Youth Event Coordinator

Cornerstone Church; Ames (IA); On-site; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Cornerstone Church in Ames, IA is seeking a Youth Event Coordinator to own Wednesday nights, kickoffs, retreats, and conferences with excellence. This full-time role focuses on planning, systems, and hospitality for students and volunteers.

You will supervise events, run communications, and coordinate logistics with ministry partners. The role emphasizes hands-on event execution, leadership development of students and adults, and ongoing growth within a faith‑driven team.

Qualifications

• Experience planning and executing large events (kickoffs, retreats, conferences).
• Experience with church communications and event registrations.
• Experience coordinating volunteers and hospitality systems.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute spring/fall kickoffs and retreats; oversee high school conference logistics.
• Manage weekly family messages, monthly newsletter, reminders, and event registrations.
• Coordinate merch and deadlines for website/print with partner teams.
• Interview and coach adult and student leaders; participate in staff meetings.

Skills

Event planning

Volunteer coordination

Communication

Tools

Planning Center

Job description

Youth Event Coordinator

One Sentence: Make Wednesday nights, kickoffs, retreats, and conferences happen with excellence — owning both the experience students walk into and the systems behind it.

Direct Supervisor: Noah DeRoos, Ministry Leader

Job Title: Youth Even Coordinator — This is a FULL-TIME staff position.

Job Responsibilities

TOP 3

• Event planning and execution — Lead our spring and fall kickoffs, own Fall Retreat logistics, and lead High School Conference end to end, including speakers, the master plan, and the promo timeline. Build the run-of-show for Wednesday nights — welcome stations, hosting, the new-student booth, and cleanup.
• Ministry systems and communication — Run Planning Center for email. Own weekly family messages, the monthly newsletter, reminder texts, stage communication, and event registration. Coordinate merch, and hold the logistics deadlines for website and print with our partner teams.
• Volunteer coordination — Schedule, communicate with, and follow up on volunteers. Manage people coming in, and build the hospitality systems that make volunteers and guests feel taken care of.

Other Responsibilities

• Conduct interviews for adult leaders and student leaders.
• Spend regular time with adult leaders and students — coffee meetups, coaching, encouragement, and discipleship.
• Show up for staff meetings, Wednesday review, and retreat planning as a dependable teammate.
• Be present at student games and outreach events.
• Keep growing — reading and development are part of the job, not extra.

Expected Weekly Rhythm

Your week is anchored by a handful of standing commitments: a churchwide meeting on Monday, a staff meeting and a tactical staff meeting on Tuesday, and regular event review meetings. Wednesday is the long day — youth programming runs through the afternoon and evening, and it is the night everything you built that week gets tested.

Beyond those anchors, your time goes, in priority order, to event planning and execution, the systems and communication that support it, volunteer coordination, time with leaders and students, and your own growth. That mix shifts week to week — a retreat week looks nothing like a mid-February week — and your weekly one‑one with your supervisor is where priorities get set.

Retreat weeks, conference weeks, and camp weeks will exceed forty hours. Ordinary weeks should not.

Development Trajectory

This role grows with the person in it. How quickly it expands, and how far, depends on how you work and how you show yourself over time.

You will be given a long leash — room to work hard, try things, and make mistakes while you are learning. In exchange, we need you to be self‑driven. Nobody will stand over your shoulder assigning you every task, and the people who do well here are the ones who see what needs doing and do it. As you handle well what is given to you, more will come your way.

Cornerstone Staff Values & Qualities

We want all of our employees at Cornerstone to reflect the cultural values of holy ambition, rooted conviction, strategic generosity, and fun. This is the way we behave and live.

Every one of these has a ditch on both sides. We are asking you to walk the ridge.

Holy Ambition

We work hard, because what we are doing is worth working hard for.

• Too much: proud overwork. You get selfish with your ambition and it quietly becomes about you.
• Too little: laziness. You coast, and someone else carries what you set down.

Rooted Conviction

We know what we believe and why we believe it.

• Too much: you get hard on people — right, but unkind. A Bible butthead.
• Too little: you are a flag in the wind, with no real position to stand on.

Strategic Generosity

We give our time and our money away, and we are thoughtful about where it goes.

• Too much strategy: stinginess. You optimize until you have stopped actually giving.
• Too little strategy: you throw time and money in every direction and none of it accomplishes anything.

Fun

We take Jesus seriously and ourselves lightly.

• Too much: the job does not get done.
• Too little: everything turns corporate and machine‑like, and students can feel it.

Additionally, we want you to embody the following qualities.

• Calling: You know you are adopted, loved, and called by Jesus. You behave like an owner, not an employee.
• Character: You are who you say you are. Parents will entrust their students to you, and students will tell you things they have not told others. We have to be able to trust that what you say is true.
• Convictions: You are willing to do what is right in every situation — and when you are not sure what is right, you have the honest conversation instead of guessing quietly.
• Competency: This job has a lot of moving parts. Event planning, registrations, parent communication, volunteer scheduling, print and merch deadlines. You get into the details and work diligently toward excellence.
• Capacity: Your horsepower meets or exceeds your level of leadership. You are willing to work hard, and there will be seasons that ask more than forty hours to get the job done well and to grow.
• Chemistry: Our staff team is more healthy because you are in the room.

Cornerstone Church Membership

By joining the Cornerstone Staff team, you and your spouse (if applicable) are automatically approved as members of Cornerstone Church. As members you are under the leadership of our elders, and we will expect and inspect your faithfulness in attending, serving, giving, and living.

Job Evaluation

Your Job Description will be the basis of regular evaluation and coaching. Your direct supervisor will inspect what we expect from you as an employee.

• Months 1–6 — Learning. Expect trial and error. We will give you a lot of grace as you learn our ministry, our people, and our rhythms. You will not be expected to have it figured out.
• Six-month evaluation. Honest, direct feedback on where you are growing and where you need to grow. Assuming that conversation goes well, we take off some of the training wheels and hand you more room to work on your own.
• One-year review. A fuller conversation that sets direction for what year two looks like, based on your performance, your growth, and what we are seeing in you.