Your a what?… a Campus Pastor?

That is the question I get most often when I tell people about my current position.  Maybe it is because it is something that is so new to the area I live in, or maybe it is a place in ministry that most just don’t understand.

About 2 months after the opening of our campus, I had a church member ask me, “So, what do you do anyway?”

Now, I know what I do, or at least what I am supposed to be doing but I can’t help but feel that we the church as a whole has not defined what a campus pastor’s role is and therefore aren’t preparing them adequately.  At a recent conference, a leader of a prominent multi-site church said that with campus pastors they just “throw them in the water and see if they can swim.”  I don’t agree with that philosophy, and I highly doubt they don’t do any preparation at all.

But the campus pastor role is very unique, and it isn’t just “a pastor without the preaching.”  So what is it then?

With all the church conferences that are being held around the country, I see little available that addresses the role of the campus pastor and even less day-to-day support for those already in the field.

If you are reading this post in hopes of gaining insight into being a campus pastor, I am apologizing now because you won’t find it.  I am asking the question in hopes that many of you (both of you that read it) to help me understand.  This will also be the first of what I hope to be a series on what I feel are the most important qualities of a campus pastor.

So, now tell me… what do you think a campus pastor is?  What qualities to they need?