Youth ministry memoirs

Yesterday I may have started writing a book. I was talking with my mother-in-law about a person she knew who started journaling about all the experiences that they have had in their profession. In some ways that is why I started to blog. I wanted to write about my thoughts, experiences, and advice for people out there.

The difficult thing about this avenue is that by putting it up for it to help people I may unwittingly upset or disclose something that I should not. This has been difficult for me because for writing to really be cathartic I need to be able to share what is on my mind and heart. If I do that about a current situation then I run the risk of individuals seeing it. If I write about past situations it may impact my current situation with people. I usually share more than I should, when talking with people, but I do realize that there are many things that people do not need to know.

For an example, I am currently writing about my first few weeks at Mary, Queen of Peace. There were many difficult things that came up, including a retreat where I was basically THE male adult. In writing about that time in my life I am noticing themes that I wish I would have picked up on. I wish I could have seen how the moves I made could impact the work environment that I was in.

My hope in writing these memoirs is to share "case studies" with others so that they can hopefully learn from my mistakes and see some of the themes that I failed to pick up on. I never see myself as alone in this. Even though I have not been in youth ministry long I want to make a difference not only for the youth, but the other youth leaders out there.

I hope that in writing some of these past issues I can post excerpts here. Sharing these experiences will hopefully help me learn and grow. My biggest wish is to start to see the patterns as they come and not just the differences from past situations. I will be posting more thoughts in the next couple of days so be sure to tune back in as I have many things to update with.
Blessings!