Finding Team Members

[ppr7997]

I'll make this quick. Scenario: Contemporary church w/3 services. One on Saturday night and two Sunday morning. We have sep. FOH and monitor positions and use Aviom for most except worship team (IEM) and choir (wedges). Twice per month, we host brass, orchestra and full choir. These involve stage changes, once for Saturday and once for Sunday, then reset again after Sunday. The other two weekends are usual band with six vocals. Our team has dwindled over the past 7-9 months. Various reasons for folks leaving, job issues, family issues and some just plain moved out of state. We are down to 1 monitor engineer and 3 FOH engineers, one of which is the church's paid TD. So, what should we do to recruit more folks? What would you do if you were in our position?

[D.R.HADDOCK]

I think its probably a bigger issue then people moving or leaving!
How is the team treated???
People mainly leave because of not feeling apprieated or valued or too much presure.
All of these issued can be addressed by better and more sensitive leadership.
Treat them as individuals, all valued and an important part of the church team.
Technically savee people are a different breed to most normal people,
and they need to treated differently, if your try to use one system to try and look after them, you are bound to fail in the long run.
Sit back for a while and observe them, you will soon see what i mean.
They are quiet and introverted to some extent,
They dont like unnessecary fuss,
They are control freaks to some extent,
They love technical details and things,
But you can use there excentricitys to your advantage.
They just need special and careful treatment.

[Pastor Ryan]

Coming from another Media Director, the number one thing a church can do to get more volunteers in any ministry it to have the plea come from the pulpit.

Have your Pastor express the need, and also have him say, even you just want to do it for 3 months we will take you, we just need help.

[Techman]

sounds like a pretty big church if you had a paid TD. I tryed to get some of the other volunteers to recruit for me with limited sucess. Try ur small groups. I work in a medium size church and also had my volunteers dwindle. I feel ur pain. Good luck and if you find something that works let me know.

Jimmy

[alanecoff]

Vision, Vision, Vision....casting the vision is the key! People that understand the heart behind the team, to serve the church and the worship team. Also support the vision behind what is casted from the Lead Pastor, is crucial.

I agree with asking current team members to do recruiting as well. They know their peers the best, so coach them in leadership and allow them to start seeking out more like minded people how have the heart and the coachable desire.

[tdangelo]

I have found that people, especially young people who know how to play instruments usually pick-up on technical stage craft very well, especially when it comes to audio. Additionally people interested in still photography tend to be able to learn videography and lighting well.

If you are having trouble coming up with fish, maybe you have cast your net in the wrong pond?

[D.R.HADDOCK]

Most churchs I have seen,
dont have a great deal of problems finding people,
But a lot have trouble keeping them !
Technically savvy type people tend to be different to normal church people,
They do need to be treated differently,
Thats the point I was making.
Different strokes for different folks.

[jtcheek]

Developing a vision for the ministry and being able to cast that vision in an inspiring way is gonna be your biggest advantage in trying to get people to join your team. I would also think about how your various volunteer positions are promoted. It's one thing to get someone to simply agree to fill a position, but your best result is gonna come from someone actually being excited about serving in the capacity that you've called them to. I try and achieve this when i have that first conversation with a potential volunteer describing the position. As far as where to promote from the pulpit is a good idea, but if your church has small groups that meet throughout the week, it might be something to think about trying to recruit through them. Get creative! we have a college near our church with a media department and we promote on the bulletin boards there as well. Biggest thing is not to get discouraged in this time. People come and people go even when you are displaying awesome leadership. It's important to trust God in those time's when volunteer help is down that he will bring you what you need eventually. All you can do is make sure you are doing what you can on your part to have biblically centered leadership.