It’s hard to have volunteers serve willingly and with a good attitude if you don’t help them see the larger picture. When they’re arriving at early on Sunday morning to set up for church, they’re not just setting up equipment…they’re preparing for lives to be changed. When they volunteer in the kids ministry, they’re not just babysitting kids…they’re introducing kids to Jesus (some for the first time)! It’s easy for our volunteers to focus on WHAT THEY’RE DOING instead of WHAT IS RESULTING FROM WHAT THEY’RE DOING. If they’re going to stay motivated you’ve got to help them see and focus on the larger picture.
Let me illustrate with a story I read from John C. Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You:
During World War II, parachutes were being constructed by the thousands. From the workers’ point of view, the job was tedious. It involved crouching over a sewing machine eight to ten hours a day and stitching endless lengths of colorless fabric. The result was a formless heap of cloth. But every morning the workers were told that each stitch was part of a lifesaving operation. They were asked to think as they sewed that each parachute might be the one worn by their husbands, their brothers, their sons. Although the work was hard and the hours long, the women and the men on the home front understood their contribution to the larger picture.
As leaders we’ve got to help people see the larger picture. Everyone who volunteers at New Day is ultimately partnering with us to make disciples and see lives changed for eternity!