Can you recall your best days? Not just good days, but best days. Any childhood memories stick out? Perhaps it's the day you caught Oscar, that massive fish that was the stuff of fishing-hole legend. Or perhaps when you hit the winning home run in the championship game or got the lead in the school play.

How about adult memories? One of my best days was my wedding day. Kathy was everything I ever imagined a bride could be (I definitely got the better end of the deal). Plus, there was no fainting, vomiting or mooning—all experiences that historically have tainted wedding ceremonies.

My kids' births are at the top of the list, as well. Before their arrivals, I wasn't sure I'd make it through the experience. In all honesty, I don't do well with blood. Just writing the word makes me feel faint. Yet when my children were born, a fascination with birth took over and gave my fear of blood a good, old-fashioned butt-kickin'. What I once dreaded suddenly shot to the top of my best-days list.

The Best Ministry Days

What about ministry? We've all heard of best days in ministry, but what ingredients make for best days? Is it when we "hit a home run" with a talk? Or perhaps it's when the event we've geared toward all year runs flawlessly.

Sure, these make for great days, but truth be told, they fall way short of best days, because best days in ministry always revolve around people.

Perhaps it's when Jeremy, that awfully hard-to-reach kid, finally responds. Or maybe it's the day Kelsey, a student in whom you've invested your life, leads her friend to Christ. Such days deserve to be stamped with the best-days seal of approval. They represent breakthroughs and transformation. They make much of the stuff of youth ministry worthwhile.

Amazingly, after 16 years in youth ministry, I'm discovering yet another type of best day. It's a category of best I didn't realize existed. In many ways, it out-bests all my other best days.

Another Type of Best Days

Somewhere between the 10 to 15 year mark of service, youth workers get to claim the cherished title of veteran. During my recent entrance into these veteran years, I've noticed more and more of my most significant ministry moments are happening way outside the bounds of what I used to consider "official" student ministry. In fact, I'm discovering a staggering reality. In some cases, God is granting me greater influence in the lives of former students than in the lives of students presently involved in youth ministry. What's more, the moments with former students often out-best all my other best days.

The Best Days Modeled

This new discovery shouldn't be so astonishing. In fact, I'm a bit surprised and embarrassed that I'm so surprised. Somehow I missed seeing how one particular youth worker I know is impacting someone's life way beyond official boundaries, and he's doing it right before my very eyes—my youth pastor is still impacting my life! For some reason, the "aha" moment of applying his ministry model to my life is just now taking place.