Must...kill...superyouthpastor

Recently I have been reading quite a lot of books. I know…it’s amazing…I’m reading.

Anyway…I just read a book called Velvet Elvis. It is by Rob Bell (one of my favorite speakers of all time…God speaks through Him and makes the Bible so alive), who is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mi. So I was reading this book and I got to a chapter where Rob is talking about how he had this concept of what a pastor should be and do and how he didn’t match up to it. He realized he had this view of Superpastor. Superpastor was this person who visited every sick person in the congregation, counseled everyone who came to him, performed marriage after marriage, and funeral after funeral. Superpastor didn’t stop. He did everything. Rob talks about how he finally realized that he couldn’t be Superpastor because, Superpastor does not exist. There is not way he can exist and never will exist. Rob realized that he was trying to be something that was completely unhealthy.

While I was reading this chapter I completely related, in some respects. It is not that I am trying to do everything and be everything…but it is that I am trying to be Superyouthpastor in my own way. I am a people pleaser…I need everyone to be happy. I realized that I was trying to be Superyouthpastor because I wanted my congregation to be happy with what I was doing (though that is not a bad thing). I realized that my motivation was completely wrong. I shouldn’t be trying to please First UMC’s congregation, I should be trying to please my creator and Lord. My motivation was unhealthy.

I also realized that I can’t be Superyouthpastor. I can’t reach every student in the way that I want to. I can try to point them to God, but I am not going to reach every student and create this huge transformation in their lives. There is so much that I want to do to reach students in our little community and there is so much that I want them to learn about their creator and Lord Jesus, but I cannot be everywhere and do everything. I have to let God use me where I can be used and let Him be the SuperGod that He is. He is the only thing that is “Super” in this world.

Another thing that I learned is that I have to kill Superyouthpastor. If I do not, I could become even unhealthier. In the words of Rob Bell, I need to take Superyouthpastor out back and kill him. I cannot be, and will never be, Superyouthpastor. I need to be the Youth pastor that God is molding me and shaping me into. I need to be Paul Block, mild mannered youth pastor by day and night.

I hope this all makes sense; sometimes when I write things down I don’t communicate well everything that I am thinking and feeling. I am praying that God will continue to change me and mold me into the Leader that He wants me to be.