finding the gold in your volunteers…
the unique thing God put in them is already there. your job is to find it and put a fire under it.
It didn't take three seconds to know she was a leader when she joined kids team. She served hard, jumped all in, never looked back. BUT she straight up told me she couldn't teach kids. She'd taught adults a thousand times in different settings... but kids? No way.
Except I knew she could. And I knew she'd be great so I asked one day and pushed her to try it. Now, years later, she's one of the kids' favorite teachers. She brings a science experiment every time, something that grabs the kids attention and helps them remember what they’ve learned. The kids know that when she's up there some science will make its way in and they're always ready for what she might do. She has a gift, it was obvious to me, but she just needed someone to call it out and put a fire under it.
Then there's this other volunteer who came in excited about kids ministry already, but believing she wasn't capable or qualified to lead anything. She would come in, follow directions, and leave. But I started to ask her opinion on things, because I could see her brain turning and spinning in the room every Sunday. "Oh you're doing a good job, Mal," were her early responses.
But I saw it… the leadership, the desire to learn, the passion deep inside her and I pushed her for feedback. I pushed her for ideas, I pushed her to lead things she didn't feel ready to lead yet. And today she's one of the best leaders on our team, coming with brilliant ideas, dreaming bigger dreams, and helping rally the team as we go along. She had a gift of leadership all along, but was too afraid to use it. She's a visionary who simply needed someone to call it out and not bury what God had given her as she was burying it herself.
Two completely different people, two completely different kinds of gold.
most leaders see what's in front of them. great leaders see what's inside the ones in front of them.
How often have you placed volunteers in roles based on what your need is, or what role is open? Of course, we all know that's necessary at times! So a better question might be, how often is that the only deciding factor? Someone signs up, or you get that person recruited and you think, “Here's the gap I have, you showed up, so here's your spot!”
When's the last time you looked for what was inside a specific volunteer, something they couldn't see yet, and pulled that gold out of them? If you can't name the last several volunteers you helped develop into something they didn't know they could be, its time! You've got an exciting road ahead of you!
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so how do you actually find the gold?
It starts with watching more than you manage. Most kids pastors are so busy running around, putting out fires, and keeping the plates spinning on a Sunday morning that they don't have space to actually observe or get to know who their volunteers are. To find the gold, you're going to have to delegate enough to slow down, to observe, to know the people you lead.
Here are a few things to pay attention to:
What do they do when no one's told them what to do? A volunteer who takes initiative is automatically showing you who they are! A few weeks ago, I was helping some boys... pay attention. They were being a little wild, having trouble listening, so I went to chat with them. As I got there, a newer guy on the team arrived, "I've got it!" He came in without being asked, to help with the boys who have the hardest time listening, and he took over. I didn't just know he'd be an amazing leader on our team, but I instantly knew he'd be an incredible camp counselor and wasted no time asking him to join us at camp. My confidence in him, gave him the confidence to sign up.
What people DO always tells you more than what say.
What makes them light up? Pay attention to what gets them excited! Maybe they're the quieter one in the room but when you talk about events they pipe in with some administrative ideas. Maybe they love talking about their special needs brother or come alive when they get to sit with a child and talk about Jesus. Excitement doesn't lie. Follow the trail of what they're excited about, listen for when they say "I can help with that!" and let them!
What ideas do they have? I can't tell you the number of people who have come with an idea of what "the team" should do. (Side note, if you're not asking your team for feedback and ideas, start now!) They come with an idea... one they think I should implement or someone else on the team should do. But they don't realize that often God's given them the idea so they can help steward it! Let them run with it, give them boundaries and parameters, check in, and promise nothing along the way. Watch what happens!
What do other people go to them for? Do people go to them for advice in life, or help with specific kids? Do kids ALWAYS seem to find that one volunteer? Life is filled with patterns, watch for them and see where the trail leads. What they naturally do in their normal life can always be channeled into your ministry.
What are they afraid of that they might actually be good at? This one matters. Fear and calling often live in the same neighborhood. I've seen 100 times over that fear points toward a secret gifting. Are they afraid of leading a small group, but love the 1 on 1 conversations with kids? Put them as an assistant in your favorite leader's group and watch their confidence rise!
finding the gold is only half of it. now you have to put a fire under it... and you have to trust them enough to let them learn.
Here's where a lot of leaders stop. They see the potential, but they don't name it. They don't invite the person into it. They maybe think, "she'd be great at that someday," and leave it there.
But buried gold is useless gold.
Think of the parable of the talents. You have a team full of talents, don't bury them or you'll find yourself not growing anymore. Invest in them, pour into them, teach them and train them to be all God's made them to be! You'll find your team growing not only by talent, but by number too!
Pulling out and investing in the gold inside someone means naming it! It means telling them, out loud, what you see. It means giving them a chance to try out the thing you've noticed in them. And it means making sure they know they have space to screw it up! Nobody's ready to teach their first time, but give them the offering moment first to help them build confidence! Very few people are great at something the first time they try it, but that doesn't mean the gold isn't inside of them!
Finding the gold in your team and pulling it out means giving them an actual opportunity, even before they're ready. Especially before they feel ready.
It might mean a gentle push, like it was for our teacher who didn't know she could teach kids as well as adults. It might mean asking questions, offering healing, and creating roles that don't yet exist. But it's always communicating: I see you and not just what you do here.
That's the thing about volunteers is that they didn't sign up for a job. They showed up because they believed in something. Your job is to remind them of that, and then show them how the specific thing God put inside of them not only fits into the bigger picture, but is needed in the bigger picture.
a team on fire looks different than a team that just shows up.
When every person on your team is operating in the gold god has placed inside of them and not just filling a gap, you'll feel it and they'll feel it. The atmosphere shifts. People aren't just performing tasks and checklists, they're growing, leading, owning and expressing who they are! When that happens, on any team, it doesn't just effect the team, but the kids can feel it too!
We aren't looking for warm bodies in the room, we're looking for leaders who feel alive in what they're doing!
So start looking. Start watching. Start asking better questions and paying closer attention.
The gold is already there.
Your job is to find it and make sure it doesn't stay buried.
want help building a team that goes beyond just showing up? check out the volunteer buy-in blueprint filled with practical tools for leaders who want to grow the team of their dreams or head over to book a coaching slot with mal.