As a Youth Pastor, one of my biggest fears is letting my Senior Pastor down. I understand we have a lot of other people to take care of: Parents, Leaders, and Students. For some reason, the Senior Pastor's expectation has usually been at the bottom of my list. I have always felt I need to create a clear plan and get in front of parents, leaders and students. My Senior Pastor will see me grinding and understand that I am getting the job done.
Let me give you an example: I was a Youth Pastor at a Church in Texas. The BIG goal for summer, from the Senior Pastor was, get one-hundred-and-fifty students to summer camp. All summer I would do fundraisers, beg, borrow, and steal (well maybe not steal) to make camp as affordable as possible. I would make sure we got one-hundred-and-fifty students there no matter what. I did a good job. Expectation met. Nailed it. I got hired on at a new church in the Northwest, specifically, Vancouver, Washington. I never had a conversation with my Senior Pastor to define what his expectations were. So I begged, borrowed, and did my thing during the summer. I even took some money from our budget to make camp more affordable to get as many kids to go as possible. After we got back from camp, my Senior Pastor asked why I was hustling so hard to get as many students to camp as possible. At that point I shared with him that this was my idea of a win for our ministry. He let me know that while he wanted a ton of kids to go to camp, he understood that some years are different than others. He didn't have that same expectation. He appreciated the hustle, but did not want me to think that he was putting that number on me.
Let me tell you, the difference between an assumed expectation and a true expectation is HUGE. If you have never cleared up expectations with your pastor or supervisor, you should. It will release so much clarity, unity, and new energy to your ministry. If it has been a while since that clarifying conversation, go have it again. The Lord brokers in unity. Clear expectation is the vehicle unity drives. This conversation is also helpful with your family, your students, and your leaders.
God Bless
Robby Winkler