Andy Stanley on Leadership

Andy launched Catalyst 2008 with a great talk on leadership. Quotable…

• We want our leaders to have consistency between what they say and what they do.
• At the end of the day, everyone is a volunteer. They can quit at any time.
• Authenticity is a powerful leadership dynamic.
• Nehemiah got mad and asked the leaders to stop over-charging the people. They immediately complied. Why? Because for 12 years, Nehemiah had been living an authentic life in front of them. He had moral authority.
• As leaders, we must be the men and women who never carry into the future the hurt of the past.
• Perhaps the boldest leadership move you could make is to get on your knees and let go of your hurts.
• Men: If your wife feels like your church is your mistress, you are part of the problem you are trying to solve.
• If your kids feel neglected because of your time at the church, you are part of the problem you are trying to solve.

[from LeadingSmart by Tim Stevens]

Answers For Pastors

(Q) - I pastor a small church (60-70). My volunteer leaders continue to fail in following through after communicating my expectations. What do I do when there are no present replacements?

(A) - Try the following ideas:

1. Create Teams. Find the people in your church that have the MOST INFLUENCE besides you, and make them leaders over groups. Sometimes people will be more loyal to a friendship than an institution. Use these groups to get things done. A good book on this is Doing Church as a Team by Wayne Cordeiro. (http://www.enewhope.org/)

2. Motivate volunteers with perks. For instance, we need 90 people to staff our nurseries each week and that is a tough place to get volunteers. A big motivator we use is to give away a free vacation for two (approx $1000 from the budget) once a year. Each time a person worked the nursery, they could put their name in the box. At the Christmas party, we drew one name out of the box for the free vacation. If you work every week, your name is in the box 52 times. It was a great way to motivate. I have a long list of ways to motivate volunteers in our hospitality manual. It includes things like coffee rooms and free shoe shines for ushers.

3. Downsize. When companies don't have enough resources they downsize. The only way to downsize a smaller church is to downsize the programs. Many small churches are very over programmed. The same workers are rotated in and out of several programs that lack momentum and cause frustration because they are strangulating. It's better to be great at a few things, that bad at many things. Just a thought!

[Brian Cutshall - http://www.churchtrainer.com/]

How To Recruit Volunteers - Free Book

[From Ministry Best Practices by Bill Reichart]

Do you want to recruit more volunteers for your church or ministry?

Agile ministry has just put out a new FREE eBook to address that issue. Here is some more information about the eBook from Agile:

No matter where you may be in your leadership, recruiting volunteers can be one of the most difficult tasks you will encounter. Even if you are able to teach a room full of kids, design a website, or manage hundreds of youth, recruiting may not come easy.

This FREE, easy-to-read electronic book (”eBook”) provides a simple approach to recruiting more volunteers for your church ministry. Whether you are a new leader or have been leading for years, there is something new and fresh to learn about recruiting volunteers. A simple process to volunteer recruiting.

This book is designed to open your eyes to new ways of thinking about recruiting. It will provide some ideas, inspiration, and a 5-step process that will help you to improve your ability to recruit new volunteers for your town.

Click here to get your FREE copy of this ebook now!


Volunteer Recruiting Step 1: Prepare

Before you can recruit new volunteers, you need to prepare the way through your actions, attitude, requirements, and prayer. Learn how to create job descriptions, put time limits into your team structure, and develop a contagious attitude that will help you recruit more effectively.

Volunteer Recruiting Step 2: Find

Finding new volunteers is often the largest source of frustration for team leaders. In this step, we’ll find fresh ways of thinking for more effective volunteer recruiting. You’ll learn how to recruit by focusing on passion and relationships, becoming others-focused, finding connectors within your church, and recruiting through structure and one-time service opportunities.

Volunteer Recruiting Step 3: Interview

Don’t skip the interview step! This step is essential to make sure both the candidate and the leader are comfortable to work together. You’ll discover how to conduct a simple, relaxing interview as well as when to include gift and personality tests.

Volunteer Recruiting Step 4: Integrate

The volunteer’s first impression is what will shape their view of your team for weeks and months to come. Your first priority is to get them trained and integrated into the team. Find out how to pick the right person to train your new volunteers, how to conduct a follow-up interview, and how to deal with volunteers that just aren’t a good fit.

Volunteer Recruiting Step 5: Retain

Recruiting doesn’t end with training. Recruiting is an ongoing process that requires you to learn how to retain your volunteers after you find them. Find ways to reward your volunteers and how to deal with letting go of volunteers when the time comes. Learn how to create example job descriptions, training materials, and more!

This free book also includes a 5-step action plan for applying this simple volunteer recruiting process. View examples of job descriptions, create simple training materials to help your new volunteers, and create a recruiting plan to guide you through your recruiting process.

Click here to get your FREE copy of this ebook now!