Articles for tag: Volunteer Leaders

January 1, 2022

Christian Standard

Recruitment: How Do Restoration Movement Churches Find Talented Leaders to Fuel Growth?

By Kevin Stone Since the beginning of our church in Pennsylvania, staffing has been among our biggest challenges. There is a continuous, ever-increasing need for people to lead stuff! As we all know, without a constant flow of good people, it’s very difficult to grow. Hiring from the Outside Your church has a leadership need, so you go to an outside recruiting firm for help. You know the process—you write a position description and start the search. I wish it were that simple. Our desire to prevent theological drift requires that we recruit from within the tribe, so to speak. And finding

September 26, 2015

Michael C. Mack

3 Secrets to Pulling Off a BIG Serving Event (No Matter How Large or Small Your Ministry Is)

By Michael C. Mack Over the summer of 2015, Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, served its community through a wide variety of big, all-in serving events called Love the Ville (#lovetheville) that took lots of planning and coordination and made a huge impact on the community. What does it take to plan and execute big serving initiatives like the ones Northeast carried out? What are the secrets that any sized church or ministry can implement? Go and do minister Randy Gordon provides three vital planning and execution principles: 1. Talk to the right people. Maximize the relationships you already

May 10, 2013

Christian Standard

Growing Over the Long Haul

By Kent E. Fillinger John Scott is a longtimer. He started as youth minister of Community Christian Church in Hemet, California, in 1987, and became the lead pastor in 1990. In 2012, CCC grew to an average worship attendance of 1,126, a 22 percent increase over the previous year. “The momentum has been building, but we busted loose last year,” Scott said. “Our staff and elders are simply amazing,” he said. “Truly gifted and big-hearted servants who have totally bought into what we”re trying to do here. The cohesiveness of this team has allowed us to stretch and risk and

January 29, 2013

Christian Standard

How Do You Solve the Leadership Challenge?

By Kent E. Fillinger Quality leaders and effective leadership can make the difference in whether a local church or any organization succeeds or fails. So we asked a few dozen leaders from churches of all sizes to tell us how they develop leaders where they serve. (The 43 congregations surveyed have average attendances from 275 to 8,500.) Most of those surveyed (77 percent) said every staff member is responsible to train leaders and volunteers within each of their ministries. Four of the megachurches surveyed have a staff person focused solely on leadership development, yet these churches still rely on a

November 6, 2011

Christian Standard

Equipping Volunteer Leaders

By Jennifer Taylor Churches around the country struggle with the wonderful problem of how to expand their work by involving enthusiastic new leaders””people who may have limited Bible knowledge or ministry experience. The Crossing (Quincy, IL) created its Ministry Development Institute in 2009 to equip and encourage these volunteer leaders. The 18-month course of study provides in-depth biblical teaching and training in ministry skills. Classes include Old and New Testament surveys, the book of Acts, biblical interpretation, worldview and spiritual formation, practical ministry, and more. The institute posts syllabi and reading lists for each course on its website, and the

July 5, 2011

Christian Standard

Turn Them Loose

By Dan Scates “No one is helping. No one else is carrying the load. No one is leading. No one is committed. No one seems to own anything. I feel alone and overwhelmed.” Now what? Church planting taxes every leadership skill and exposes every motive of the heart. After three decades of church planting experience, one thing I have learned: Each church plant is unique, yet the challenges they face are similar. Distinctive to each plant is the planter”s ability, church location, target audience, ministry priorities, and available resources. On the other hand, the challenges faced by each new church

May 4, 2011

Christian Standard

Shifting the Focus to Neighborhood Ministry

By Jennifer Taylor “Neighborhood Ministry has become our nerve center,” says Ashley Wooldridge, executive pastor at Christ”s Church of the Valley (Peoria, AZ). “It is the reason our church is growing.” CCV senior pastor Don Wilson created Neighborhood Ministry three years ago to more effectively accomplish the church”s mission of winning people to Christ, training them to become disciples, and sending disciples to impact the world. Each person at CCV is encouraged to join a neighborhood group””a weekly gathering of people who live in the same neighborhood or subdivision. The groups meet each week in a study based on the

January 13, 2008

Christian Standard

Defining the Win for Junior High Small Groups

By Johnny Scott Have you ever come home from a convention with great enthusiasm about your new small group master plan? You have the best volunteers ever, and you”ve communicated to parents and fellow church staff in meticulous detail how the program will be a success. The curriculum was field-tested by the leaders and chosen by the student leadership team. Everyone is excited. But somewhere between the “back-to-school kickoff” and Christmas break the impact you envisioned fizzles out. What went wrong? It just didn”t seem to add up. Let me propose you take a step backward. Ask yourself, “How did

October 7, 2007

Christian Standard

Cultivating Church Leadership Through Internships

By Kevin Stone As Christ”s Church of the Valley”s executive pastor, I receive e-mails like this all the time from church leaders around the country: “I”m looking to release a new employee manual, do you have anything I can use?” “We”re revising our bylaws; can I get a copy of yours to read for input?” “We”re about to begin a capital campaign, what consultant do you recommend?” By far, though, the queries I receive most are from pastors with key leadership positions to fill. Good people are hard to find and lack of leadership people can and will hamper a

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