Increase Your Volunteer Team With This Proven Strategy

Do you need more volunteers? 

Yes. Of course you do. I know I do. I have a solid volunteer team, but I always need more people. Especially if you want to grow. Adding new volunteers prepares you for growth.  

Volunteers are an essential part of children's ministry. Without them there is no children's ministry. 

So how can you increase your volunteer team? Here's the good news. I have a proven strategy that will help you grow your team.

It is a proven strategy that even Jesus used to grow His disciple's team. 

Ready for this ground breaking strategy?  Okay, here it is. 

Personally invite people to join your team...one at a time. 

Look at this example of how Jesus built His team one person at a time. It is found in Matthew 9.

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. 'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him."

And another example found in John 1. 

"The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

The proven strategy is personal, one-on-one asks. How many volunteers do you need? The way to enlist people is to personally ask them to join your team.

Don't complain about not having enough volunteers if you are not personally asking people to serve. 

At one of the churches where I lead the children's ministry, we grew our volunteer team from 300 to over 2,000.  It took us nine years to do this. How did it happen? One new volunteer at at time. Every single week, we started asking people to join our team...one person at a time.  We did this week in and week out for over 9 years. After 9 years of doing this, we looked up and saw that we had over 2,000 volunteers. 

How many volunteers do you need? 5? 50? 500?  You will get them one person at a time.

That sounds like a lot of hard work. Yes...it is. But it's a price you have to pay if you want to grow your team. Don't complain about not having enough volunteers if you are not personally asking people to join your team.

One little (big) hint. Before you ask people, ask God to give you divine appointments. You see, there are people in your church that God has been speaking to about serving. Ask God to lead you to those people. 

I'll never forget when Dan joined our team. We had an opening on our volunteer security team. We begin to pray and ask God to bring us the right person for this important role. One day, we saw a man named Dan who was dropping off his kids at children's ministry. We felt God telling us that he was the person. We approached him about serving on the security team. His eyes immediately filled with tears and he said, "that is where I have been feeling God wanted me to serve, but I didn't know if you needed anyone.  Of course, I would love to serve in that role."

Divine appointments. Ask for them and watch in amazement as God leads you to the people He wants on your volunteer team. 

I'm not sure what proven strategy you were looking for...but you have found one. Try it and watch what God does. 

p.s. For more great tips about building and leading a volunteer team, get my book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams."

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Celebrity Johnny Knoxville Talks About Why He Walked Away From the Church

Johnny Knoxville is an American stunt performer, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass and its subsequent movies. 

Knoxville has had acting roles in films Men in Black II (2002), Grand Theft Parsons (2003), A Dirty Shame and Walking Tall (both 2004), The Dukes of Hazzard, The Ringer, and a cameo role as a corporate president of a skateboard company in Lords of Dogtown (all 2005), The Last Stand (2013), Skiptrace (2016), and the television series Reboot (2022). He also voiced Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). 

There is one other thing that you may not know about Johnny.  He grew up in church.  A conservative Southern Baptist church. Recently in an interview with Rolling Stones magazine, he talked about this. Here's what he had to say.

 

Let's break this down. 

"You know...you are 7 or 8...just having to go."

Having to go?  Why did he "have to go?"  Probably because it was boring. I have heard people say, "I am not going to church because I was made to go as a child.  News flash.  You don't have to "make" someone go where they enjoy being. I've never heard anyone say, "I'm not going to Disney World because I was made to go as a child."  

It is vital that we make church a good experience for children. An engaging environment that they look forward to being in. As someone said, "Church should be the best hour of a kid's week."

Our goal should be for kids to be dragging their parents to church rather than parents having to drag their child to church.

"...sit there and be quiet"

We tell kids to sit still and be quiet in church. Then they grow up and they sit still and are quiet or they even leave as Johnny did. 

Kids are wired to move...move...move. Should there be times when they are quiet and reverent." Of course. Each Wednesday night, I have a time of prayer with the kids in our church. We get on our knees and the kids pray for people who are sick in our church, missionaries, teachers, etc. It is a holy moment. But we also spend a lot of time teaching using active, hands on, relevant methods that gives kids the opportunity to learn the way they do best. This includes lots of games, activities and fun. 

This is not about "what" you teach but rather about "how" you teach.  One of the most controversial posts I have ever written is about why kids should have their own worship service. You can read it at this link.  

"listening about burning in hell"

Is hell in the Bible?  Yes. But I'm not sure if it is wise to teach kids who are 7 or 8 years old about hell. All Scripture is true and inspired, but our teaching needs to be age appropriate.  Scaring kids by teaching them about hell is not something I am a fan of.  Johnny experienced this as a child and as he says "it was a lot" for a kid at that age.

Here is an article I wrote about whether we should teach kids about hell or not. 

I pray that Johnny comes back to the faith.  

I also pray for the boys and girls in our ministries. I pray that we would help them know Jesus and follow Him for a lifetime. 

Do you have my book "Fertile Soil...how to see kids follow Jesus for a lifetime?" I go in depth about how we can see kids grow up to love and follow Jesus. It's available at this link. 

Your turn. What is your impression from Johnny's interview? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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An Inside Look at the Children's Ministry of FBC Rogers

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to speak at a children's ministry training event at First Baptist Church of Rogers, Arkansas. 

My friend, Shay Caldwell, is the children's pastor there. He is a great leader and I was impressed with all that God is doing through the ministry there. 

Here are some pictures I took. I trust they will inspire you and challenge you to go all out to reach kids and families. 

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5 People Who Should Not Serve in Children's Ministry

Do you need more volunteers? Of course, you do. I've never seen a children's ministry that didn't need more volunteers.

But when you get desperate, you may be tempted to take a short cut and let some people serve who shouldn't be serving.

First and foremost, remember this. 

It is a privilege to serve in children's ministry. It's nobody's right to serve in children's ministry. 

With this in mind, here are 5 people that you should not let serve in children's ministry. 

Anyone who has not completed a background check should not serve in children's ministry.

You can't cut corners with this. No matter who it is. They should not serve in children's ministry if they have not completed a background check.  If they refuse to take a background check, it is a major red flag.  

Here's a side note - what should you do if something does pop on someones background check? This can be a case by case situation. If it is someone who had a DUI ten years ago before they became a believer and they have walked the talk and proven themselves ever since then, you can consider letting them serve. But don't make the decision by yourself. Bring in 2-3 other people and together make this decision.  Now if the DUI was just six months ago, then that's a different scenario. I would not let them serve at this time until they have proven themselves over a good period of time. 

Anyone who is involved in sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman should not serve in children's ministry.

This includes same sex relationships, adultery, and fornication. Yes...you are going to need to ask them point blank about this.  How do you approach this question with a person? It needs to happen in a personal interview. You can get my volunteer interview questions at this link free of charge.  A man should do the volunteer interview for a man and a woman should do the interview for a woman.  I would strongly encourage you to do a personal interview with each person before they start serving. 

People who are constantly negative should not serve in children's ministry. 

I am not talking about someone who occasionally gives you push back. I am talking about someone who is chronically negative. Their negative vibe is corroding away at the spirit of the team.  They say things in team meetings that are uncalled for and complain about everything you try to do.  You can't afford to let this person sabotage what you are trying to accomplish.

Give this person the opportunity to change their attitude.  Have a conversation with them and share what their attitude is doing to the team. Share with them some steps they can take to change this. If the negativity continues, it's' time to part ways. 

Anyone who has abused a child should never serve in children's ministry.

Never...never...never...never...never...never let anyone who has abused a child to serve in your children's ministry. This is a life-time ban. No exceptions. If the abuse was sexual in nature, I highly recommend you do not let them attend your church. They can watch online, but should not be allowed anywhere on the church grounds. 

 People who chronically resist change and won't follow leadership should not serve in children's ministry.

You cannot afford to keep someone on your team that hates change to the point where they oppose everything you do to move the ministry forward. They constantly question your leadership and won't follow you. They whisper about your leadership behind your back.  They constantly bring up how amazing the previous children's pastor was. They are stuck in the "good ole days."  If they can't follow the vision God has given you for the ministry, then you need to part ways with them.  

Leading in children's ministry is not an easy task. You often have to make hard decisions.  Ask God to help you lead with wisdom and courage.  Again, remember that it is no one's right to serve in children's ministry. It is a privilege.  Guard your team carefully.  Say "no" when a "no" is needed. 

We must remember that the safety and spiritual well being of the children comes first. 

p.s. For an in depth look at how you should lead in children's ministry, check out my book "Lead Well in Children's Ministry."  It is available at this link. 

Your turn. Who are some other people who should not serve in children's ministry? Share your thoughts about this in the comments section below.

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