Childrens Ministry Online

Volunteer Recruiting Efforts

Posted on 21. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.

Yesterday I posted my big vision for Kidmin volunteers at Gateway. I think the vision for this came when I realized that we’ve been hovering at the same number of volunteers for the past six months. I wouldn’t say I was shocked, surprised or any other specific emotion. I just didn’t know. It seems that we do a great job of maintaining. We have approximately the same number of people volunteer as volunteers step out for whatever reason.

This simply means we need to be more intentional over the next 12 months in order to see significant growth. I figured that we’ll do two things.

1. I’d like to have two big volunteer expos or volunteer drives where we make a big deal out of it and can recruit in big church, capturing a lot of those who don’t have kids or those who haven’t connected anywhere yet.
2. I’d like to have some internal campaigns/competitions where we engage our volunteer base to recruit for us, getting them to think about replacing themselves.

This weekend we just finished a volunteer expo. It was a huge success. However, I’d love to do another one in the late spring, even one that was specifically for the Next Gen. These big pushes for volunteers will help us to get 70-80% toward our goal. Check in tomorrow and I’ll tell you what we did for this expo, and how we got 1/3 of the way toward our goal.

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Question to you: When do you recruit?

Posted on 22. Jul, 2010 by Kenny.

I’ve been talking to my team about a big volunteer push. More than likely we’re going to do a 2-3 week push in October which I expect will be pretty good. A few years ago we did a really big push in January which was very well received. However, when have you found to be the most effective time to recruit volunteers? I know a lot of people like to do April and May volunteer drives so they’re all screened, trained and ready for the fall. What has worked best for you?

Tell me your story. What’s the most creative or effective thing you’ve done to recruit a boatload of new volunteers? What made it so successful? I’d love to hear some new and creative ideas and strategies that we can implement as we recruit. I’ve found that strong exposure/communication as well as creativity tend to yield great success.

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Volunteers: When you don’t have enough

Posted on 28. Oct, 2008 by Kenny.

I’m really curious about something.

One of the most popular subject to discuss in children’s ministry is the recruiting, retention and leading of volunteers. Why? Because we all need ‘em. I’ve never met anyone who had all the volunteers they’ve needed. When I was just starting out in ministry and feeling the responsibilities of recruiting, I felt comfort in the fact that a really big church down the road that I respected for their excellence and quality in ministry was also in the midst of trying to recruit several hundred new volunteers. Even when in Malaysia several years ago when doing some CM training, several local CP’s would come up and say, “but you don’t understand. It’s different here. We never have enough volunteers!” It’s a global challenge.

This post is not about volunteer recruiting though. It’s about what you are doing in the mean time. No one ever really talks about this part. I know for a lot of us, it means staff and already over-committed volunteers getting sucked into last minute spots (yeah, we all know it happens… we just don’t want to admit it). For some it is utilizing subs to fill empty spots rather than just subbing for workers who are out. I know others have even recruited temporary volunteers (just give us until the end of the year and we can fill this spot).

I’m not sure if anyone else has ever wondered about this. What are you doing and how do you cope with the open spots while recruiting? Tell your story.

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The Holy Ghost and me

Posted on 25. Jun, 2008 by Kenny.

A few weeks ago my blogging friend Sam wrote a very intriguing post here. I was disappointed that there were only two comments… both of them mine. However, I’m pretty sure I know why no one had much to say. I think it’s rare for us to link the Holy Spirit and recruiting together. It kind of was for me too.

A few weeks ago I finished writing an article on the Holy Spirit’s role in recruiting. Writing this article was amazingly refreshing and a great reminder of the things I often forget or neglect. Here’s all I can say. They Holy Spirit wants to help and we need to remember to let him. He proved it to me in a beautiful bit of confirmation that I’d love to tell you about.

I finished writing this article just before the weekend… about letting the Holy Spirit help in your recruitment process. After service that Sunday, my wife came up to me and said, “Remind me to tell you about the person I saw in the garage (our coffee/bookstore) today.” It wasn’t until later that night that I remembered to ask. She then went on to tell me about someone she saw earlier that day. There was this man who came up to the husband of my Early Childhood Director. He seemed very outgoing and fun. More importantly, he really engaged with his kids… he had them eating out of his hands, so to speak. Sara said, “you gotta get this guy on your team.”

So, I then sent an email to my Early Childhood Director’s husband. I prefaced the email saying, “This is a highly unusual request.” I went on to tell him what Sara saw and that I’d like to connect with him if he’s not serving somewhere else. He wrote back within minutes. He said that this guy had served in the Children’s Ministry for years and totally loved it. Even more, the guy had even said that day that he was thinking about plugging back into the Children’s Ministry. Now tell me, does the Holy Spirit want to help or not?

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SATURATE

Posted on 23. Jun, 2008 by Kenny.

I mentioned yesterday that we’re recruiting volunteers and developing leaders for the fall promotion on August 24th. We actually did a push from the stage yesterday, but we’re looking for way more volunteers than we can get from that. I’ve been talking to my staff about how we can “saturate” the vision in as many venues as possible. Here are some of the ways we’re going to (or hoping to) get the word out among our church.

• Parent Communication: It’s fairly common for me to send out an email to all the parents who’s kids attend regularly. Next week I’ll be sending out an email to inform them of all the events and activities coming up this summer. In that email I’ll mention some serving opportunities they can take advantage of.
• Parent Meeting: So much is changing in the fall, so we’re hosting a parent meeting. Actually, we’re hosting 4 of them around two different weekends. We’ll be talking about what the ministry will look like next year. Since I’ll have so many parents face to face, I’ll share a little vision for joining a serving team.
• Men’s Ministry: I’m hoping to speak at a men’s breakfast or gathering over the summer. What better way for men to impact the next generation of men by leading a small group of boys? Oh yeah!
• Singles Ministry: Gateway has a lot of these. I’d love to infuse the CM with some younger singles, so we’ll try out this group.

My team had a few other ideas as well we’re going to look at for the future. The key though is to saturate. We need as many people as possible to know what’s happening this fall with the kids.

What other ways can we saturate the vision in the next few months? Any ideas?

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Yes, I did it and I’m not going to apologize!

Posted on 22. Jun, 2008 by Kenny.

Last Sunday (yeah, I said last Sunday… I’m behind and catching up) I stood on stage and recruited new volunteers.

GASP!

Yeah, I know. It is something I speak against, but I’m not going to apologize.

Actually, it was my first opportunity to be introduced to my church. Two weeks earlier it was announced that the previous Children’s Pastor had resigned and would be moving to Colorado in two weeks. A lot of people thought that I was his replacement. So, it was a good opportunity for me to introduce myself and explain my new role.

Second, I had the opportunity to share a little vision. On August 24th we’re promoting for the next year and also launching over 30 small groups in our elementary program The relational element has been missing here and is certainly a felt need. So, I got to share how we’re launching small groups and how our passion is that every child be connected relationally to a small group of peers and an adult leaders.

Last of all, I told people that now is the best time of all to join the CM team. There was a piece in the program that they could fill out and drop in the offering or they could come and meet me in person after the services. We had a good response and about half of those who responded did so in person. I got to put some names to faces and shake some hands.

Here’s the deal, I’m at a huge disadvantage as I know very few people. On Sunday, I connected personally with about 20 people who are dying to plug into the kids ministry. That was great for my situation. However, I also understand that many of those people won’t make it to a serving team. A push from the stage just isn’t nearly as effective as a personal invite. So, I’m meeting with as many as I can over a meal, coffee or whatever to increase my odds and build my network.

We’re probably going to do one more of these style pushes in the early fall. Then no more. We’re banning ministry recruiting from the stage. We’ll use other methods… more effective methods. My goal though is to make some kind of presentation 4 times a year from the stage. Simply a video or testimony that shows how ministry to kids is totally rockin’! No ask… just showing off. If anything, I want serving in our ministry to be attractive to the casual attendee, not something we’re begging for help from the stage several times a year.

Oaky, so go ahead. I still did it, even if I did have a good excuse… and I’m probably doing it one more time in the fall. Feel free to tell me what you really think, I can take it.

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Do they love it?

Posted on 03. Jun, 2008 by Kenny.

I met with my Kids staff today. We had a very interesting discussion on volunteer recruiting. Interestingly enough, the discussion we had was very similar to what Pudge blogged today.

We were talking about the methods we’ll be recruiting new volunteers over the summer. We’ve got several plans in the oven as we plan to saturate people with the opportunity to plug in.

One of my staff then asked about how we get our existing volunteers to recruit for us. Her thought was that if they are currently serving, they would be the best recruiters. Although we have many volunteers and leaders who LOVE serving in Kids Quest, few volunteers recruit help. We discussed it further and there is a need for training and equipping volunteers who love the ministry to recruit more help.

However, I had a few thoughts. First of all, I’ve talked with my staff from two other churches about getting volunteers to recruit other volunteers. We’ve even talked about great contests where the volunteer who recruited the most would win a big prize. However, I’ve never been anywhere where volunteers were a strong recruiting force. I went on to tell my staff. When I got to a restaurant that I love, I tell a lot of people. When I see a great movie, I tell a lot of people. When I get a new product/gadget that I love, I become quite the evangelist. Very important point here. The volunteers of our children’s ministry do not recruit others to volunteer (or very little happens). What does that say about the quality of our ministry? Ouch!

Let me take a step back. I’m not going to make a blanket statement here. Just because our volunteers do not recruit others naturally does not mean my program stinks. Not at all. There is more to it. However, this does lead me to think about the important elements.

• Are the programs in the ministry exciting and engaging?
• Is it a fun place to be?
• Do our leaders feel connected?
• Do our leaders feel equipped?
• Do our leaders feel loved?
• Do my volunteers have some ownership of the program? (Added byDonna Terrell)

I’m not 100% sure, but I have a feeling that if we get these few things right, we may see our volunteers bring in other volunteers. I know, many don’t think of themselves as volunteer recruiters. However, if I communicated to all my volunteers that I wanted each of them to recruit 2-3 of their friends/peers to the children’s ministry right now, what would they feel?

• Totally stoked that they can invite someone to the awesome opportunity that they’ve been blessed to have!
• Uncomfortable, like their trying to sell their friends something through Amway?

What about you? Does this resonate with anyone? Do your volunteers recruit others? If so, what’s the secret?

Technorati Tags: Volunteers

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Clarification: Opportunity of a lifetime

Posted on 20. May, 2008 by Kenny.

Last week I read an incredible post from the Access: Elevation blog. It concerned how you communicate available volunteer positions to potential volunteers. Again, it’s one of those “don’t communicate the need, communicate the vision” ideas. However, Larry Brey communicated perfectly how serving is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s a personal invite to participate in the single most powerful movement and organization in the world. The Church!

Bravo, it’s a great post that many can take and adapt to their volunteer/recruiting process.

However…

There is something I need to clarify. Something that appears to be missing.

Yes, I think it would be incredible if we communicated this message to potential volunteers. Yes, I believe that serving in the church (especially in the kids ministry) IS an opportunity of a lifetime. BUT, (listen closely) too often we don’t treat it that way. It’s easy to communicate how important the job is and how great an opportunity it is, but after we fill that spot we sometimes check that one off the list, move on to the next one and neglect the person who just bought what we were selling!

If we truly believe that serving in the church is the opportunity of a lifetime, then we’ll treat every position with total respect. We’ll clearly communicate to our new volunteer. We’ll adequately train our new volunteer. We’ll walk beside them to make sure they’ve “got it.” Anything less and we’ve become nothing more than a used car salesman, resorting to whatever’s necessary to fill a spot.

I know that’s not our heart, but perhaps we “make room” and prepare for the volunteer to fill the spot before we begin recruiting.

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A HUGE favor: Helping someone discover their passion

Posted on 18. May, 2008 by Kenny.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been hearing some interesting stories from some of the men who serve in the Children’s Ministry here at Gateway Church.

One guy told me about how he and his wife responded to a plea for help in the Children’s Ministry. One day the Children’s Pastor turned to him and said, “I think you’d be perfect to operate and voice the Elmer puppet (our preschool character).” Now this guy is incredibly passionate about “being” Elmer and is also overseeing a dad’s group.

Another guy started volunteering in the classroom where his daughter attended. At that point in time, he was an agnostic. Now he’s one of the lead teachers (no, he’s not an agnostic anymore). He wears a cape to work with the kids. Why? Because he’s passionate about being a hero to these kids.

I observed (I haven’t met him yet) another guy who is the host of our Preschool Elmer’s Clubhouse (he’s the emcee). He’s one of the best I’ve seen. I asked about how they found him. I was then told that his wife dragged him into it. She wanted to serve and didn’t want to do it by herself. One day someone handed him the microphone and he hasn’t given it back yet.

There are many more stories just like these, I just haven’t discovered them all yet.

I’ve had this thought in my head all weekend. Sometimes in efforts to recruit for the children’s Ministry, we communicate “need.” Yeah, that one isn’t usually good. “They” tell us that we need to recruit by communicating vision. Yes, this is the way to go. However, I think there may be something else to consider. I think we may need to communicate that we’re doing “them” a favor by letting them come volunteer. Yeah, I said that right. For many people, their greatest passion may be loving other peoples’ kids and they don’t know it yet. It may be serving snacks, running computer check-in, operating a puppet, running sound, teaching from the stage or leading a small group. They just may not know until they give it a shot. So, think about that the next time you get to make an announcement from the stage in “big church.”

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