Archive for February, 2009
Volunteer Week – Developing Leaders
Posted on 21. Feb, 2009 by Sara.
So, this week we’ve chatted about a number of volunteer topics:
- Assessing our volunteer culture
- Recruiting new volunteers through expos and cold calls
- Providing an orientation process for new volunteers
- Training volunteers
Now it’s time to examine the leadership structure within a ministry.
WHY HAVE LEADERS?
You cannot do this job alone. Why? Because you are limited. You have weaknesses. If you don’t believe me ask your spouse…or your teenager.
With a team of leaders you have a team of increased time to pour in the ministry. You have more hands and feet to do the work. And you have the collective strengths and talents of many people.
You will be more effective if you develop leaders.
THE PATH TO LEADERSHIP
Here are a few things to consider:
1.… Read the rest
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Two great new ministry sites
Posted on 20. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.
A friend passed on these to stellar sites to me today. Really, you should check them out.
www.almostcuttingedge.com
www.almostleadingedge.com
Just in my defense, I have nothing to do with either of these sites. Seriously… someone just passed this information on to me. 
… Read the rest
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Volunteer Week – Training Volunteers
Posted on 20. Feb, 2009 by Sara.
A couple years ago, Kenny and I and our colleagues experimented with training volunteers. We did a big expo and recruited nearly 100 new workers in January. At the end of February, we held a seminar-style training on Saturday morning.
Why did we choose seminar-style training? We wanted to give our volunteers the chance to dive a little deeper into topics that really interested or concerned them. Also, we were a multi-site church and we wanted our volunteers to see and feel the energy of the entire team assembled at once. We hoped this might encourage those who felt isolated in their work.
SCHEDULE
Our schedule looked something like this:
8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. – Continental Breakfast and Roundtable Discussions
9:30 a.m.… Read the rest
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Volunteer Week – Welcoming New Volunteers
Posted on 19. Feb, 2009 by Sara.
One day I called to check on a volunteer. He’d agreed to volunteer, but according to the ministry director, he’d never showed up. Our call went something like this:
Me: “Hi. Can I speak to Mr. Jones?”
Him: “No Mr. Jones lives here. Only a Mr. Johnson lives here.”
Me: “I’m sorry. Is this <insert phone number here>?”
Him: “Yep.”
Me: “Well, perhaps I have the wrong name. Do you attend <insert church name here>?”
Him: “Yep.”
Me: “Hmm…have you volunteered in our kid’s ministry?”
Him: “Yep. I signed up a couple months ago and worked every week for about a month. But no one ever spoke to me, and I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be doing, so I stopped working about 2 weeks ago.”
WHAT???!!!!!… Read the rest
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Obama goes to camp!
Posted on 19. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.
Our student pastor just posted this video on his facebook account. So Awesome!
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New blog features
Posted on 18. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.
I’ve got two new features on Children’s Ministry Online. One I’ve had live for a few weeks and the other I installed today.
CommentLuv – This feature is active by default. When leaving a comment on my post, you have the option of leaving your website URL. If the URL you leave is your blog, then CommentLuv will find your most recent post and display it’s title and a link back to that post. The blogosphere is all about sharing and connecting… so be sure to take advantage of CommentLuv and promote your blog on my site!
Comment Subscription via Email – I’m the most excited about this feature. Have you ever left a comment on a blog post where you really wanted to keep up with what others were saying in their comments.… Read the rest
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Volunteer Week – Cold Calling New Recruits
Posted on 18. Feb, 2009 by Sara.
Cold calls.
Do those two words make the blood run cold in your veins?
Don’t be scared! After all, you wrangle large classrooms of energetic children week after week. If you can do that, you can take on the challenge of a few cold calls.
I found in my volunteer recruiting experience that a friendly phone call to parents worked wonders for my volunteer rosters. Here are a few things to consider:
WHO TO CALL?
How does your church record children’s ministry attendance? If you’re lucky enough to work at a church with a robust database, chances are you have pretty good records of what families are regularly attending.
Each quarter, I would run reports of all my kids who’d attended regularly over the past quarter.… Read the rest
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Official Orange Tweetup: Mark Your Calendar
Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.
Last week I announced the Orange Tweetup. Seems like most are going to be able to make it. I do really hate that there are some people who will still be traveling and may not be able to make it, but I think overall, Tuesday night is the best night for this endeavor. Wednesday night would be the second ideal night as it’s still early in the conference and a good opportunity to meet people we’re going to see in the hallways; however, the conference doesn’t let out until 10:30 PM and the Varsity closes at 11:30 PM. Lunch time? Fighting the conference traffic, there just isn’t enough time for a popper Tweetup.
So, make your plans now! Tuesday at 9:00 at The Varsity in downtown Atlanta.… Read the rest
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Going to Orange? Fly Airtran!
Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.
No, I’m not endorsing AirTran nor am I getting any money from the airline. However, I just bought my tickets for me and my team. Know how much I paid?
$74 each way from San Antonio, TX to Atlanta. You can get the same deal from DFW. $74! That’s freakin’ nuts!
It’s funny, two days ago I was hunting for airfares and the cheapest I could find was $330 per person, and that was us driving to San Antonio or Dallas. Then AirTran issued special fares and I booked them in a hurry. I bought tickets for six of us for a little over $1000. Dang!
So, the special is only for a few days (however, it seems like they do offer this deal about every two to three weeks).… Read the rest
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Volunteer Week – Examine Your Volunteer Culture
Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by Sara.
What kind of culture does your ministry have? Did you create that culture on purpose? Did you get there by accident? Did you get there by poor decisions?
The Bible talks often of the church being a body. Have you ever considered the human body? The pieces and parts work together. One is not more important than another. All have purpose and meaning. Is this how your ministry functions? If not, how do you turn the tide?
Examine your culture. Here are a few questions to consider:
Does your ministry have a stated purpose? Do volunteers know where the ministry is going? If you stop and ask any volunteer, do they know what the common goal is?
Does your ministry have a clear structure?… Read the rest
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