Challenges and Opportunities
- Recruit, Train, and Celebrate Your Team
The new leader will inherit a solid base of 18–24 committed volunteers. That’s a strong foundation, but the future depends on building this team further. Recruiting, equipping, and celebrating leaders won’t just make ministry sustainable — it will create the kind of leadership culture that multiplies momentum. As the team grows in health and numbers, the ministry will have the capacity to scale with the growing needs of the church and community. - Control the Chaos
Students describe C3’s youth ministry as fun, loud, and a place they want to be. That energy is a gift, but it has also meant that gatherings have sometimes felt wild and undisciplined. The opportunity is to bring healthy structure and focus without killing the joy. The right leader will channel that passion into worship, discipleship, and mission, helping students learn what it looks like to have fun and also take their faith seriously. - Beyond the Program
C3 doesn’t just want a strong Wednesday night service. The new pastor needs to lead a culture where relationships matter just as much outside the program as they do during it. Students are desperate for genuine connection, and volunteers need to see what it looks like to model life-on-life discipleship. By investing intentionally in students outside the weekly schedule — showing up at games, grabbing coffee, celebrating milestones — the leader will set the tone for a ministry that prioritizes people over programs. - Building from the Ground Up (Young Adults)
While the student ministry already has a solid core, young adult ministry at C3 is still an open canvas. There is a critical mass of young adults in the church, but no established structure or rhythms for gathering them. This is a fresh opportunity for the new pastor to dream, design, and launch a ministry that engages college students, young professionals, and twenty-somethings in discipleship and mission.
Leadership
This role reports to Aaron Olson, Senior Associate Pastor, who values leaders who are assertive, collaborative, and willing to grow. Aaron and the C3 staff team describe their culture as authentic, caring, and intentional—even as they walk through transition together.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and implement a clear vision for Youth & Young Adults that aligns with C3’s mission.
- Lead weekly youth services, small groups, Bible studies, and young adult gatherings.
- Develop city-impacting youth outreach ministry outside of the church building, avoiding the cultivation of merely event-based spirituality.
- Inspiring and mobilizing youth and young adults to be active evangelists to their friends and in their city.
- Preach biblically sound, relevant messages that engage both students and young adults.
- Recruit, equip, and disciple a growing team of volunteer leaders and student leaders.
- Partner with parents in the spiritual development of their students.
- Plan and lead retreats, camps, mission trips, and outreach initiatives.
- Build bridges with schools and community organizations for relational outreach.
- Manage ministry budget and communication, including digital platforms and social media.
- Ensure safe, structured, and welcoming environments across all gatherings.
Key Qualifications
- 3+ years of paid student ministry leadership (minimum).
- Bachelor’s degree in ministry, theology, or related field (preferred).
- Strong communication and teaching gifts; able to connect with students and young adults.
- Experience recruiting and equipping leaders, partnering with parents, and leading camps/outreach.
- Demonstrated effectiveness in strategic, student-led evangelistic efforts.
- Alignment with C3’s essential and non-essential beliefs: egalitarian, continuationist, enthusiastic about the gifts of the Spirit.
- Male candidate (per church request) to bring balance to a girl-heavy ministry.
- Spiritually mature, relational, resilient, and ready to grow.