I saw this on Post Secret the other week and saved it.  The website is a collection of anonymous post card confessions updated each week.  This one broke my heart, though.  I have seen many great youth workers burn out and walk away from student ministry broken, defeated, disqualified because of sin, or too beat up to continue.

The hopelessness in this card, yet still filled with love for the teens, is tragic to me.

This is why networks are so critical.  Youth workers have to be plugged in with other people that ‘get it.’  People that can help hold them accountable, support them, work together, encourage, support, challenge.  People that can listen to them vent, cry, be frustrated, and not hold it against them.  People that aren’t fellow staff members, on the board, parents of kids in the group, or even in the same church – people they can feel safe and honest with.  It’s a critical necessity for youth ministry longevity.