Doing things with excellance (get the joke?)

I have a motto, "Do things with excellence," which I had to make because as a student pastor, I used to use the expression, "Do things leisurely."  Here is the thing about student ministry: you can get away doing things leisurely, especially when its only part of your ministry that you are slacking on.  I've seen youth workers show up late, leave vans trashed, and open their Bibles only once a week when they lead senior high study.  Heck, I think at some point of my career, I've done all those things and yet my career has worked out well for me.

So who is to stop this behavior?  Most of the time its not the senior pastor.  I've been blessed to have great senior pastors so far in my life, but none of them for better or worse have been hands on in my ministry (which for me tends to be better).  The committees of the church never chew me out for what I have done wrong except that time I knocked a 3 foot hole in the drywall by accident (throwing a kid through the wall is an accident, right?).  No there is only one person who can really police your work ethic and your sitting in them (think about that sentence for a second!).

I keep a note that says, "Don't be lazy" and every time there is a chance to take a shortcut, I see it and act on it.  It is pathetic that I have to make a sign that says that, but it really helps.  Besides, doing youth ministry, you will do more pathetic things (i.e. wonder if you can sit at the cool kids table, eat live animals, or wonder if you can patch a 3 ft hole in the wall with duct tape, a bucket of paint and poster board).  What I really like is when I pick up trash in the church parking lot, I can to myself, "Do things with excellence" and I feel suddenly awesome at my job.

The other group to hold you accountable as a secondary source are your leaders in your ministry.  They can only see the result, but keep them posted and share your struggles.  If all student ministers got the memo on excellence, we would have thriving churches all over the world.  Or at least churches without holes in the wall.

-Schutte