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Cooperation and unity are God’s ideas. He is pleased when we work together to accomplish His stated mandate to make disciples in all nations. Toward this end, the Network has adopted the goal of “every youth worker in America within reach of a healthy local network.” It’s a kingdom objective; strategic collaboration multiplies ministry effectiveness.

To support healthy local networks, networkers have seen the value of “coaches” who serve metro areas or other chunks of geography (part of a state, for example). Their role is to coordinate ministry that involves an area served by multiple networks. Local coordinators often need training and someone to encourage them. A metro area with many networks also can be helped when someone takes the lead on city-wide events.

Over the years, God has raised up people so committed to this role of metro-wide coordination, that some have taken a leap of faith and do it as their full-time ministry. Where an area is served this way, networks tend to be healthier and coordinators last longer.

Meet a few of the pioneers who have helped define what it means to serve an entire metropolitan area as a network coordinator.

Seasoned Veterans

Twin Cities: Dan Buschow. Dan was a local church youth pastor when God called him in 1989 to start ALLIES Ministries to serve the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Eighteen years later, ALLIES works with over 30 networks of youth workers in the greater Twin Cities and beyond, taking point on numerous citywide events and ongoing initiatives. Learn more at www.ALLIESnet.com.

Portland: Mike Higgs. Mike also came out of a youth pastor role to start LINC Ministries and the Portland Youth Foundation, which is led by a ministry council of 11 youth leaders. Now, 16 years later, PYF represents 8-10 local and affinity networks. Mike says, “We are about prayer and relational networking…We do very, very few events; the few we do are exclusively focused on united worship and prayer.” Their website is www.portlandyouth.com.

Cincinnati: Keith Krueger. Krueger has been the city coordinator for the Greater Cincinnati Youth Workers’ Network for 20 years. He was a youth pastor as well until four years ago, when he took the wider role of Great Lakes regional coordinator, with a focus on the Cincy network. A metro leadership team guides the 11 local networks across the city, which includes northern Kentucky. They have formed strategic partnerships as well. The network’s website is www.cincyyouthworker.com.

Dallas/Fort Worth: Mark Whittaker. Mark came out of Youth for Christ, as well as being a youth pastor and working in marketing. He began Youth Outreach Network (YON) in 1989. Leading YON is a full-time role in which Mark not only oversees 20 local networks, but also provides published resources and coordinates events for the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Mark also serves as NNYM’s Texas state coordinator. Look for Youth Outreach Network online at www.youthoutreach.net.

A Closer Look

Youth Link Ministries: Impacting Phoenix and Beyond

Bob Dunn is the Phoenix metro coordinator and NNYM state coordinator for Arizona. We asked him to share his heart for networking and how the work of his ministry, Youth Link, is serving the youth ministry community. His wife, Mary, serves alongside him directing Youth Link.

Having begun in student ministry in the mid-1970s, I’ve seen trends and styles in student ministry morph with each new generation. Change, although uncomfortable for the church in many ways, has been necessary in order to reach teenagers for Christ.

And although there are new and varying philosophies of how best to reach or challenge the student of today, one thing has remained constant: students and youth ministries thrive and grow when their youth leaders are healthy themselves.

A young person’s desire to feel as if he or she belongs to a peer group has remained an unchanged and desperate need. The number of hours a student spends in school, at a job, in after-school activity, or at home, rival the few precious hours spent in a church or student ministry environment. The limited time they have should provide stability, security and acceptance.

Unfortunately, during my tenure of youth ministry in the Phoenix area, I’ve seen hundreds of students who have had anywhere from four to six youth pastors from grades six to twelve. With each revolving door came new ministry philosophies and ideas, not due to shifts in culture, but solely to personnel changes.

I believe we need to change in response to the changing needs of the culture as it relates to students. But I am an advocate for tenacity as it relates to youth pastors.

The Network helped to provide a constant in my life as a young youth pastor. With its vision to see youth pastors connected for mentoring, encouragement and prayer through its training and national forum opportunities, I began to see the value of networking locally. Meeting with other youth pastors in my area, we crossed denominational barriers to hold camps, network lunches, and training events—and built long lasting friendships in the process.

Today, Youth Link Ministries exists to do the same for other youth pastors and their student leaders, expanding the vision to include strategic planning, leadership training, coaching, mentoring, resourcing, and much more.

Student ministry – with its stringent schedules and the demanding expectations of others – can rob youth pastors of their passion for ministry. They need a safe place and a credible “sounding board” that surrounds them with prayer, encouragement and help before burnout occurs.

Networks of youth workers are meeting all over the state, each tailored to the needs of the locale. “As iron sharpens iron,” the committed and devoted coordinators who volunteer their time to challenge and encourage those in their own community are invaluable.

As one youth pastor put it, “We need each other so that we can continue with longevity to be used by God to reach and meet the needs of students, without dying on the vine ourselves. I love my network group and I know that we have each other’s back.”

In addition to become armor bearers to one another, their passion to “combine forces” has opened up opportunities that could not have happened, had they attempted it on their own. Some of these networks have planned city-wide “Campus Kick-off” events, See You at the Pole rallies, multi-denominational winter and summer camps, local service projects and more.

Their effectiveness has taken National Network’s vision of “better together” and put it into action with tremendous success.

The phone keeps ringing. Youth pastors are still being wounded on the front lines of ministry, but YLM has also seen a rising number of success stories. Because of the growing number of networks and YLM’s vision to coach, mentor and train them, we are seeing youth workers stay longer at their posts.

Youth Link’s message to youth workers is to “Seek Accountability…Provoke Passion…Encourage Tenacity…Pursue Authenticity in Yourself, in other Youth Workers, and in your Ministry.”

With our current and unchanging philosophy, we hope to continue for a long time.  

Arizona Regional Summit

It was a great experience having 21 leaders come together in December at Southwestern College in Phoenix for our first Summit for Arizona Coordinators.

It was a tremendous time to celebrate the progress we have made, and to encourage each other to make our networks a safe place for men and women to be supported and prayed for. We welcomed Mike and Kristi De Vito (the NNYM Southwest regional leadership team) as our special guests.