Ok this is not an advertisement for a coaching service. I don't have one, I'm not interested in starting one and I'm too busy to really care about one. I'm also not a recruiter. I don't get paid by some Christian Job board to help anyone fill positions.
Here's what I am. I'm perceptive, savvy, a great negotiator and I've been around the block a few times. I can read between the lines of job descriptions, tell you what I think they are really saying and help you wade through what it means to look for, find, get offered and negotiate a salary package for a new job.
Why does it sound like I'm angry right now? It's because I am. I just finished reading a job description for a youth ministry job that really frustrated me. It contained almost everything that angers me about the institutional church. Lot's of control language about who holds power in the youth department and it included the caveat that your job would be renewable every year based on performance. I know that last sentence sounds weird because yes all jobs should be based on how you do but I generally think that isn't something you put in the job description if you really want someone to move to a community knowing their job is a one year contract and maybe just maybe they'll get a second year based on some arbitrary review of performance.
Probably the most outrageous part of the whole description was this sentence:
e) Cordially acknowledge and accept staff supervision from the Senior Pastor.
Apparently the person who was there before wasn't "cordial" and that's why they inserted this clause.
Ok enough of a rant. I care about youth ministry a ton and I also care about the people who are doing it. If you are a paid youth worker and feeling stuck in a job or starting to look for a job let's talk. You don't have to pay me. I just want to help. Too many youth workers get stuck in bad jobs and get beat up by the church and bail out after only a few years feeling totally burned.
Don't go to a dying or dead church. Guess what will happen? You will die.
Rant Over.
No link to the original job description? C’mon, gotta call stuff like that out publicly or nothing will change at that church. Worst-case scenario: you make an enemy for speaking the truth at a place you don’t really want to associate with anyway.
I am in a part time position and praying for the right full-time call eventually. Thankfully, the current situation is healthy enough that we can run as fast as we can from unhealthy full-time ‘opportunities’.
Tim. I know and I’d probably post it but I’m trying to do what I think is right and didnt feel good about it. I’m thinking of emailing them directly.
Sent from my phone
Dude, what is your email?! Do you check your Twitter?
on a positive note, this is a line you never mind seeing in a job description
” A 17″ Macbook Pro is offered with the position ”
Well, I’m not pointing any fingers.
But it’s super funny because I did talk to the person who posted this for their church today. Not for a job, but for something else. So… when I saw this rant I cracked up because I thought the same thing.
Cordial my ____.
It might be worth noting that this is the second time in about 6 months they’ve needed to hire a youth pastor. So apparently the last one wised up real quick and got his uncordial butt out!
Adam. That makes me sad. I want to help youth workers not end up in churches like that.
Sent from my phone
WOW… •Be ultimately accountable and responsible, c)Be alert to opportunities to assist other staff members, and all the “terms of employment” is a LOT ridiculous.
I loath church job descriptions like this. Sadly, in my experience, the description is not as bad as the “unwritten expectations” of the church.
Aaron- Glad you found the job description. Im not posting the link but Im sad for the person who takes the job.
Yeah, I had a search committee ask me this question: “So, we are building a new youth building (not that awesome… a big room and some classrooms) soon, how are you going to fill it up? Are you willing to resign if you don’t?”
Had another search team ask me, “How are you gonna compete (size-wise) with the church down the street? We want to be bigger than them and the youth is the key…”
I wish I could say I ran from both of those churches, but only ran from one. God saved me from the first one.
This job description I found is bad in a different way…
“We expect to be at 250 people in our first year. If you don”t dream big and have big expectations for ministry please do not apply. We will be the first Mega- church in Oklahoma in the Church of God in the next five years.”
Gotta believe it to achieve it Lars…
I think we should maybe commit a whole blog to bad job descriptions wed probably get a ton of hits from people who are scared that theirs might end up on it. I am so sad for people who get destroyed because of lame churches and lame bosses. I kind of feel like a part of what God has called me to do is to make sure that the staff I have always know that their church and their boss cares about them even if we have to cut a position and they have to leave I want them to know how valuable they are. Good people have been really hurt by lame churches.
I agree. I think we should put links to them all. (I’m being bold b/c it’s your blog not mine…) I have been a victim of misleading job descriptions and job-hunting heart ache.
Let’s do it. Want me to do anything?
Hey Lars,
We talked about a year ago! I am good friends with Steven Perez! I have to admit your post hits to my heart. Our situation here has gone beyond stuck, to brutal. I’d love to talk with you about your opinion. My biggest struggle is that I have been so beat up here I don’t know if there are any church’s out there I can trust to commit my calling in ministry too. It’s not a matter of getting a job offer, but finding one at a church that we can thrive at and not die at.
Jason- give me a call anytime. Get my number form steven. Ill also be out in SD for 9 days soon if you want to connect we will be in Carlsbad and you could come sit by the pool and we could talk.
Do you recognize that this is the best time to get the business loans, which would make you dreams real.