In the YS Convention handbook, the 10 p.m. forums carried the title "Help! I'm Over 40 and Still in Youth Ministry!" I didn't expect a crowd, considering the late hour and the convention's more exotic offerings elsewhere. Maybe a dozen will show, I thought.

Yet nearly 70 older youth workers showed up at each of two such forums—some overweight, some balding, and more than a few pairs of bifocals.

So together we processed the benefits and liabilities of aging in our profession. What was the secret of longevity in this business? Why do some go the distance and others opt out?

The more we explored together, the more that age kept surfacing as a fear factor for staying in or getting out.

Age and Relevance

I was in my late 20s when I attended my first National Youth Workers Convention; but then, everyone there looked in their 20s.

No longer: The heads in the last few youth ministry conventions have been looking a lot grayer. Or maybe I'm just aware of them now, having aged with them.

I remember Nip, one of my best volunteers ever. He loved teenagers and wanted them to experience the goodness of God; and they loved him back. No one ever said he was a riveting teacher (he wasn't), and he couldn't tell you who was Billboard's number-one artist that week. Yet he took many kids under his wing and taught them about life. He was a man of compassion, insight and humor (a practical joker). The group's teens flocked to him. Nip was 55.

Then there's Mike Yaconelli, cofounder and lead visionary of Youth Specialties, who passed from this earth at age 61. He never let age get in the way of his prophetic calling. He never stopped loving (and liking) teens. He preached to them, as well as to adults. He had passion; he had chutzpah.

How many people in their 50s and 60s do you know who are still doing youth ministry?

No fountain of youth, but…

At the pair of forums, those youth workers who had professionally persevered into at least their 40s kept returning to a couple themes.

A sense of God's grace and calling still energizes them.

Dick Vermeil has coached in the NFL for years and years, including the 1999 Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. Now with the Kansas City Chiefs, the 67-year-old coach was recently the center of speculation about whether he would hang up his headset and retire. Instead, he decided to stay in the game at least one more year.

"My football team energizes me," Vermeil explained. "I decided I would be more apt to regret having left than to regret having stayed." He stayed in because coaching stimulated him.

If you've been in ministry for any time at all, you know exactly what he's talking about.

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all," said that theologian of the gridiron, Vince Lombardi. There is no denying this. Yet a sense of grace and calling from God can renew a fatigued person and restore a measure of drive and commitment—and sometimes, even spurts of explosive energy. Wasn't Abram called to leave Ur at 75? Wasn't Moses called to lead Israel at 80?