Student Pastor

GracePoint Church); Portland (TX); On-site; USD 48,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

GracePoint Church seeks a Student Ministry Director to equip and multiply volunteers who disciple middle and high school students in identity, faith, and mission. You will recruit, train, and coach teams, creating a pipeline from attendee to ministry leader.

This role focuses on relational discipleship, safe environments, and partnering with parents and the church to align Sunday worship, small groups, and service, developing future leaders who love God, love people, and change the world.

Qualifications

• Ability to recruit, train, coach and care for volunteers to build a disciple-making culture.
• Experience developing leaders who guide students in identity, faith, and mission.
• Skilled in building gospel-centered community and leadership pipelines.
• Commitment to safety, relational discipleship, and partnership with parents and church.

Responsibilities

• Equip and develop volunteer leaders to shepherd students and multiply leaders.
• Form disciples in identity, faith, and mission across middle and high school environments.
• Build a relational discipleship culture through small groups and mentorship.
• Partner with parents and church to align ministry with worship, groups, and serving pathways.
• Establish safe, organized environments and scalable systems for ministry effectiveness.

Job description

Student Ministry Director

Middle School & High School

Reports to: Strategic Leadership Team

Primary Focus: Equipping and multiplying volunteer leaders to disciple students to Love God, Love People, and Change the World.

Role Purpose

The Student Ministry Director exists to build a disciple-making culture among middle and high school students by recruiting, equipping, coaching, and multiplying volunteer leaders who walk with students through identity formation, spiritual growth, and missional living.

This role is not primarily to “run youth group,” but to develop leaders who disciple students and form future leaders of the church.

Primary Win

A spiritually healthy, multiplying leadership team that:

• Models authentic faith and integrity
• Knows how to disciple adolescents relationally and biblically
• Builds strong, gospel-centered community
• Raises up student leaders and future adult leaders

Core Responsibilities1. Equip and Develop Volunteer Leaders (Primary — about 40%)

• Recruit, train, coach, and care for all Student Ministry volunteers.
• Identify and develop Small Group Leaders and Coaches.
• Provide clear onboarding, role clarity, and expectations.
• Meet regularly with key leaders for prayer, encouragement, and development.
• Build a leadership pipeline that moves people from attender to volunteer to small group leader to coach to ministry leader.
• Develop leaders who shepherd students, not just supervise gatherings.

Key question: Who am I developing, and who are they developing?

2. Form Disciples in Identity, Faith, and Mission (about 20%)

Ensure every environment helps students grow in three areas:

• Love God — personal faith, Scripture, prayer, worship, theology
• Love People — authentic community, confession, accountability, compassion
• Change the World — mission, service, witness, calling

Equip leaders to guide students through identity in Christ, biblical worldview, spiritual disciplines, sexual integrity, and peer influence and cultural pressures.

3. Build a Relational Discipleship Culture (about 15%)

• Champion small groups as the primary discipleship engine.
• Train leaders to pursue students, not wait for attendance.
• Create safe, trusted spaces for spiritual conversations.
• Develop student leaders who disciple their peers.

4. Partner with Parents and the Church (about 15%)

• Equip parents to disciple their teenagers.
• Communicate clearly and consistently.
• Align Student Ministry with Sunday worship, small groups, and serving pathways.
• Help families see student ministry as part of the whole-church disciple-making process, not a silo.

5. Systems, Safety, and Excellence (about 10%)

• Maintain safe, organized, and engaging environments.
• Ensure compliance with student protection policies.
• Build simple, scalable systems that support leaders and students.
• Regularly evaluate and improve ministry effectiveness.

Leadership Development Pipeline

The Student Ministry Director is expected to intentionally build this pipeline:

• Identify spiritually responsive and influential leaders, both adults and students.
• Invite them personally into discipleship roles.
• Equip them in gospel and theology, relational discipleship, adolescent development, leading small groups, and safety and care.
• Coach through consistent connection and feedback.
• Multiply by helping leaders raise up new leaders and students raise up student leaders.

Measures of Success

Success is not only measured by attendance, but by:

• Volunteer retention and spiritual health
• Number of trained small group leaders and coaches
• Depth of student engagement in groups and serving
• Parent trust and partnership
• Evidence of spiritual growth and ownership of faith
• Students discipling students
• Leaders reproducing leaders

First 90-Day FocusMonth 1 — Listen & Learn

• Meet with all current leaders and key students.
• Understand culture, systems, and relational dynamics.
• Assess strengths, gaps, and spiritual health.

Month 2 — Clarify & Align

• Cast clear vision for disciple-making and leadership development.
• Define team structure, leader roles, and expectations.
• Identify potential coaches and future leaders.

Month 3 — Equip & Multiply

• Launch regular leader huddles and training rhythms.
• Begin intentional coaching and leadership development.
• Establish a student leadership pathway.