Our highest priority for a new Youth & Family Minister is the spiritual growth of our teens. 

The minister's first goal should be promoting the adoration of God and bringing glory to the name of the Lord.  He should be a man who through his teaching can effectively communicate God's love for us and lead others (teens, children, parents) to worship and adore God in response.

The minister's second goal should be building up the saints, preparing God’s people for works of service.  Our desire is for someone who can teach Biblically from the Word of God and passionately from the heart, someone who is a positive motivator and encourager, someone who can help the youth learn and understand how to apply the Word of God to their lives.  He must not be afraid to call sin what it is, and must be able to demonstrate how counter-cultural Christians must be in our world today. He should promote the fostering of strong personal relationships within the church family and should build such relationships himself, especially with the youth and their parents.  He should be able to bridge the generation gaps and relate to the varied classes of people in our congregation. He should be a man who, through his teaching and example, is able to lead teens and parents alike to exercise constructively their own spiritual gifts to fulfill the mission of the church. 

The minister's third goal should be creating disciples, seeking and saving the lost, leading them to give their lives to following Christ. This is the mission of the church, and the ultimate purpose toward which the spiritual talents of all in the church should be directed.  We want to have some investment in foreign mission work, but we want our focus to be on local missions in our own community.  The Youth & Family Minister should desire to be a part of this outreach and should enable the youth to become active in outreach outside the church.

The Youth and Family Minister should be goal oriented, with the ability to organize and promote activities, including participation in area-wide youth activities such as Neotez (summer camp) and TABS (Teen Area-wide Bible Study).  He should be willing to work with other staff in helping coordinate the church calendar.

A second area of responsibility for the Youth & Family Minister will be oversight and coordination of of our children's ministry.  The Youth & Family Minister should give guidance and direction to those working in Children's Education and Power Hour, and will serve as a committee member for the Learning Place Pre-School (an outreach ministry of our congregation).