Archive for 'Volunteers'
#Orange10 Day 1: Building an apprentice mindset
Posted on 29. Apr, 2010 by Kenny.
My first breakout, hosted by Brian Vander Ark & Tim Vandlen was about some of the most important and strategic work we’ll do as a leader – duplicating ourselves into others. The fact of the matter is that one day, we will be replaced. One day it’s going to be over for us. It’s like death and taxes. However, there’s two approaches in dealing with this idea of being replaced.
- We can passively let it happen
- We can intentionally prepare
Most Children’s and Student workers are focused on what they do. Programs. Worship. Events. Emails. Recruiting. The problem is that most churches are distracted by the urgent and they neglect the important. If we set our sights on the future, what our future needs will be above our current needs, we’ll treat our volunteers differently.… Read the rest
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Volunteer Appreciation Event
Posted on 02. Apr, 2010 by Kenny.
A little over a month ago, we held our annual volunteer appreciation event. Last year it was a Christmas party, which I’m not entirely a huge fan of. It just seemed as if there’s already too much happening at Christmas time. So, we picked the end of February since there’s literally nothing exciting happening at the end of February.
This year’s event was so much fun. Over and over again the volunteers have told us how much they enjoyed this event. What did we do? A city-wide scavenger hunt. My elementary director did this at her previous church with much success, so we decided to give it a try this year. Essentially, we assigned volunteers into groups of 4-7 based on the region they lived, not by which ministry area they served.… Read the rest
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Googe Docs tips and tricks: Embedded docs
Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Yesterday I featured Google Docs as my app of the week. Let me show you another reason why, a prime example of why you might want to start using Google Docs in your ministry today.
Do you ever have to manage any kind of volunteer schedule? In the past I remember having created the schedule and then sending it out to all my volunteers. Now that we live in the digital age, one mass email and I’m done. Not too shabby. However, how long until that schedule is obsolete? Hours? Minutes? Volunteers call and email with their changes making the schedule you just emailed to everyone outdated. It would be pointless to email everyone with a new schedule every time it changed.… Read the rest
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Teenagers in your children’s ministry
Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.
As children’s pastors, we all want ‘em. We’ve all got ‘em. We’ve all been frustrated with ‘em. Often times, we really don’t now what to do with them.
Here are the various types of teens I’ve had help in my children’s ministries. Perhaps you can identify.
The All-Star: This teenager is a rock star. They’re super involved. They’re committed as much if not more than your very best adult volunteer. They’re awesome at what they do and the kids LOVE them. When you look at them, you see “future children’s pastor written all over them.” You wish you had 20 more of them.
The Fixture: This is the teenager who’s excited about serving, even if they don’t show it.… Read the rest
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Another thought on volunteers
Posted on 17. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.
Two weeks ago I did a little series on requiring parents to serve. Last Sunday night I was at Taco Bell with one of my volunteers (to me he’s more of a friend than “volunteer”). He had been reading my posts and shared with me his story about volunteering. Over a year ago I had a chance to share vision to our church and recruit new volunteers. My friend’s wife signed him up. He was reluctant to volunteer, but she knew he liked kids. His intention was to sign up for something he could do every other week. However, when I talked to him about becoming a small group leader, I didn’t really give him an option other than every other week.… Read the rest
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Requiring parents to serve: Conclusion
Posted on 06. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.
This little series turned out better than I planned. The feedback was incredible with lots of good stuff to think about. The funny thing is that none of this was planned. Coming back from vacation, it’s been a little harder to get back into a blogging routine. My post on Monday was a last minute idea and more of a short and simple post just to get one out on Monday. Funny how your involvement turned this into quite an engaging conversation.
Before all of this started (before I got the email asking for my advice) I found this blog post by Tim Stevens. Tim addresses this very same subject we’ve been discussing all week. If he were a children’s pastor, he suggested that he would get rid of any volunteer who were not passionate about serving kids.… Read the rest
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Requiring parents to serve: Called to serve?
Posted on 05. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.
I’ve been enjoying the conversations with several people about the subject of requiring parents to serve in the children’s ministry. Several of you all shared your opinions here. I shared my opinion here.
Several of you had some amazing comments. However, one thing I kept hearing over and over again was this idea of calling. Several people said that if a parent isn’t called to be in the room, they shouldn’t be in there. This intrigued me and I knew I wanted to discuss it further.
So, let me set the stage. Let’s take the idea of requiring parents off the table. Let’s also not talk about parents we’d all agree don’t need to be in our classrooms. Do you feel the only person who belongs in a children’s ministry environment is a parent or volunteer who feels called it it?… Read the rest
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Requiring parents to volunteer: My thoughts
Posted on 04. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.
Yesterday I wrote this post about parents being required to volunteer. I asked what you thought about it. More people than I expected responded and it seems that most people were against requiring parents to volunteer.
What I found intriguing was Holly’s comment. They attended a church where serving was required and it eventually led to her and her husband going into Children’s Ministry full time. Surprisingly I’ve actually met a handful of long-term volunteers who came into ministry that way.
My opinion is similar to what many of you said. I worked at a church where my boss highly encouraged me to make this requirement. I respectfully declined and he didn’t press the matter. I remember having the conversation with him asking him if we were going to be the nursery Gestapo.… Read the rest
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Requiring parents to volunteer
Posted on 03. Aug, 2009 by Kenny.
While I was on vacation, I got an email from another church asking me the following questions:
1. Do you expect or require parents to volunteer?
2. If so when do you start expecting them (when they become members?
after attending 3 months?)
3. How is it working for you?
I’m going to post my answer tomorrow. Before I do, I’d like to hear what you think. Have you had success with serving requirements?… Read the rest
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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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