Never Underestimate Your Volunteers.
Several years ago I led a guest services training weekend for Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester, Minnesota. It was November. In Minnesota. And I was not okay. (Tennessee-raised boys are not built for that sort of weather.)
Sometime during the weekend we shifted to the topic of best practices and practical tips. And at some point during that conversation, I said, “Well, my normal recommendation would be that you get a first-time guest tent and put it outside. But you know…you’re in Minnesota. That seems like an insurmountable hurdle for most of your year.”
Little did I know that the “Minnesota nice” folks would balk at my cold-weather dig. They ordered a first-time guest tent. They put up a first-time guest tent. The regularly used their first-time guest tent. And the following winter I received this note from Paul McDonald, their Connections Pastor:
“[The] First Time Guest Tent is the single best thing we have done for our guests EVER. We canceled just once this winter when the temp dipped down to 23 below and I kid you not…my team wasn’t happy that I made the call.“
I’d previously told Paul that our practice is to move to a rotation system when there is steady rain, high winds, or the temps fell below the 50s. Paul repeated that to his team, and “One of our elders commented that Minnesotans are still showing up in shorts and t-shirts at that temperature.”
Here’s what Autumn Ridge’s story teaches us: we should never underestimate our volunteer team. Church leaders (myself as the chief of sinners at the top of the pile) are too quick to complain that “They won’t like that” or “I can’t get them to do this” or “Someone’s not gonna be happy about that.”
And sometimes, that’s true. Sometimes, the occasional volunteer or congregation member or staff member will absolutely complain.
But not all of them will. And when we pander to the lowest common denominator, the lowest common denominator wins, and the rest of the team suffers.
With our volunteers, if they understand the why, they’re way more likely to execute the what. Our role as leaders is to deliver the why in a big way, and then stand back and watch them lead out in a big way. Over the years I’ve been astounded at the volunteers who stand outside in the driving rain or shifted to a way-less-convenient service time to open up space for guests or took a relational risk and wrapped a first-time guest in a much-needed hug. Their sense of why went way above and beyond our sense of what, and our guests were better for it.
What I learn from Autumn Ridge’s story is that I’m too quick to say no for our volunteers. To give a pass to our volunteers. To assume that they won’t like that or someone’s not gonna be happy about that.
But that assumes that I’m the only one who cares. And that’s absolutely not true. Maybe instead of saying no for them, I need to get out of the way and let them lead the way God has wired them.
What is your “23 below zero” moment?
