Latest / Student Ministry Conversations / 267 | Sustainable YM: Recruiting Volunteers Without Guilt or Pressure | SMC Podcast

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267 | Sustainable YM: Recruiting Volunteers Without Guilt or Pressure | SMC Podcast · Student Ministry Conversations

• speaker-1: Hey and welcome back to the podcast. We are in week two of August, and today was the back to school day, and we are both frazzled because all the things are not working, everything is going distraught and a s blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And it's speaker-0: Can we all just take that moment? This is a very yoga thing. We're just gonna Did y'all ever see the video of the Grinch doing yoga? Have you seen that, Brent? ⁓ my gosh. I have to send this to you. But literally, she goes, Okay, lift up your hands and just let it all out. And it's like the Grinch is right in the middle of the all these ladies doing ⁓ yoga or something, and he lets his hand out and he just goes, speaker-1: Magazine. speaker-0: Like it screams and then afterwards he goes, I'm sorry, I'm real messed up Like and it's like the most perfect I'll s I'll I'll send it to you now. Keep rolling, keep rolling. speaker-1: I ⁓ okay. I I understand and but yeah, no it's been it's been one of those days I yeah, I have no idea. ⁓ but from different things going on with churches to getting schools kids to school, not schools to kids, getting kids to school and all the other things. ⁓ it's been a morning and so we are like an hour and ten minutes behind where we normally are when we're recording this episode. ⁓ and it's fine. It's it's totally all it's totally all good. But so with that being said, ⁓ we are in week two of this ⁓ month of August and we have been talking about the idea of building sustainable youth ministry. And so with that, one of the things that we have already had a conversation with was last week we talked about systems that serve discipleship. ⁓ And we talked about how ⁓ systems should be support, not control. They shouldn't control your ministry, but you should only have systems in your ministry that actually work well and make your job easier, not to mention also just help you as a unit with your leaders and your volunteers and your students. All to be on the same page at the same time working towards the same goal. And so great episode last week. If you want to go check that out, you should. ⁓ and then s with that we are moving into week two, which is probably one of the most asked questions I've ever had in youth ministry, which is, but what about volunteers? How do I get ⁓ What do I do? Where do I get them? Is there like a store for them? Like what's going on? speaker-0: I'll take that one and that one, just pull them right off the shelf. speaker-1: Exactly. The volunteer store. We need to ha make it happen. ⁓ That's our next t shirt right there. Yeah. So with that though, no, I mean I I think it is a common struggle for a lot of people. And if we're honest, a lot of us that even have volunteers, most of the volunteers that we have are untrained. ⁓ they have no idea what they're doing. or they're really, really young, like college aged, and they're just on fire and have a zeal for the Lord and really have no restraint or no filter or no anything. And so there's not like very rarely do you come across the perfect volunteer. But with that being said, let's just kinda start with the idea of, you know, recruiting volunteers is hard. ⁓ most leaders don't love recruiting. It can feel like awkward conversations, it can feel like last minute asks, filling gaps instead of building teams. And so like there's a lot of things that go into that. where there's a ton of stuff that just happens and we like We just need more help. But that's not compelling. That's not speaking it life into the people or like building this excitement and engagement with volunteers. ⁓ and so like I think there's a huge problem with this and the problem with this is it's it's basically pressure based recruiting. Like you you either last minute lost a volunteer or you just realized you need a volunteer and you didn't give much time frame for them to jump on and so it's kind of like a last minute ask of a hey, can you join us next week as we start for the semester? But I really need you to be there every week and then I also need you to be there early, but I also need you to stay late and then and like we just start dumping And so like when we lead with this idea of like urgency and guilt and obligation, we might get volunteers but we're not going to have healthy teams. speaker-0: Even if that's not your intention, you know, and I I think I mean, it's one thing to like say it that way. I don't think most of us go into it with that mentality of it's urgency, guilt, or obligation. It's or ⁓ maybe with urgency, but certainly not with guilt, and and certainly not with pressure. You know, what you you hear those words and go, Well, I'm not trying to guilt people into it or I'm not trying to pressure people, but sometimes like it's impact over intention ultimately. just because we don't mean it that way doesn't mean it doesn't come across That way, and we have to be ⁓ careful in the way that we we talk to people and and how we how we present the situation. Like Brent said, like, are we speaking life into it? Like, hey, we don't necessarily want to be car salesmen, but you know, in in some ways, like if we're driving a vision here, like how can we do it in a way that says Let me tell you how awesome our youth ministry is and how incredible our students are and why I think your gifts and your passions can really serve the the vision to help these students take a healthy step towards Jesus today. And and here's how I think I think you can partner with us to help us get to that point. And then it's more of a I see something in here's here's what we have. I see something in you. Would you consider pray? And then it's then it's more of like a, you know, the balls in their court. Sort of thing, sort of thing. Like it's not just like a hey, I I have to get out of this thing and I I really need somebody to step up, kind of thing. Like, then it becomes like, I really think that you would connect really well with this group of students. Here's what we're we're talking about, here's what we're doing. Would you would you be willing to ⁓ sit down with your with your family and just pray about ⁓ how you might get involved? I don't know, there's a lot of different ways to approach it, but man, there's something about that that makes them feel like, hey, I'm being asked to do this because they see something in me and I understand the vision behind what you're trying to do with the youth ministry and and with this this area. And now it's not like a the world's on fire and I need you to put it out. ⁓ Now it's here's this awesome thing that we have and I'd love for you to be part of it. speaker-1: Yeah, no, I definitely agree. And I think in all reality, like if you're listening to this and you're like, I d I just don't have any volunteers, I firmly believe that your first volunteers are the hardest ones to get. Yeah. ⁓ because the thing is is if but if you find the right volunteers, then everything else will fall in line. So much so that ⁓ I'm actually dealing with this right now. ⁓ so a three Sundays ago now, I believe, my longtime volunteers, like I have been here for I'm in my ninth year. It'll be ten years this upcoming May. and with that, like I I've been in this realm where like their daughter is about to graduate college and they have been in my ministry as a volunteer since she was in sixth grade, ⁓ or seventh grade. And so super, super cool and it's been a great opportunity. But they came to me three weeks ago and they were like, hey, we want to be a part, but we have to let some things go in this season. And like came to me in tears. They did not want to leave, but they were like, so but we have to we we sat down and we decided this was something that had to give. We can't volunteer consistently, at least for this season. We don't want to say forever ⁓ we want to come back. However, we also don't want to leave you high and dry, so we've already found our replacements if you're okay with them. And so it was super, super cool on this idea that like, man Holy smokes, this this this long term volunteer that's honestly been a rock in our ministry has also been the person that was like, No, I realize I'm leaving, but also I realize the burden that that puts on you. I already have replacements for me. I asked them three weeks ago. I I I gave them two weeks to pray about it. Come on. That's And two weeks to consider what they were doing, and they've already told me that they would commit to the entire year, and so now I'm just Presenting these guys to you. And it was just like, once again, though, if you find the right volunteers first, they will replace themselves. Absolutely. And so like I I I cannot stress that enough because the thing is, is like pressure creates short-term yeses. speaker-0: Absolutely. speaker-1: Not long term commitment. And if you if you actually build long term commitment for your volunteers, they will be committed to your group long after they leave as well. Yeah. They will be the ones that still call and ask and ask how things are going. They're the ones that are still invested with all the kids, even though they don't come on Wednesday nights anymore. They still check in with every single kid on Sunday mornings, seeing how they are, what they're doing, all this stuff. They're super invested, they just don't have the time to be there on a Wednesday night. And so, like, investment, investment, investment. It has to be long term goal. It has to be long term oriented. And I will say i it is a rule in our group, especially for small group leaders. Now, I don't with volunteers, like obviously sometimes we just need extra parents for manpower to show up to an event. I don't count those as long-term commitment volunteers. Those are just, hey, can you fill this gap for us real quick? So there is both of those dynamics. But we consider volunteers as the people who come in week in and week out, commit their time, commit effort, commit their intentionality to be a part of our group. And we have four of them right now. ⁓ and so with that, like those are the four that I consider as volunteers, but they're also our small group leaders. And so like those four I have the strict requirement of I need you to commit to at least a year. And that is the spring s the fall semester, the spring semester, we give you a break over the summer. I need to know by the end of the spring if you're not coming back, or by mid summer if you're not coming back next year, so I have time to get and so like our my my volunteers were v well well aware of this. And so like they they did do it late, but they also were like, Hey, we understand that like we put this burden on you, so we're gonna take care of the burden for you. and that's it's super, super cool. But it's also something that's just once you get one once again, like it's it's all it goes back to a couple months ago when we talked about vision casting. You have to have an idea of what you want your leaders to do. You have to have an idea of what your leaders need to commit to, and all of these things are huge ⁓ opportunities of importance. And the thing is, is like when I say they need to know what they're doing. speaker-0: Mm-hmm. speaker-1: If you're not watching on l like on a video, I'm I have a copy of our volunteer handbook. And so like with this, I I can't take credit for it. Once again, this is something I stole from Kenny and L. Campbell a long time ago. ⁓ But so like it literally is page after page after page. It talks about our wins, our expectations, it talks about all the things that we have. But then at the very back of it. I do have a commitment sheet and they sign it and they date it. And they give it back to me. And it is basically saying, I promise to follow through on my responsibilities. I promise I've read the volunteer handbook. I promise that our s I've read the safety guidelines and we I will abide by them. I promise that I read the code of conduct and I will abide by them. I understand the expectations of my role and I will work to ⁓ work hard to fulfill it. And part of that is understanding like the code of conduct. We go into you're not just required to be a good Christian while you're at church. Like our kids will follow you on social media, our kids will follow you, and they'll see you out in public and they will see you interact with your family and your friends in life. And I need you to be a great role model there too. And so like it's it's a it's a fairly heavy dynamic, but I've found like when you when you lay down the expectations, the first leaders are harder to find, but the first leaders stay. And that is the most valuable thing you can have because if you're having to recycle small group leaders every other year, you're missing out on the opportunity for them to actually build relationships with your group. Yeah. So pressure creates short-term yeses, but it does not create long-term commitment. So how do you create that long-term commitment? You cast vision that inspires people. speaker-0: Absolutely. speaker-1: People don't just want to help, like David said a second ago. They want to know they matter. I have struggled with this in the past. I have had adults up there to make it safe for me, basically. Yeah. To have that extra adult up there just to be ⁓ ministry safe or safe sanctuaries or whatever ministry safety policy that you have. A lot of churches have it. ⁓ They don't want to be the warm body in the room. They want to know that they matter and they want an opportunity to be a part of investing in the lives of these students. And so instead of saying we need leaders, do what David said earlier and say, hey, look, you have the opportunity to shape students' lives. speaker-0: And I I'll add a caveat to that. You can't do that if you don't have a personal relationship with the person that you're asking. You have to know what their strengths are and their gifts are. You can't be like, hey, I think you are a perfect person for our youth ministry. ⁓ well, why me? And I will tell you, I've had volunteers say, but why me? And I'm like, if I didn't have an answer to that question, it'd be it would be because It would automatically communicate that. It would communicate, ⁓ you just need a warm body. So if I can't give you a specific reason why I believe that you would be good for, and I love giving like personal examples of so I literally just had this conversation last week with a a couple a young couple in our our church who happens to ⁓ their youngest son, well, only son, speaker-1: ⁓ speaker-0: is best friends with my son and and just fantastic family. And ⁓ I had a conversation with them and and and I just felt like they would be really good for helping us out on our Sunday mornings. and ⁓ I gave very specific reasons. I was like I was like both of you guys have ⁓ a really, really good dynamic with with girls and with boys. Like like the the dad is is really almost said his name. ⁓ the dad is really good at ⁓ he's really, really funny. He's He's kind of a he's a real kind of like that that West Texas country guy and ⁓ he's got that humor and he's got that that dryness ⁓ to him, but he can also like he's done a lot of things and he's experienced a lot of things and his stories are are just so funny and so ⁓ impactful and guys just cling to it. And I was like, Man, we've got some we got some boys that would really, really love to hear the things ⁓ because they'd connect better with him, I think, than they would with me. ⁓ because they're the same type of person. Like they they like they like ranching, they like all these different things that I it's it's a whole group of students that I can reach through sports and and some things like that, but there's a lot more things that he would be able to reach them where they're at than where I would. And so I was able to use, you know, and I say use, that's probably not the right term, but I was able to to share like because of this thing that you do so well, I have a whole group of boys that I think would absolutely cling to you. And on the other side with with the mom, I was like, you have such a a passionate heart, you're you're a really, really good listener. And we said we've got some girls that are kind of struggling feeling like the herd. A lot of I've got I've got about six girls that feel like like a burden all the time, and they don't necessarily feel like they're listened to a whole lot. And they kind of need a mama to come in and and and not necessarily hold their hand, but to just make them feel a little bit validated and a little less crazy. Yeah. And they were like, okay. Like, and I don't even necessarily think they realize. Like that, that was something that they could offer. But as I was explaining it, they go, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I would love to do that. And I got to see it on Sunday morning. And they they came in and and immediately that group of boys clung to him, and those girls clung to her. And it was a really cool thing. Like immediately they saw it. And it was kind of a cool thing too. Cause but I if I didn't have the relationship with them to know how they can connect and to be able to kind of fill in some of those dots before they got started, it might have been hard. Harder for them to want to say yes. But then when they show up and they do that and they they they see it in action right away out of the gate, they go, Okay, I really do have a role and I can I can actually elevate a certain part of the ministry instead of just sit there and be a warm body. And and that makes all the difference. Now, do I know what's gonna happen or how long this is gonna last? No, of course I don't. But because of that relationship, we're set in a really good opportunity for them to be long-term. term like absolute rock star volunteers and I and I can build a ministry around them. I I I think I can. And so we'll see what happens. But you can't do that without a good relationship with people. speaker-1: Well and and and the thing is is like you said, you gave them purpose. ⁓ and people don't give their time to needs, people give their time to purpose. ⁓ and so with with that dynamic, like you have to explain the why well. You have to articulate the mission that you're doing, you have to articulate how they fit into that mission, and then you have to give them the challenge or give them the opportunity to move. Like and so that's with anything though. I mean, like, that's what we do as students too, but like students are a lot more engaged when they're connected. When they have a responsibility or when they have an opportunity to step in and do something, they are 10 times more connected than they are if they just come and show up. And so how do you do recruiting practically? ⁓ and we'll probably spend roughly the last 10-ish minutes on this, I would guess. ⁓ And more than anything though, it's just this idea of like This is a PSA for all the people that get up on Sunday morning and address the entire congregation and say, Hey, we need volunteers in the youth ministry. Don't do that. First off, you're gonna get volunteers you'd never want in your youth ministry. Secondly, you're never going to get the ones that don't have purpose because once again, you are trying to fill a need when you do that. You're not going person to person and making it personal. You are keeping it general. And so unless you want people that are just like, ⁓ well I I I think I could probably you know, I could probably sit up there and do that. You you don't want to don't don't address generally. Make it personal, give opportunities where you can step in and when you can be that person. Now there are a few caveats that you can go around doing this. One of the things that we do is when we have new members at our church, ⁓ we have a volunteer or like an in a volunteer interest form that our church sends out and it says, Hey, here's all the ministries that we have. What would you be willing or what would you have a desire to potentially help with? And a lot of times with that They they'll come in and one of our newer families that we have as volunteers in youth ministry, they literally just checked the box when they joined or when they started visiting our church and they were like, Hey, we think we would want to be a part of the youth ministry. And it was like, That's awesome. And they have fully dove in, they're fully invested, but it's because it was an interest in a passion of theirs already, and they were just like, Hey, yeah, I think that we would really like to help with this. So, like if you have some kind of interest form for your entire church, that would be the way I I would get around that. Don't just stand up on Sunday morning and say, Hey, we need volunteers though, because you're gonna get volunteers that you don't want. And then s secondly, we've already kind of talked about this, but the idea of be clear with expectations. Our leaders are very, very clear with what we expect. They they know when we want them there. They know when they're we are okay with them leaving. They know the expectations of what they're going to do each week. They know how to do it. They are prepared. They are given all the resources and all the equipment that they need. ⁓ and so it is an opportunity for them to plug and play, step in and be prepared for what they're gonna do. And this comes in different dynamics. We have like I said, we have four different volunteers. and two of them after worship they take the sixth grade and they run and they do their entire night just with the sixth grade alone. The other two volunteers, one's with ⁓ Shauna, my ⁓ associate youth pastor, and one's with me, and they listen to us do the teaching and then they sit and they lead a small group. We don't just feed them to the dogs and just say, Hey, come up with small group questions on your own. Like we give them opportunities to go where they can use the resources that we've already provided, the questions that we've already prepared and given them. And a lot of times we will try to give them those questions ahead of time so that They have an idea of what they are going to do. Be clear about your expectations. If you have a volunteer that you have nothing for them to do, they're not going to volunteer for long. ⁓ because it's not going to happen. And so then, I mean, like, that's a huge deal. You have to be clear and articulate expectations because that is a huge dynamic of what like they are going to expect. speaker-0: I wanna I wanna just take a second. There might be somebody listen that goes, okay, I hear what you're saying, but why? I think it's really, really important to understand that as youth leaders, whether you're in a full-time position, a volunteer position, a part-time position, whatever it is, if you have been entrusted in leading your youth ministry in whatever capacity, there is a There's an important role inside of that where we are to be shepherds or stewards of the people that we have, not just our budgets, not just the things, not just the the teaching or the worship or whatever aspect or fun aspect. Our job as leaders is to lead our people, not just our students. We talked about this last week too. ⁓ is that just as much as we have a have an ⁓ like a responsibility to to usher our our youth parents And our students, we also have an important responsibility in ushering our volunteers to make sure that they know what their role is. ⁓ we need to be good stewards of that. ⁓ if you don't necessarily know what that means or or how to do that or how to go about that, hey, you're not alone. Every single person is on a different part of our journey. And so I we make this PSA every single week, and sometimes we wonder if people are listening, but Brent got a little bit of confirmation yesterday. ⁓ that we do know that there are I mean we see the numbers, but we don't get to connect with people as much. And so If you're that person for the thousandth time, reach out. Reach out to us and say, hey, I don't know how to do that. I don't even know how to start. Like, because I mean, let's be honest, once we get going, it's really not that hard. But sometimes starting is the is the place where we struggle. And so if you're in that position, you're like, I I hear that. And I okay, I want to be a good steward. I want to be a good volunteer. How do I lead my volunteers? Because I'll be honest, I've been in positions, Brent has been in positions where there are some sometimes you inherit. Some volunteers that have done it a certain way and and they have their own expectations and their own vision. And sometimes you're also trying to manage that too. And we're we we recognize that. ⁓ and so being able to be good stewards of the volunteers that you have and the different types of dynamics that you have can be a challenge. And so we would love to sit down with you and talk with you a little bit more about that so that we can help you lead The most effectively if that makes sense. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And I I think that's a I think that's an important thing is I mean, you don't have to invent the wheel. People have done it before. And so you can probably either find people in your community or you can reach out to us and we'd love to help as far as that dynamic goes. ⁓ but yeah, no, as far as that, like quick PSA, like ⁓ or quick quick PSA, quick quick thank you because like David said, we he we hear we see the metrics all the time, but like ⁓ it was really, really cool. I as I've said on the podcast a couple of times I'm going back to seminary to finish my ordination. ⁓ and I was in my first Zoom class for ordination last night and one of one of the people in my Zoom class goes, Hey, what is the name of your podcast? And I was like, Student Ministry Conversations. He was like, dude, I love that podcast. I knew I recognized your voice. And I was like, well that's cool. ⁓ yeah. So he was like, Man, thank y'all, thank y'all so much for what y'all do and like the speaker-0: Awesome. speaker-1: Y'all's commitment to doing it weekly and he was like, I was thrown into the fire ⁓ of ministry a year ago and I had no idea what I was doing. He was like, And so I listened to your podcast and two others, and he was like, And I've literally built my entire ministry off of those three podcasts and I like, That's awesome. Super That's why we do it. So cool. Yes. But That I will say that that was a shot of adrenaline for me last night and it was ⁓ definitely a shot for David when I texted him as well. And so like we love hearing stuff like that. We also want to hear critiques. If you think our podcast is not as good as it was, or if you think an episode's lacking, we want to hear that too. But like we definitely, definitely appreciate any and all feedback. But ⁓ yeah, so shout out because that was a really, really cool thing. ⁓ definitely caught me off guard when I was just sitting in class last night and he was like, I recognize your voice. which Which was cool. But yeah, so with that, going back to recruiting, ⁓ we said invite personally, don't do it generally. We said be clear about your expectations. ⁓ and then finally or ⁓ finally this is third out of four that we have, but share stories of impact. And so like you need to have stories in your back pocket of where volunteers came in clutch and like really, really helped you do great things or like helped help students understand things because like when you get to share those stories of how volunteers stepped in and were integral in like decisions and life change in students, like that's a huge buy-in for new volunteers too. they're like, ooh, I can see that. Like I could that could be me. Like I see that like the volunteers in this group are actually making a difference, which is cool. I want to be a part of that. Once again, going back to people give time to purpose, not me. speaker-0: And I would also include, and it goes a little bit with what you were saying earlier, is when you have that first volunteer, second volunteer that are like absolute pillars of your ministry, get them involved. Sounds like an info commercial here, but I was like, don't just take my word for it. Here are two people who have been doing this a lot longer than I have in this church and in this ministry. And they are just as passionate, if not more passionate in some ways, because of how long they've been in this church and this youth ministry. I would love for you to sit down with them and talk about the good, the bad, the and the ugly. You know, because like I think it's important for them to be well, well informed of of what they're actually getting into. And yeah, I mean, these two I had the relationship, they trusted me and they didn't necessarily, they were more like, hey, are we gonna be in their way? And I was like, absolutely not, but you can reach out to them, you know, kind of say. situation, but that that just knowing that there was other people they can talk to, not just the youth pastor who let's be completely honest, it's our job to recruit people, people know that. It's I keep saying the car salesman thing, it's a real thing. Let's just be totally honest. So when another volunteer goes in and says, hey, this is why I think you should be involved, they're like, say no less, say no more. You know, say less while we're good. You know, I think it helps. speaker-1: Yeah, no, definitely. And for for what it's worth, I know the two volunteers he's talking about, and those two volunteers have been volunteers in that ministry since my thirty year old brother was in that youth career. Right. ⁓ which is why speaker-0: They're absolute rock stars. And not just in our youth ministry, in this community. speaker-1: Yeah, they have been they have been integral in that youth ministry for a really, really long time. But buy-in like that changes the dynamic of how you imp like build and create new opportunities for volunteers to step into because when you have volunteers that are sold like that and buy in like that, then they are also your best PR. ⁓ and so please, please, please allow those volunteers to be the voice that allows things like that to happen because like they're the ones that are selling The product better than you can. And I will say in my last ministry, ⁓ I I shared just a little bit ago about the the one now, but in my last ministry, I started out with no volunteers. And I started out with a vol a parent that was just like, Well, I'm up here because you need someone else up here, but don't ever ask me to talk. ⁓ and then like two and a half years later, I left the youth program with him, ⁓ and another volunteer, but those two volunteers ended up bringing nine other parents into our youth ministry that were all volunteering. And so when I left that ministry, we had eleven volunteers on a Wednesday night that were all parents, that were all bought in, that were all like invested in the lives of the students in this group because they saw the passion of these two. And I didn't do anything. Like they literally like recruited and invested all of those parents on their own. Because they were like, hey, I can't wait for Wednesday nights 'cause this is the best part of my week. and like man like when you have volunteers that have buy in like that they're also your best PR ⁓ for getting other people to volunteer and step up in your program. So utilize that for sure. And then finally I would say match people to roles intentionally. If you have a volunteer that is like, hey, I really don't want to talk, it's okay to challenge them, but don't give them the pulpit right off the bat. Maybe you give them the opportunity to sit for the first six months to a year as the second person in a small group. And let them kind of get their feet wet as far as being in the oper and being in the conversations and everything else, and totally giving them the freedom of just being quiet if they need to be. But more than likely, they'll start chiming in and they'll start building a little more confidence and their ability to speak up ⁓ and stuff like that. The other thing that I say, and this is something that we hold to very, very much ⁓ currently, is if you are a male youth pastor, you need a female volunteer. If you are a female youth pastor, youth pastor, you need a male volunteer. It is not rocket science. It keeps you protected, but it also allows you to be it allows someone to cover the side of the youth ministry that you don't have a great relationship with. ⁓ because like even though there are male youth pastors out there that do a great job with both sides, you safely cannot have certain conversations with people. speaker-0: There are some things we just do not understand. Don't pretend like you do. speaker-1: And and if you're a female youth pastor listening to this, there are some conversations you really don't need to have with males, and that's okay. So you need to be intentional about matching people to roles and putting people in the right space. Just in this allows speaker-0: I was gonna say, just in case you don't believe me, I'll give you a real, a real example. I had a student who, when she would get overwhelmed, she would run to the bathroom and she would hide. That was just her thing. That's how she processed. When things got hard, when she got scared, when she got overwhelmed, when she got anxious, she was a runner. 100%. I had both a youth. leader and an adult leader who could go into the bathroom, calm her down, and bring her back. And the reason why I had both is because sometimes For a student, even adult can be a little intimidating when they're in that vulnerable of a spot, and sometimes a peer that just says, Hey, you got this, it's okay, I see you, we're in this together, they're not judging you, we love you, you know, that kind of thing. Have a student volunteer who who loves who who is a good leader. I say volunteer, a student leader who loves all the students and is willing to be that sort of mama bear. Everybody's got one. ⁓ have her go in there and if that doesn't work, adult is ready there too. ⁓ and sometimes it's both. I've had situations where both needed to go and that's perfectly fine and that's perfectly okay. Could I go into a bathroom? Absolutely not. Could I have calmed her down if she wasn't in a bathroom? Maybe, but definitely not in a bathroom. So I'm just saying there are are real physical examples of times where you just absolutely cannot be that person. And that is okay. That's why we have a community We call you know we joke about it all the time. It takes a village in youth ministry. It absolutely takes a village, and you can't be Superman to everybody. That's okay to let it go. If you need biblical backing, I'll even give you that. Go read Exodus chapter 17 and 18. 17 specifically, verses 8 and through 16 and chapter 18 all of it so basically if you were to read 178 through all of 18 just go read it if you need if you need some homework there you go ⁓ it's good stuff i literally have it highlighted and on my desk because i'm reminding myself that i need a village too sorry go ahead speaker-1: Yeah. No, it it may it makes sense. At at the end of the day you have to make volunteering meaningful, not just necessary. ⁓ and so if you give intentionality and if you give purpose to volunteers, not only will they get invested, they'll stay invested and they will stay invested longer than they're in the program too. Which is a really, really big thing to have. And so ⁓ just just kind of closing reminders, you're not building a roster, you're building a team. And teams are built on vision, not pressure. So when people see the impact they are far more willing to step in and be a part of what you're doing rather than when you are just trying to fill a role because you have to. So ⁓ just be mindful about that. If there's tons of different ways that you can do this, if you want to see the volunteer book that we use, I will happily send it to anybody that wants it. ⁓ just shoot us a message on social media or you can send us an email podcast at student ministry conversations.org. ⁓ and I'll happily shoot that ⁓ your way. I built it on Canva, and so I can send it to you as a template, make it editable for you. ⁓ and it's it's pretty easy. And then you just kind of have to articulate. calculate your wins and what you do and how you do it and ⁓ yeah it's it's at the end of the day that's something that every youth group should have. ⁓ just because if volunteers don't know why they're up there or don't know what the like what the requirements of being up there are, ⁓ there's a lot less buy in and a lot less interest because they don't know what they're signing up for. So the clearer you can make that the better. ⁓ and then finally, like David said, if you're like, I just don't even know where to start, I don't know what to do, I don't even know where to look for volunteers, and you just need someone to kind of process and talk through this, find your local youth pastor community. There are probably people in your town or in your ⁓ area that have experience in this already. And if they're not, then always ⁓ you can reach out to us as well. ⁓ You can reach out to us on social media at Talk Student Men for the podcast, or you can reach out to us personally, or like I said, podcast at student ministry conversations dot org for a email address as well. But let's do what we've been doing for the last little while. We'll close in prayer and then we will see you guys next week. God, we thank you for today. We thank you for ⁓ just the youth pastor that's listening to this. And I just pray for as school is starting with everything else, God, I just pray that you will give them opportunities ⁓ to ⁓ just have a have a strong sense of discernment on where you're wanting them to go. ⁓ and a strong sense of purpose on why you are calling them into the ministry that they are a part of. ⁓ I just pray that you will continue to be with these youth pastors. ⁓ I pray that you will continue to give them encourag encouragement and just Just overwhelm them with a feeling of purpose and peace and love from you. ⁓ and as we talk through volunteers and schedule and planning and all the things that come with the start of a new school year, God, I just pray ⁓ that you direct them in the ways that they need to go. and when they have questions that they're not afraid to reach out. ⁓ God, I pray that you put the right people in these ministries because ⁓ finding the right people as volunteers is super, super important. And God, you know who you want in these ministries, so just open our eyes to see them. ⁓ we just pray for the youth pastor this week. Give them courage, give them a boldness to speak ⁓ to students, to speak to people that they interact with on a regular basis about you. And God, I just pray that they know that they're loved by you, ⁓ that they were made for this moment, ⁓ and God that you have put them there for a reason. We thank you and we love you. Amen.