Is it time to get up and get moving? To start giving back? To spend a little more time helping others? We all need time to rest and refresh, and to care for ourselves and immediate family. But it’s easyRead more…
The Jungle Cruise and Insubordination
What can we learn from Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise? What Laszlo Bock has to say here about employees is actually MORE true of volunteers. Empowerment can be key in keeping volunteers, particularly the highly skilled ones. How does a leader ofRead more…
Serving in Business
Another St. Peter member has earned a Volunteer of the Year award! Rich Eisenhuth, a residential mortgage consultant at HomeTrust Mortgage, was recently voted Volunteer of the Year by the Schaumburg Business Association (SBA) for his work chairing their AmbassadorRead more…
What’s Your Joy Level?
Have you measured your joy level lately? We count the miles we jog or the steps we walk and we track our bank accounts. What if we quantified our daily joy? Our joy goes up when we’re praised at work,Read more…
On Your Feet
Note: This is the fourth in a series of five reflections. The series begins here. If God’s calling us to specific tasks (see Eph. 2:10), how do we know what they are? It sounds like a high-stake guessing game. What jobRead more…
He’s Calling You
Bartimaeus was blind. And noisy. He heard Jesus was nearby and, to get his attention, he started hollering. People nearby told him to hold down the noise. But he just got louder! And when Jesus noticed and asked for Bartimaeus,Read more…
God Himself Milks the Cows
This fall we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, a time in history when Martin Luther shook up the church as he proclaimed the Biblical truth of salvation by grace alone. He also shook up the church, and theRead more…
The Best Job Ever
I’m the volunteerism person at our church and I love my job. I love hearing people talk about their interests, the causes and needs dear to their hearts, and the tasks they absolutely love doing. Even more, I loveRead more…
Good Stuff: Retention or Sustainability?
Words reflect attitudes. This thoughtful by Meridan Swift, a volunteer manager and blogger, explores the difference between volunteer retention and volunteer sustainability. In the church, it’s simply good stewardship of our people’s time and talents. “Sustainability and Volunteerism”
Good Stuff: Do We Overspiritualize Calling?
In “Stop Overspiritualizing Calling,” Bethany Jenkins uses her own experience as a pianist to question some aspects of the way we talk about calling. It’s a great starter for helpful and important discussions on calling. Here are some quotes andRead more…
A Question: What will a Volunteer Coordinator Do for Me?
The budget of our church’s volunteer program got a substantial bump this year. Thankfully, we are now able to hire a full-time coordinator. What are the most important parts of a volunteer program that we should shift to her, theRead more…
A Question: Recruiting Millennials
In the past year, we’ve had a huge influx of millennials into our church. What’s the best way to recruit these individuals for service? — a reader Response: It’s a great blessing when the family of God includes people ofRead more…
Good Stuff: Everyone Worships
A mother’s musings on graduations, Everyone Worships Something, leads to thoughts on how we all worship something. Those conclusions lead me to wonder about when we serve: are we serving our God or our idols? Usually some of both. ButRead more…
Good stuff: Our Response to Declining Commitments
“People don’t commit like they used to.” “We need to teach these younger people to make a commitment.” “Why aren’t more people stepping up to help?” I hear these comments often. Short term volunteering is very popular, but it’s gettingRead more…
From Compassion to Action
Her commute home from work — that’s what prompted Cheryl Bokelmann’s 17 years of service in St. Peter’s PADS ministry. Every evening, as she walked from her downtown Chicago office to the Metra station, she noticed the homeless; so manyRead more…