I thought it would never happen, at least not to me. After 14 years of ministering with youth and their families, I was going to take the great plunge. I was going to do the unthinkable: Become a senior pastor. Honestly, I never intended to betray my first love (youth ministry). The thought of defecting to the other side of church leadership was unpleasant at best. Yet here I am, the senior pastor, the big cheese, the head honcho; amazingly, I am excited about it.

My reservations about becoming the senior pastor all seemed to revolve around the (unfounded) fear that I no longer would be involved with youth ministry. Not true!

I remember a conversation with a good friend and fellow long-time veteran of youth ministry. I was expressing to him my fear about leaving youth ministry behind and heading in a different pastoral direction. What he said next radically changed my understanding and outlook on my transition. He said, "Ken, becoming a senior pastor only increases your responsibility and role in the youth ministry. You will have the opportunity to mold the next generation of youth leaders.

"As I see it, your responsibility and role in youth ministry only increases as a senior pastor."

This brings me to the point. I now lead a ministry staff that includes two paid youth pastors. During the search process, a friend asked, "Now that you are a senior pastor, and after 14 years of working for senior pastors, what advice about youth ministry and getting along with the senior pastor would you give to a young youth pastor?" Well here goes:

Principle #1:

-Seek Jesus:

I love the song "Audience of One" by Big Daddy Weave. The first verse says, " I come on my knees, to lay down before you. Bringing all that I am, longing only to know You. Seeking Your face and not only Your hand, I find You embracing me just as I am."

The most important thing you can do as a youth pastor is seek the face of God. Long to know Him. Don't just spend time praying about your youth and your programs. Don't just study Scripture in order to develop your next lesson. Moses got it right in Exodus 33:12-13 when he prayed and asked God to "teach me your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You."

What a leadership prayer, Moses was faced with the task of leading the Israelites through great transition and opportunity, yet his focus was on learning about and intimately knowing God. How much would your ministry change and grow if your first priority was to know the living God deeply and intimately? How much more effective would your youth talks and small-group materials be if you spent most of your time plumbing the depths of God's wisdom and applying it to your own life? Seek His face!

Principle #2: