Let’s talk Volunteers: Part 1

Some of you may be thinking about volunteer recruitment for the fall.  This is usually a good time to let someone get their feet wet in your ministry without the heavy commitment.  It’s a great time to have people chaperone and get to know some of the students in your group and see how they connect and love on students.  I want to do a couple of VOLUNTEER posts so today we will cover the types of volunteers to surround yourself with.

I have had an “ah-ha” moment this past year. I thought I would share this with you as you begin to recruit more volunteers into your girls ministries. I have had some pretty draining moments this month that have required me to shift my regular schedule often. These situations were never planned, but they require professionalism and careful procedure. I often felt like a surgeon as I delicately probed,observed and asked God for guidance. As I was doing this, other projects that I would have needed to be doing were having to be passed off to others. One of the things I found during this time was how appreciative I am of “BRIDGE people” and how I need more “BRIDGE people” to surround me in ministry. What does that mean?
I realized one day that a volunteer named Liz was like a Bridge. Every time I came to her with an idea, a dream, or a need…she went to work building a bridge to get our girls ministry or myself to that realized idea, dream or met need. I started realizing that once I said something…bridge work was happening.
It was an amazing blessing when last week, Liz made our mentoring recruitment party happen. She was able to get my scattered brain focused long enough to get the details she needed and then she was off. The Mentoring party would not have happened without Liz.

Unfortunately there are other people that God sometimes allows in our path. Sometimes circumstances or communication problems create a temporary condition or perhaps it’s on-going but regardless the condition is called a “BRICK WALL person”. This is the type of person who seems to stop you with negative comments. This is the type of person who constantly says, “that’s not going to work” or “people won’t like that”. This is the type of person that is determined to block you no matter what.(Sometimes we can even be “brick wall people” to ourself)

Brick walls hurt when you constantly run into them. Bridges are beautiful because they allow you to go over gaps that you would not have otherwise travelled without the Bridge.

I hope and pray that you surround yourself with lots of BRIDGE people. I hope and pray that we guard our hearts from becoming BRICK WALLS.

Maybe this illustration will prove useful as you have to discuss with a difficult volunteer or leader the way they are coming across. In Exodus 17 there is a powerful story of God calling Moses to a task. He has to hold God’s staff up in order for a battle to be successful. But his arms get tired. As a result, men come to get a rock for him to sit on and they hold Moses’s arms up with God’s staff and God gives them a victory. I love this passage in Exodus that shows a beautiful image of people coming alongside of Moses to help him in his weakness. I love that God provided these men to literally hold Mose’s arms up. As you lead, you need people to come alongside you and help. Your small group leaders need someone to come alongside of them and support them. We cannot do girls ministry on our own. If we do, we will burn out.

May God send many bridge people your way and may you be looking for those who can support you. May you also be discovering new ways to support your volunteers as they love on girls and parents in the trenches of girls ministry.

• What are some ways you have been encouraged or supported by a volunteer?

• What are some ways you have encouraged or supported your volunteers?

GO AHEAD…let the bragging begin 🙂