Summary: Develop and sense of belonging - and not just doing - among your volunteers.

Relationships in ministry are critical. Volunteers with a high sense of “belonging" will always find more fulfillment than a volunteer who has a high sense of “doing".  It is critical to make volunteering a source of biblical community and not just duties as assigned. Never forget that Jesus sent out His disciples two-by-two.

Are there people serving in isolation in your ministry? Do you have people who are sitting across the room from one another as small group leaders and still do not know each other's names?  Volunteering should be about “belonging" not just “doing".

Lead Volunteers has created a series of proven pathways to build relationships among volunteers.  We have created a series of Done-For-You resources to help leaders know each other and have a sense of community. Let us help you cultivate belonging among your people as they serve.

Lead Volunteers helps make the hard work of ministry easier.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout. Why not let me do the heavy lifting for you.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: Ministry leaders know if they do not find volunteers, it means doing it by themselves. But you can set a better path.

Life is hard as a leader of volunteers.  You live with this painful reality that if you do not find volunteers, you will have to do it all by yourself.

You have high standards that you want to keep.  You know that if YOU have to work triple time, you’ll do it.  But who are you kidding? You DON’T HAVE TIME to work triple time!

The stress level spikes again. The toll it takes on your personal life or marriage is profound.  You know what is coming: the inevitable and impending reality of personal burnout.

The Lead Volunteers course is a preventative course. It is designed to PREVENT your burn out. It is designed to help you lead in such a way that your family does not hate YOU and hate the ministry.

There is an easier path toward leading volunteers.  We have provided that path. There is a bright path ahead and you can Lead Volunteers in a healthier and more sustainable way.  Join the Lead Volunteers Community and discover how to lead in a sustainable way.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: Recruiting volunteers is a one-on-one personal ask where you share a vision.

Years ago I was sitting at a conference at a huge church. The senior pastor of this church was giving a keynote address. I'm telling you this was a huge church. As he was speaking, I thought in my mind, “It certainly must be easy to get volunteers at a church this huge." It was not 30 seconds later when he said, "You might be thinking, it must be easy to get volunteers at the church this huge." Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking. What he shared that changed everything. He said, "it takes nothing short of a tap on the shoulder." I completely agree.

Recruiting, simply stated, is a one-on-one personal ask where you share a vision. Healthy recruiting involves choosing your words based on this person, their unique gifts and their life circumstances. That's why it takes so much time to effectively recruit. It takes time to individually cast a vision one person at a time. But I tell you the truth, it's the only approach that works.

Do you have a plan for recruiting? Honestly, I see so many leaders trying to use cute videos to gain volunteers. I see leaders begging their senior pastor to beg the congregation to serve. Year after year, they find themselves understaffed and frazzled. The fact is, "it takes nothing short of a tap on the shoulder."

Lead Volunteers is a proven pathway and resource to equip you to make that personal invitation to serve in ministry. There is a better way. We have provided you with a turnkey solution to recruit more effectively.

Join Lead Volunteers today and let us help you create YOUR proven recruiting plan.

Summary: People are very willing to do hard things for you or the church. But don’t be the leader whose poor planning causes people to have unnecessarily disrupted lives.

There are times as leaders when we need to rally our volunteer teams on short notice. People are very willing to do hard things for you or the church. Volunteers will put their lives on hold and drop everything to help serve the church. People will literally bleed for a worthy cause and bleed for a good leader.

People will bleed for you. However, if you go to that sacred “emergency well” over and over, you will have volunteers walking around with cuts all over their bodies. Don’t be the leader whose poor planning causes people to have unnecessarily disrupted lives.

Quarterbacks sometimes need to call audibles or last minute play changes. Sometimes we all need to make a last minute ministry change, even if it is disruptive to people’s lives. However, don’t be the Quarterback who constantly calls the audible.

Last minute changes are likely due to YOUR poor planning as a leader. Your poor planning should not become your volunteer's emergency. Stop last minute requests or demands that disrupt people's lives. If you do this too often, one day you will look behind you and no one will be following. Leaders who think they are leading but no one is following and not leading, they are simply taking a walk. Don’t be that leader.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout. Why not let me do the heavy lifting for you. You need help and I’m here to help.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: We were created to fight against something. When we don’t know what the mission really is, we start picking fights with each other, typically about irrelevant things.

There was a landmark study comparing mothers who licked their child’s pacifier vs. moms who boiled their child’s pacifier. I hope I have caught your attention.

Scientists concluded that how a parent deals with a pacifier is a predictor for other areas of their life. Think about it. If a parent boils a pacifier to kill germs, they are likely to have a very sterile environment. Contrast this with parents who licks the pacifier, gets the big chunks off and puts it back in the kid’s mouth. Stick with me.

If children grew up in a super sterile home, they had a higher rate of autoimmune diseases. However, children exposed to more bacteria and environmental ills had a lower risk of autoimmune diseases.

White blood cells are exclusively tasked with fighting off bad things. Interestingly enough, when a child was in a hyper sterilized environment, there were no bacteria for white blood cells to fight. The white blood cells - being conditioned to fight – begin to fight against that child’s very own body, an autoimmune disease.

On the other hand, those who had homes with a normal amount of bacteria, their white blood cells had something legitimate to fight against. In other words, the white blood cells didn’t turn against the host because they were occupied with fighting external bacteria.

When the church doesn’t see an external thing worth fighting for or against, we will start picking battles within each other. We were created to fight against something. The trick is, when we don’t know what the mission really is, we start picking fights with each other, typically about nonsensical and irrelevant things. On the battlefield, you have bullets flying over your head and you are looking the enemy directly in the face. You don’t really have time to be concerned that your fellow soldiers have a different taste in music than you do. That’s irrelevant. One of the most demoralizing aspects of war is death by friendly fire. No wonder Jesus said,“They will know you by your love”.

It’s a leader's job to give people a vision to charge that hill, lest one another we kill.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout. Why not let me do the heavy lifting for you. You need help and I’m here to help.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: Even in ministry, you need job descriptions, simple giftedness assessments, basic training and a relationship with your volunteers.

Imagine you see a job opening that peaks your interest and you approach to learn more. You find out there is no job description. There is no specific skill-sets required for you to know if this would be in your wheelhouse. The role boldly states, “START IMMEDIATELY” but gives no clear end. You learn there is no upfront training or on boarding process. It appears that you just start. As to what you will be doing, you assume you will figure it out as you go. The interviewing manager, if you could call it an interview, is SO SCATTERED and overwhelmed that it becomes clear that you will have little to no ongoing interaction with them for support, guidance or direction. And, I forgot to mention, you are not paid.

You would NOT take this job. However, this is the offer we provide to volunteers in the local church all the time. This is OUR problem as leaders in the church and not the problem of skeptical volunteers. You need job descriptions, simple giftedness assessments, basic training and a relationship with your volunteers.

Lead Volunteers is a “Done For You” resource to fast track these items and more. Don’t be THAT leader any longer. Let us help.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout. Why not let me do the heavy lifting for you. You need help and I’m here to help.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: Ministry leaders should see the goal as developing the future, not just dominating right now.

I worked at a super successful high school. This school DOMINATED at nearly every sport. The Valley High School football team won 3 state championships in a row. How did they do this? One of the ways they accomplished this was through this phrase: "We play the freshmen”. Valley High School could quickly be ahead 28-0. At this point, a decision needed to be made: Do we want to be “The BEST” or be “The BUILDERS of the Future Best”?

The first team could have stayed in the game and easily racked up another 50 points. They could have. But the wiser move was to slowly integrate less experienced players alongside very experienced players. “We play the freshmen” is a ministry concept in need of full adoption. How did Valley High School have a great team THIS YEAR? Well, three years ago, when they were ahead by 24 points, the coaches made a future facing decision and played the freshmen. These freshmen were now seasoned seniors and dominating the field. In ministry, we need to see the goal as developing the future and not just dominating right now. Put in your freshmen. Put them into the game. Let the play go a little rough today for the greater kingdom good down the road. Your best move is often NOT to play your best players, but to build tomorrows players right now.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout. Why not let me do the heavy lifting for you. You need help and I’m here to help.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: Every ministry leader claims they need more volunteers. But do you really know what you need? Do you know when you will have reached your goal of filling volunteer spots? Know your numbers.

I am blown away by ministry leaders who do not know the specifics of their volunteer needs. I once had a senior leader ask me how recruiting was going. I was able to answer, “We are 67% complete for Sunday morning small group leaders for 4th, 5th and 6th grades. We are 78% complete on Wednesday nights. Yet our greatest area of need is the 4 year old, 5 year old and Kindergarten classrooms on Sunday morning. We only have this area 43% covered.”

His response was encouraging, “Wow, at least you know your stuff. This allows me to pray specifically for those younger ages.” Every ministry leader I know claims they need more leaders. But do you really know what you need? Do you know when your needs will be met? Do you have a target number? If you don’t, you’ll never know when God has officially met your needs. People: Know your numbers. Lead Volunteers is a powerful system to help you know the current score of your own ministry. You need a plan. Part of your plan is knowing what you need.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: Appreciate volunteers in a way that registers to them and is directly related to what they are doing. Stop the empty “We appreciate you!” comments.

A volunteer was recently quoted as saying, “I’m a little tired of hearing “We appreciate you.” It’s exhausting like small talk. It almost feels desperate. It is like they’re scared I’ll quit if they don’t constantly remind me how much I’m appreciated. I’d be more likely to quit to get away from that phrase. Tell me specifically what I’m doing right or wrong or what you want changed.”

Specificity matters. We must appreciate volunteers in a way that registers to them and is directly related to what they are doing. Leadership is won or lost in the details. Period. Notice the small stuff. Mention the small stuff. Do you see them come in with a 20 oz Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper each and every week? Notice that. Bring them a 6-pack of chilled 20 oz Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper next week. Be specific. So much is won or lost in the execution of personalized details.

Lead Volunteers is a downloadable resource bank of instantly implementable resources to authentically appreciate people. We provide you a Fast-track. Let us help you get up to speed and fast.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!

Summary: According to scripture, the role of a pastor is to build up the body to do the work of the ministry - NOT to do all the work themselves.

A recent survey blew my mind. One-fifth of volunteers said the reason they do not serve is because there is not a job for them to do. What? Did you hear that? Now, let me get something straight. The majority of pastors I meet are burned out from DOING ministry. And yet one-fifth of people NOT volunteering say they don’t serve because their isn’t something for them to do? Something is not lining up.

Hey pastors, stop robbing volunteers from an opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven. You DOING the work means they have less to do. The Body of Christ can begin to experience atrophy or the weakening of muscles due to underuse. According to scripture, the role of a pastor is to build up the body to do the work of the ministry. Here is the catch.

In order to have someone else do the work, you need to lay out HOW to do the work. And guess what? Laying out HOW to do the work IS ACTUALLY WORK ITSELF. There is good news. I have created the Easy Button. Lead Volunteers is a Master Class and Implementation strategy to easily pass work onto volunteers in a way that honors them and is doable for you. Let us help you.

LEADVOLUNTEERS helps you get organized, stops the revolving door of volunteers and prevents burnout.

Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!