What's Next?

Moving forward, I feel very confident in the career that I desire in youth ministry. I did not get scared away by Alan or put off by the idea. It sounded even more achievable after talking with him. One tangible thing I will do is read the book, Reasons for God, that he suggested I read. I think that having that knowledge and factual evidence to base what I believe is very important, and I am excited to learn more about that.

Analyzing what my mentor said

In my analysis of the answers Alan gave me, I will first address the basics and then specific points that he made that I feel applies to my life.

            For the basics, Alan is a youth pastor at Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church. I asked him to be my mentor for the sole purpose of his field being the field I would like to pursue. He has successfully become a youth pastor in a fairly unconventional way by means of a math degree from Lee University and no seminary degree. When in ministry, a lot of people argue that you have to get a seminary degree and there’s no other way. From meeting with Alan, I realized that way is not the only way. It was encouraging to hear.

            Specifically, Alan’s answer to my last question about additional advice helped me to connect my interpersonal communications class with my future career. By encouraging me to collect experiences, mistakes and relationships along with my personal reflections to show what God is doing in my life is similar to how we are supposed to use self-reflection and interpersonal relationships to grow in our careers. These things go hand in hand. I found that it was very important when he talked about balancing home and work life. This is something that I could foresee as a potential hard point for me. It was helpful to see what he does to fix that potential imbalance. Lastly, one of my biggest fears is not being enough. It was super encouraging to see that my successful mentor also struggled with that and gave me a short line to remember and ease my acheivist mindset.

            In the end, I found a lot of pieces of wisdom that I can use in my future career. In the meantime, I will be brainstorming ideas on how to apply these things to my career.

What did my mentor say?

After meeting with Alan White, I typed up his key points from the questions I asked him and found that he and I are very similar in what we believe. I am excited to reflect on his answers and apply them to my career path.

1.     How and where do you find your inspiration?

"I am most inspired when I see God at work in other people in or in the simple ways in my life. Most times it comes when I’m alone in solitude or in a soul filled conversation with someone else."

2.     What steps did you take that brought you to where you are now?

"It was a series of mistakes and failures combined with victories in the right places that taught me leadership skills, ministry, and how to counsel people."

3.     What are your key values?

"Honesty, humor, and peace."

4.     How do you balance home and work life?

"Having a men’s group, regular date nights, dad days with my kids and keeping the importance of a sabbath away from work and ministry responsibilities"

5.     What one thing do you still struggle with?

"Performance. I struggle with not feeling the pressure to be all things to all people all the time. I am not Jesus, so I do not need to try to be."

6.     Do you have any books that you would suggest I read?

"Sustainable Youth Ministry, Tipping Point, Reasons for God"

7.     Do you have any last advice that wasn’t already said?

"Collect experiences, mistakes, relationships with different people and your own personal reflections to get a picture of what God is doing in your life."