I’m not complaining…in fact we do have a group of solid, dependable volunteers at my church and I know our church staff is so very thankful for them! However, as a staff leader, it’s important to make sure you don’t spread your volunteers too thin.  Learning their strengths and helping them figure out where they can best use those strengths will help you build a strong volunteer staff.

Here are four steps to help you get started:

1. List Your Strengths- have your volunteers and staff make a list of their strengths. They should include the activities they enjoy the most, the things they are best at.
2. Ask Others- It doesn’t hurt to have someone else create a list of strengths for you or your volunteers/staff. It might be surprising to see how someone else views them. Maybe pair volunteers up, if they know each other well and start with questions like: What am I best at? What are my weaknesses? What strengths might I build on?
3. “Hire” your volunteers- Interview your volunteers for specific positions. Get to know your volunteer and encourage them along the way. Take time to listen to them and see what they are looking for. Maybe even let the volunteer interview you.
4. Review the Strengths lists- once you start listing strengths on each of your volunteers and getting other’s feedback, keep it in a file. Every quarter, when you meet with your volunteer, go over those strengths and see what areas they would like to grow in.

What other things can help build a strong volunteer staff?

*photo by Jacob Moyer

If you have other ideas, please share them…let’s get some creative juices flowing!

There are three different types of volunteers.

1. Committed Volunteer-  Super involved, maybe you include this person on your core team of volunteers. This person doesn’t need a ton of direction from you because they know the ropes. They know the answers to people’s questions and are ready to train new volunteers.
2. New Volunteer- Willing to help, but not super involved mostly due to lack of knowledge. They want to help, but aren’t familiar with the processes or the way of the land. They probably get overwhelmed seeing you running around all morning. They’ll need a lot of direction. Give them specific tasks at first and help them grow into a committed volunteer.
3. Substitute Volunteer- a group of people willing to fill in as needed for your core team volunteers

The easiest type of recruiting is probably for the substitute volunteer. There’s no real long term commitment. All they have to do is volunteer once in awhile, when someone else can’t. All volunteers want to feel needed. Whether they are a substitute or commited, give them ownership of their position. Look for leadership skills within your volunteer base and be willing to hand over certain tasks. Turning new volunteers into committed volunteers is tough. Here are a few things to think about:

1. Have volunteer positions been posted somewhere with a clear definition of what’s involved? A lot of times people won’t volunteer because they don’t know what their signing up for. A vague invite to volunteer within the children’s department could range from changing diapers, singing songs or just helping with crafts.  Communicate the expectations clearly…treat it like a job posting.

2. Have you asked people from outside your peer group to volunteer?

Think outside your circle of friends and their circle of friends. Have you considered asking retirees within the church to help volunteer? What about teens in the youth group? College group?

3. Have you announced your need for volunteers in other places beside the church bulletin?

Video Announcments? Facebook Posts on the Church Facebook page? Skits announcements? Bathroom door poster announcements? Website Announcements?

4. Does your church have a place on their website with all volunteer needs listed?

Having a centralized location where people, who are willing to volunteer, can go and find where they can serve. Having a detailed description of each position will probably be helpful in helping them feel qualified and needed for the job.

5. Are you encouraging and thanking your volunteers?

A genuine smile and thank you can go a long way in keeping your volunteers. When they feel appreciated, they are probably more likely to continue serving because they can see how it benefits the church and helps you. Never take for granted the power of a simple, “thank you.”

What other ideas do you have?

My church has recently gone through a lot of change within our young adults’ class. Personally, I enjoy change because things happen when there’s healthy change. If we get too settled and comfortable with what’s going on around us, then nothing will happen. Nothing will grow. It will eventually die. But when there’s change, it’s vital that vision and goals are communicated clearly.

There are very few really awesome communicators in the world. Funny how several people can interpret the same message differently.  AND there are hundreds of different ways to communicate the same message.  No wonder we misinterpret, get our feelings hurt and assume too many things.

Through some of this change, I’ve realized the importance of communication and thought I’d pass it along.

1. Don’t assume- Thinking of combining groups or removing a program? As a leader, you have the authority to do those things, but consider getting input from those who will be directly affected. Don’t assume that everyone understands your vision. Communicate your vision in several different ways. Talk about it on Sunday morning. Send an email during the week. Talk to individual “influencers” within the group so they can help spread the word.
2. Start a Conversation- Get input from the leaders within your group on changes you want to see within the group. Maybe you already have an end goal in sight, but you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a few people willing to get to that goal with you.  As much as we don’t want to admit it, everyone is human and the lack of communication often breeds negative feelings toward the leaders in the group and toward the overall vision.
3. Remember it’s not YOUR Vision-  Unless you’re flying solo and know how to lead a group better than God, then the vision you have is probably not self-given. Hopefully, God gave it to you and wants to use you to bring him glory and accomplish his goal for the group. Get people talking about the vision God has placed on your heart and let Him change their hearts.

What other advice would you have for churches going through change?

One of the phrases he mentioned is still resonating loudly in my mind.  The notion that our culture often times defaults to “create average products for average people.”

“Mass is built into our culture.”  As he mentioned, this is affecting our products, services, politics and more.  Instead of “revolutionizing” something by doing things that are “perfect and impossible” we just do what we need to in order to get by.  We do as many tasks as we can to meet the minimum requirements. Yuck.

BUT, what if we chose fewer tasks and did them with excellence?

What if, we stopped trying to please EVERYONE with our ministries, sermon series, or organizational vision, and chose to perfect what we are gifted at?

Would it leave some people dissatisfied? Most likely.  But remember – 20% of your clients provide 80% of your revenues.   I know we aren’t looking for revenues – but the big truth remains the same.

If you make that 20% of people, 50% happier, what does that do to your ROI (a church’s investment is in people…by the way…)?

My recommendation is to STOP, DROP and ROLL.

STOP – Stop trying to please everyone. It’s impossible. Plus it only makes your end product weak – and ugly.  We know that the “manufacturer’s color” of carpet is beige because it is the most neutral.  Who really wants a beige product?

DROP – Drop the excess ministries, services, and initiatives that aren’t in your wheel house.  Despite great intentions, it’s causing you atrophy.  Keep what you are great at and hone those areas.  As God entrusts new people to your leadership with great skills in other areas, the Body naturally is able to offer more without compromising quality.

ROLL –Roll out your services with confidence. A perfect product is something to be proud of – not to apologize for.  Even if it doesn’t apply to everyone – it will enhance the lives of the few far greater than barely affecting the lives of many.

So thank you Seth Godin, for teaching me to stop pleasing everyone and make my own revolution.  Is it time to start yours?

Photo by Amber

There are so many factors that lead to this desire to change professions.  I believe this statistic is profound in defining why:

“90% of pastors feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands.”

Do you fall into this group?  If so, my heart goes out to you. I have been heavily involved in ministry work for much of my life and understand that, while it is incredibly fulfilling and an immense joy, there are many unexpected obstacles to face.

Perhaps this feeling of inadequacy lies in the fact that,

“90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry.”

Today I want to know how faithHighway can help ease the burden.  What do you need?

Is it prayer?  Because I will pray for you (just email me).

Is it someone to talk to you? Because there are handfuls of ministry workers here that can talk with you.

Is it help with marketing/outreach? Because we are pros at that.

Is it empowering you to engage more visitors? Because we are passionate about that.

With years of personal experience and a visible passion to empower the Kingdom, faithHighway (and I) want to lift you up.  We want to defy the odds with you.  This year, instead of having more churches close than open, let’s work together to sustain His church.  It won’t be easy; but we certainly want to do it with you.

Photo by Diorama Studios

Statistics found here.

1. Speak first, listen second.
2. Finish your co-workers sentences to influence their thinking
3. When in a heated conflict, only make it personal if you absolutely have to in order to win the argument
4. If you want to have good customers, be a good customer
5. Social media is the platform upon which integral and synergistic revelations enter the modern workplace
6. The more cross-functional teams, the better
7. When unsure, copy multiple people on emails until someone helps you find an answer
8. Assess, Certify, Validate, Replicate
9. In order to be a leader, you must remind others of your abilities
10. Effective leaders do not eat Hot Pockets for lunch
11. When you make a mistake, learn to blame it on someone
12. Strategic implementation of day-to-day operations is vital in continuity of care for the customer
13. Don’t give up, unless you know you can’t get it done
14. When you face a challenge, confuse it by speaking gibberish
15. To truly understand leadership, you must first understand the words that make up leadership: “lead” and “ership”
16. The best way to lead is to make sure you are in front
17. It’s best to make decisions when you’re angry
18. If you act busy, people will think you’re busy
19. Passive Aggressive communications is always better than aggressive aggressive communication
20. Make sure you use the words “synergy” and “implement”
21. There is no I in team, but there is meat, and meat gives you energy

Photo By: respres

In his post, Brian Gaffney, talks about the messages your church marketing materials are sending. He relates it to a sports team and how the coveted position is not the bench warmer….it’s to be out in the field playing, when our name is called.

Is your marketing material Smart? Creative? Fun? Jesus was all of those things. Culture tells us that marketing should be fun, yet when it comes to the church, somehow people expect it to be different. Why?

He asks a couple of thought provoking questions that I think you would benefit from:

“What does your church’s communications and marketing material say?”

“Does it invite the audience to ride the benches or get into the trenches?”

Read the whole post and leave your thoughts.

Photo By: ArunMarsh

When thinking about what works for your audience, what all do you take into consideration?  Do you consider where they spend their time and energy…or wonder what works better for you?  It’s always easy to do what is easy and natural for us, but we must always think about how our audience is receiving the message. Many argue the medium versus message point…the thought that the medium is just as important as the message itself.

How we say things is just as important as what we are saying.  If our only method of ministry is printed on paper that goes in the trash, how effective is it? Or, if our ministry only lives online and doesn’t have the application of people loving each other face-to-face, we’re missing it.

There are more and more ways to communicate with our community, visitors and members.  It’s just a matter of being intentional and communicating in languages they are already speaking.

See Steve’s top 5 of 13 listed below:

Twitter

Facebook

Youtube

Vimeo

Wufoo forms

Do any of these fall into your top communication tools?  If not, what are the top applications in your list?  We’d love to have a list to share with other pastors and ministry leaders!

Photo By: Ivan Walsh

I’ve experienced the ebb and flow of office busyness and different types of management in these different scenarios.

I’ve worked in offices when busy times have been the toughest times in my life because management grabs tighter onto my daily activities, increasing my stress.  I’ve also been in environments where peace flourishes, regardless of the speed and craziness of the work flow.

It all comes down to vision and the ability to multiply one another.  If every employee knows the vision of the organization, no manager will need to keep those tight reigns on everything accomplished in the office.  While accountability is always necessary, freedom can not only empower an employee to take pride in their work, it can inspire them to pursue new activities.

And if a vision is as contagious as it should be, a staff person or volunteer will want to multiply themselves by finding another to fill their position.  This enables them to move to a new, exciting role, spurring even more passion for the vision and mission.

If a lack of vision permeates an organization, low morale and lack of motivation can prevail.  When vision is unclear, workers have to run every decision past their superior, causing the devastating chain reaction of a bottleneck. And who wants to move up in an organization that they don’t enjoy or care about?  And who, for that matter, would want to sucker someone else into that same position?

Investing into communicating vision can break off the bottleneck and allow organizations to pool resources in an efficient and empowering way.

Don’t forget that vision leaks.  You may have spent lots of time reminding your team of the big picture; but once more won’t hurt.  And again after that.

Take some time in the next couple of weeks to remind your team why you are doing what you’re doing and how vital they are to the organization. As busyness picks up again, you’ll be glad you did.

Photo By: Ross Elliott

Then, I traded in my Blackberry for an iPhone a few years ago. I’m not going to tell you it’s the greatest phone ever. I will tell you that it changed the way I looked at media on the go. It quickly integrated into my day-to-day activities. My shopping lists, my music, my rolodex, all contained in one handy little machine.

As I am sure you have heard, Apple released a new iPhone. I am currently waiting for mine to ship. I also imagine you’ve heard about the “reception issues” of the new iPhone. You have to love the media. Things aren’t always as they seem.  Anandtech, an independent research company put the issues to the test. Here’s what they found:

1. Yes, there is a higher signal attenuation when held in a certain way than other phone models
2. Even with the attenuation, the signal outperforms all previous iPhone models in signal strength.

So, here you have a piece of $200 equipment that outperforms its predecessors, but isn’t perfect, and you have a mob of fanboys up in arms. How should Apple respond?

Then, I thought about my church. How many services have I attended and we have a great worship service, great preaching, and I focus on “this would have been awesome, if only the cushion in my seat was squishier” or “I didn’t really care for that last song, otherwise, this would be amazing.” Why do we focus on the minute details of the things that may not be perfect, allowing it to ruin the entire experience, when the reality is things are great?

Oh, and if you want to read more about the iPhone report, here’s a link for you- http://mashable.com/2010/06/30/iphone-4-reception-indepth/

Photo By: davidgsteadman