Global Youth Ministry Network – International

Heart of the Leader

God has put me on a great personal journey over the past two years. A journey that has been raising some questions in my mind. One question I am asking myself is, “who is ministering to the ministers”? You probably realize that in a very needed way, we at Global Youth Ministry Network have been ministering to youth leaders for over 13 years now. We have trained leaders from 5 continents around the globe. Our early focus was mostly on helping young leaders learn how to create dynamic youth ministries and we continue to do that globally. But recently we are looking to go deeper not just wider in our message. Although the following are statistics from the USA for pastors I am sure they are not that unique:

• Only 10% of all pastors finish the race and reach age 65 as a pastor.
• 70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
• 50% of those who begin in the ministry leave after their first pastorate in less than 5 years and they never return to the ministry though they felt called.
• 1500 pastors leave the ministry each month (18,000 per year) due to burnout, moral failure or conflict in the church.

 At GYMN, we are rolling out a pilot project, a journey for youth leaders to position themselves for long-term spiritual transformation. We are hoping to launch this journey in the Philippines in 2010 and will be starting to take in referrals for a select group this week. Ministers need ministered to as well and I am convinced that we all need skills of practical ministry, but also skills for heart leadership. In addition, I know that I want to make the biggest impact with my life. Yes, I could be working to meet physical needs of those in need and that is important, but what if together we could impact leaders of leaders? The multiplication of the impact is phenomenal. Imagine the unleashing of spiritually super powered youth leaders taking to the streets around the world with an army of young energetic young people following them and then impacting more and more people. The sky is the limit on what can happen. But the before we look too far upward and outward, we better look inward at the hearts of the leaders.Thank you for praying for GYMN staff, volunteers and leaders…you are ministering to us so that we can minister to ministers!