It was Ryan's first visit to our youth ministry and we had invited him to join us for an activity. We were taking the recent visitors that afternoon for an outing (with the intention of helping them make a permanent connection to our youth group).

I remember asking him at the event what he thought of the service. A lot of planning and preparation, time and effort had gone into our service. I felt as if it was one of our better services in recent history: the worship time seemed to connect with the teens; I thought we had nailed the drama and the special music…even the preaching seemed to hit a home run.

Well, Ryan was never the type to mix words…he had absolutely no trouble speaking his mind. He said, "I don't do church." I said, "OK, but at least Dennis (the other youth pastor) and I are cool, right?" He quickly replied, "Well…you're old!"

It was an eye-opening (even painful) experience. In one off-the-cuff comment, this 15-year-old had challenged my self-esteem and my internal image. It forced me to take a deeper look at myself and why I had gone into youth ministry in the first place.

Reasons for Ministry
People go into ministry for different reasons. Some do it for the simple fact that they see a need and they think they can meet it (sort of the Mother Teresa concept). Or maybe they are asked to help those already ministering to people.

Is this wrong? I don't think so. Jesus encouraged us to be open and generous with our lives. Look at His words to His twelve disciples as He sent them out:

Freely you have received, freely give.
(Matthew 10:8)

Although this motivation isn't the one that receives a standing ovation in a motivational speech, it is one that God applauds.

Others sense a genuine call from God to reach and develop people. They willingly give their time, attention and focus to the mission of investing in lives. They are like the Apostle Paul writing to the Church at Corinth:

Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it…
(1 Corinthians 9:16-18)

I believe it is this type of call that enables a person to stick through the hard times and endure for the long haul.

But I have noticed that so many of the people that either lead or volunteer to help in our churches—especially in youth ministries—do it to feel acceptance, to feel important or to be in charge of something. It's almost as if they're living vicariously through the people they minister to.

This last type is quite dangerous. Why? Insecure leaders do more harm than good. How is that? They will produce insecure followers. John Maxwell says that we reproduce not what we say, but what we are.

Here are the effects of insecure leadership:

• Insecure leaders draw followers after themselves, connecting their people to them instead of to God. They become like a go-between in their people's lives. They teach their people to receive from God through them, rather than on their own.
• Insecure leaders need to be needed. They will often do whatever it takes to maintain their position in people's lives, often to the point of hurting the very people they are called to serve.
• Insecure leaders rob their followers of success. They won't let their people succeed. Nor will they surround themselves with people that are successful, unless they intend to take credit for this person's successes. They have to receive the credit for all successes and "pass the buck" (blame someone else) for all mistakes and failures. Insecure leaders will often sabotage those around them when they start to succeed.
• Insecure leaders feel a need to be in control. They often demand that others follow them. If not, the non-conformist is often snubbed or treated harshly.
• Insecure leaders won't take risks. True leadership requires that you do some things that haven't been tried before or that may make you unpopular. If we're not secure in ourselves and in what we're called to do, we won't be willing to take risks like that. And insecure people will rarely attempt anything of substance for God.

We have to learn who we are in Christ so we don’t ruin our future, and that of those around us. Part Two of this article will talk about secure leadership.

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