At some point, every youth pastor faces the question, "Should I stay or should I go?" Sometimes God's wisdom leads us to stay and endure through seasons of tension and conflict, but sometimes the Lord provides freedom to move into a new ministry (or an entirely new vocation!).

Discussion Includes:

• You’re still in your first year as a senior pastor… what are some of the bigger differences that’ve stood out to you?
• Was youth ministry a “stepping stone” for you? Is it ever appropriate for someone to enter into youth ministry in order to prepare for senior pastor ministry in the future?
• How did you know it was time for you to transition into senior pastor ministry?
• What are the most beneficial ways that youth ministry prepared you to lead a church?
• What are some misconceptions you had about senior pastors that you see differently now?
• Now that you’re a senior pastor, are there any ways that you look at youth ministry a little differently? Has your perspective changed at all?
• What advice do you have for listeners who are in a hard or conflict-heavy place and are wondering whether or not they should stay or go. How can they weigh the decision about their future ministry work?

Will Standridge is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Geraldine, Alabama. He’s a longtime contributor to YPT and today we’ll be talking about his transition out of youth ministry and into the senior pastorate.

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YPT has published an ebook that's a free download for subscribers. Youth Ministry is Theological Ministry collects ten articles from the YPT archives to help new readers catch the heartbeat of Youth Pastor Theologian is written by six different contributors from across America, Mexico, and the UK.