This month I will celebrate eight years working as a youth pastor at my church. Some days those eight years seem to have flown by, like the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel run. Other days, those eight years have dragged on, like Anakin and Padme’s dialogue on Tattoine in Attack of the Clones. Whether they’ve gone by quickly or slowly, these past eight years have been the best of my life.
Obviously these eight years have been the best because during them I met and married Alycia. Beyond our marital bliss, though, I just love my job. There have definitely been some hard times in the past eight years, but getting to see students grow and transform is worth the hardships.
I also enjoy being a youth pastor because it means I can get away with a lot more. Youth pastors definitely have a reputation for being a little crazier than normal pastors. So even though I’m 33, have my Master of Divinity, am married and ordained, I still get to be kind of goofy.
For example, in November 2013 I got a haircut. A few months later, when it was time to get my hair cut again, I didn’t; I let it keep growing. Then I just kept growing my hair through six long months of a really awkward stage when it was both too short and too long. Eventually it got long enough to style and pull back into a “man bun.” Every time I got up in front of the church I had people facetiously give me a hard time for my hair and asking when I was going to chop it off. After 18 months growing out my hair, though, I wasn’t about to chop it all off.
Until I had a bright idea.
If you’ve listened to The Christian Nerd Podcast you might remember me mentioning that I’m going on a mission trip to Guatemala. This Friday we’re taking a team of students to Central America to work with Mission Impact; we’ll be installing stoves and water filtration systems. I’m excited for the trip, but all mission trips require funding.
So I had the bright idea to offer my hair as a sacrifice for the trip. I told our pastor that if he got people in the church to donate $2,000 over and above what had already been given to our trip, then I would shave my head. He announced it two weekends ago in church and by the following Monday he’d already raised the money.
So this past weekend I shaved my head. In our church’s courtyard, in front of the congregation, 18 months’ work was eliminated in less than 10 minutes. I was definitely sad to see it go, but I know that it was for a good cause. $2,000 covers a large percentage of our trip and I would do it again – as long as the Guatemalan sun doesn’t burn my head.
If you had a youth pastor, did he or she do anything crazy when you were younger?
Congratulations on 8 years in youth ministry – that is something to be celebrated! I’ve sacrificed my hair for a couple of youth events – once to get more kids to come to Young Life camp. Then once again 5 years later as the hook to get people to come to our annual lock-in. The Lock In had a pro wrestling theme, and the main event was me facing one of the students in a hair vs. hair match. We built it up for weeks with epic promos and storylines, and of course I ended up taking the loss and letting each kid shave a little bit of my hair off. One of the most fun nights ever, and the gimmick helped us double our usual attendance and share the gospel with a whole new group of kids. I pray you guys have an incredible mission trip – and be sure to wear a hat!
DUDE!!! A Hair vs. Hair match!?!? That is amazing.