Dave was a probations officer working on his law degree. He was on schedule to join the family law firm. That was before a friend took him to a local youth ministry meeting, where God laid a call on his heart.
Fifteen years ago, at the age of 35, he began youth ministry in an economically depressed, ethnically diverse area of North Chicago.
Dave says it’s a continual struggle to find ways to reach out to these kids, and there have been many times when he wanted to quit. It is at those times, Dave says, that God gives him a renewed vision for how he is being used in the lives of the kids. More than anything, he wants to be an anchor for the kids in the community and provide a place where they can forget about their troubles and be loved and accepted.
If you see Dave’s ministry in action, you can actually see the kids he works with physically decompress as they walk through the door. These kids may be socially awkward and trapped in their fragmented cultures and subcultures, but God can change that.
Dave’s part in these young people’s lives is to accept them as they are, love them as Christ loved them, and show them how to accept Christ when the right time comes. He believes in these kids and is the voice of reason and the image of Christ in a confusing and sometimes terrifying society.
His wife is his partner in the ministry, and their two children have personally experienced God’s hand of grace and love in their midst. God provides their needs on a daily basis, and He is very real to all of them. In a sense, it can’t get any better than this.
Dave has never really wanted any other kind of work; but at the same time, he is aware there are other career paths he could follow. And he is not alone.
The skills and experience gained by youth workers like Dave qualify them to enter a church ministry, get their seminary degree, become administrative pastors, or work with other youth ministries in the role of a fundraiser who has firsthand youth ministry experience.
The key to a successful career is to submit to the Lord and let Him show you what path to follow. This is the “calling” part of the equation.
Another key to a successful career is thinking through the professional dimensions of ministry. Is there something you do so well that you could benefit others by showing them how to do it? If so, a leadership role might be in your future.
There is no shortage of job openings and leadership vacuums in the world today. Is it possible that God is calling you to something new? Dave doesn’t think so. But what about you?
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Jim Schroeder served on the personnel department staff of Campus Crusade for Christ and is now assisting Christian organizations fill key leadership positions. He
works for Genesis Search and lives in Colorado Springs, Colordo.
