There is a large pool of potential volunteer leaders in your area right under your nose. Many have a vibrant faith, love teenagers and all of them are on campus doing contact work every day.
Who would that be? Teachers!!
Let me ask you a few questions:
Do you actively seek out teachers to be members of your team?
Do you do contact work with teachers, seeking out believers, striving to know them and helping them to become missionaries to their classroom?
I highly encourage you to do this. Teachers do more contact work with kids day in and day out than you or I would ever be able to accomplish. Partnering with teachers to know more kids will help ministry grow and go deeper.
During my 11 years in the classroom, I found myself connected much deeper to kids than my 10 years as a non-teacher volunteer or my last five years on full-time staff.
Our area has been blessed to currently have over a dozen teachers actively serving in my area. Some of these teachers simply lead a Campaigners group, while others serve in a full-on capacity. Many of our teacher-leaders have a minimal role in club but a considerable role in introducing our other volunteers to kids from their classroom.
When allowed, our teachers champion club and Young Life events. In more closed schools, they merely introduce kids to leaders at after-school events. I spend much of my time with teacher-leaders, encouraging them on how to be intentional with kids.
Here are just a few examples of the impact teachers can have when they are involved in their local Young Life area:
They can spend one passing period per day being intentional in the hallway.
They can use their before-school duty station to start conversations with kids they don't know well.
They can spend one planning period per week connecting with other Christian teachers to pray for the school.
Imagine what happens when a new teacher catches a vision to invite a cabin full of kids to summer camp.
Much of the expectations for teachers is the same as is is for my other leaders, but some of it is more flexible. I seek to be intentional to avoid events during busier school times (quarterly exams, meet the teacher night) or not expect to see them at club on those days.
Ultimately, I discovered during my time as a teacher-leader that ministry gave me life even when I was overwhelmed by my teaching load. Being connected to students deeply through the Young Life ministry gave me a greater purpose and led me to pursue my calling versus just having a teaching career. Leading Young Life during those years kept me in the classroom for years longer than if had I simply been teaching my subject.
Seek to help teachers find their calling and fulfill the calling to truly be missionaries in the classroom through the mission of Young Life.
For more information or resources for connecting to this vast pool of potential volunteers in your area, contact Carrolton Area Director Michael Cone at younglifecone@gmail.com.
Learn more about teachers in the mission HERE.