A lot has happened in my family in the past two years! Most of you know I lost my job about two years ago and was searching for a youth ministry position while working for myself as a full-time blogger here at Life In Student Ministry, but a couple months ago when I took a position at Epipheo Studios that seemed like a surprising left turn to most people, including us!

Honestly, after talking with many churches, search committees, pastors, and mentors close to me, it felt like most churches were looking to hire an administrator more than a pastor. Most churches also seemed to be looking for someone to take the youth ministry off the hands of the church and run it for them instead of someone who would partner with them and parents. Of course, few churches actually said it that way, but ultimately that’s what it felt like it came down to for me, and I’m not on board with either approach.

Along with all this, I’ve been thinking, praying, and revisiting my ecclesiology again in light of these things, specifically in the context of youth ministry and how we can best partner with families. Our whole identity in ministry being wrapped up in the stage-of-life ministry strategy is something I think needs to be visited in a way that brings light to some of the assumptions we make, not in a critical way, but in a way that helps us serve the bride of Christ in the most God-honoring and effective way possible.

In the video below, I summarize some personal thoughts of where we’ve come from over the past couple years to bring us to where we are today in Cincinnati, Ohio, at Epipheo Studios. I also share a bit about where I think we’re going in the future. I feel like I’m risking some vulnerability in sharing some of this with you all since it has the potential to bring some criticism (as it already has), but I hope that your feedback will be helpful in shaping me. Thank you, everyone, for your investment into me through posts like this!

Posted on May 30, 2012