Who We Are
Site Administrator
I'm Karen Kogler, administrator of this site. My goal is to contribute to the volunteerism health of God's church.
I serve St. Peter Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, Illinois, as Director of Volunteer Equipping. A lifelong member of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS), I've enjoyed participating in many congregations as a volunteer and as professional staff and support staff.
Current Volunteerism Speaking & Writing
- Quoted in "When Gifts Get in the Way" in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Children's Ministry Magazine.
- October 2008, spoke on recruiting and retaining volunteers as guest speaker at a Parish Administration class for Director of Christian Education students at Concordia University, Chicago, for Professor Kevin Borchers
- September 2008, spoke on "Healthy Helping: When Helping Others Helps You" at the Older Adult Gathering, Starved Rock Lodge, Ottawa, Illinois, sponsored by Lutheran Life Communities, Arlington Heights, Illinois.
- Wrote "The Wall between Faith-Based and Secular Volunteerism: Is it Time to Chip Away at the Barrier?" for e-Volunteerism, an electronic journal affiliated with Energize, Inc.
- Led a "Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers" workshop at the April 2008 Leadership Conference of the Women's Leadership Institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin..
- Published daily devotions for the months of March 2003 and August 2000 for Portals of Prayer devotional magazine.
- Article "How to Discourage Your Church's Volunteers" published in The Lutheran Witness in March 1998.
Background
- Currently, Director of Volunteer Equipping at St. Peter Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, Illinois
- Nine years, Director of Volunteer Ministries, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Southgate, Michigan
- All three levels of training at Marlene Wilson's Volunteer Management program at the Univ. of Colorado, Boulder
- Began leading workshops and writing professionally while in Southgate.
- Between the Southgate and Arlington Heights positions, lived in California for 2 years. There, as a volunteer, I led an Equipping Volunteers for Ministry team in my home congregation, Christ Lutheran, Costa Mesa, while employed by the Center for U.S. Missions in Irvine.
- Moved back to the Midwest in 2004. Before joining St. Peter's staff in 2007, I published e-newsletters and managed website content for the Northern Illinois District LCMS and for the Center for US Missions, while also creating this website, and doing volunteerism writing, coaching and speaking.
- Before beginning in church volunteerism in 1993, I served as parochial school teacher and church office administrative assistant
- Husband Henry, a full-time church musician, has served churches in Missouri, Michigan, California, and Illinois. We have two adult sons.
Why "The Equipper"?
An equipper is someone who equips or prepares someone else for a task. This site is meant to equip people so they can in turn equip the people of their church to more fully and effectively serve Jesus.
Equipping, as a term for helping people serve in the church, became commonly used following the publication of Sue Mallory's book The Equipping Church in 2001.
Our primary equipper is Jesus Christ, who not only calls us to service but equips us with everything we need to serve him and others.
Website Purpose
This site is designed to help churches help their members serve in ministry as God calls them to serve.
This site expresses the goal as becoming 'equipping churches' -- churches that equip their people to serve. Other names are often also used -- volunteerism, lay mobilization, volunteer ministries, and so on. The name is not important, but the focus is.
Some churches seek solely or primarily to get their people to fill open volunteer positions in the church. They may even use spiritual gift inventories and other tools, but their focus is limited to recruiting volunteers. An equipping focus includes recruiting, but it has a different focus and goes far beyond recruiting.
Equipping focuses on the person, rather than the empty position, and focuses on helping the person serve, rather than simply filling the position. Equipping also includes supporting the people who are serving, and helping them transition out of serving when needed. Equipping helps the church flourish by helping its people flourish in ministry.
May our service to Jesus Christ lead us and others to know Him more!