1. Youth work is a lot of hard work.

2. You need to know your definition of success. (See following page.)

3. You need to know what your full responsibilities are.

• Is there a written job description?
• Will there be periodic re-evaluations of the job description?
• Why does the church want a youth pastor?
• What are the pastor’s goals?
• Are there a youth budget and resources allocated to the youth ministry? Figure out details.
• What is your relationship to Christian school and/or home school parents?

4. You cannot do youth work alone; you will need a support team. Figure out how to build the team you want. (See “Enlisting and Training the Volunteer Help You Need”)

5. It takes time to build a successful youth ministry.

6. Your youth program needs high visibility, but it had better be worth seeing.

7. In order to see lives changed in your youth group, you have to be a man of God yourself, not just a program promoter.

8. You need to know the attitudes of key parents in the church toward the youth group. Therefore, you need to know the following:

• What your view of family life is
• What the Bible says about the family
• What your family life says to the families of your youth

9. Youth work involves more than just loving the youth and being with them. It requires fundraising, promotion, administration, teaching, organization, counseling, management, and more. If you do not know how to do these things, learn how.

10. You need to consider the following:

• Your personal physical condition—physical energy levels
• Your ability to handle criticism—emotional energy levels
• Your ability to be a good follower of your pastor—Remember that you are a second man.
• The attitude of your wife—Does she view your ministry with the youth as a blessing or as an enemy of your family?
• The example of your children—Do you have any energy left for your family?

11. It takes years to build a successful youth ministry, not three months. It is a six-year cycle. Just when victory comes, the teens graduate; and you start all over again with another group.

12. You need to know why you are in youth work.