Educating Youth Pastors

Here’s yet another letter that, with permission, I’ll post here. I have some ideas on this one, but I’d rather hear yours. What kind of education would you like to see for a youth pastor for your children?

Scot,
First, I want to thank you for the time you put into your blog. I realize that most of the emails you receive probably start out like this. But, I’m being authentic when I say that, so I thought it was worth adding. 🙂
Anyway, the reason I’m emailing is because I’ve been following your recent posts on being a professor. I found it interesting that several of the things you describe as positives for working in a college, as opposed to a seminary, are things that I am passionate about when it comes to youth ministry. I plan to be a youth pastor, and this fall I will start work towards an M.Div. I have a passion to help students learn and understand the Bible, as part of that I want to create an environment where teens can ask tough questions and walk the journey of faith openly. Its something I didn’t always have as a teen, or even as a student in college. Anyway, I was curious if you had ever heard of a youth pastor with a PhD in Biblical Studies (or something similar). I know of many youth pastors who have PhDs in psychology or cultural anthropology, but I’m really interested in Biblical Studies, specifically the Hebrew Bible.
I’ve rambled, I apologize. So, do you know of any youth pastors who have PhDs in Biblical Studies? As a follow-up – do you think youth pastors would be wasting their time to work on a PhD (or ThD, I suppose) in Biblical studies?
What do you think?