Why do I do this?

A few months back we had some meetings at work. And by “some meetings” I mean we were in meetings from Monday – Thursday more than 8 hours per day.

All throughout the week, one member of our team asked us, “Why do we do what we do?”

I wasn’t sure what this person meant by it. And since it was often randomly inserted into the conversation I wasn’t sure how the question fit.

But on the last day– at the last moment– the question was asked more insistently. “I need to know why we do this? Why do we do what we do?” It was unavoidable. We all were going to be forced to tell the group why we do what we do. We personalized it and went around the room answering the question, “Why do I do what I do?”

It was a powerful conclusion to the week. I’m really glad we finally made the time to answer the question.

The truth is that its a very important question. It doesn’t matter if your a plumber, a surgeon, the President of the United States, or you are me… what motivates you to do what you do is vitally important to who you are.

My community group reminds me that I live at the unique intersection of a job I love, working with people I love, and I get paid enough to take care of my family. Not many people in the world can claim all three.

With that said, it doesn’t mean that my life is without heartache or challenges. While I may live at that rare vocational crossroads I am still human. I have moments of weakness. And I’m often left running back to the bedrock question, “Why do I do what I do?”

In those self-doubting moments, when I question myself, I go back to my motivations. These are some of the core reasons I do what I do:

• I love resourcing youth workers. Whether its by being a listening ear or I make it easier to buy a curriculum for their Bible study or teaching a seminar on social media or just listening over a cup of coffee and saying, “You are crazy. God has you right where He wants you. You are doing a great job of loving God’s kids.” I love it. I love it more now that ever.
• I love YS. It’s hard to imagine life in youth ministry without Youth Specialties. I have a deep love & respect for the legacy created by Mike and Wayne. I consider it an honor to carry on their mission. It feels like the best way I can honor that legacy is to keep pushing and keep innovating. I hope that one day soon I’ll be a part of coming up with the next thing as great as the Ideas Library.
• I love who I get to work with. The team in El Cajon is a part of my family. But that family extends well beyond our office. I love working with my friends up in Minneapolis. Expanding further, there’s an amazing group of people who are really part of YS even though they aren’t on our staff. I love working with them.
• I’m not satisfied with 10%. If you regularly read my blog you know I’m passionate about the people the church doesn’t reach. For every high school in our country, maybe 10% of the students are involved in a Christ-centered ministry or church. That’s not enough. I will be a broken record on this until people listen! My heart yearns to see youth ministry reach beyond the walls of the kids who show up and innovate methodologies that reach more. Ultimately, a big reason I do this is so that more kids will find Jesus.

No matter what happens… Those are some of the reasons I do what I do. Even before I was on staff at YS… most of those were true. (That helps too, I did much of this even before I got paid to do it!)

Why am I sharing this?

I don’t think it’s all that important that I shared these things today. Except for the fact that I hope that you can find the time to search yourself for your own motivations. Things will happen in your life that will rattle you to the core of who you are. Sometimes life shakes so hard all you can do is cling to the 1-2 endearing facts that keep you from giving up.

It will be worth it for you, for your long-term effectiveness, and for the trajectory of your life if you’d make time to drill down into the profound simplicity of this question:

Why do you do what you do?