I’m walking into Mariner’s Junior High ministry as one of the youth pastors on staff. I’m joining a couple of other great youth workers and have served this ministry before as a guest speaker and even the High School Ministry as a camp speaker a summer ago. I love this church!

But today, I’m walking in brand spankin’ new to this whole thing. A significant part of the responsibility of the ministry lands squarely on me. And since I’m the new guy … I’ve got fresh eyes. Which is huge! It only takes a short time before you become accustomed to the way things are, you stop asking probing questions, and you lose that advantage of sharing from a new perspective. I’ve got a huge list, tons to work on, and am probably annoying people with questions. But I’ve got to take advantage of this little window.

How do you take advantage of “fresh eyes”?

    • If you’re new, make a massive list and ask tons of questions.
    • Find a new volunteer or parent to be your fresh eyes this week.
    • Ask your mentor to swing into youth group randomly one weekend and surprise evaluate your program.
    • If you’re not new, walk out the door, come back in, and intentionally see what you normally miss.

JG