Of all the teens, young adults and especially those in Bible college I have asked what they want to do in the ministry, almost all say youth pastor. I dont say this in a bitter way at all, because I was one of those who said the same thing: “I want to be a youth pastor.”

At age 13 I had a dramatic experience and knew that God was calling me to full time ministry. I went to four years of Bible college and took classes to prepare for youth ministry. I did a youth pastor internship for a summer in the church I currently serve as a childrens pastor.

My pastor approached me at bible college and asked me to work full time at the church with the youth. I moved out to Utica right out of Bible college. I arrived in Utica and helped my friend Mike Servello start the youth group. I was here for about a month when one of the pastors sat me down and explained to me that I was now in charge of all the kids’ ministries.

Honestly I was devastated. I felt I was called to work with youth. I just moved across the country. I prayed and asked God if this is what you want me to do, then you have to give me a passion for it. It didnt happen overnight, but it did happen. I now feel so passionately about kids ministry that, given a choice, I will always choose kids ministry.

To be a childrens pastor you need the following:

1. Passion for God
2. Need to be very administrative. You cant be a childrens pastor without some level of administrative ability.
3. You must be more kingdom-minded than department-minded.
4. You have to realize that what you do may not be seen by man and be genuinely OK with that.
5. You have to know how to recognize the gifts that people have and know how to implement them.
6. You have to know how to reproduce yourself in others.
7. You need to be able to communicate truth and vision to adult and kids in a simple manner.
8. You need to work well with the youth pastor. I love our youth pastor. He loves God, so do I and loves Guess Again. So do I.
9. You need to have ADD…well, that may not be a requirement, but it does help, and most childrens pastors I know have a touch of ADD if they were really honest.

Let me know what I am missing.

Sam Luce has been the children’s pastor at Redeemer Church for over 13 years. A prolific blogger and popular children’s conference speaker, Sam has worked in children’s ministry for over 23 years and is also a contributing editor to K! magazine.visit Sam at www.samluce.com