Not For the Faint of Heart: One Youth Pastor’s Lessons Learned in Church Revitalization

Are you called to be a pastor? Are you a new pastor entering your first small church ministry? If so you will or are likely entering a church in need of revitalization. My goal is reduce the culture shock of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new or recent pastor who has a vision for pastoral ministry but may not be prepared for what lies ahead, the challenges he will face, and how God plans to use him, refine him, and mature him in this role. I will attempt to do this by sharing my one year experience as a youth pastor in church revitalization ministry at a small Southern Baptist church combined with what I have learned in my study of revitalization. I do so however from the perspective of the Non-Denominational Bible Church culture and biblical convictions from which I came. So this account is not only for aspiring and new pastors but for my brothers in Non-Denominational Bible Church Movement who would benefit from some insight in how to lead change in a dying church.