We are many things. We are all witnesses. We are all made of stars. Perhaps most profoundly, as High School Musical told us, we’re all in this together. But maybe, just maybe, the truth is that we’re all youth workers. Everyone. Each one of us. And, of course, this extends to popular culture. Here are some of our favourite ‘people you didn’t know were youth workers but are kind of youth workers in some ways (sort of).’
Sometimes you find youth ministry happening where you least expect it – surprise youth ministry, if you will. This particular brand of youth work is omnipresent on a Saturday night, with names such as Tom Jones, Will.He.Is and Mel B playing key roles in the lives of singing hopefuls. As such, the biggest and most influential youth worker in the whole country is the high-trousered, put-down merchant, Simon Cowell. DON’T STOP READING! He finds talented young people, nurtures and mentors them, brings out the best in them, and harnesses their talent before… well making a heap of money from the rest of their careers. No one’s perfect.
While mentoring is often a one-to-one activity, youth ministry is normally on a bigger scale than that, and every good sports movie (or show) has examples of this. The big two are, of course, Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights and, the man, the myth the legend, Gordon Bombay (played by Emilio Estevez) in The Mighty Ducks. Coach Taylor had to deal with a heap of problems during his time at the Dillon Panthers, including drug use and murder, but he still held the team together with his ‘Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose,’ mantra. As quarterback Jason Street told him, ‘You’ll always be my coach.’ And what to say about Gordon Bombay? He pulled together a ragtag ice hockey team to win against the odds, claiming victory with his patented ‘Flying V’ technique.
We need to talk about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Doc Brown. These guys are, literally, the grand-daddys of youth work: the key figures in the lives of up and coming leaders, yesterday’s heroes and today’s mentors. Obi-Wan’s role modelling and guidance for both Luke and Anakin Skywalker throughout the Star Wars films is a glorious youth ministry illustration, while Doc Brown builds a car so that he and Marty McFly can travel through time... WHICH IS AN EQUALLY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUTH WORK.
Just about every Robin Williams character is secretly a world-class youth worker. His role as John Keating in Dead Poets Society was the inspiration for a shedload of youth workers learning to spell JNC. Captain, my captain indeed. As psychology professor Dr. Sean Maguire, he played an invaluable role in the life of (good) Will Hunting before becoming the man who wasn’t as funny as he thought he was (and what’s more ‘youth work-y’ than that?), Patch Adams. And of course, most famously, most importantly: the Genie in Aladdin. Taking a youngster, guiding him through strange, unfamiliar worlds and taking on whatever role was needed in any situation. We’re sure he was also a youth worker in his other films but we’re a bit sketchy on the details of Jumanji, and no one has ever seen Bicentennial man.
It’s safe to say that for many of us, Geoff Keegan, an unassuming youth worker from the North- East, was the reason we got into youth work. Geoff dealt with everything: drug abuse, homelessness, teenage pregnancy and even the unfortunate blinding of one of his young people in an illicit game of paintball. The youth club at Byker Grove owed a lot to Geoff, even after his death in a tragic gas explosion. RIP Geoff.
