Name: Recruiting Volunteers: How to Win from Start to Finish
Uploaded: 2024-09-16T15:03:38.944Z
Duration: 35 min 4 s
Description: Recruiting Volunteers: How to Win from Start to Finish

Transcript for "Recruiting Volunteers: How to Win from Start to Finish": Hey. My name is Josh Denhart, and I serve with lead ministry.com. And our goal is to help you to more effectively recruit, train, and retain volunteers. So we're excited. I wanna jump in and make the most of our time. Hey, listen. One quick thing. The way that we recruit is gonna be the way in which we retain people. The last thing that you want is to bring on a bunch of new people, onboard a bunch of new people, and watch them literally slide right out the back door. So we're gonna have fun today. Again, my name is Josh Denhart, and everything that we're gonna do is gonna be revolving around recruiting volunteers today. Again, very grateful. Maybe you can or catching this live, maybe you're going to catch it on the replay, but I'm extremely grateful. I am here in my home studio in West Des Moines, Iowa. Very, very, very grateful that you folks are here. So I am a former high school chemistry teacher Right. Right. The old periodic table, and I became a children's pastor. And boy, oh, boy, did I need a lot of help as it relates to recruiting, training and retaining volunteers. Well, let's jump in right now. 1st and foremost, I'm gonna give you one bold promise and it's this, your efforts at recruiting will greatly increase as a result of our session and our time today. Well, what would your life be like if you stopped doing ineffective things and you started experiencing immediate results as it relates to recruiting? Well, I think by and large, you would be very, very, very happy about that. As I was in a ministry context, what I continued to find is that recruiting, training and retaining and things that led to, that revolved around you know, volunteer items were extremely difficult. So I'm I'm setting my my timer right now so that I know about how long, we are going today. Alright. Well, I've introduced myself, but I wanna introduce somebody else. It's the sworn enemy of every one of us who have been in a ministry context, burnout. That's right. And burnout is that is that dark and mysterious player that lurks in the shadows. And if we're not careful, we're going to get chewed up by this villain of our story. You see, Sunday is always coming. And guess what? Saturday night cancellations are coming too. Not to mention, lacking organization, what I call overwhelmed, scattered and behind, those are the big three that I find that are crushing leaders all across the country. You see, my belief is that if you get organized, so many of the problems are gonna be taken care of. Well, if you have Sunday is always coming and you're lacking organization, this is going to lead to recruiting by desperation. Not a good thing. Recruiting by desperation is the kiss of death because you're bringing on the wrong people because you are literally pinned against the wall. Well, the plot thickens and this enemy of our story burnout, you see it gets stronger and stronger, why? Because if your current volunteers burn out, you are doomed. Because if they're tired and fatigued and they're experiencing this character burnout, they're going to exit your ministry. Not good, then you gotta refill those holes and recruit all over again, but it gets worse. If you earn a bad reputation as a ministry leader for burning out volunteers, you're double doomed. You see, people will begin to tell their friends, hey. Listen. I did that. You and I are in a small group. We're accountability partners, and I wanna tell you, do not serve in that area because it's gonna chew you up, and your life is crazy enough as it is. Sally. Don't do it. You don't want a bad reputation. Well, at this point then, ministry can be reduced to a frenzied scheduler. And I gotta tell you, I did not sign up or stand in this line to be a frenzied scheduler. Well, here's my bold promise and it's this, 3 secrets and you're gonna these 3 secrets, you're gonna increase your ability to recruit big time. Well, let's jump in. Our first secret is a spiritual secret and it's this, God's math exists. You see, God has a math equation that is different than our math equation. And here is what Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. You see, his math is different. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. He went on to say this, therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that he might raise up workers. God has a math program that is different than ours. Guess what? When I was in a ministry context, time and time again, we would be up against the wall, we wouldn't have enough people and low and behold there would be a huge snowstorm and all of a sudden the only people who could come was the exact ratios that we needed for the people who ended up coming on such a snowy and stormy day. My point is is that generally speaking, it kinda tends to work out. You see, we need to do our part and we need to trust God to do his part. God's math exists. One more thing I wanna tell you, you are never going to feel like you have enough and that's where God's math shines the best. In our weakness, therefore, he is the strongest. We're never gonna be able to hire to meet all of the needs. And so we are gonna have to recruit volunteers, but guess what? God's math exists. And he typically does come through. Well, this next one is not spiritual. Our next secret is not spiritual. Our next one is actually quite practical. So this particular practical one, it says this, you should be doing way less of a whole bunch of things and there's one critical thing that you should be doing more of. Well, let's make our way through this list. This this idea of things you should be doing less of, it's under the heading of how you gain them is gonna be how you will retain them. You see, if you gain them by these bad methods that I'm getting ready to share, your likelihood of retaining them is very, very, very low. Let's jump in. Senior pastor pleading, we'll call this number 1. If you are asking your senior pastor to stand up on stage and belt out from the front that there is a need in your area, this is gonna come across as absolute white noise. You see, no one is going to be compelled by the senior pastor as a side note and a footnote in his message. That's a possible call to action that we need you to serve in the children's ministry. You see, we're deficient in the children's ministry, and I'm gonna say everybody out there, you know what's gonna happen? On their community card, on their bulletin, there's gonna be like a couple of check boxes, right? It's gonna be like sign up for this, it's gonna be serve in kids, etcetera. And somebody wanna know how much effort and how much commitment it takes to do this and then hand in your community card into the little worship bucket, right, the the the and then pass it on down the line, this right here does not take that much commitment and that's why the senior pastor pleading simply Does not work you see I often Was banking on our senior pastor coming through for us and I've done ministry coaching for years and one of the times I was doing ministry coaching I had a a set of gals and they were on the phone and they said we are so excited we have a an opportunity and the senior pastor's gonna make this plea and not to mention Let me tell you this. The senior pastor was not just gonna make a plea They were so excited because they had a cute video. Oh, yeah. This super cute video. You see, they had all grabbed their their their tissues. Right? They grabbed their tissues because this cute video made them cry. Why did it make them cry? Because they are in children's ministry, and they were looking to gain children's ministry workers and the senior pastor he gets up and says a few words then they show a 32nd video and This is like a little sub commercial whether it's at the beginning of the service or at the end of the service. Guess what? A cute video is not going to compel people to wanna serve with you. It's just not. The interesting thing is that the reason this cute video moved those ladies is because they already have a sense of calling. To the rest of the congregation, it is nothing more than a 30 second break that they can get themselves situated, get their pen or pencil out, take that last sip of coffee, get situated before the message. You see, these ladies that I was coaching, they had placed all kind of eggs in a basket and what were they doing? They'd placed those eggs in a basket and they had this beautiful table and it was decorated well, they had balloons and then the message led out and guess what? Not a single person came to their table. Why is that? Because these kind of low cost things like the senior pastor pleading or or a cute video, they just don't matter. If I could tell you a quick story about the senior pastor pleading a number of years ago, the senior pastor made this great plea for us and there was, a little check mark like I showed earlier, a little checkbox, and 91 people said that they were gonna serve with us. Oh, my word. And I'll tell you what, the week before we batten down the hatches, we had all of our other work done. We were waiting with bated breath to follow-up on whoever filled out those community cards. 91 people. Did you hear that? 91 people. Well, we sent we had prescripted emails. We sent those emails. We made phone calls. We made follow-up phone calls. We texted people. And I gotta ask, how many people do you think this 91, this number 91, what did that translate into? Well, for us, all of that work of following up with everyone, we had a grand total of 2 people who participated with us as a result of that senior pastor pleading. Can I be really honest with you? After 6 months, a grand goose egg. No one was serving with us. Why? Because the commitment level to listening to the senior pastor plead and you giving a check mark on a on a worship folder, it just doesn't really translate. Cute videos not gonna translate. How about this? Drumroll, please. How about accosting people in the hallways? It's just not an effective strategy. Listen, if you have to understand I'm I'm talking to you about these things as a person who failed. The reason why I I I encourage people not to do the senior pastor videos because I tried that and it didn't work. Cute video, didn't work. Accosting people in the hall, that's what I call drive by recruiting. When people are turning from you and running down a hall to avoid you, that is called an anti recruiting strategy. Accosting people in the halls, it just does not work. Another one another thing to stay away from is sending bulk emails. Not good. Now let me speak to this. This next thing that I'm gonna share with you was my fault, not my associate Carter's fault. So I don't want you to think that I'm throwing good old Carter under the bus because I'm not. Interestingly enough, mister Carter, great guy. Well, Carter was new to our team. And so what did good old Carter do? Carter well, he didn't know anybody at our church. And so what did we do? Myself and Amy and and Andy, we actually looked at our lists and we surrendered over some people. And we said, we know for a fact that this person, this family is gonna serve in the 5th and 6th grade ministry because they have a 5th and 6th grade kid. But I know that they also have a first, second or third grade kid. And so I know this person's gonna serve with me, I'm gonna do the most honorable thing, I'm gonna deny myself and I'm gonna give Carter an opportunity to have first stab at that person. Even though this person was in my very own back pocket, I surrendered them and gave them to Carter. Well, Andy did the same thing and Amy did the same thing and we were being great team players to give our friend Carter These this, like, this sense of low hanging fruit. Just grab it, Carter. Just get these people to serve with you. Now, we know they're gonna serve with us, but we know that you're new. Well, me and Amy and Andy, we went all the way out to lunch and we came back and Carter said, hey. I got some bad news. I said, oh, wow. You got bad news. What happened, buddy? And he said, every person that you gave me, those 22 people, I sent an email out and every one of them within an hour emailed back and said it wasn't going to work. Wait just a minute. You mean, Carter, that you literally sent an email to all of those people. And I looked at the email and I was like, oh my word and you even for extra cringe worthiness, you put their their email in the cc, not the b c c. So here's the thing, bulk emails they're gonna fail because it's so easy for somebody to say no to that. So I don't wanna throw Carter under the bus, yeah, he did the wrong thing but he did the wrong thing because I, Josh, his leader did not train him. And so I wanna tell you, don't send bulk emails, it's just a colossal fail. There's no personalization with that whatsoever. Another one, begging. Okay, like, this one sounds like a no brainer, but I gotta tell you, I have watched leaders who came to the conversation, maybe to a phone call or they saw somebody, they went to lunch with them and they were actually like, showing up super sad and really bummed out and, like, hey, I know I know this is terrible. I know that that that, you know, this is like people are running off of this ship like rats off of a sinking boat, but I want you to come and just, like, help me plug the holes, man. And so that downer face, that Debbie Downer face or that Donnie the, you know, deprecating leader, right, he's self deprecating and he's saying, I know this is terrible. It's terrible, but, you know, we need people. That right there, that source of begging or that source of, like, asking in a in a sad kind of way, are you what? Stop. Do you believe in what you are doing? And so this idea of begging or groveling is an absolute no go. You see how you gain them is gonna be how you're gonna retain them. If you're seeking to gain them through a senior pastor pleading, there was no real cost to them, they didn't hear a vision, they just felt emotionally charged and somewhat responsive simply because somebody guilted them. Acute video takes no commitment at all. So how you gain them, you're really not going to even be able to retain them. But I gotta tell you, I want to gain people in a way that will have them stay with me for a very, very, very long period of time. You see a different approach is this. It's more personal. The Bible says in first Thessalonians 2 7 and 8, but we proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children, having so fond affection for you. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but our very own lives because you had become very dear to us. You see me, Josh, I let people know that I was going to give you my very own life. If you were gonna serve with us, even though it might be kind of a bad trade, if you partnered with us, you were gonna get me as a friend in your corner. Yeah. I know it's a bad trade. However, I'm gonna be for you. I'm gonna be with you. You're not gonna be doing this alone. I gotta say, what's the most important piece? It is this relationship, relationship, relationship. Everything in ministry is based on this right here. How do I wanna recruit people? I wanna do it. Well, by a simple tap on the shoulder. You see, years ago, I was at a huge national conference and there was thousands of people and the senior pastor of this extremely large and very prominent church, he stood up on the stage and as he was standing there and talking, I was spacing out a little bit and I was like, wow, I've never been in a church this big And I thought in my mind, man, I'll tell you what, it must be easy to get volunteers at a church this size. And this is not an exaggeration, maybe 30 seconds later, the senior pastor of that huge church that I was sitting in at this conference, he said, you know, somebody out there probably is thinking in their mind that it's gotta be easy to get volunteers at a church this size. And I was like, that's exactly what I just thought. But guess what? He said nothing is further from the truth. He said it takes nothing short of a tap on the shoulder. No matter the size of your ministry, it comes down to you as an individual individually tapping somebody on the shoulder and sharing voice to voice, maybe face to face, a compelling vision for serving in ministry with you using their gifts, their abilities, and how you've seen their gifts and their abilities in action. See, it takes nothing short of a tap on the shoulder. You see in my opinion recruiting is a means of disciple making now my job as a pastor is to make disciples I don't care what your role is whether you're in men's ministry or women's ministry whether you're the worship leader, whether you're in children's ministry, whether you're in outreach, whether you're the senior pastor, the totality of the pastor is for you to see people grow as disciples in Christ. Well, what are some of the ways that we want people to grow as disciples of Christ? Well, word, we want them to grow in their knowledge and in understanding of the word of God. What's another attribute of somebody that we would love to see? Well an attribute of a growing disciple, how about this, prayer? Absolutely, another growing attribute is to learn what your gifts are. Well guess what, let's just stop right there. You see by by getting somebody to participate in the ministry, the likelihood of them engaging with the word and them praying and then discovering and using their gifts. It's going to grow. Now I'm gonna tell you a quick story. This is a a personal story and here I was Josh, former high school chemistry teacher turned children's pastor And on that particular day, I had 11 by 17 sheets of paper. I think I had 3 or 4 of them, and they all had lines on them. And those lines were empty. And at the heading of that set of maybe 10 lines and this set of 6 lines and this set of 14 lines was the title of the area in which I needed to find people. You see, I was at church at 7 pm at night recruiting. Now, why was I at church at 7 PM? I should have been home with my family. Well, you see, the people that I wanted to recruit, they had regular jobs. And those regular jobs would have precluded me from calling them on the phone during the day. So I had to be at work calling on the phone when they would be at home ready to receive a call from me. And I had these sheets of paper and I had all of these lists, but with nobody's names. And those names couldn't just be filled by any random Joe Blow. They needed to be good, godly people who could handle the word of God and handle kids, possibly even more likely handle a parent or 2 as well. So these were I need to talk to your people. And I had a 125 people. Do you hear that? 125. And I remember that night looking at that list of blank names and and and knowing in my mind that that was it seemed to be a, I don't know, unrealistic expectation. I looked at the list. I looked at the phone and then I looked at heaven and I said, god, I I feel that this is I don't feel this is realistic. This is a too big of an ask. And in that moment, god impressed upon my heart something very special. He said, Josh, not in an audible voice but in my heart, the question was posed, what did serving and volunteering do for you? Well, you see, I had been on the worship team. I've been serving in student ministry. I've been serving in children's ministry. I've been an adult Sunday school teacher or ABF life group teacher. I have been serving in so many different capacities at the church. And I was like, oh my word, what is volunteering done in me? I know your word way better. I definitely have a stronger prayer life because I've been pushed outside of my comfort zone. I know tons more people and I have deep relationships with people because I have served. Wow. I have a I have a stronger dependence on the spirit in the moment. I also know my gifts and know what I'm not good at because I've had a bunch of different experiences and I found out I'm not good at that, but I am good at this. Wow. I love you better, God. I love the word better. I'm in contact with you be through prayer. I have better relationships and I know myself as a as a gift person with gifts better. That's what volunteering has done in me and then God turned the table. It was almost like, well, my god, I got goosebumps even right now. And God turned the tables and said, Josh, do you think that I could do the things that I did in you and how I built you up through serving? You think I can do that for these a 125 people that I'm going to provide for you? And I thought, wow, game changer. Now I felt compelled and almost rushed to the phone. I wanted to grab the phone as fast as I could and tell people, hey, listen. Do I have something for you? I've noticed that you have these gifts and abilities, and I'm telling you you're gonna grow in your faith. You're gonna grow your knowledge of the word. You're gonna be driven to God in prayer. You're gonna have way better relationships and we're gonna find out who you are and who you're not in terms of your gifts and abilities. You will grow. And so recruiting became a means of disciple making. And I was convinced in my mind, if I get them into a seat serving, I'm gonna observe them growing. And so now it was no longer recruiting that I was doing which seemed to be a very very very overwhelming task for me. You see recruiting became a means of disciple making. If I could get them into the seat, I believed with all my heart that they were gonna grow and now I did not feel intimidated to reach out to them. I didn't feel like it was some sleazy sales pitch. Not at all. You see, I believe that they were gonna grow and you wanna know something? They did grow. So as a point of review, let's go over this. What are you gonna stop doing? Senior pastor pleading. It's not gonna work. You're gonna stop with the cute videos. Now by the way, if the senior pastor is willing to say something from the pulpit, I'll take it, but I ain't banking on it. If they give me a 30 second video, I'm gonna find a video. It is not going to it is absolutely not going to, really work that well, but I'm it's not like I'm gonna I'm not gonna turn it down. But I'm not gonna bank it. And I'm not gonna cost people in the hallway. It's not gonna be this drive by recruiting. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna bank on bulk emails. You see, I'm not gonna think that recruiting is fast. You see, recruiting takes time. And what else does it take? It takes the heart of a shepherd not thinking about slots to fill. I'm gonna think about recruiting as disciple making. And once again, we proved to be gentle among you as a tender mother tenderly cares for her own children having so fond and affection for you. We were well pleased to not impart you not only the gospel of God, but our very lives as well. And so I was willing to put myself into people's lives and that can make all the difference. You see the answer is to do less. I want you to do less of these things to stop doing those things and to start doing more disciple making things, and to start thinking about people and their growth. So number 1, we had this first secret is God has a math program and his math program is powerful. Number 2, the second secret is a very practical one, that we should be doing way less of some things and way more of 1. But you know what? You need a step by step plan. And we're not gonna be able to go through all of these just because of time and and and and, the limitations that we do have today, but here's what I wanna let you know. I'm very excited. What we're gonna do, you have an opportunity. I I wanna I wanna invite you to to take a look deeper at the lead ministry courses that we have. And one thing I wanna say is dream big, find your top ten list, do not settle for the lowest of low. Find the absolutely strongest of strong people in your ministry area. Go for it. Number 2, know your people. Listen, I want you to know your people and to do research on them. Yes. Stock them. Find out what their lives are like long before you ever get on a call. Listen, people think in their minds of recruiting is starts when you pick up the phone and it's just not true. Recruiting starts long before. Yeah. I want you to work your circle of influence. I want you to think through in your mind. Wow. Who do I know the best? Call them the first, they're gonna be far more gracious with you. Another one, do not say no for them. I know so many leaders who actually and literally say no before they ever ask. Well, another one, you should have a recruiting script to memorize, normalize and personalize. I think you should have a memorized script that you work from. Also, like I said earlier, takes nothing short of a tap on the shoulder. But what are you gonna say on that tap? What are you gonna say when you finally talk to them? I want you also to think about connecting as a shepherd. You see, as opposed to looking to fill a slot, maybe you should open with what's God doing in your life? And somebody out there might say, you know what? I have a really bummed out situation right now. Recruiting hat off, shepherd hat on. Another one, be excited. Don't be a Debbie downer that this is the worst thing you've ever done. No. Excitement is gonna win the day.