Have you ever thought about how much similarity there is between the jobs/tasks of high profile Division I football coaches and College Ministers? It really is pretty surprising. Here are a few.
-The result of what we do everyday is determined by the actions and responses of 18-22 year olds.
-We must continually be recruiting.
-We are expected to speak at lots of events...some to raise support and enthusiasm...some to express thanks and some to help recruit.
-We are usually judged by the numbers...coaches by how many wins...college ministers by attendance at their large group meeting or at Sunday worship (again determined by the response of 18-22 year olds).
-When things go well, we rightly give credit to the students and when things go poorly, we take the blame.
-We work crazy hours.....early mornings....late nights.
-We must continually recognize potential and develop it.
-We do road trips with 18-22 year olds.
-We continually are looking at someone's new way of doing it, new approach and how we might better our own game plan.
-We sometimes question our own decisions and wonder how these decisions affected everybody involved.
-Division I Football Coaches make from $7 Million to $350,000 (the lowest D-I coach). The College Minister is paid $40,000 to near $100,000 according to most situations with which I am familiar. And, I only know 2 or 3 that fall in the $75,000-$100,000 range. Most fall in the much lower bracket. Church College Ministers usually tend to make higher salaries and have better benefits that campus based ones. Many campus based ones must raise their own salary from friends, alums and other supporters.
So, what's the point of this ridiculous comparison? First of all, it just has always struck me how many similarities there are between what successful coaches do and what successful college ministers do. There is much to learn from the other. My MAIN POINT is College Ministers are not paid enough for what is expected of them. Rightly so, most ministry salaries are not made public......BUT, is that rightly so? I am of the opinion if many knew what their College Minister was making, they would work at getting it raised. We know Head Coaches salaries...they are published in the paper and you can find lists on line. Often, College Ministers working side by side in many instances and doing the same thing are making disproportionately different salaries.
My boss admonished me once for participating in a practice where a group of us would write our salaries on a piece of paper and throw it in the hat with no name on it. Then, we would share with everyone what the range was. It is was very informative. My boss' point. which was correct, was that some were putting a figure representing total package and others were putting just a salary figure. So, we were not comparing apples to apples. He was correct in that.
Yet, I must admit to being non-spiritual enough to believe that College Ministers deserve to be paid more. Over-all, the vast majority are way underpaid for what is expected of them. It is also to our advantage to know what the salaries are. Those who care about college ministry need to know what they are so we can advocate for better salaries that are somewhat consistent with the expectations we have of that person.
I don't know anyone that is in college ministry for the money. But, I know lots of College Ministers that are having to pay for braces, buy groceries, drive a decent vehicle, and even send kids to college. As we lament the loss of the twenty something generation to faith and the church, perhaps we need to be talking about how to get those salaries up, so experienced veterans who know what to do and how to do it can stay for the long term. That's just my thought. And, I have never known a College Minister who got fired and walked away with $2 million or $3 million for being fired.
"....the worker deserves his wages." Luke 10:7b "For the scripture says, do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain, and the worker deserves his wages." I Timothy 5:18
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