In this episode, we celebrate one year of the podcast with a special Q&A episode where we answer questions you all have asked and submitted throughout the year!
One Year Celebration
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The Five Questions
- How do you train volunteers when time is limited? What are some practical ideas for when you are training volunteers? And, what does it look like to train volunteers in a digital age? Start Time: 9:35
- How do you recruit and develop coaches, or volunteers who lead other volunteers? Start Time: 19:37
- What are some ways you can measure and determine whether or not you are winning in ministry? Start Time: 37:25
- What are some suggestions or best practices when following up with new families? Start Time: 48:57
- How do you navigate leading in a role, or in a church, that is not what you expected? Start Time: 56:30
Links Mentioned in This Episode
Question #1: Training Volunteers
- Develop a good onboarding process. Download our Volunteer Onboarding Process, Application and Background Check Email, Volunteer Application, Volunteer Reference Email, Volunteer Reference Form, Volunteer Interview Questions, Orientation Book, and 6 Week Follow-Up to help you get started.
- Cast vision and answer, “Why does this matter? Why should you serve on this team? And, what is the difference you can make?“
- Clarify and communicate the fundamentals of your environment, ministry policies, and security procedures
- Pair them with an expert volunteer and allow them to apprentice for six weeks
- Have conversations throughout the process to see if the role they are pursuing, or the ministry environment, is a good fit for them
- Create a culture where the leaders who lead a group of volunteers have one-on-ones with them. These meetings allow for personal care and leadership development. (Check out Episode 041 with Allyson Evans for some great thoughts on leadership development)
- Hold trainings (Read the 7 Keys to an Effective Volunteer Training System here and The Secret to Getting Great Attendance at Volunteer Trainings here)
- For training content, make notes of things that you come across in podcasts or books, present content that is already available, or check out sites like Download Youth Ministry and Orange that have helpful content for your team.
- Leverage technology
- Do Facebook Live trainings
- Prerecord and upload videos to Vimeo, Youtube, Ministry Grid, Trained Up or Good to Go
- Host a webinar
Question #2: Recruiting Coaches
- Create a leadership structure with consistent terms across ministry environments (Check out Episode 42 with Todd Adkins to learn more about leadership pipelines)
- Write a job description for your coach role
- Invite individuals into the role who have shown leadership abilities or potential
- Invest in a small group of leaders or leadership team, and ask people from that group to become coaches (This post includes 28 ideas for leadership development)
- Meet six times with a group of people and walk through this plan, based off of Chazown by Craig Groeschel, to help them discover how they are wired and how God could use them most effectively
Question #2: Developing Coaches
- Create a list of coach values (Check out The 6 Things We Value In Our Family Ministry Coaches here)
- Have one-on-ones with them
- Gather coaches to learn together (Here is our plan for developing and training coaches)
- Read books and listen to podcasts as a group
Question #3: How to Measure if You are Winning
- Share stories. Build a culture where people are looking for and sharing them. Ask: Am I hearing stories, and what are the stories?
- Track attendance year over year
- Determine the percent of kids and students in your church. Go to TheArda.com to determine if your church's percentages match your community demographics. (Check out Episode 28 with Anthony Prince from Ministry Architects for more info on this)
- Look at the ratio of weekly volunteers to kids and students
- Analyze the span of care and the ratio of leaders to volunteers
Question #4: Following Up With New Families
- Give them a gift
- Write a personal note to the kid or student and send it out that week
- Communicate with the parents. Let them know you are glad they came and introduce them to your environment. (Get all the details on the structure of these emails, and download them here)
- Make a personal connection
Question #5: Your Role in the Church
- Listen to Episode 4 with Jim Wideman on staffing, hiring, and deciding if you should stay or go. Jim's book, Stay or Go?, would be great to walk through, and he offers a bunch of other great resources through NextGen Staff Solutions.
- Pray about it, and submit to the leadership
- Be open
- Ask: Will I be used best by God in this church? Do the theology, mission, vision, and strategy match who I am and how God made me to lead?
- Ask: Would I attend this church if I didnt work here?
- Seek wise counsel
- Be proactive when you are looking to work at a church and come prepared with the questions you have for them
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Next Episode: Kenny and Elle Campbell
In the next episode, we kick off another year of the podcast with two of our very first guests, Kenny and Elle Campbell. We have a great conversation about what they’ve been up to over the past year and all the new things they are doing to empower and help youth leaders.
