KidMin 2013

Deeper Learning Track: Volunteer Leadership

Dale Hudson
Session 4 Relationships and Validation

Relate and Validate how to keep volunteers long-term.

Relationships and validation is the glue that keeps people serving.
One reason people serve to belong and connect. Discover how to
move beyond managing your volunteers to nurturing your volunteers.
Learn how to effectively make your volunteers feel affirmed and
validated.

Ministry is all about relationships they will come and go because of
this.

How to build relationships

Do life together.

Celebrate life milestones together.

Start a Bible study together.

Validate confirming them as a leader and add value to them as a
leader

Value them in the relationship. Shouldnt feel used but highly
valued.

Confirm Gods gifts in their life. (1 min 14 min)
Pay them. Their payment is hearing about the lives that have
been changed because of their ministry.
Say thank you every week.
o 65% of workers say they have received no recognition or
appreciation in the past 12 months. Be an intentional
encourager. Walk around and personally thank your
volunteers each week for serving. Keep a stack of note
cards by your desk and discipline yourself to write thank
you notes regularly.

Send hand written thank you notes every week.

Thank them for who they are not just what they do.

Brag on them in front of other people.

Small gift with note

Find out what they like and surprise them with it.
-what you like list when join team

6. Be their biggest fan.

7. Honor them for years of service.


11. Ask for their input and ideas.

12. Remind them of why they do what they do.

13. Have parties with the only agenda being food, fun, and
fellowship.

15. Create a family culture.

Culture doesnt happen by chance it is created.

16. Be there for them.

You are their pastor

Thru the bad times when they get sick, when someone in their
family dies, when they are in the hospital, when they lose their job,
when their kids go astray, when they are discouraged, when they are
hurting
In the good times celebrate with them birthdays, anniversaries,
graduations, birth of a child or grandchild, job promotions, weddings,
etc.

Sometimes you wont even know what to say. But they will remember
that you were thereand that you were an encouragement to them.

What a privilege and honor we have to get to serve with Gods
people. Is it always easy to enlist, equip, empower, and encourage?
No. Is it worth all the time and effort we put into it? Yesa thousand
times over.

Ways we make them feel devalued
Don't return their phone calls or emails.
How to avoid...
Return phone calls or emails within 24 hours. 48 hours max.
Don't communicate with them.
How to avoid...
Communicate with them weekly.
Find out what method of communication is most effective for
your team and use it.
Don't follow through on your promises.
How to avoid...
The moment you make a promise, write it down.
Make it happen.
Report back to them that it is complete.
Don't be prepared when you ask them to come to a training
session or meeting.
How to avoid...
Be prepared and set up before they start arriving.
I recommend being set up and ready to go at least 30 minutes
before the meeting starts. This allows you to be relaxed and
able to spend time with your team before the meeting starts.
Make it worth their time. People don't attend a training meeting
because they've been to one.
Don't be prepared for the weekend services.
How to avoid...
Be prepared and ready to go way before the service
begins. This allows you to relax and spend time with the kids,
parents, and volunteers as they arrive.
Check everything ahead of time. Object lessons, sound cues,
videos, etc. Never assume it is going to work without testing it.
Don't listen to their concerns or ideas.
How to avoid...
Not only listen to ideas and feedback, but seek it out.
Be more concerned about understanding than about being
understood.
Remain teachable.
Hold the ministry with open hands.
Don't whine or complain about how tough your job is or how
much you are getting paid.
Always practice direct communication. If an issue or question
arises between you and your Pastor or direct report, go talk
directly to that person instead of having a side conversation
with your volunteers.
Don't give them credit for accomplishments.
How to avoid...
Push other people into the spotlight instead of yourself.
Brag on your volunteers...a lot.
Take time to recognize the people who worked behind the
scenes to make an event or program successful.
Don't lead by relationship.
How to avoid...
Spend time loving and honoring people. You get what you
give.
Include people. Be collaborative.
Build relationships with people. Let them know you care more
about them than about what they do.
Look for a towel not a title
Be a servant leader
Title will get their duty. Towel will get their heart
Nursery volunteers are the coolest people on the planet! They have
the privilege of helping lay an early Biblical foundation in children's
lives. They also make a huge difference in parent's lives as they
make it possible for them to worship and hear God's Word with
focused attention.
At times, nursery volunteers may wonder if their ministry really does
make a difference. Unless the 6 month old is exceptionally bright and
quotes Psalm 23 back to them, they may not see as much outward
fruit as someone who works with older kids. Sometimes they need to
be encouraged by being reminded how vital their ministry is.
Last week I was reading in the book of Exodus and something
jumped out at me. I just had to share it with our nursery teams.
Remember the story of baby Moses? He was born at a time when he
shouldn't have survived. Pharaoh was having all Hebrew baby boys
killed.
But God had His eye on this baby boy named Moses. He had special
plans for this kid. Moses' mother hid him for as long as she could, but
you can only hide a baby boy with a good set of lungs for so long. So
she made a basket, turned it into a sailboat, and placed him in the
river with a prayer and a hope.
Check out what happened next in Exodus 2.


"His sister (Miriam) stood at a distance to see what would
happen to him. Then Pharaohs daughter went down to the Nile to
bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw
the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She
opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for
him. This is one of the Hebrew babies, she said.
Then his sister asked Pharaohs daughter, Shall I go and get
one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?
Yes, go, she answered. So the girl went and got the babys
mother. Pharaohs daughter said to her, Take this baby and nurse
him for me, and I will pay you.
It was no accident that Miriam stuck around to watch over baby
Moses from a distance. It was part of God's divine plan. He placed
her there to make sure a divine connection would take place between
Pharoah's daughter and Moses' mother. This would allow Moses to
be safe in the arms of his mother until it was time for him to go to the
palace.
Here's the word for nursery volunteers:
-God has a special plan for each child you are watching over.
-You are part of His divine plan for each child's life.
-Sometimes you may feel like you are "watching from the distance"
like Miriam was. You may even feel like you are in the "background"
because you are not teaching in front of an audience or singing on a
stage. But God is working through your life at all times. He does
some of His most powerful work in the "background."
-God is using your ministry to make a divine connection in the child's
life.
-You never know who you are watching over. The child may be
another Moses who changes the world for Christ.
-Keep faithfully watching over the little ones and you will see
miraculous things happen.