[jimmypfost]

Actually this is just about time management. So here's the deal. I am a volunteer youth director at my church. We are a small church that runs roughly 100-110 on Sunday mornings. For that reason it is strictly volunteer, only the Pastor is a paid staff member. (I do not mind this as I know God wants me involved with the teen's lives, therefore it's a privilege.) So to make sure the bills get paid, I have a full-time job where I work 5 days a week from 8:30-5:30pm. The problem I run into is finding time to get things done. Such as lessons, powerpoint presentations, etc. Here is my typical week:

Mondays - Praise band practice (I play guitar)
Tuesdays - Our small groups meet every other week. We also have just started softball in which I play and coach.
Wednesdays - Church
Thursdays - Praise band practice or softball game (softball is on Tuesdays or Thursdays)
Fridays - If there are no activities planned this is my only free night.
Saturdays - I work every other Saturday, then Saturday night is to finish preparing for Sunday's lesson. We also schedule activities on the days I am off.

Obviously because of my work schedule I end up going home, changing, eating, and then heading right out to these events which all last at least 2 hours. Then I am back home and wore out for the day. My question is - Is there anyone else who this is similar too? I sometimes feel as if I have not put enough study and time into a lesson because of all the other things that are going on. I don't want to short change the kids when it comes to giving them God's word. Any suggestions?

And not to mention I do have a girlfriend, who I believe will be my future wife. God has blessed me with her, and she does understand that at this point in life we cannot spend as much time together as we would like. But I do enjoy spending time with her. Any suggestions?

[agarciaz20]

Yes i am pretty sure that these happens all of the time. I know that it happened to me and the other youth leaders at my church, we have team of 5 youth leaders that all share the work. We have on sunday about 15-20 youth and 40-50 adults.

Most of the adults never realize how hard the youth leaders work (except for the pastors)... like you, most of us work (or taking classes at the local university), are on the praise and worship team, we go to the regular church events, plus are in charge of all of the youth events... leaving us mostly with one night off.

In our particular case though, a month or two back our pastors realized how hard we were working and how it affected us. Most of our youth didn't attend service on wednesdays(which may not be the case for you) so our pastor's decided to make a change in the way they handled Wednesday's service. Instead of a traditional service they decided to break the into 2 bible studies... the women going with the pastor's wife and the men with the pastor. They also told us it was not manditatory for us to be there on wednesday.

Which gives us a second night off if we choose, which just by having a choice is refreshing.

If this is starting to stress you out, I would talk with your pastor's, maybe they can give you an extra night off everyonce in a while. Or maybe its time to recruit someone from your own church to help you mange the work with the youth.

[jimmypfost]

I do have another couple that helps me out tremendously, so that is a plus. But when it comes to lessons, which we have on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights, that's all me, which I don't mind one bit. But, like I said sometimes I lack the study time I would like, so sometimes I feel as if I'm not giving the kids my all.

As far as stress goes, that's not me. I'm a very easygoing person, and I don't like stress, so therefore I don't allow it to happen. Thank you for your reply, it's encouraging to know other's go through the same.