An article

Here's the link to an article I wrote for the Baptist Convention of Iowa on the need for church safety teams.  enjoy.
http://bciowa.org/danger-close/

As any good leader will do. Part 1

As any good leader will do.  Dealing with uncommitted volunteers. Part 1

If you are the leader of a team of volunteers then you will immediately relate to this story.

For the sake of our story let's call our main character John.  John comes to me and says, "I'd love to serve on your safety team ministry".  It could be any ministry you oversee.  My particular bent is church safety and security teams.  I respond as many of you would, "excellent.  Let's meet this week and talk some more about it."  So I meet with John over coffee (I hate coffee - I'm the minority I know) and I lay out the responsibilities and expectations of being a part of this important ministry.  John has all the right answers.  Other members of the team may even vouch for him.  By the time we are done talking I'm convinced that he will be a committed and loyal member of the team.

Things start out great.  John attends his first training meeting and shows interest.  He makes his way through our "job shadow" process and I put him on the schedule to serve on his own.  He performs well and I'm convinced that I've found a great new member of the team.  Perhaps a few weeks or months go bye with no issues to speak of.  But then I show up at church and I check in with my team to make sure everyone is squared away and ready to serve.  I'm told that no one has seen John.  I confidently say, "I bet he's just running late."  We wait and we wait and we...well by now I'm concerned and I decide to text him.  I say to myself "he just forgot to check the schedule".  No reply to my text.  Well as any good leader will do, I jumped in and covered his position for him.

Curious to know why John didn't show up for his scheduled position on Sunday I pursue him with an email and a personal phone call during the week.  I finally get ahold of him and he tells me he just wasn't feeling well Sunday morning and he's very sorry for not showing up.  Well as any good leader will do, I give him the benefit of the doubt.  Everyone wants to be given a second chance right?  "Don't sweat it John, but if that happens again, could you please work hard to find a replacement for yourself?"  He assures me he will. 

The next weekend that John is scheduled to serve I get a text on Saturday night saying he can't serve in the morning.  I suppress my frustration and reply with "ok, who's filling in for you?"  He responds with "I'm not sure I can find anyone on such short notice."  I'm thinking, well TRY!  I don't say this of course.  I mercifully respond by asking him to let me know who he finds to replace him.  Sunday is here.  John is not.  John's replacement is not.  "Hey guys, did John call any of you last night about filling in for him?"  "Nope"  "No"  "Negative" (there’s always one military guy in the group). 

Well as any good leader will do I jump in and cover his position... you are beginning to notice the pattern here or you haven't been paying attention.  So what do we do as leaders of volunteer ministry teams to mitigate this kind of behavior?  Mercy and understanding are always the right answer, right?  After all that's what Jesus would do.     …. To Be Continued