If you’re a growth group leader at New Day, here’s just one way you can lead your group through taking Communion… When God brought about a great deliverance for the Israelites from their slavery to Egypt (through Moses), He instituted a commemorative ordinance called Passover. In the same way, when God brought about an even greater deliverance for us from our slavery to sin (through Messiah), it was appropriate to institute another commemorative ordinance we now … [Read more...]
Why We Fail to Raise Up Other Leaders
Every church leader knows the story of Exodus 18 - how Moses used to do everything himself, but then switched to raising up others to help lead. It's hard to read a book on leadership or attend a pastor's conference without someone covering this all important topic. But what so few ever mention are the manifold reasons why most leaders never make the switch. Well, I'm so happy to have finally come across a book that specifically addresses this issue, called The Multiplication Effect by Mac Lake. … [Read more...]
Principles and People
As a supervisor you have to care about principles and people. It's imperative that you find an appropriate balance between caring about principles and people. Historically I've tended to lean towards caring more about principles than people, but have found a healthier balance by learning to ask three important questions anytime someone fails to live up to one of my principles. If the quarterly stats for the church are good and the quarterly stats for that person's department … [Read more...]
Before Appointing a Team Lead
The directional leadership team just got back from one of our quarterly off-sites and at the off-site we identified a number of characteristics we're looking for in a Team Lead. I'm now taking that list and sharing it in a way that will help you (the New Day staff) know what to look for and consider before appointing a volunteer to the role of Team Lead. Befoe we dive in, let me remind you: At most churches staff spend 2% of their time on recruitment and 75% of their time dealing with their … [Read more...]
A Theology of Volunteerism
Since we are launching a new location in Agawam this Fall, everyone is recruiting volunteers like crazy. You're either recruiting volunteers for the new location or trying to backfill volunteer roles in Enfield for people who are leaving to go help Agawam get up and running. That being the case, I think it's really important that (if you haven't already) you develop a proper theology of volunteerism, because if you don't your recruiting approach/tone will be all wrong. It's so important … [Read more...]
Balancing Withdrawals with Deposits
It might be helpful to think of every request you make of a volunteer as withdrawing money from the bank. If all you ever do is withdraw, withdraw, withdraw, the account will become, all too quickly, overdrawn. How do you prevent your account from being overdrawn? You have to be sure to make deposits! And the deposits have to be greater than the withdrawals. How do you make deposits in the volunteer bank? Call them to ask if there's anything you can be praying for. Invite them out … [Read more...]
The Value of the Shout-Out
Every Monday at staff meeting we give a shout-out on Facebook to at least one volunteer who really helped Sunday go well or who has just been very faithful and helpful in general. We do this because "What you celebrate, you duplicate" and because you ought to "Reward what you want repeated." And here are the side effects: It encourages the person receiving the shout-out (everyone likes to be appreciated). It gives honor where honor is due (Romans 13:7). It helps create a culture of … [Read more...]
Need or Opportunity?
When recruiting volunteers I feel its very important to present opportunities vs needs. Here's why: When you present a need you come across as a losing team (i.e. We aren't winning and people don't want to be a part of what we're doing. Can you please bail us out?). When you present a need you are asking for something for you, not for them. When you present an opportunity, it's all about them, not you (i.e. This is a next step you can take to grow closer to Jesus and follow in his … [Read more...]
Tension to Manage or Problem to Solve
I was recently asked by a church planter "How do you prevent volunteers from being unfaithful - not showing up when they should, not doing what they said, etc?" I replied that this is a tension to manage, not a problem to solve. While you can't eliminate volunteers canceling (or canceling without notice) there are things you can do to minimize these occurrences: Clearly communicate expectations on the front end. Have in writing what you expect (i.e. that they are faithful in their commitment … [Read more...]
The Pareto Principle Applied to Volunteers
I first learned of the Pareto Principle my freshman year in Bible college from a John Maxwell book when I wrote a paper on leadership for one of my classes. The Pareto Principle basically teaches that 20% of the people do 80% of the work, and that it then takes the other 80% of the people to do the other 20% of the work. There are many ways you can apply the Pareto Principle, but in this post we'll apply it to spending time with volunteers in your church. As leaders we all have a limited … [Read more...]