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The Hidden Budget Line You're Not Tracking · The Healthy Church Staff Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: If this sounds familiar, you're sitting in a budget meeting and one of your elders says something like, Hey, we just don't have the resources to do more ministry.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you're thinking, hey, we have 47 volunteers running children's ministry every Sunday.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: We have a team setting up chairs, running around, greeting people, making coffee, but none of that shows up anywhere.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the conversation just defaults to, hey, we can't afford it.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: What if you could show them what your church is actually worth?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that today here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name's Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistry staffing.com.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I came across something recently that I had never really thought about through this lens.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ministry Watch just released their 2025 volunteer value report.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the economic value of one volunteer hour is now$36.14.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's not made up, it's based on actual labor market.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think I mentioned this a while back on the podcast.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do the math with me for a second, you've got 50 volunteers serving three hours on a Sunday.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's 150 hours times$36.14.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's over$5,400 in economic value per week.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Multiply that times 52 weeks, and you're looking at over$280,000 a year.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just Sunday morning.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I know what you're thinking.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Todd, we don't pay volunteers.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: That feels gross.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying you should.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: your elders think in budget lines.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Your donors think in dollars and impact.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Your elders think totally in budgets.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And your donors, those people that put money in the offering plate and give online, think in dollars and impact.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And your burned out staff think you're doing ministry with duct tape and a prayer.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And when you can't name the value, everyone assumes that maybe there just isn't any value.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that narrative becomes we're under-resourced, we can't do anything more.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's actually, most of the time, just not true.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm saying.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Your volunteers aren't saying signing up because of economic value.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're serving because they love Jesus and they love your church, and it's something that we as Christians should do, right?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's sacred, and we're not changing that at all.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But it does give you a language to communicate impact.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when your elder board or somebody on your team says, What are we actually accomplishing?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: You can say something like, Our volunteer teams contributed the equivalent equivalent of$280,000 in labor this year.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, ministry doesn't look so small, it looks more mobilized.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: When a donor asks, How is my gift being leveraged?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can say, Hey, every dollar you give is multiplied by the volunteers we're equipping.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: When your staff are burning out and they feel like nobody sees their work, you can say something like, Hey, you're not just managing a program, you're mobilizing a quarter million dollar workforce.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's not spin, that's that really is reality, and it changes how some people think and how some people see what's actually happening at your church.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So how do you actually use this?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of churches don't track volunteer hours.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you to track volunteer hours for one month.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody that gives time at the church.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Not to micromanage, just to see kids' ministry, setup team, worship, hospitality, administrative support that's unpaid and volunteer, all of it.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then multiply all those hours for the month by$36.14.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: That number is your volunteer value.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Put that number in front of your elders at the next meeting and don't make a weird just say, hey, I wanted to see the economic value that our volunteers are contributing.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then watch how the room shifts because now they're not just hearing a bit about busy Sundays, they're seeing mobilization, they're seeing discipleship, and they're seeing leverages all over the place.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when budget conversations come up again, you've got some language to use.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're not under-resourced, we're volunteer rich and staff lean.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a completely different conversation.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, one more thing.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't just for the board.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Your staff needs to see this too, because when they're drowning in logistics and coordination, they start to think, hey, I'm just keeping the lights on.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But you've got to reframe that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're not just keeping the lights on, you're mobilizing literally an army.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're equipping people to use their gifts.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're stewarding a volunteer force that's worth more than our entire budget.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not hype.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually the truth.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: We just never think of it like that.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And your team needs to hear that too.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So here's your bottom line for today.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Your volunteers aren't just helping out, they're the hidden budget line item that makes your whole ministry possible.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, without those volunteers, your ministry would die pretty, pretty quickly.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this helped you maybe think about your ministry a little bit differently today.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: If it did, share it with your board, share it with another church leader, share it with your team who may need to hear about it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And be sure you subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening to this as well.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing more than you think.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And my encouragement to you today is keep going.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're making a difference.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just any way I can help you or your church, reach out to me.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Podcast at chemistry staffing.com is my email address.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we will see you again right back here next week.