Maybe it’s just my personality but I find it really easy to get bogged down and be frustrated, fed-up and grumpy sometimes. An event didn’t go over well, or a parent calls me up to complain after an event that went great.

These moments are inevitable, but our response to them makes a huge difference. We can let them get us down or we can be ever joyful.

I just downloaded my collection of goodies from this month as part of my membership here on DYM. One of the items that came this month is a video from Bob Goff (sorry Josh, Doug, Matt if I gave away a secret). While I watched this video I was blown away by the man’s energy and joyfulness. I have read some of his stuff but never heard him speak and seriously was this dude joyful. It was through watching him that I realized I was captivated and wanted to hear more simply because he was so happy and full of joy.

Then BOOM! It hit me! People love to be around joyful people. It is contagious and inspiring. And I thought to myself, is our Youth Ministry joyful? Sure it is sometimes, but at other times it really isn’t. I might get off on the wrong foot, or perhaps some students are miserable for some reason and it gets others in a funk.

So I have dedicated this next couple months to making our ministry a joyful one. Sure we always have a good time, but do we have that deep unquenchable Joy that is a fruit of the spirit? I want my students to be blown away by their faith and know how much joy it can give them that it becomes a contagious across our church, into schools in the fall and throughout our community.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be the ministry that brought true joy to your community? I hope we can be. And I will tell you, I have been praying every day lately for that Joy to come and be sustained in me.

I hope you will join with me to create a joyful revolution!

Kyle Corbin has been serving youth as a volunteer or pastor for over 10 years. He is currently the youth pastor at the Bridge Church in North Vancouver B.C. You can follow his blog at: kylecorbin.blogspot.com or Twitter: @CorbinKyle