Picking up from yesterday (and Wednesday), Volunteers matter and if we are going to grow we have to have a plan that enables that growth. Something that keeps it personal and still enables us to accomplish the vision. For us, we are setting up a couple of roles:
PRODUCER: A PRODUCER leads the 2-3 coaches that are in their care. Their job is to get to know each of them and support them as well as relaying the vision to their people.
COACH: A COACH can be the leader for actors, media, or Directors (group leaders). Their job is to lead their 5-6 people by caring for them and their families and relaying the vision!
How does this look on Sundays?
1) Service Producers are the point person for all Grade Coaches
Service Producers are the POINT person in that room. They answer the all Grade Coaches questions, handle problems that staff don’t need to think about, and make sure that all GROUP situations are taken care of without the DIRECTOR or Grade COACH having to take their attention away from GROUP time (Bathroom visits, discipline problems, first aid, etc.)
2) Grade Coaches are the point person for all GROUP Directors in their grade
Much like the PRODUCER the COACHES are the POINT people for all their DIRECTORS. COACHES do not lead a GROUP of their own. Instead, they will sit in with a different GROUP Director each week to support, train, & evaluate. This makes sure that (when all our Grade COACHES know the vision of GROUPs) our Grade COACHES can constantly be training their DIRECTORS!
3) Dispel the Myth
The myth goes like this: You can ONLY impact kids if you lead a group. This is so false it makes me want to laugh out loud (which I’m not right now if you are wondering). What we want our leaders to understand is that they aren’t “just” leading 4-5 Directors or 2-3 Grade Coaches. When they lead they are actually responsible for 40-50 or a whole room of kids who need them. We want to put it in “terms of kids.” It’s about the kids, no matter what your role is here!
4) Sets up a “back up” system
On any given Sunday 70% of all your volunteers will be there. This means you have to have a system that enables you to still succeed even when someone can’t make it. This structure does just that by the following:
- If a GROUP is un-manned, the Grade COACH will fill in.
- If a GRADE COACH is out, the PRODUCER will cover.
- If an actor/ media is out an ACTOR/ MEDIA COACH fills in.
- If a media runner is out, MEDIA COACH fills in.
Also, with your ‘back up’ system you want to be able to provide your volunteers with time off. Time to re-energize, relax and appreciate their role. This is how we plan to do this once we get the ball rolling on this structure:
- Producers/ Coaches: 1-2 planned Sunday’s off per QUARTER.
- Directors/ Co-Directors: 3-4 planned Sundays per QUARTER.
How does this work during the week?…
1) Creates accountability & keeps ministry personal & interactive
The word “accountability” here has many meanings here, but mainly it means holding them accountable to growing in their relationship with Christ, knowing the material, and taking time off. It’s always been said, “People don’t do what you expect, they do what you inspect.”
This also keeps the ministry personal. We want our leaders to have the time to go above and beyond for their people. Our passion is to see the take such ownership in leading their group that they send them hand written notes, random phone calls just to pray with them, and birthday cards signed by the kids in their group & mailed to them (without them knowing). When you go above and beyond it makes a difference our challenge is making sure we give our volunteer leaders the time to go above and beyond.
2) Allows staff to have time to lead & focus on improving the ministry
I am sure there is a myth out there that says, “staff don’t have anything to do but lead volunteers.” However, sadly the myth is a lie. There are so many things that staff need to be thinking through when it comes to the ministry and where we are going. Here is the fact: If we are reactive its because we don’t have the time or determination to be proactive. To grow with excellence we must be proactive and we must set up a structure than enables us to be just that!
3) Places logistic and administrative responsibilities to volunteer leaders
Schedules are a great way to know who will be there and who won’t. However, keeping up with a schedule of 100 people isn’t something that anyone should be doing week in and week out! That needs to be delegated and worked into the structure. For us, each grade/ set of actors or media will be managed & & adjusted by their COACH (COACH will then relay that information to their PRODUCER). The PRODUCER is in charge of managing & adjusting their service schedule so that everything is taken care of (then they will report that work to staff).
All this may seem like too much too quick…I understand completely! Our team has been researching, re-thinking and praying over this structure for over a month! The bottom line isn’t that you do what we do. The bottom line is this: Set up a plan that runs itself (almost), enables growth, and where volunteers are cared for, are trained, have ownership and know the vision.
People matter, volunteers matter, we can’t compromise the call because we don’t know how to carry it out. Break it down, pray and seek God! He will always show us the way when we whole-heartedly seek HIM and HIS Glory! 
April 20th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Thanks Pudge for the info. One question how often does a typical volunteer serve? We are going to a 2nd Sunday morning service in the fall. How do you handle multiple services?
Thanks
April 20th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Great series of posts… I’m not sure if you’re done or not… maybe I’ll jump the gun. do you have an org chart to upload for those that are visually geared. Also, it sounds like you guys have been working on this for quite some time and putting a lot of effort into this. Would you mind sharing what you moved from and what changes you made… maybe the difficulties you were runing into.
I’ve referenced your three volunteer posts on my blog (I’m new and do not yet know how to do trackbacks, otherwise I would have). Here is the link to that particular post: http://www.childrensministryonline.com/blog/leadership/childrens-ministry-org-chart/
Great work… keep blogging!
Kenny Conley
April 20th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Hey guys, thanks for the comments! I love comments! Feedback is always fun because it sparks discussion and we can learn so much from discussion!
Sam, I think everyone would probably have a different answer to your questions because everyone does it different ways (all of which may be successful)! However, our “vision” for how we utilize volunteers for multiple services are as follows:
- Only serve at one service (per week or every other week)
- Different set of volunteers at each service
- Time off when they need it (please give us advanced notice)
- We don’t set a “time” for how long they serve (just get them in to “try it out” and try to hook them on the vision)
Does that help (or at least answer your questions)? Again, many people do it many different ways and are very successful…our way works great for us! By the way, GREAT to see you back again Sam!
Kenny, thanks so much for the link! I am honored! I will see if I can put something together for next week (maybe a Monday or Tuesday post) and see if I can get some visuals out there for you! However, I would like to wait until after Sunday so that our volunteers see & hear it first from us. I will try to add in some of the difficulties we had before with previous structures and the thought process we put into as much as I can!
Hopefully, maybe that will help some?
thanks again you guys!
pudge
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Pudge, dude, let me tell you…. I think your wife is one gifted child of God. (I hope you already knew that!) I was talking with Jon C. after the 4:15 service today and he was telling me that she is your wife. Please tell her that the way she sings Turn Your Eyes…. dang! I have heard her sing it a few times now and God rocks my world EVERY time! She has an awesome voice and I am SOOOO thankful that she shares it with all of us at NS! You are one lucky dude! Jane
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 am
Jane,
Thanks so much! I let her read your comment and she says “thank you” as well! You have it right though, I am definately the most luckiest man on the planet…universe…EVER!
thanks again!
pudge
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Thanks Pudge! I’ll look forward to seeing where you came from as well as where you are headed. We’ve made some pretty major adjutments toward our structure and flow this last year, but I’m always up for tweaking if I see something that works.
Sam, we push all our volunteers toward two services a month. We give them the option of serving however they want… like twice in one weekend or whatever, but most do the same service on 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th weekends. Everyone ends up serving 3 times in one month twice a year due to weekends with 5th Sundays. Okay, when it get’s confusing is when you’re doing 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th and you have Saturday night services as well. It get’s really wierd when you have 5 Saturdays and 4 Sundays and then the next month you have the opposite. It just takes lots and lots of communication to keep from getting confused.
All in all though, we still have a handful of volunteers who serve 1 time a month as well as a few who serve one service every week.
Kenny
May 7th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Pudge in our children’s ministry we also think that “volunteers matter and if we are going to grow we have to have a plan that enables that growth. Something that keeps it personal and still enables us to accomplish the vision”. Here are a few of our roles that help us accomplish this for us in Take TWO kids ministries:
1. Producers are all my department heads. We enjoy the word “Producer” not only because it fits in with our whole movie theme but because it is a great motivating word that keeps our different department heads over each of the children’s ministries focused in results.
2. Line Producers are the helpers for each of these Producers. Line Producers are the ones working in the rooms and services day in and day out. Again, this serves for us as a reminder of their importance and recognizes that we are aware that they are the ones on the front line producing.
3. Cast members are all the kids who make up Take TWO Kids Ministries. We love this word because it is a reminder to everyone that they are to be active as well and have a definite role in how well everything goes over.
4. Guest are those we don’t know about yet that we want to get to know and have come in. This is our target audience.
5. My new role I just added is my Executive Producer. This person is becoming my right hand person who works with all Producers and trains, disciples, and mentors them so all the Producers will do the same for their Line Producers and then the Line Producers will do that for our cast members and our Cast members will do that for our Guest.
This is just our take and how we do what you are talking about.