From One Youth Leader to Another...

It's summer! And for many of us, that means youth mission trip. What a great experience for youth to accomplish wonderful service for people, and to grow by leaps and bounds in their relationship with God.

But before you pack the vans and head out on the open road, I'd like to have a chat with you. Youth leader to youth leader. A chat about doing the right thing by our kids. A chat about being responsible.

A couple years ago at one of our camps, the adult on a work crew was driving the crew back to the lodging facility. They'd been working all day. It was their first day, and apparently all had gone as well as could be expected.

It was a hot day, and the driver pulled up to a liquor store and told his crew he'd be right back. The crew wondered what he was doing, but he came out a few minutes later with a six-pack of beer and a brown paper bag. He popped one of the beers, put it in the brown paper bag, and began sipping from it as he drove back to the lodging facility.

The youth on the crew told their adult leaders. The adult leaders told our staff. The Director of the camp couldn't believe anyone would be so stupid to drink and drive with minors in the van at a Christian Workcamp, so he went to the van to peek inside.

And sure enough...sitting right there between the seats—in plain sight—was the remainder of the six-pack.

So the adult in question and the other adults from his church were called in. When confronted with the story and facts, the adult didn't deny it...even seemed a little surprised the issue would be brought up at all. Our Director had a hard time getting through to these adults that drinking alcohol while driving a vanload of minors was wrong. "But that's how we do it back home," one of them said.

Well, not at our camp.

So the adult leader had to leave. Immediately. Still, the group was incredulous we would take such drastic steps to remove someone for such a "harmless" act. Even when we showed them where it clearly says in the Code of Conduct you may not have alcohol in your possession they seemed put off that we responded the way we did.

Well we did. And we'd do it again, too. True story. It seems crazy to most of us that an adult would do something so incredibly stupid—then not understand why it was wrong. But, while most of us wouldn't do anything that bad, many youth leaders do other irresponsible things. And it needs to stop.

Last year we met with an angry adult at camp who complained about having to be in charge of his youth. He loudly protested that he had no idea he was expected to supervise teenagers on the trip. So our staff showed him the Code of Conduct and said, "You signed this before you came." His angry response: "Do you think I read everything I sign?!"

That seems wild, too. What doesn't seem wild to many youth leaders, however, are some of the basic responsibilities of getting forms and payments in on time.

On all our materials we make it clear what our payment deadlines are and what the cancellation policy is. It's pretty simple. And we require every youth leader to sign a form saying they understand the deadlines before we'll register them for a camp. It also lists when forms are due. We remind people in all our literature about this. We explain that if you don't make payments on time, you'll be cancelled from the camp. Space is limited, and other people want in.

And when those deadlines hit, there are always groups that don't pay. And so we send reminders. And then we drop them.

Some youth leaders can't believe we'd actually do that. (We can't believe they'd ignore the agreement they signed about paying on time.) Our registration staffers are called every name in the book, including unchristian, because we hold up our end of the agreement.

(And it's not just our organization. A friend of mine at another youth missions organization says they deal with the same issues.)

I think youth leaders who get upset at us for dropping them (as we said we would), are mostly worried about how to explain to parents and church leadership that their incompetence means they lost their deposits and won't be able to go on the mission trip. I served in church youth ministry. I know how it is. I wouldn't want to tell people how I messed up like that.

Getting forms in is another big issue. For reasons that seem obvious to me—liability, safety, and security—we have to know who's going to be at each camp, that they've read and understand the Code of Conduct, and that parents of minors give permission for them to be there. We also make it clear these forms are due 30 days before camp starts. Yet our staff is continually chasing down these forms from youth leaders. And when we call, some youth leaders are rude and angry we'd expect something so absurd as having forms turned in on time.

One youth leader this year already brought a youth to camp who didn't have any of his forms. So he couldn't participate in the activities until we had them. It took two days, and the youth had to sit around doing nothing until then.

It seems some youth leaders don't read the materials that come with taking their youth on trips with another organization. One youth leader, responding to an e-mail we sent about the Leader Manual and where to find it and the important information that was in it, asked where the important information was about what to bring and the schedule and other data like that.

Another youth leader sent an angry e-mail to me recently complaining that we hadn't told him where to find the important information in the Leader Manual, when we in fact had done that many times in notices and statements we sent to him and everyone else.

I know you're busy. I know you have lots to keep track of. I know you have kids dealing with heavy issues, and you're on the front line caring for them and showing them God's love and grace. God bless you for all you're doing.

But as youth leaders, we're responsible for the youth in our care. From my vantage point at my job, it appears that youth leaders are some of the most irresponsible and careless people I've met. I sometimes wonder how some of us pay our taxes or pay our bills or get through life with deadlines and commitments.

Don't get me wrong. You're my hero! All of us here are thrilled that you make sacrifices for your ministry...to do so much to show God's love to teenagers. You do amazing things each and every day. And you don't get much thanks for it.

But...

We need you to serve kids, not be one. Your youth need you to be an adult. Your parents and church leaders are entrusting you with the sticky details of paying attention and managing the particulars of keeping youth safe and meeting obligations. That stuff isn't glamorous, but it has to be done.

And if you can handle those things...you'll gain trust and respect. You'll show yourself to be an adult who can handle adult responsibilities. You'll be the kind of youth leader they admire...and want to keep around for a long time.

You'll also be taking care of those precious lives in your youth group.

Doc Newcomb is a pastor, youth pastor, and Program Manager for Group Workcamps Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides a variety of short-term mission opportunities for church youth groups. www.groupworkcamps.com. Contact Doc at dnewcomb@groupworkcamps.com.