a youth pastor for 4 years at the most. Yes, we work in an age where no one stays in one place anymore and all of that 'baby-boomer, ain't like it used to be" crap, but it is important to see that these youth pastors don't last long and it's because of burn-out. And I started at the ripe age of 20. That means, if I am another statistic, I will need to find a new career path, probably before I am a mom. This means, that the entire time I am expected to be a youth pastor, I will still be what our society calls a young adult. This means that statistically, by the time I'm expected to be done working in a church, the average person my age wouldn't even be attending church yet.

The point is, I'm so, so young. And I am called and charged to teach these 12-18 year old students about who Jesus is and why they need a relationship with him. And I'm supposed to do that at a time in my life where I am considered the "short little cute thing," and where, when I pray or read at church, the rest of the congregation coos about how cute it is that I am doing those things, and where almost noone expects me to be able to handle things--like their children. Who I am supposed to lead on their faith journey. Cool.

Let me be clear in saying that I am grateful for my job. I am overjoyed by the kids in my youth group. I am glad to be shown my purpose so young. I love my job, my students, collegue, congregation, and even the parents. But God has certainly given me a challenge. And I will run with perseverance that is marked out for me and I will never tire of doing what is good (Hebrews 12:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:13). I am a young person, leading slightly younger people to Christ. I am learning as I go, as I teach. I am helping them to grow as I do, too. I am growing in my faith...by proxy.