The End of An Era

         I have to admit that, for the past 19 years, I never expected this day to come.  That may be due to ignorance, stupidity, or just not really being logical – but the truth is I never expected this day to come.  Well, let me clarify – Yes, I expected Tuesday, June 28^th, 2011 to come.  What I didn’t expect to come was a time when I would not be working in a paid, church-staff youth ministry position.  It is VERY weird.  Not necessarily bad-weird, just weird.

         It seems like I have been in paid, church-staff youth ministry since I can remember.  Ok… I DO have memories before then… I may be old, but I am not THAT old.  Anyway… I have been in paid, church-staff youth ministry for a very long time.  And you might be wondering why I keep referring to this end of the era regarding “paid, church-staff youth ministry.”  The reason is that because I am STILL doing youth ministry, just in a variety of other ways than the traditional church-staff or para-church methods.  I am still running Pastor2youth.com – a ministry to youth leaders in 152 different countries – and through them, a ministry to their students.  I am developing a new internet ministry for teenagers.  And then there are the variety of other ways I continue to do youth ministry through a variety of relational means, volunteering at church and other organizations, tutoring, and more.  I also have to admit that it took me a while to get to the point where I was no longer saying, “I can’t believe I’m not in youth ministry anymore.”  And most of that realization is due to my wife reminding me of the variety of ministries I still have (Thank you Christi!!!)

         It is a bit strange to be in a place right now where there are not a million ministry-related things that I have to get done… and then when those ones are done, they are still never “finished.”  It is also a strange emotional place for me as there was a lot of hurt and pain over the last 3 years in my paid, church-staff youth ministry position that I held.  I am thankful to God that He has provided and time and a place for me (and Christi) to get some space and to have time to heal.  At the same time I find myself a bit at a loss.  After 19 years of a career, it feels very strange to suddenly be out.  I find myself wondering at times, “why?”  Why did it end?  Will I ever be in that form of youth ministry again?  What does God have in store for me now?  What does that all look like?  How much should I get involved in volunteering?  How much should I just take a break?  The questions seem to be numerous.  After my last day at my previous ministry position, these questions seemed to permeate my thinking and flood my mind non-stop.  Now, however, those questions still arise, but the flood-waters are now just a small pool and they do not consume me all day long.  God is already beginning some healing in my life. 

         And now, as I wrote yesterday, we have a new beginning in Quincy, California.  I’m excited to continue sharing what has been happening in my life, as well as what life in Quincy is like.  I’ll try to keep my blogs fairly concise when I do blog, so it won’t take anyone an hour to read a single post.  If I want a longer post, I will break it up over a few days.  And with that, I will end this post and save more for next time.  God Bless… and thanks for sharing in my journey.

 

Comments

[josh]

Ryan,
I know you don't know me but I have been a member of padtor2youth for a long time. Anyway I suddenly had to leave my ministry after about 15years in youth ministry Nd began to wonder what I was going to do. Hostly it was lonely so I just got involved in my church. Right now I am an interim youth director (weird for me) and an interim pastor at another church. Just wanted to say God will reward you faithfulness when u serve where He puts you

[Jeremy Smith]

So what are you doing now as a "paid" position?

[Ryan Nielsen]

Josh - Thanks man!

Jeremy - At the moment I don't have a "paid" position. I am looking at developing this new internet ministry to teens (which I am going to be hitting hard the rest of this summer). My wife got a paid position as a 1st Grade Teacher here - which is why we moved to Quincy, CA. I will probably also be looking to do some work as a tutor, IT person, Web design, and a couple other miscellaneous things.