The Need for NYWC in a Student Pastor’s Life

In the Winter of 2017, I got connected with Youth Specialties along with 15 other people when I started writing for their blog as an author. Means I put out a blog or two every month, but I got to meet weekly with 10-15 Youth Pastor’s in America to talk ministry. Those meetings changed my life and me as a minister.

Fast forward to November 2017, and I was a speaker at NYWC in Memphis. My session with four others of my dear friends was on Body Odor to Diploma. Original title, right? Well, I was introduced that weekend to a conference and a family of people who helped me come together alongside them to grow as a Student Pastor. I still keep in touch with the connections I made that weekend in 2017, and through the high and low in each other’s lives, we have been there for one another.

Now we fast forward to 2019, and I am attending this week NYWC in Tampa, Florida. Connections with other Youth Pastor’s will continue to happen, but the goal for every Student Pastor in attendance should be to learn from others, be slow to speak and be quick to ask questions.

When we pause to learn, we humble ourselves and allow ourselves to draw wisdom from other people who are serving in the trenches with us. I enjoy the conversations that happen in the lobby, workshops, or at tables from just connecting with other Youth Workers and humbly learning from them. Significant growth and learning moments happen in our life when we pause to learn and keep a teachable spirit before us.

The being slow to speak can be hard for us as Youth Pastor’s, right? Or is that just me? I love talking and connecting with others, but that is not what I am referencing. When we come to conferences, we should not be that person who overly asks questions to show off, or be that person who wants to show off all that we know. Instead, we need to sit back and turn our ears up to hear information that can help us become better pastors and leaders in our ministry setting.

Lastly, while you attend NYWC and other Youth Ministry Conferences, let me encourage you to meet new people and ask them questions about their ministry. In 2017 while visiting NYWC in Memphis, I asked four guys that I met that weekend over dinner about their ministries. When I got back home to my ministry setting, I able to implement some of the things that I learned from asking other Pastors about their ministry, services, and events.

I am going to be taking notes and writing a post-NYWC blog next Tuesday. I will be writing on different conversations, sessions, and breakouts at NYWC. If you have never attended, I hope that next year (Announced now: Columbus, Ohio) that you will visit and begin to take the following steps as a Youth Worker.