Do you ever find yourself as a youth worker asking students what they plan on going to school for once they graduate?

-Have you ever noticed how many students say “I don’t know” or “my parents think I should do ________”
It occurred to me last night that there are times when you can inspire a students direction in life.
One of the guys in my group has a serious thirst for knowledge when it comes to church/religion/faith. A couple months back he asked me my thoughts Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis because he was reading through it. Last night he texts me and asks “do you think that Jesus intended to start a church?”. We then talked about it and discussed what church means, what God intended for the church to look like.
After we had finished a conversation I told him that I could see him being a person who could work in the church. He is the type we need to help others along in faith and to help guide the church. He said he wasn’t sure about that but I just encouraged him to think about it.
Now my words weren’t profound but they were similar to something someone told me when I was in high school. When I had heard those words it began to stir up in my life. And though I ran away from it for a long time, those words never left me. I don’t know if this student is going to be a pastor, or an elder, or a Bible school teacher one day that is between him and God. But I can place the idea in his mind and encourage him to seek after what God wants for his life and be open to the possibility that this is a direction he could take.
Now I don’t think we should do this for every student, because frankly we don’t know all our students well enough. The other problem is sometimes we are unclear ourselves.
But what if you took some time to look into the lives of a couple students you know well. Look at their spiritual gifts and look at their interests and passions and inspire them.
What do you do to inspire students and how do you help direct their lives?
Kyle Corbin has been serving youth as a volunteer or pastor for over 10 years and blogs exclusively here on LoveGodLoveStudents.com. He is currently the youth pastor at the Bridge Church in North Vancouver B.C. Hit him up on Twitter @CorbinKyle