eZine 01.14.2003

TheSource4YM.com
	Jonathan’s Resource Ezine

Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, January 14, 2003

In This Issue

• KEEPING VOLUNTEERS. Proven Methods to Hang on to Your Ministry Team!
  
  
• RESOURCES FOR KEEPING VOLUNTEERS
  
  

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KEEPING VOLUNTEERS. Proven Methods to Hang on to Your Ministry Team!

by Jonathan McKee
January 14, 2003

Got volunteers? Getting them is one thing . . . but what’s the trick to keeping them?

Glad you asked.

Here are "Five Ways to Hang on to Your Ministry Team!" by Jonathan McKee

1. TIME
   No- not the magazine- the other thing that we don’t have enough of. Yes, no matter how you slice it, staff take time. But think of the alternative. Either you spend 20 hours a week with students and no one else does. Or you spend 10 hours with students, and 10 hours a week developing 10 others so that they can EACH spend 5 volunteer hours a week with students. Do the math. Jesus did- that’s why he spent a good amount of time developing the twelve.
   
   I use to block out a weekly breakfast for several of my staff guys. This was a great time to ask them how they were doing, be an encouragement to them, and maybe even talk a little about ministry.
   
   My friend Greg was a youth worker at a local church- and he had three times during the week that he would be at a local Denny’s type restaurant. During this time- if staff dropped by- Greg would pick up their meal. (It’s nice to have the budget for this sort of thing.)
   
   Breakfasts, golfing, retreats, staff-laser-tag, dinners . . . regardless how you do it- if you invest in your volunteers- your investment will multiply into the lives of students.
   
   
2. COMMUNICATION
   If you’re reading this letter, then you’re savvy enough with your computer to use email. E-mail is a great way to communicate with your staff team.
   
   Produce a simple weekly-update that you send to staff-only. Fill this with encouragement, updates, praises such as kids who made commitments, etc. This is a great tool for reminding staff what to bring, what time to show up, what the small group questions of the week are, etc.
   
   Don’t stop at the email- pick up the phone every once in a while just to check in. If you’ve got one of those cool cell phone plans with free calls after 8:00 PM, program all your staff numbers in your phone and call them on the way home from seminary class, the grocery store or the gym.
   
   Keep in touch with your staff- know what’s going on in their lives- and provide them an avenue of communication so they can stay current with ministry.
   
   
3. MORE THAN JUST A STAFF MEETING
   Do your volunteers groan when they attend a staff meeting? How about adding creative twists to staff meetings?
   • Have your staff meetings over pizza or ice cream. Meetings are always better over food!
   • Have your staff meetings at the house of one of your student’s parents. Ask them to cook dinner for your staff- then halfway through the meeting, have them come in and share a story of encouragement how the staff have made a difference in their son/daughter’s life. Maybe have the student come in and share what they like about the ministry.
   • Highlight a different staff person each staff meeting and have every other staff person share something they like about that staff person. If you’re at a restaurant, have everyone buy that person’s meal that night.
   • Do fun "team-building" games where the staff have to work together to solve something. For example- have everyone stand in a circle. Now tell everyone to stay where they are, but lean in, reach and grab the hands of two people in the circle other than the people next to them. Now tell them to get untangled and form a perfect circle again- without letting go!
   
   Don’t settle for the "normal" dull staff meeting. Use it as a time for fun, encouragement and team-building for your ministry team.
   
   NEXT WEEK- THE REST OF: "Five Ways to Hang on to Your Ministry Team!" by Jonathan McKee
   

LOOKING FOR EVEN MORE RESOURCES ON VOLUNTEERS?

LOOKING FOR EVEN MORE RESOURCES ON VOLUNTEERS?

• Check out Jonathan’s FREE article on recruiting volunteers: https://thesource4ym.com/howdoi/staffvol.asp
• Tom McKee’s excellent web site with a ton of FREE articles and resources on volunteers. Check out sample strategic planning retreats, interview questions, position chargers, etc. on this great site: http://www.volunteerpower.com/
• Jonathan’s hit book THE TOP 12 RESOURCES YOUTH WORKERS WANT has a whole chapter devoted to recruiting volunteers. Use this link to check out what people are saying about Jonathan’s book or to take advantage of 20% off: https://thesource4ym.comhttp://www.jonathansresources.com/Books/default.aspx

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KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

God Bless,

Jonathan

If you have any other youth ministry ideas you want to share, please email me at jon@thesource4ym.com

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Do you have a speaker for your next camp or retreat?

Check out Jonathan’s speaker page and who’s recommending him!

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Jonathan R. McKee
THE SOURCE
for Youth Ministry
https://thesource4ym.com/