The Inside Track e-newsletter June 2007

Photo of Gia Garey Making Connections Intentional

As the Next Steps director at Church of the Resurrection, Gia Garey knows that connecting our worship attenders into the life of the church and the body of Christ beyond the worship experience is critical, not only to spiritual growth but to building Christian community. But without an intentional and organized process, it isn't going to happen.

So how do we go about making intentional connections that will allow our congregants to grow in faith and community outside of the worship arena? Read more.

“Thanks. We definitely appreciate these. We often read them together in our Kids Ministry team meetings.”

—Mike Heinz,
Omaha, Nebraska

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Photo of Molly Wright Foresee and Conquer Burnout!
Everyone who leads volunteers prays overtime that their volunteers will re-enlist, and burnout is a huge concern. As director of religious education at the St. Thomas More Newman Center, Molly Wright has seen it defeat some of her volunteers. But after "repeatedly banging my head against the wall" Molly discovered she had an excellent tool right at her fingertips, and she shares it with our members. Read more.

Photo of Don Simmons The Value of a Covenant
A lack of commitment among ministry team members. Unpredictable attendance. Showing up late and leaving early. Unprepared leaders. Disorganized meetings. Sound familiar? Don Simmons had a friend facing these issues and counseled him on the importance of a team covenant. Does your team need a covenant, and if so how do you go about creating a good one that the team will buy into? Read more.



Holding the Agenda Loosely Larry Shallenberger enjoys a well-built meeting agenda. Really. He feels minor bursts of ecstasy when a meeting runs as planned. (Shall we all pray for him?) So he was very surprised when a meeting that left the agenda in the dust actually proved to be more beneficial. Read more.	Building a Community Service Team Krista Petty says that building a brand-new community involvement leadership team can be a lot like building a chicken salad sandwich. Don't forget the celery and don't miss her three keys to finding the right people, and the best ways to invite them to serve. Read more.	Forgetting Students If you didn't have any students in your student ministry, would you have a relationship with your volunteers? Steve Argue knows that in ministry, we often focus on crises, the youth in need, or the project we're working on. But the gospel is relational. Are you? Read more.


Dealing with Problem Children "Some of my volunteers want to install a ‘three strikes and you're out’ policy. After the third strike in a period of, say six months, the teacher would summon the parents and remove the child from the program. Can you help me with this?" Read more.	Conducting Background Checks Kelly Sanchez, one of our Church Volunteer Central member service representatives, spends a lot of time helping our members. Periodically we'll ask her to use that experience to show you ways to get the most out of your CVC membership. Read more.	When Building a Team Pays Off As I was doing the final editorial pass on the articles for this issue, I got a stunning surprise: apparently I'm not as necessary as I'd like to think! This issue is a really good example of the value of taking the time to build a quality team for your ministry. Read more.