why passionate leaders have powerful impact

The majority of youth workers we talk to would admit that they made their way into youth ministry because they’ve been transformed by Jesus and are passionate to see teenagers experience a similar transformation.

How about you?

You didn’t sign up for youth ministry because it’s the easy route in ministry. If you want easy… youth ministry isn’t it! Teenagers are very interesting! They’re messy, often critical, occasionally apathetic, wounded beyond our imagination, and wonderfully unique.

Most youth workers see this clearly… but we also see something else.

We see the potential that lies within teenagers when Jesus gets a hold of their heart and mind. We see their gifts and abilities and know they can have a significant contribution within the Body of Christ and in the world. We see wonder reflected in their eyes as they explore the mysteries and goodness of God.

Seeing all of this is what fuels our passion… and we’ve discovered that passionate leaders give fuel to an impactful ministry. Here’s why:

1. Passionate leaders focus on their passion. God seems to have a history of blessing leaders who live according to his design for them. For example, God gave the Apostle Paul a passion to preach to the unreached, and he devoted his life to fulfilling his passion.

2. Passionate leaders are deeply invested… even when no one is looking. Passionate people work hard and improve continually and don’t do it for an audience. They are leaders who are committed to learning and improving their ministry “tool box.”

3. Passionate leaders see the bigger picture and trust God. Passion translates to trust when leaders understand the impossible job of meeting everyone’s need is beyond their limited reach and must trust that God cares more than they do.

4. Passionate leaders serve out of joy and last longer in ministry. Joyful people take less time to get recharged and refreshed. Everyone needs down time, but passionate leaders require less rest because they’re being fueled and not drained by their passion.

5. Passionate leaders attract other leaders. People love being around passionate people—they’re contagious. Everyone is looking, and longing, to be connected to someone’s passion. Passionate leaders work to help others discover their passion because they understand that doing ministry out of your passion is the better way to live.


What do you think? Does your leadership resemble this description of passion? Are you serving in a place where you’re passionate? Or, are you settling for something less than passion?

Tomorrow we’re going to look at the dangers of leadership without passion. On Thursday we’ll look at some ideas for reinventing your leadership.