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The goal of "Welcome to Student Ministry" is to post interviews that help guide both new and experienced student pastors toward faithful ministry over many years. This 13th interview in this series is with Leo Barnes. Leo serves as the pastor of youth ministries at Christ Community Church in Zion Illinois.

1. Tell our readers some background information about how long you have been in student ministry, how you started, and anything else that you think would be useful. 

I somewhat accidentally became a youth pastor 22 years ago while my wife and I were candidate missionaries. I volunteered under our previous youth pastor as a junior high Sunday school teacher, the third church in a row in which I was asked to do so ( I was slow to take the hint). In the same month we were accepted as candidates, the youth pastor resigned and I was asked take on a role as pastoral intern/interim youth pastor while we raised support.  

Having no formal youth ministry education (my BA from Moody was in Applied Linguistics for Bible Translation), for better or worse, I came in without an assumed idea of what youth ministry should look like.  I simply carried on with what I inherited and made changes along the way. Financial support to get to the field never arrived but the youth ministry was going well, so here I am.

Since then, I have received an MA in Youth Ministry Leadership from Huntington University, led thousands of youth ministry events, chaplained and/or program directed over a hundred summer and weekend camp retreats and overseen multiple mission trips to South Africa with Zion Evangelical Ministries of Africa (the organization with which we were candidates). After 22 years, I have emerged from it all to find that I have grown old, become a grandfather, and still wonder if I know what I am doing half of the time.

2. How has your view of youth ministry changed from when you started to now? 

My previous view of youth ministry was quite low. I was under the impression that the American youth ministry model was big on games and hype and low on maturity and serious engagement with God’s Word.  Therefore, I never considered being a youth pastor until the day our senior pastor called me into his office (I thought I was in trouble!) and asked me to do so.  

In the years that followed, I have been privileged to collaborate with many serious and mature youth pastors who serve with humility and little to no hype and are deeply saturated in the Word.  I have had to repent of my disparaging of youth ministry in my younger days and have been overjoyed to be able to do so.  Additionally, I have learned the tremendous value of games to build unity and community that leads to the environment in which deep engagement with the Bible is founded.

3. Share one of your favorite student ministry moments. 

Every time I get to witness a student experiencing an “aha” moment in a lesson or discussion is pure gold.  Seeing the light go on in a student’sheart and mind is the best reward.  I revel in each incremental step toward a more vibrant relationship with Scripture as the Lord’s God-breathed gift, when students look a little more like Charles Spurgeon’s evaluation of John Bunyan, that his very blood was Bibline: prick him anywhere and he bleeds Bible. When they share an insight that I have never seen before, when the teacher momentarily becomes the student and they initiate the “aha” moment for me, I rejoice.  

When God did not allow us to go to South Africa, I prayed that he would raise up some of our students to go.  Two of those students got married and now serve with ZEMA in South Africa.  They are evidently gifted for that work. Laboring alongside them in their ministry is a deeply emotional and rewarding experience.

4. Share one of your least favorite ministry moments 

Twenty years ago I witnessed one of our high school girls mocking a young man who had some significant learning and social disabilities.  I used to work with developmentally disabled children and adults and was hypersensitive to the way they were treated within our ministry. I yelled at her in front of everyone and, momentarily, felt justified for putting her in her place and drawing a line in the sand for all who could hear my voice. Since then, it has become a moment immortalized as an “I wish I could rewind and redo that” situation. I corrected her, but I did not disciple her. Instead of coaching her, I embarrassed her.  We never saw her in our ministry again.

5. What resources do you find helpful to use in student ministry? 

The most helpful resource hubs for us have been The Gospel Coalition, CPYU, YM360, the Colson Center, Paul Tripp Ministries, The Good Book Company and Speak Life UK. Recently, thanks to the Northeast Youth Ministry Summit (and Kyle!), I was introduced to Matthias Media and have found them to be incredibly helpful.  We also use a number of YouTube ministries for additional content, such as Mike Winger, Wise Disciple, Glen Scrivener, Reformed Mythologist, Spoken Gospel, the Bible Project and Daily Dose of Wisdom.  These have the added benefit of opening the door for students to explore more of their content when they are scrolling through YouTube.  In terms of evangelistic resources, we have found resources from the UK to be particularly helpful as they are aimed at a Post Christian culture very similar to the one in which our non-Christian students are swimming today.

6. What is one or two things that you do to make sure that you do so that you don’t burn out as a youth pastor? 

Honestly,  I have been on the brink of burnout for the past few years, maybe more. I have only begun admitting it to myself in the last few. Our church has not had a sabbatical program in place, but is currently working toward establishing that. So I will be getting a respite some time in the near future.

In the meantime I am learning to more often say no to new ministry opportunities and not feel bad about it.  I am talking with mentors and with my wife along the way.  I am prioritizing the private life of the mind through memorization, reading and prayer and intentionally retreating there more often (I recommend Deeper by Gavin Ortlund, The Flourishing Pastor by Tom Nelson and The Clay Pot Conspiracy by Dave Harvey).  Yardwork, hiking, nature and getting away with my wife more often, even if only for a single night, are all on the agenda and calendar.  But most of all, I am focusing on growing in contentment with God, resting in who He has made me to be, what He has done for me, and seeking to please Him moment by moment.  Intentionally pausing in gratitude when He sends unexpected encouragement or joy my way throughout the day, as He so often does, has been life giving.

7. What advice would you give to yourself when you started as a youth pastor if you could go back to that time?

1. Every student should know that you are “for” them.  Even when you have to discipline them or have to say no to them. When a student, or parent even, unfairly criticizes you, leaves your ministry, or generally just makes life difficult for you... pray for them, seek their good, and let them know in any way you can that you are rooting for their maturity and peace in Christ and His death and resurrection for them.  Heap those burning coals on their head with committed love.

2. Be patient with teens and play the long game.  See your ministry as a decade (or decades) long process.  No one should have to be remembered for who they were in junior high! Everything you do is about equipping them for faithful, Christ-honoring adulthood.  The adolescent flash-in-the-pan giant leap forward may not last.  Don’t overplay it.  The apathy, obnoxious behavior, or defiance aren’t the final story.  Don’t overreact to them.  Keep showing up. Keep teaching. Keep modeling. Keep praying. Keep loving.

3. On the one hand, solid youth ministry volunteers are worth their weight in gold. Recruit them. Thank them. Employ them. Sing their praises to all who will listen. Invite their input and critique.  On the other hand, bad youth ministry volunteers can create knotty problems that take years to untangle.  If your instinct says no, listen to it.  There have been many volunteers I wanted to say no to, but didn’t.  In every case, I regretted saying yes.  It is OK to say no.  Your students are at a very impressionable age.  They need mature mentors not pied pipers looking to gain a following.  Who you say “yes” and “no” to may be the most pivotal decisions you make in ministry.

4. Memorize.  Not just verses.  Memorize whole psalms. Memorize entire chapters of the Bible, even books. Review them regularly.  Commit to this early and you will have a deeper relational knowledge of God, a far greater ability to sow seeds of truth as God provides opportunity, a richer prayer life and a well-tuned detector for false teaching.  We are all far more capable of memorization than we realize.  It is a choice and a joyful discipline.  I wish I had learned that far earlier.

5. Get mentoring very early on handling conflict and criticism.  It is guaranteed to come and it often won’t come gently.  How you respond can make or break your ministry and influence. Ask God to chisel away at your rough edges, to make you humble and teachable and make you more like Christ, who was no stranger to conflict and criticism.

Thank you, Leo, for taking time to answer these questions.  In coming weeks I will post our 14th edition of "Welcome to Student Ministry."