giving | More Than Dodgeball

Chris WesleyMore Posts How Do You Thank Your Volunteers?

I’m sure you love most if not all of your volunteer ministers. Face it, they give up their time and energy to help you, walk with teens and serve the Lord. What isn’t there to like about them? In fact if we were to sit down over coffee (Your buying), you would have some amazing stories to share about how you see God working through them. Bottom line: MINISTERS ARE IMPORTANT

Since you can’t do what you need or want to do with out your volunteer team it’s imperative that you show them YOUR APPRECIATION. While they might not be on your Christmas list this year, you need to make sure that they are thanked and celebrated. So, what does that mean? How does thanking and rewarding your volunteer ministers look like?

Sometimes there is an internal push back to thanking our ministers because you can’t afford it or there are just too many to track. Again, you might be gracious for all that they do; however, unexpressed gratitude isn’t really true gratitude at all. If you feel that gratitude isn’t a natural habit of yours, than consider these three tips:

Free Goes Far – Sometimes the best gifts are the ones that take little money; but, lots of thought. If all you are receiving in your mailbox these days is junk mail, you know how incredible it is to receive a handwritten note or card from a loved one. Next time you want to thank a volunteer take a minute or two to write out a card and mail it to them. Even if your only note is, “Thank You” it will go a long way. If you receive an email from a parent or a student that talks about how that volunteer has impacted their life, print it out and stick it in the card. It will show your ministers that not only do you appreciate them; but, so do the people they serve.

Praise Them Publicly – Brag on your team. Whether it’s in front of the congregation at your church, or to one of their family members, let them know how proud of them you are. It might be a little embarrassing for them; however, when you praise someone publicly, it rallies a crowd behind them. They go from joe-minister to “BIG TIME” volunteer instantly. Let them know that they can be proud of themselves.

Do For One Even If You Can’t Do For All - There are going to be times when you have the opportunity to spoil at least one of your volunteers. Maybe someone gave you an Ipad to give away, tickets to the ball game or money to spend. This is your opportunity to find someone in your ministry to praise. Then comes that voice, “If you can’t do for all, don’t do it for anyone.” that holds you back from expressing your gratitude. You’ve been taught to treat others fairly; however, you risk depriving someone of the accolades that they deserve. When you can do for one what you can’t do for all, you aren’t showing partiality. Instead you are showing the individual how much you appreciate them. Too many times when you give something to everyone, it looks formal and insincere. This is taking opportunity of a blessing you received to pass it on and show someone else that they are blessed too.

There are many ways to thank your volunteers, and how you thank them is going to depend on who they are, and what you have to give. The important thing is to always think outside of the box. Let others know how important your team is to you and pour out the appreciation.

How do you thank your volunteers?

Chris (Twitter)

4 View Comments November 20, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts Guest Post: Hurricane Sandy: A Report From A Youth Worker In The Trenches

Here is a snippet of a post from Leneita Fix who is a youth worker near the Jersey Shore and had Superstorm Sandy pass right over her community. Its a great piece and an opportunity for us to get students involved to give to help those most in need right now. Please read and go check out the full post for the rest of the info about how to get involved today.

BEFORE THE STORM: This past Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at a local church. I had wrestled and prayed about what to share. Hurricane Sandy was looming off our coast. The projected path was literally set for over my house on the Jersey Shore. For days, news and weather channels were raising panic within all of us calling this, “Frankenstorm.” Tense laughter filled aisles of supermarkets as water was eerily missing from shelves. So as the Lord spoke to my heart, asking me to talk on Jesus calming the storm in Luke 8, you can imagine my reaction. I wouldn’t talk on “that,” I couldn’t imagine it not sounding corny. Although He tugged at my soul harder, I made a different set of notes…

As I sat in the pew awaiting my name to be called, I heard Christ once again ask if I might talk about this story. The church was only half full as I stood before the congregation. Many were already home making preparations for the impending doom. Exchanging notes, I set out to tell of 12 disciples scared for their lives in the midst of what I believe could have been a hurricane. All the while their Messiah was asleep. What stuck out to me from this passage was a phenomenal idea. Yes, we all know that Jesus calmed the storm. This is important. However, I don’t really think that was the point. You see when the winds have been subdued Christ rebukes his friends for their lack of faith. Why? They should have understood that no matter what HE WAS THERE TO PROTECT THEM. As we left that day, I knew the sermon was for my own heart. As this colossal threat stood at my door what would be my own reaction? Would I know that no matter what happened, Jesus was close at hand, caring and loving all of us.

AFTER THE STORM: Now I sit on the other side of this monster storm. Jesus did not push back this mammoth into the sea. It’s power did not dissipate. Instead it plowed through the homes and neighborhoods around us. The pictures many are witnessing on CNN are literally blocks away from me. Personally, I am thankful for friends who took us in to evacuate the coast. Our house is still standing, with some shingles off the roof. We were and are safe. However, the house next to us is standing with a tree on the roof. The streets are barely passable. We know many who have lost everything: homes, cars, all their “stuff” is gone. You may be watching it on a screen, I am looking into the eyes of those I know. Important places in the life of our family are literally washed out to sea. Sitting in stunned silence, you wonder what to do? Where do I start?

WHERE WAS GOD IN ALL OF THIS? Luke 8 is the beginning. Christ is not asleep. He is here to take care of us. He is needed in this area more than ever. As we began the clean up today, I was struck with at thought. All of our “stuff” may be in jeopardy at any moment still we are standing together. Thankfully, my family and friends continue to have each other.

THE REALITY IS HITTING: At this point on the “inside” we don’t really know what to do. We keep waiting to wake up from this dream and have “normal” restored. There is no routine. No school. No work for many to go to. We have no idea when many of the children will be able to go to school again, as it is acting as the shelter for those who like us, can’t be in their home. Some are wondering with no home at all what will be next. Others, (like us) just can’t be there full time because it is cold, and dark and has no water. So you sleep at home and find some place to be during the day. There are curfews to get off the streets at 7 PM. Power and will not be restored in some areas (like at our home) for another 14 days. We are all just pulling together and figuring out the best way to stand together. Local churches are simply grilling hot dogs and giving them out. We are just making sure neighbors are alright. I am thankful that many of my friends have family where they can go.

We are only beginning to assess the needs in our own community. Currently, we can’t even get to them to know what else they might be without. It is starting by being neighborly. Neighborhoods are camping out and working together to pool resources. My husband stopped by our street today and gave away food we didn’t need to those around us. It’s as simple as knowing we have not been abandoned or forgotten. We can’t be swept up by the massive effort it will take to come to the other side of this. There is one bigger than all of us who remains in charge.

Go here to read the rest and see how you can help.

-Geoff

Add Comment November 1, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts HTB Leadership Conference – Part 2

Last week I was able to attend the Holy Trinity Leadership conference at Royal Albert Hall in London. I wrote previously about Nicky Gumbel’s Main Session and today are my notes from another main session from Judah Smith of City Church in Seattle.

Judah Smith – On Church Leadership Session 1

Leading is about giving – A leader who stops giving finds themself on a lonely walk. Our People want to follow generous leaders who are generous with time, love, passion and wisdom. He also asserts that great leaders give value to people – leadership is always about giving.

Leading is about expecting nothing in return – When we give or preach or serve, do we expect something back? Are we looking for affirmation, acknowledgment or appreciation and if we do, what do we do when we don’t get it. Leading with strings attached will rob us of fulfillment and satisfaction. Our people do this sort of thing to us as leaders and its brutal, so why would we do it to our people?

Leading is about consistency – Leaders act in consistency with their character, action, word and conduct. People are drawn to consistent leadership, and the truth is that a shooting star never helped a lost hiker and the same goes for us.

Leading is about loving – Loving must come before leading, and when we are loving and leading people, our position doesn’t matter as much. We need to fall in love with God and what He is doing, and bring our people along to be a part of that mission.

GS – Twitter

Add Comment May 24, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Holiday Giving Not Spending

In 2009 the amount was $41.2 billion. Last year saw impressive growth, moving up to $45 billion. That’s almost a $4 billion increase in a single calendar year. It may sound like Wall Street employee bonus checks, but this is the amount of money Americans spent at retailers on the four-day Black Friday weekend, which includes Cyber Monday.

That’s roughly $11 billion spent per day, primarily on consumer electronics and the accessories and media that make them hum. Throughout the entire holiday season–essentially Black Friday through
Christmas day–more than $450 billion was spent last year in the United States. This, on top of the billions we spend the other 360 days of the year on the same products. It’s hard not to pass judgment on this type of frivolous spending, particularly when there are so many needy people in the world, in our own neighborhoods. To be sure, many of these purchases are intended to brighten the holidays for a lot of unfortunate children and families, which has given me and my family time to reflect on just what holiday giving is all about, and how we could change our pattern to better reflect our personal desires to live in a better world.

For a lot of years we made “Christmas Angel” purchases at our local shopping mall, helping to meet the specific requests for underprivileged kids. We don’t have a lot of money, but we certainly have more than so many others and knew we could easily help a child or two have the same bright and cheery Christmas morning as our own child. This form of giving brings our family a lot of happiness, but we’ve always wanted to do more.

We started looking for charitable organizations that were already helping children around the world, primarily to see if we could find a really good fit. In short, we want our charitable donations to do the most good. Our search yielded a great deal of exciting and even inspiring information. Did you know that for a measly $4,500 nearly 500 people in Sudan and Sierra Leone, Africa can drink clean water from their own well? For $6,500 the same number of people in Uganda and Kenya can get the same clean, fresh drinking water so badly needed. The amount of money spent on one holiday weekend in the United States could build 10 million freshwater wells.

Now, they don’t need that many wells, but that’s the point. If we spent a mere 10% less on just Black Friday weekend and put that $4.5 billion into a charity like The Water Project or the Advent Conspiracy through its partnership with Living Water International, we could effectively end the very serious and lethal water problems in these four African countries, which include drought and contamination.

We looked further into this and discovered that $10 will provide fresh drinking water for one person for an entire year. Ten lousy bucks! $50 will help an entire family, and $250 will provide fresh water to an entire classroom for a whole year.

Less than a twenty-five percent of what is spend over Black Friday weekend, and approximately two percent of what is spent throughout the holidays–$10 billion– will solve this problem once and for all.

Can you imagine these Central African nations with no water-related problems? So can we, which is why we’ve made a couple of important choices this year. As in years past, we’ll eschew Black Friday and all its trappings, and we’ll ensure that we help an entire classroom have fresh, clean drinking water for an entire year. Won’t you join us?

Imagine what we could do for hunger!

Tim is a marketer for Cabledeal.org. He is an avid promoter of global issues and prayerfully wishes there was more he could do to help those with true needs. To learn more about Tim and to see what he is up to follow him on Twitter @TimLCooley.

Add Comment December 17, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Tithing Video from Mariner’s Church

Thought this video about tithing from Mariner’s Church was exceptional. Good stuff.

JG

5 View Comments July 7, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts eBay Offering: A Modern Day, Student-Friendly Take on “Sell Their Possessions and Giving to Anyone in Need”

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. -Acts 2:42

For two weeks HSM is going to offer a unique way of having students give an offering.

We’re in the middle of a church-wide campaign that includes a significant offering component at the end. Pastor Rick has been talking quite a bit about Acts 2:42, the “sell their possessions and give to those in need” and sharing how in the early days of Saddleback people literally downsized their houses and gave the difference to the church. We’ve taken this verse very literally in the past, and while I love it, the application to the present-day life of teenager doesn’t seem very relevant.

So this weekend we’re going to launch what we hope is a very student-friendly, modern day take on Acts 2:42. While students can still literally tithe and/or give an offering in an envelope, we’re also going to let them bring in items to sell. Here’s the idea:

Want to participate in the offering but don’t have money? Here’s how: donate something of our own to the giving campaign. First get your parent’s permission, then bring in any item worth $50 or more and give it away at the eBay offering table. We’ll take each of the items and put them on eBay and find new owners for your stuff with all of the proceeds going directly to the campaign.

The opportunity to give will run for just 2 weeks, Nov 6/7 and 13/14 and students from the Oh Snaps! photography ministry will take pictures of the items as they come in and another student leader will help write up the product description. The whole process will be done by students and overseen by an adult, with 100% of the proceeds go to the 2020: The Future is Now offering.

When I announce it this weekend, I’m going to give away 2 things myself to the campaign: one that is easy to give away, and one that is more of a sacrifice. I’m going to give away my copy of Avatar: the Video Game for the Xbox 360. Easy, the game is average at best and I’ve already beat it. But I’m also going to give something away as a sacrifice, one that I’ll feel a little more: my brand new copy of Halo: Reach. I want to make sure students hear that we don’t just give out of abundance, but we give out of sacrifice as well. Why am I doing this again? Hahahha …

So we’ll see how it goes! Could be a total flop, but I think even just using this concept as a teaching point could be valuable for our students and might be worth it alone. If it takes off, it could be something really special.

JG