I'm Not a Bible Scholar

More often than not, my attempts to recruit adult leaders are met with the recruit saying something like, “You know I’m not a Bible scholar, right?”

So often, I just want to respond, “You know I’m not looking for a Bible scholar, right?” Usually, however, I bite my tongue and refrain from saying this, even though it’s true.

I don’t expect (or even want) my leaders to be Bible scholars.

That said, I know such a response is usually a reflection of a recruit’s deeper insecurities:

I don’t know enough. I’m not good enough. Therefore, God can’t possibly use me.

How I long in these moments to remind recruits of all the inept, seemingly inadequate people God has used throughout the history of our faith. But instead, I refrain from saying that as well, knowing that eventually, experience in (and affirmation from) serving in our youth ministry ministry will teach them that.

Instead, I shift the focus away from what these recruits think they can’t do to what I’m actually looking for in adult leaders in my youth ministry:

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