tip # 1–the first day

so i figured i would start out this set of posts with something that seems like to be the first step. Usually the first step is always the hardest to get passed. so the first tip that i will give a hint on is your first day.

The First Day
So obviously, most of you that may be reading this have been helping out with student ministries for a while. I know and i hope you know that students can be very intimidating. i think no matter how maw many days, or how many weeks, or years that you may be doing student ministry volunteer work, it can still be intimidating. So what i propose to you is to not make yourself look like a fool, but to be yourself. Being yourself is the best way to get through your first day. It may seem like you need to be out of your comfort zone, or not be you to make some sort of connection, but I’m telling you right now that the first impression that you make on a student will be the impression they keep for however long you know that student. The junior and high school students are incredibly observational, and to give a fake impression on who you really are, can be a turn off more than a turn on. Not a literal turn on, but a way of connecting with the students. Students want people that are real with them, someone who wont sugar coat things all the time, someone who will love them in the way that they may not have in other places. Another aspect of what being yourself does, is that it allows you to connect with the students that you will most likely connect with the best.You see you don’t want to put on this mask of being a jock, when you are really a video game guy, and then a few weeks into coming you get called out by a student and you don’t know what to say. If you go into a student ministry with confidence and being yourself, that is the easiest way of getting through day 1 of student ministry work.