Is It Worth It?

Here I am sitting in the voted “Best Coffee in Wichita” coffeehouse, gazing out the window on a beautiful winter day, wondering how do I start over in 2016? What should I write about it? Are my thoughts worth writing? Is my writing worth reading?

Doubt easily fills my head with negative thoughts. But then I remember one of my core beliefs—everyone has value and everyone has something to contribute to society. It does not matter how many people read what I write. What matters is that I am creating something new. What matters is that I am contributing to our culture in some way, shape or form. And maybe, even if just one person, someone is challenged and inspired.

So is it worth it? Absolutely.

So again, what should I write about in 2016? Here are some of my writing goals that I have for myself (and anyone who wants to follow along):

• I hope to write a new blog article a week. So by the end of 2016 to have published 52 articles.
• I intend to keep writing about leadership lessons learned in the everyday life.
• I will probably focus on non-profit/small business leadership.
• I want to do some interviews with individuals who are in various leadership roles in our community.
• I hope to use my blog to connect individuals and organizations together.

These are lofty goals I have set, but I know that they are attainable. As the year progresses, feel free to drop a line or make a suggestion.

 

What Being Selfish Taught Me About Giving

One of biggest lessons that I constantly seem to be learning in life is that I am a selfish. I want things how I want, when I want and want others to do things for me the way I would like them done. I place high expectations on what I hope others will do for me more often than asking what others would like me to do for them.

No one experience has taught me I am selfish more than being married. Newlyweds or recently engaged couples will often ask me what is the biggest lesson I have learned since being married, and I constantly come back with this: “I never knew how selfish I was until I got married and had to learn to love someone different than me.” And it is true. Put two people together, with two different upbringings and family backgrounds and you are bound to spot the differences of how you want things done very quickly.

Being selfish is almost second nature to us, yet most of us would never want to be labeled as selfish. Ask most anyone and they will have excuses for why they think of themselves before others. We will use phrases like “I want” or “I need,” without any regard to the person we are using these phrases against. Sometimes people will recognize their selfishness and justify that they aren’t that bad by saying things like “Well I’m a good person. I go to church. I give a little money away. I’m not that selfish.”

You see, justify all you want, you are still being selfish–even with your good deeds. So what can we do to truly overcome our selfish desires and attitudes? It’s really simple. Just do selfless acts for others!

I have learned, sometimes the hard way, to overcome a selfish attitude I have to purposefully do selfless acts.

Selfless. A word that we don’t use or talk a lot about. In today’s world we like to put ourself first, and think of others second. It’s a cutthroat culture. We push others away to get to the top. Finding selfless acts seem harder to come by. In fact, when the world does see a selfless act they may make it on to the local news or even national news. They get labeled as heroes. We love to see these kind of acts, and deep down I think a lot of us want to live a life of selflessness we just don’t know where to start.

How about we start living a life a life of selflessness by giving back this year. What would your life, your family or your community look like if you gave back 10% of your time this year?  You see the thing about giving away time is you will never get paid for it, you will probably not get recognized and you will quickly see that life is much bigger than you and your little world.

We all have 168 hours a week to use. If we work 40 hours a week, and get on average 56 hours of sleep that leaves us with 72 hours of free time each week. Do you think you can you spare 2 hours a week? 4 hours a week? 10 hours a week? The impact you can have not only on yourself but others around you would be priceless and I bet that people would start to know you as a selfless, giving person rather than a selfish one!

Here are some organizations to get your started giving back this year. Here’s to a new year full of giving back!

www.RaphaHouse.org

www.choicesmedical.org

www.artfeeds.org

www.bgcswmo.org

www.unitedwaymokan.org

Leading Teams of Volunteers, Part 2–Getting People on Board

This is the second part of a 5 part series on leading teams of volunteers. Before reading on you might like to read the introduction here.

How do you recruit people to join your team? How will you win them over? What will you do to motivate and encourage them to join you? This may be hardest part of leading any team—convincing them they should join yours.

Some people will be easier to convince than others and to see the need to join you, while others will need more convincing and possible encouragement that they have what it takes to serve with you. Either way, the only way to get people to join your team is to go out and get them!

Tip #2—Get people on board with a bold vision that creates places for them to serve where they can see what kind of impact they’ll bring to the team!

Chris Hodges, founding pastor at Church of the Highlands, tells his staff when recruiting volunteers that everyone is motivated by something. Tap into these motivations and recruiting volunteers can become a little easier. Chris is unique in his philosophy when it comes to creating new ministries and recruiting volunteers.

He believes that churches should equip people for ministry by using their talents to do so. Chris is convinced using volunteers is the best way to effectively further ministry and further making more people follow after Jesus. As a megachurch of well over 20,000 people, one would imagine there is a lot of staff and ministry leaders. And the truth is there are–only a lot of them are volunteers.

Here are three motivations that Chris challenges his leaders to tap into when recruiting volunteers.

Everyone wants to leave a CONTRIBUTION

People are more apt to join a team when they know they’ll be used in a meaningful way. The worst way to recruit volunteers to your team is to beg them. Craft a vision for why you need them to serve, what they will do and how they will contribute to your team. People like to be needed and to feel useful. Show a potential volunteer what kind of contribution they can leave and your odds of getting them on your team increases.

Our vision at Racine Student Ministry is to help students find and follow Jesus. Simple, concise, practical. I want each of my volunteers to know that what they are a part of is helping students find or follow Jesus.  Whether through leading worship, leading a student life group or being a friendly face at the door, everything we do is about showing Jesus to students who desperately need to see Him.

Everyone desires to be part of a COMMUNITY

No one likes to do things that aren’t fun or be around people that aren’t fun. Every once in a while take your team and go have fun together. This helps build team unity and gives your team a time to relax together and focus on the team. Don’t use this time for training or ministry discussions. Use it as a time to build community.

With my current team, we have tried to schedule in monthly dinners to get together and eat, and laugh and enjoy each other’s friendship. Our community has been formed by doing  fun gift exchanges or playing humorous games that sometimes get out of control. Creating community does’t have to be lavish or expensive. Sometimes the best way to form community is to make adults act and play like kids!

Everyone deserves to be appreciated and CELEBRATED

Lastly, everyone likes to know when they did a good job. Each month, quarter or year find a way to celebrate those success and to let your team know that you could not have done anything without them. This can be in the form of a card saying thanks, an informal dinner at your house or by throwing them the best volunteer party your organization has ever seen. When volunteers feel appreciated they will stick around longer than when they feel they are not important or needed anymore. Go big or go home–celebrate your volunteers!

To celebrate my volunteers I like to send out random thank you letters filled with gift cards or candy. It is not much, but it goes a long way in saying thank you. And yes, I hand write them because it shows that I have given time and thought into the card. Another way that I have tried to celebrate my team is by building in a “off week.” We have enough volunteers usually on a weekly basis that I encourage each of our volunteers to take a week off to focus on themselves and families.

Not only will these motivations drive volunteers to join your team, but if carried out effectively they will serve as motivations for them to stay on your team as well!

Come back tomorrow as we discuss how to get volunteers plugged in once they have joined your team and how to create different types of roles for different levels of volunteer commitment.

Read the full series at Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Leading Teams of Volunteers, Part 1 — Cast A Wide Net

This is the first part of a 5 part series on leading teams of volunteers. Before reading on you might like to read the introduction here.

When starting to look for volunteers to join a team, many leaders will have to plead guilty that the process began by instantly looking for the specific person wanted, rather than someone who could be trained and coached into the role that needs filled.

In ministry, often times we over think what qualifies someone to serve on our teams. We like to find that someone who can do everything, be everywhere and shine like the brightest star. Now there is a time and place for specialized roles and positions, but first let’s try building our team by casting a wide net.

Tip #1: Don’t make serving on your team too difficult. Keep the end goal in mind. Make it simple.

So to keep things simple let me introduce to you the “Handprint of Serving” or as more commonly called a volunteer job description.

I was first introduced to this idea by Andy Averill from Riverglen Christian Church. He originally used the handprint as a blueprint for jr. high students as they worked in their community doing service projects.

I loved how simple it made the student’s job and how memorable it was. So I took it and adapted it to use as a simple volunteer job description.

The “Handprint of Serving.”

The handprint is the simplest explanation for what I look for in a volunteer because almost anyone can meet these criteria and serve. And it is easy for someone to understand the type of person I am looking for.

Thumb–The thumbs reminds us that a relationship with God comes first. If someone doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus I don’t need to go any further in explaining what I’m looking for in a team member because it is essential. All my volunteers know God must come first.

Pointer Finger–The pointer finger reminds us to always point students to Jesus.  Whether it is on the greeting team, worship team, or a student life group leader, all our volunteers should be pointing students to Jesus.

Middle Finger–The middle finger is our longest finger. It reminds us to think of longterm relationships and impact. We never know how what we say today might impact a life tomorrow. Sometimes we will see no fruit in a student’s life until months or years later. By getting involved in a student’s life, we must be think big picture and longterm.

Ring Finger–Our ring finger reminds us to look for the “weak” students. This is because our ring finger is actually our weakest finger. So it serves as a reminder to look for the students that need a little more attention, a little more love.

Pinky Finger– Lastly, we have our pinky finger. The pinky finger serves as a reminder to always have fun! If we aren’t having fun serving students and loving Jesus, than maybe its time for us to find another ministry to get involved in.

This is just a basic outline of what I tell potential volunteers when they are asking what is required of them. Most times, people are encouraged because they see how easy it is to get involved and volunteer in the student ministry.

Remember, by keeping what your are looking for simple in a volunteer you are casting a wide net so almost anyone can serve on your team. When you recruit for the big picture odds are you will have volunteers wanting to join your team because they see how simple it is to join, and how almost instantly they can be used! In part 3, we will talk about putting people in a more specific role, but first let’s remember keep things simple.

Tomorrow we will discuss how to get people on board to join your team after you have shared with them what you are looking for in volunteers

Read the full series at Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Leading Teams of Volunteers

No ever seeks to lead a team that doesn’t achieve desired results or one that doesn’t function well and yet it still happens. And in the world of leading volunteers it seems to happen easily and often, but this does not have to be you!

Sometimes through simple tweaks, moving people in different positions, or by honest, open, and frequent communication you can turn your teams around and have a team that people would kill to be on!

I remember listening to a lecture in my “Leadership in Ministry” class thinking that leading teams of people, would not be as difficult as the professor made it sound. I was quickly proved wrong!

Fresh out of college I started my first full time job. I was hired as a youth/worship pastor at a smaller church in SW Missouri. I inherited a married couple—one who helped with kids, the other helped do sound. And the only adult I was able to recruit was a mom of three of our students, who didn’t even attend our church!

Then I worked as a children’s pastor at a new church plant. I was thrown into a leadership environment where I quickly had to learn to sink or swim when leading a much larger team of volunteers of 15-20 adults, many of whom were recruited by the lead pastor!

Currently I am currently serving in a student ministry of 80+ students, leading a team of over 25 volunteers, with ages ranging from college students to middle aged adult and for the first time most of them were recruited by me.

The one constant among all these experiences is this—teams of volunteers are only as healthy as the leadership they serve under!

Over the next few days I would like to to walk through lessons that I have learned in the area of leading teams comprised of volunteers. Most of the references and applications will be bent towards church and ministry, but no matter what sector of business or non-profit you lead, these tips should provide you with resources to help lead and manage teams of volunteers effectively.

Here are a preview of the lessons we’ll be discussing:

• Cast a Wide Net–Don’t make serving on your team too difficult. Keep the end goal in mind. Make it simple.
• Getting People on Board–How do you recruit people to join your team? How will you win them over? What will you do to motivate and encourage them to join you?
• One Size Does Not Fit All–Every volunteer is not gifted for the same job. Create roles for various people and gift set.
• The Honeymoon is Over–How will you manage conflict and frustrations when they happen, because they will happen!
• Checks and Balances–Create opportunities for volunteers to lead and offer feedback from their perspective.