For the first six months after we launched Courageous Church, I often felt like a car salesman when it came to volunteers. Regularly I would basically beg people to serve and tell them how much we needed them in the clearest way possible. In the end, a few great people would sign up, but it would never be as much as we needed. I’ve changed my tune. Let me tell you why.
Church plants require a ton of volunteers. Without them, you burn people out and the quality of what you are doing really suffers.
So one Sunday a few months ago I was doing my whole sad begging routine and Reggie Joiner, a mentor to me and one of the best leaders in the world, was there to hear it. Our leadership team met with him later that day and he told me point blank…
Stop telling people how badly you need them to serve and begin telling them how badly they need to serve. Tell them how serving changes their life. Tell them how much you grow and change and get connected when you serve and how not serving basically freezes them in time as far as their growth in the church (and in the faith) goes.
It’s 7am on Sunday morning and I am going to be preaching that message twice this morning. I’ll let you know how it goes on Twitter later.
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