A Great Youth Intern

The youth intern, a rare and valuable creature often mistaken for a gopher, an administrative assistant, or... you know, one of the youth. 

While not all youth ministries have one of these amazing people, they all should. I liken the hard-working and under-appreciated youth intern to Jayne Cobb from Firefly; no one realizes how important he is to the crew... except that Jayne was kind of a moral-less scallywag and therefore a bad example.

Let's try this again; I liken the hard-working and under-appreciated youth intern to Chewbacca from Star Wars. Yes, we all know he is funny and loyal and everything, but do we realized how much Han Solo and the rest of the team need him? (That's right youth ministers I just threw you a bone and let you be Han Solo).

The big problem is that most people don't know what a youth intern does (or what a youth pastor really does for that matter)... so let's shed a little light on this mysterious figure.

7 Things A Great Youth Intern Does:

7. Agrees with the Youth Minister.
- No I don't mean that a good youth intern is a "yes man" a good youth pastor wouldn't want them to be. However, a youth intern does support their youth pastor when the chips are down and they don't tell everybody when they think the youth pastor is wrong. This is kind of a bid deal. The youth intern will often be heard to say, "Yeah, I think Josh is right... and awesome!" (Yes, "Josh" is my go to youth pastor name)

6. Become the older sibling
- The "kids" will often think of the youth intern as their older sibling, which pretty much rocks. However, this means that the youth intern needs to be ready to go to as many sports games, choir performances and high school musicals as possible. A youth intern who goes to these events is "so cool!" This also means they get to be around when the students need someone to open up to which really is "so cool!"

5. Is the back up... everything
- The youth intern should always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within them. In this case, the hope of someday being more than a youth intern. In doing this a youth intern should always be ready to teach a small group, Sunday school or youth group lesson. You never know when the opportunity may arise!

4. Games.
- Games, games and more games. The youth pastor will get in on this too, but most likely if your youth group has a youth intern they are the ones you'll find dressed up as a toilet paper bride or stuffing 10 Twinkies in their mouth. More ways to humiliate your youth intern can be found here.

3. Never sleeps

- None of the youth leaders really expect to get much sleep during camp, on mission trips or during the infamous lock-in (ugh, I just got chills), but the youth intern should pretty much kiss any hopes of sleep goodbye! The more you try the less you will get.

Instead of sleeping the youth intern should be prepared to deal with; sick students, missing students, students angry with you, students angry with Josh, students angry with each other, students sneaking off to make-out, home-sick students and various prayer opportunities and crisis defusing situations. Oh wait! And my favorite, youth leaders angry at other youth leaders. Don't worry it will all end in "cry night" at the end of the week where everything is made right.

2. Becomes the extra brain
- Admittedly the youth intern shares this task with the youth pastor's wife. But whenever Josh can't find or remember something the youth intern better be ready to make up an answer... I mean have a solution!

1. Cheerleads
-"What!? You got a B- on you math finale? Ahhhh! That's awesome!"
"What!? That girl you like said yes when you asked her out? Ahhhh! That's awesome!"
"What!? You won your basketball game? Ahhhh! That's awesome!"
"What Josh!? You have lessons ready for two weeks in a row!? Ahhhh! That's awesome!"
You get the picture.

Okay, that is my list. Please take a moment to go hug a youth intern, youth worker or youth pastor. Trust me, they need it.

What do you think a youth intern or a youth pastor needs to be prepared for?