You will never find time for anything.
If you want time, you must make it.
CHARLES BUXTON
I’m going to venture a pretty safe wager. If you haven’t calendared time to develop your volunteer leaders, I’m going to bet that it just hasn’t happened.
Many youth pastors I know get discouraged. They say things like, “I plan these leader meetings, and only a third of my leaders actually show up! I really don’t think it’s worth it!”
Do you know what we call it when a third of the leaders show up for the first year of leader meetings? We call it “normal.”
You don’t have to hold a meeting every week or even every month to have an effective, well-equipped team. But you do need a plan that includes time scheduled for you to invest in your leaders. To make that plan, you can start by answering five pre-calendaring questions:
How often do you want your leaders to be together, just as leaders, over the span of a year?
What would you like to do for an orientation for your leaders at the beginning of the year?
When would you like to celebrate the work the leaders have done at the end of the year?
What would you like to do to ensure that the leaders who can’t (or won’t) make the meetings have access to the training and the sense of connection that will take place at the meeting?
Are there any other special times you’d like your team to be together, such as a Christmas party, a commissioning service or a community training you’d like to promote?
If regular leader meetings are new for you, don’t get paralyzed by the need to get the plan perfect. The key this year is simply to have a plan and to translate that plan into your calendar.
Today’s Mission
Answer the five pre-calendaring questions above. At this point, don’t worry too much about what’s realistic. Start with what you’d love to see happen in terms of the rhythm of your leader gatherings.
Pull out your master ministry calendar for the coming year. (If you don’t have one yet, this would be a good time to create the first draft of such a thing.) Most youth pastors choose to schedule their leader events from August or September of the coming year through July or August of the next year. Ideally, you want to start with a calendar that (1) enables you to look at the entire year at one time and (2) includes key programming and holidays for the entire year.
With a pencil, schedule leader gatherings for the coming year, prompted by the five pre-calendaring questions.
Once you’ve got all the dates on the calendar based on your responses to the pre-calendaring questions, look at the flow of the ministry year and make adjustments as needed. For example, on closer examination you may discover that you’ve planned a leader dinner for Super Bowl Sunday, or you’ve planned your big leader orientation meeting on a Saturday morning that conflicts with a school fundraiser in your town. Make adjustments as needed.
Check in with two or three of your current key volunteers: email them a copy of your calendar and gather their feedback on your leader-development calendar for the coming year. Make adjustments to the calendar based on their feedback.
In the meantime, of course, you’ll continue your recruiting and follow-up work:
With your master recruiting documents (your needs list and your ranked pool list) in front of you, check your email to see if anyone has responded to your invitation and reply to those emails immediately.
For those who have said yes, make sure their names are written in black ink on your master list.
For those who have said maybe, send an email suggesting a meeting time and place for you to talk further about what you’re looking for.
Hold any scheduled meetings with potential volunteers.
For those who have said no,
Move their names to the bottom of the pool list, under the section called “No.”
Beside each name, write what role each person has said no to.
Remove their names from the needs list.
Place new names in the blanks left by those who have said no.
Send your standard invitation email to the people you have added to your master recruiting list.
Send a follow-up message to any potential volunteer who hasn’t responded to your last message in three days or more.
Day 17