Are you a storyteller? Of course you are. We all are. We naturally share the stories of what’s going on in our lives – the illness, the home improvement project, the cute thing the grandchild did! Stories are part ofRead more…
How I Learned to Look Outward
It’s fall 2009. I’m in Loveland, Colorado, at a church volunteerism conference, with eager anticipation for many of the speakers and sessions. But there must have been a ‘dead’ hour, because I know I didn’t expect much from one particularRead more…
A Question: the Nominating Process
“I’ve got a question.” “I would like some ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ about nominating committees and the election process in churches. Also is it good for a pastor to serve on the nominating committee?” From an anonymous reader November 2012 ResponseRead more…
A Good Steward of Other’s Gifts
You know you should be a good steward of the gifts God has given you: your time and talents and treasure. Are you a good steward of other people’s gifts? Should you be? If you’re a pastor or church staffRead more…
Surviving as a Team Leader
“Teams are a lot of work.” I sighed heavily with this guilty thought. I’ve promoted the value of teams for years, within and beyond my own church. But I was feeling more frustration than love at the moment. I wasRead more…
How to Eat an Elephant
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So goes an old joke, making the point that even the biggest of tasks can be accomplished with first one step, then another and another . . . ChangingRead more…
When My Volunteer is Smarter than Me
I know a thing or two about databases. I love how they organize information and the flexibility they offer over a spreadsheet; I can build a basic Access database. When I was hired as Director of Equipping People to ServeRead more…
A Question: Finding Co-leaders
I’ve Got a Question. I am passionate about what I do and I always find volunteers. However, I feel at a loss because I haven’t found anyone to be “passionate” with me in a vision or direction. They all seemRead more…
In the Store: Putting Spiritual Gifts to Work
Putting Spiritual Gifts to Work: Equipping Saints for Service is a short book (80 pages) by Karen Kogler. It’s available in The Equipper store in two versions: Electronic version: as a download; $8.00 Print version: mailed to you, with aRead more…
Sacred and Secular Volunteering
In the United States, 26% of the population volunteers.* More people (36%**) volunteer through faith-based organizations (churches, synagogues and mosques) than any other type of organization. The remaining 64% of volunteers work for a variety of community organizations: schools andRead more…
Screwtape Writes on Church Volunteers?
In his popular book The Screwtape Letters, author C.S. Lewis imagined an experienced devil named Screwtape writing letters to advise his young nephew Wormwood on how to move people toward hell and away from their enemy, God. One day IRead more…
How to Discourage your Church’s Volunteers
(From the Lutheran Witness, March 1998. Reprinted with permission. Print version. Imagine your church with no volunteers for one week. The organist may play the organ, but there are no choir members or other instrumentalists. Everyone eventually finds a worshipRead more…
Volunteer Ministry Entrepreneurship
Rich Kirkpatrick related (in an article no longer on the internet as of 2014) an incident that occurred when he attended a conference at Saddleback, Pastor Rick Warren’s mega-church in southern California. At a nearby coffee shop he met anRead more…
Lessons of a Book Bee
“I was surprised by large numbers of people who thanked me for letting them be part of this. People want to serve. We [in the church] don’t always describe a clear connection for volunteers between their task and serving GodRead more…
How to Be the Boss
Recently I asked a group of people to consider whether they prefer to be leaders or followers. I had them demonstrate the degree of their preference for one or the other by choosing a place to stand along an imaginaryRead more…