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Writer's pictureDavid Rausch

How to win Sunday morning in 15 minutes


Imagine your favorite sports team for a second. I'll use the St. Louis Cardinals as an example because, well, they're the best! Now imagine for a second that Mike Schildt, the coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, showed up early, but all of the players showed up right at game time. They run from their car straight to their position just in time for the umpire to shout, "Play ball!" But of course, at least one player left home late because he lost track of time, while others hit traffic on the way to the stadium, so there's a handful of positions that go unfilled for the 1st and 2nd innings. When everyone finally arrives, they're hurried, frazzled, and no one knows what the game plan is.


Now imagine what the score would be at the end of the game. I'll give you a hint...it would be bad. Really, really bad! The St. Louis Cardinals (or any other team) would be lucky if they won a single game all year long if they did that.


But that's what a lot of KidMin teams do on Sunday morning. The coach (a.k.a the KidMin leader) shows up early, but all of the players (a.k.a. the volunteers) show up right at game time.


And the result is the same.


Everyone is hurried, frazzled, and no one knows what the game plan is. On top of that, when the volunteers show up right at service time, there's a missed opportunity for community, training, and prayer.


Is that your team?


If so, consider this simple solution. Ask your volunteers to show up 15 minutes before the doors open to children. This 15 minutes is what I call "Team Time." Here are the 4 things I would do during Team Time:


Community. As people are arriving, simply ask them how their week was. You might be surprised by everything that's going on. They'll talk about selling their house, or a new job, or a sick relative. Often times, it's this sense of knowing and being known that will keep your volunteers rooted deeply in your team.


Instruction. Walk your leaders through the service time and instruct them in ways they can contribute. Talk through the activity they'll be leading. Give them suggestions on how to lead it. Point out parts of the lesson where they can contribute. Address issues the room has been having and brainstorm solutions.


Training. Most people think training has to be a 1-2 hour event. It doesn't. In fact, the most effective training happens in regular bite-sized pieces. Spend two minutes training your leaders on a particular topic. Here's the good news--I've already done a lot of the work for you. Click here to download my "2-Minute Training" guide for small group leaders. It has 20 training topics you can lead your volunteers through quickly.


Prayer. During your community time, people will naturally share things that are prayer-worthy. Pray for those things, then pray that God would use you and your team to shine the light of the Gospel into the lives of your kids.


If you do these 4 things during a regular, ongoing Team Time, you'll be winning Sunday mornings in no time!

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1 commentaire


grdorsett
17 déc. 2019

You are absolutely right about, well, everything! I prefer that my workers arrive earlier than 15 minutes because they really need to help gather their own supplies. Another thing I do is send out the Order of Service and details about their stations on Thursday. I have gotten many Thank Yous for that.

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