volunteers | More Than Dodgeball

Geoff StewartMore Posts Are You a Volunteer?

A few weeks ago our leadership team gathered in my tiny town home for ice cream sundaes, talking, praying and planning the next few months. Whenever we meet I always make a point to thank them for giving up so much of their personal time to serve the Kingdom by loving students. Our team members on average serve 6 hours per week on top of full time jobs and or university. I am humbled by the commitment of my volunteers, as they give up hundreds of hours a year.

One thing that new members of our volunteer team find surprising is that all the paid staff in the youth department are all volunteers as well. We work during the day and at 5pm on our youth night we become volunteers. When they ask why, my answer is simple: How could I ask you to do something that I wouldn’t do myself?

It seems obvious to me that we would serve alongside our leaders and give as much or more as they do, modelling a servant-like attitude. I recognize for some it is not that easy due to multiple services or multi-event weeks, but at a minimum should we not serve as a volunteer for the same amount of hours as an average volunteer in our ministry?

Maybe you coach a team or serve somewhere else but I have to ask, shouldn’t we be volunteers too?

Geoff – (Twitter)

3 View Comments October 31, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts Desperate For Volunteers? How Are You Communicating It?

Its that time of the year! When some of the volunteers that committed to serving this year, committed to leading a small group and investing in the lives of a student decide…. JUST KIDDING! That is probably a bit unfair to say, but it is pretty common time for volunteers to recognize a few months in that they might have bitten off more than they can chew and decide to step down from their role. As disapointing as it is, we need to quickly change our focus and try and recruit someone new to fill that role.

I can remember a time I was meeting with a youth worker who was in serious need of youth leaders after a few leaders on his already skeleton staff stepped down mid-season. He shared a very real feeling of desperation and a feeling is natural and reflected often in the Bible, through people like Moses or David in Psalm 142 amongst many others. Desperation is a part of ministry and I am thankful that I was able to encourage him, pray for him in his desperation as he asked God to bring him new leaders. He was not alone in the hunt the Church had his back, and Sunday after Sunday they announced the desperate need in the Youth Ministry for volunteers. Yet week after week no one stepped up and I have a feeling of why this might be the case.

When I think back to the days in high school when I was a single fella, and what woud I have done if a girl from my class announced that she was single. Not only was she single, she was desperate for a boyfriend, I mean DESPERATE for a boyfriend. Lets just say I would be running in the other direction. Desperation is not an attractive trait, and when I hear that a ministry is desperate for volunteers, my mind starts to wonder why? Is there dysfunction or unhealth? Why does no one want to serve? There are lot of questions that would go through my mind. I am convinced that people are more likely act on an opportunity to serve than to react to a desperate situation. Framing it in a positive light as a challenge and not a problem will be much more invitational because people take on challenges, they avoid problems.

The feelings of desperation are legit, having a complete reliance on God is essential, but be careful how you communicate your need. You want the right volunteer to feel called to serve that is a long term solution, not a plug in a hole in your ministry for a short season.

-Geoff – (Twitter)

Add Comment October 29, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts The Power Of Your Unique Voice

My of my great joys in ministry is being able to train volunteer and youth workers from different Churches and work to equip them to leader better. One of the most important things that I try and help them understand is that they have a voice in their student’s lives that is unlike any other. Students have all kinds of people that influence them and when it comes to adults in their lives, teachers, parents and youth workers are often the big three.

But it’s important that we recognize that our voice is unlike any other in the life of High School students and here is why:

Our Voice is Unique: When it comes to adults in a teen’s life, at some point they have to listen to their parents and they have to listen to their teachers as well. Students don’t have to listen to us, they choose to. They have to go to school, have to live at home, but choose to go to youth group. The fact that students choose to listen to us means that our voice has weight and influence. We can meet a student for coffee; something they might be mortified to do with their parent and not allowed to do with a teacher, it’s a great setup for us.

Our Voice Is Respected: When students choose to listen to us, it’s a statement of respect that they value what we say. Being a youth worker is a bit of a hybrid of the friend / mentor role and with that comes the ability to speak into the life of a student with wisdom and life experience. When our voice is respected, our lives are as well so be mindful of what you endorse, intentionally or accidentally.

Our Voice Can Be Objective: Being slightly removed from life at home and life at school coupled with the relationship we have with students gives us a unique perspective that has little obvious bias other than to uphold Biblical values. Helping students to look outside themselves and to look at a situation in a different way is challenging but doable. This is a keen opportunity for us to help students experience Matthew 5 conflict resolution and encourage them through the process as a supportive third party.

Recognizing my unique voice was a bit of a Spider-man moment for me, you know? – With great power comes great responsibility, but a better example would be in Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded”. You have an incredibly powerful and influential voice in the life of a young person. Use it wisely to pour into them, challenge them and build them up into young men and women after God’s own heart. We need to know this, our leaders need to know this.

-Geoff (Twitter)

2 View Comments October 19, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts GUEST POST: How To Make Youth Volunteer Meetings Worthwhile

Great ministry teams are key to effective and fulfilling ministry! Part of creating and sustaining a great team is ensuring that we meet regularly to be reminded why we do what we do, and to refocus on the vision. But, can I be honest for moment? I dislike meetings greatly! Although I see the need to meet, it’s sometimes hard for me (and my volunteers), to get excited about youth ministry team meetings!

However, with all that said, I have discovered four essential ways that help our team to be reminded of why we do what we do, and refocus on the vision, without it feeling like it’s an insurance seminar:

1) Celebrate What God Has Done: At every meeting I give my team the opportunity to share all the ways they have seen God moving in our student ministry. It’s human nature to get to a meeting and quickly focus on all that needs to be changed, tweaked, or challenged. Before we know it, we are looking to fix a plethora of problems. Every ministry will have issues and challenges, but that cannot be where we begin our meetings. It’s imperative that we begin by letting leaders talk about what God has been up to. When my leaders share their stories of changed lives, it paints the clearest picture of why we do what we do.

2) Talk Less, Type More! Part of refocusing the vision is ensuring that we provide a strategy and plan to accomplish the vision. My experience is that volunteers will only take in so much at a meeting. These days I talk through plans and strategy while also ensuring it is on paper or sent by email. This helps our meetings to move forward quickly knowing that leaders can go back to the details later. Don’t try to cover the details!

3) Make it Fun! Whether you give out some fun awards to leaders, share funny stories of ministry, or have your meeting at a fun coffee house, it’s essential to keep your meetings light and fun! Student ministry is highly rewarding but it also has its time of gut wrenching moments too. Therefore it’s essential that your team is able to breathe and refocus on the fun aspects when you come together.

4) Prayer: This should be number one on this list! Part of the reason I put this last was to communicate how we often allow it to slip to last place on our agenda. Sadly, I am guilty of this too often, and it is something that I am rectifying for myself and team. Prayer is the most effective way of being reminded by why we do what we do. When we pray, God does something amazing in our hearts and in the unity of the team. If you have been letting prayer slip down your agenda, I urge you to join me in making it a greater priority.

If you are the paid leader, what would you add to this list? Or maybe you are a volunteer who has experienced great meetings? What made them great?

Phil Bell is a high school pastor from Brighton, MI and is a tea drinking, soccer playing Englishman! He is passionate about developing youth ministry leaders for the future, and blogs over at youthworktalk.com

6 View Comments October 8, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: 3 Practical Ways to Invest in Leaders

While you and I are called to serve teens and their families, our most important audience is the volunteer who serves alongside of you. Without them you can only do so much and last so long. That’s why every summer you make a huge effort in recruiting and training them in your craft. Every year there is a mad rush to get them and then when you do you are happy because you have a team. But, you aren’t done.

The hardest part about building up your volunteer base isn’t asking them to join, it’s retaining them for the long haul. When you have a volunteer who not only commits to your ministry for one year but five or even ten, the amount of fruit their service will bare is immeasurable. So, how do you keep them around? Well, it’s all about how you pour into them. Some of the big ways to do this is by sending them to conferences and hosting all day training events. However, the investment doesn’t always have to be expensive and complex. There are a few small things that you can do that will go a long way.

Here are three practical ways you can invest in your leaders:

Send Them A Note – There is nothing better than receiving an authentic hand written thank you note in the mail. It communicates; I took the time and effort to express my gratitude for you. You don’t have to write anything profound, just thank them for something simple or small that meant a lot to you. It’s another way of telling them how valuable they truly are to you and the ministry.

Get Personal With Them – You might meet with your volunteers constantly; however, how many times is it personal? Agenda-less meetings are essential to the relationship you have with your ministers. Find time to take a few of them out for coffee. Invite a couple of them over for a bite to eat or to watch a movie. Indoctrinate a couple of the key leaders into your family. The more they get to know you the easier it will be for them to return the investment.

Brag To The Pastor – Our pastor encourages the staff to introduce to him the all star volunteers and first timers. While he’s not going to get to know all of them, he wants to know the people making an impact on the church. When you introduce a volunteer to the pastor it shows them that you are so impressed with their work that you want the boss to know. That just might be the public affirmation they need to bring their service to the next level.

It’s important to note that you can’t do all these things for everyone. Not only is that a difficult task but also if you tried to praise everyone equally your investment would lose value. Lastly, always think simple. Your investment doesn’t have to be expensive or overly creative. Just make it authentic, transparent and spontaneous.

What other ways can you simply invest in your team?

Chris Wesley is the Director of Student Ministry at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, MD. You can read more great youth ministry articles and thoughts on his exceptional blog Marathon Youth Ministry.

1 View Comments October 6, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts 5 Questions with Darren Sutton, Author of Everyone’s Called to Youth Ministry

Darren Sutton is a youth worker and author of the new book, Everyone is Called to Youth Ministry. It released this week from LeaderTreks and is designed to help youth workers recruit, train and encourage a youth ministry team.

1 – you’re on a book writing roll right now! Tell us about your latest project!
Dude, I am so stoked!! This book is coming out of LeaderTreks. And when I talk about it, I feel like those geeky scientists who get way too passionate about their inanimate inventions! I basically bled my youth ministry volunteer philosophy on the page. I believe every single person in the church has a place in your youth ministry – they just don’t know it yet. This book tells you how to find them, what to do with them, and how Jesus can rock your YM world through adults walking alongside you in ministry.

2 – great so we’ve gotten the shameless plug out of the way – now tell other youth pastors a funny story from your time in the trenches:
Oh my gosh….they’re like Lays potato chips….you can never stop with just one!! I serve in a beach community – most all my students are fit and health conscious…they won the anti-lotto when they got me! One night on a mission trip, we were playing hacky sack…and i was dying to prove how limber and awesome fat guys could be!! So I went for the rockin’ roundhouse over-the-head, triple gainer, heel-back-toe smash…and fell flat on my back…so hard it literally shook the concrete slab we were playing on and the basketball backboards in the gym we were playing in. Those kids remember nothing else from that mission trip – and never miss an opportunity to remind me of it! There’s also the time I mistyped a link address in a note I sent to our church e-mail list on behalf of my pastor…and it ended up linking to porn…and looked like it came from him. Good times….good times.

3 – what are you most passionate about?
hacky sack….not really. This is a trick question – because we all know we’re supposed to say Jesus. But I will answer honestly….my family. My wife and kids – I am so out of my league and blessed beyond measure. (I also like teenagers pretty well…and ice cream rounds out the trifecta.)

4 – you have the eyes of a ton of youth workers – what would you say to them?
STOP STARING!! What I would really say is don’t give up. You might walk away from church work. You might dump teenagers. You might even throw in the towel on yourself. But don’t give up on Jesus. He’s the only thing worth going to the mat for….or the concrete slab….

5 – will you dedicate your next book to me?
I don’t know – will you write it with me?

JG

Add Comment September 27, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Everyone’s Called to Youth Ministry

Just finished reading a pre-release copy of Darren Sutton’s new book, Everyone is Called to Youth Ministry (releases tomorrow). It is a great book with a simple premise that in reality is a great resource to challenge you to think creatively how to attract, recruit, train and encourage volunteers in your youth ministry. Excited for you to check out this new resource from LeadersTreks!

If you’re a full time youth worker, you have a lot on your plate. Parent meetings, planning a calendar, budgets, teaching, big events, small groups, keeping your senior pastor in the loop, and oh yeah, building relationships with students. Even if you had multiple people teaming up to take on all the responsibilities of the youth ministry, you still would not be able to get everything done. You need a team, but often building that team seems impossible.

In this bold new look at recruiting and training quality adult staff and volunteers, Darren Sutton challenges our thinking on who is called to serve in the youth ministry. Hint: it’s everyone. Darren’s humor will draw you in, and his wisdom and experience in youth ministry will challenge your perspectives on who to recruit and how to train them. This book will help you look everywhere for adults who can passionately serve in youth ministry. After all, everyone’s called to youth ministry…they just don’t know it yet.

JG

Add Comment September 24, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Practical Ways to Live Youth Ministry Right

Hopefully yesterday you took some time to think about the tightrope of ministry and how challenging each step of the journey can be. So what are some practical ways you can do youth ministry life well? Glad you asked! Here are 4 ways we try to put into practice ourselves:

1) Talk through the calendar before you go public with it.
One of the biggest learnings we’ve had related to this topic is making sure you clear your ministry calendar with your family calendar first. This will save you a ton of headaches as you navigate little league, board meetings, and that pesky thing called your anniversary. The 24 hours it takes to complete this step are critical to success in youth ministry life. Trust us, we’ve surprised our spouses (and still do occasionally…mostly because Kurt springs stuff on Josh) enough to put this one right up front.

2) Establish some (mostly) non-negotiable family boundaries.
What night is your date night? How many nights of the week out are okay doing church stuff? When is the best time for the family to be all together? There has to be grace and flexibility on a regular basis, but stack hands on what are the non-negotiables and create some boundaries for yourself in ministry. If you skip this step, you’re going to say “yes” to everything and “no” to your family. Done that, too. Argh.

3) Build a team and empower them to help carry the load.
Youth ministry is bigger than one person—if it’s all about you, prepare for burnout and ego deflation. You can hang on for a while, but while you hang on, you’ll also bottle-neck growth in your ministry and other leaders. So why not build margin in your youth ministry life by surrounding yourself with capable people and empowering them to carry significant parts of the load?

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.