Mistakes

[Robb Hand]

I am big on learning from the mistakes of others. It frees up my time to make even more blunders of my own. :)

I am curious what others would describe as their biggest mistake in ministry and how they learned from it.

[Megan]

One thing I've learned is to listen to the Holy Spirit even if it doesn't seem to make logical sense. When putting a retreat team together, the Holy Spirit was telling me to ask a certain woman to lead the kitchen team, but I took matters into my own hands and asked her to lead music because I didn't think I had another music person. It turned out that someone else could have done music ... I was disobedient, and the kitchen team ended up being a bit of a train wreck (though I do think God used the situation and the people in the kitchen did learn some important lessons ... as did I!).

[Kristie]

In a fit of pique at a particularly difficult time of my life I divulged a confidential piece of church personnel information to the wife of the head of the personnel committee (double idiocy). Within hours I was called on the carpet for my gaffe. It was a HUGE learning experience about the importance of confidentiality within the church - no matter what.

[Freddy Cardoza]

Biggest Mistakes


1. Early in my ministry, not knowing how to recruit and train lay people
2. Making the mistake of calling grown, mature churchmen "guys" instead of "men" (mature men hate that)
3. Having a great understanding of many issues, but not understanding basics of church ministry such as "assimilation" and "infrastructure" and the like (aka, the things that really matter)

[Casey Young]

One thing that I have learned is to listen to people who have more experience and knowledge. As I had more leadership in church growing up, I often avoided advice from my "elders" and I just knew I had all of the answers. It is quite the humbling experience when God shows you that you don't know it all and can't do things alone. I have since learned to listen and not go at things alone, but always be open and welcome help.

[Lucas E. Randall]

My biggest mistake has always been not delegating those things which I can easily equip and empower others to do in order to free my mind and my time to concentrate on the "big picture". We don't have to do it all. We must constantly be looking for ways to allow others to serve alongside us in order to pursue more for the Kingdom.

[Ben Bextermueller]

The biggest mistake I have made so far was that I didn't ask the pastor if he was in contact or considering leaving for another church. The last church I was at, the pastor told me he was leaving 2 weeks into my ministry there. So my ministry there took a hit right off the bat. I lost some of my "leaders" soon after as they saw me more as "the best that was available" that the pastor could find before he left as opposed to the guy God wanted to be there youth pastor. While that was not true, perception is reality. Any other mistakes I made, even small ones, only engrained their perception as true. My two years there made me want to quit, but seeing the positive impact I had made on students' lives kept me from doing so. I will always ask from now on what the pastor's intentions are, and if he has been contacted by another church. I survived once, don't want to try it again though.

[Andrea Bergfield]

I do not really know your side of the story or anyone's side of the story for that matter, but please do not let your experience in that church get you down. You see, I grew up in that church and my parents are still members there, so I know the history of their youth ministers for the past 25 to 30 years. You are not the first youth minister they have chewed up and spit out and unless the senior leadership run interferance, you will not be the last. In fact, I can only think of one, maybe one and a half, that this did not happen to.

What I do know is that there have been many positive changes in this church since I was in the youth group 18 years ago (now I'm feeling old) and while I will admit there are many more needed, I am grateful for the impact this church has had on the community in recent years under the leadership of the former and current pastor. When I go home now I do not know half of the members, which is something someone in my position 20 years ago could not have said because the church was in a very stagnant place. So, even though we have never met each other, I am grateful for the positive impact you had on the youth of my hometown. Thank You!

[Teresa Keeler]

I worked with an organization that was trying to reach the unreached people groups in the US. The director of this organization had great visions for the ministry, but did not have any managerial or communcation skills. He spread himself thin and had to lie on many occasions to "trick" these Hindus and Muslims into listening to the Gospel. He also lied to mission teams who came to help the ministry. My spirit was distrubed, but I never got the nerve to confront him about these issues and the way he was doing things. I did speak to a person on the board of directors, but he was scared that this person would have another nervous breakdown. So, my biggest mistake was not confronting this man to try and solve the problems. Instead he continues on in this same ministry, doing the same things.

[kenny udokporo]

i strongly believed that the best way to overcome mistakes in ministries is to read and learn from the mistakes of others. No one is an island of himself, so it takes individuals and ministries to learn from their counterparts both in their successes and mistakes. What is considered biggest mistake to one ministry might be an oversight to another. The best way to overcome mistakes is to listen and learn from those with experience.