Last week we talked about vision and how it is important to keep vision in front of your volunteers and other church workers. This is also important for you to keep your vision in front of you. That seems like an interesting comment and almost like it doesn’t make much sense. But just like your volunteers, sometimes you lose sight of the vision because you’re so entangled in the details of everyday life and getting the job done. When that happens you have to be able to step back and refocus. When you can successfully do that then you will do a better job of helping to refocus your team.

I personally have had to do that which is part of the reason that I was writing what I did last week. I’m no revolutionary person or super thinker, but when I experience things I feel like there may be someone out there who hadn’t thought about things that way and I want to share with them. There are times when we have to remember why we are doing what we are doing and what the big picture is.

Today I get to do that in a special way. Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. I’m quite excited for this because it’s an opportunity to spend time with just my wife, which is something you don’t often get when you have 3 children and one of them is under the age of 1. But more than that, we get to spend time reflecting on why we fell in love in the first place. We get a night to pull away from the rest of our world, the work and kids and big decisions and all this other stuff, and just focus on us. It may not be a big thing, but it will be enough to help us get refocused before we jump back into life as we know. And maybe, just maybe, we can shift our focus knowing that the person right beside us loves us that much more.

This one is so crucial that I think I should have started with it. If I’ve learned NOTHING over all my time of working in churches and being on staff, I’ve learned that it takes a lot more than just the people who are paid to be there to make a church run successfully. There are many, many volunteers that give up their time and talents to keep a church moving. Sometimes we don’t take the time to truly realize that until someone is getting ready to leave and then we notice how much that person used to handle. Here are a couple pointers that are good to keep close. Or at least they’ve been helpful to me.

Thank Your Volunteers Regularly

I know some churches and other places that have big things for their volunteers and staff at the end of the year, and I think that’s a great idea (more on that later). But I think one of the best ways to keep people motivated and the vision fresh is to thank them on a regular basis. Sometimes we will wait until that one big thing at the end of the year and neglect to share how much we appreciate people the rest of the year. I believe that we have make sure our volunteers are constant affirmed in what they are doing because, as I said before, they keep us going. They need to know all the time that they are important. I don’t think you have to buy people gifts every week, that can get expensive. But a kind, heartfelt word can go a long way.

Don’t Be Afraid to Share the Spotlight With Your Volunteers

As I said before, volunteers are a way of life in many places but especially in the church. Sometimes it’s good to give them recognition among the others in the church as well as giving them regular praise. Be willing to let people know that you appreciate the people that give up their time to help you achieve success in what you’re doing. It will infuse them with energy.

Don’t Be Afraid to Spoil Your Volunteers

I think having banquets and appreciation events for volunteers is SUPER cool. I think they are important and vital. There is absolutely nothing wrong with spoiling your volunteers. Give them an opportunity to be themselves. So much is formal and regulated about what we do that it is good to give everyone a chance to breathe. You never know what you might learn about someone at a dinner table that you didn’t know before. You may find out that you really like the same TV shows or share an insane love for Twizzlers

All of these points that I’ve made are just to say that it is important to show people that they matter and are needed. It has to be done regularly. It also has to be done well and with all heart. You can’t thank someone half-heartedly. It doesn’t work. Treat your people well. It makes ministry fun. Treat people well. God says so.

Yesterday we talked about casting vision for you group of followers and volunteers. Today we are going to talk about how to handle the details without losing sight of the vision. Personally, the details can be the hardest part for me. I am a big picture kind of person and although I know what my details are, but sometimes I have a difficult time sharing those details accurately with those around me. Believe it or not, when I get to that situation it causes people to lose sight of the vision. So if the vision is the what, the details are the how. Here are a couple reasons why the how is so important.

They Let People Know You Have a Plan

There are always people that have big ideas. I have big ideas all the time. Granted some of them are just me being silly, but I can come up with a big idea rather quickly. The major difference between a pipe dream and something people can get behind is the plan to get an idea to work. To use yesterday’s analogy, a forest becomes a forest because individual trees continue to grow. A big idea comes to fruition because the plans are cultivated and people can easily see them.

They Let People Know Specifically How They Can Help

In a church small or large, there are always people willing to help. When those people respond to the call, it is good to have precise details for them to follow. People want to feel useful and like they are helping. If you don’t have good plans then you just have people that are just waiting and confused as to why you have them working. When you can give a solid plan, people will work enthusiastically to help you get things accomplished.

The How Helps You Achieve The What

All of your details should point to the end game which is the big idea. I liken this to an a capella group. Have you ever been to a group rehearsal? Sometimes you can walk into the middle of a rehearsal and wonder why the song is so boring because the part that is being practiced seems so weird and almost unmusical. As they continue to work through these parts you wonder how they will fit together. Sometimes it’s not until they can put all the parts together that you can hear how each part fits into the song as a whole. All of that hard work was pushing toward a final goal. When you start to put the pieces together then people can see just how the job you’ve asked them to do is working toward the big plan. You have to keep the big plan accessible to make sure you keep volunteers motivated. Any thoughts?

Tomorrow we will talk about appreciating the people who are giving their time to help you achieve your goals.

As the saying goes, “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees”, or at least that’s how I’ve heard it. I remember when I first heard that and how it didn’t make much sense. I also remember when it started to make sense and how cool I thought that was. It was then when I started to look for metaphors and analogies to help explain what I was trying to say to people. Sometimes they are corny, sometimes they aren’t. Either way, they work. But that’s for another time. This week I want to try to talk about casting vision to help your team get the big picture and then sharing ways to effectively share the details as they are needed. Today we are going to talk about big picture stuff.

It seems like everyone is either launching or relaunching or gearing up for the new school year. Lots of churches do the same thing around this time. They know that people will be coming back from vacations and getting ready to settle back in for the long school year. So they will try to get things set up to open up the year with a bang to get people reignited about church and the activities that are taking place. That kind of preparation is happening all over the church and there is generally a lot of buzz at everyone is pretty busy. Children’s ministry is planning their new curriculum. Drama is working on new skits and costumes. The pastor is working on new sermon series. It’s no different in the worship department either. We’ve been listening to new music all summer and have tons of new ideas for music that can be shared in corporate worship. Some may even be looking toward Christmas already. Whatever the situation may be, there has to be a plan. Your volunteers will follow you if you give them something to follow. It is always good to share with them where things are going so they don’t just feel like working drones. I’ve been in that place before and it is NOT a fun place to be in. Especially when we are talking about the church. So here are a couple ways I think you can cast vision that will help your people continue to see the whole forest and NOT perish (Proverbs 29:18).

Take An Awesome Picture Of The Forest

Yesterday I was standing in the church parking lot when a little car drives past with this weird contraption on the top. Turns out it was a Google Maps vehicle making video for the street view maps you see on their website. I imagine that if that video comes out bad they probably won’t use it. Why? Because if they were to upload fuzzy video of the corner of Tower Grove and Shaw then people wouldn’t really know if they were there or not based on the map that Google really wants you to use. So the picture has to be clear so people know they are in the right place. If your people aren’t given a clear picture at the beginning. They won’t be able to go where they need to go and you will run off without them. You’ve already visited the forest so you know where to go. Remember that the trees will confuse them if they haven’t seen the forest yet.

Make Copies Of The Picture

It is good for you to have a picture of the forest. But when you have a great picture it is good to share it with others. It is good to share copies of the picture with those that are getting ready to go in with you. You’ve spent time with this beauty already. You found this gorgeous spot before you ever took the picture and so you are familiar with what it looks like. By sending out copies of the picture, you are giving your fellow travelers the ability to take it all in before they get there as well. Also, some people might see the picture and realize they don’t want to take that trip after all. This is a good time for that discovery. The last thing you need is for someone to get lost in the thick of things in a place they didn’t want to be in the first place.

Keep The Picture Accessible

Tomorrow we will start to talk about the trek inside the forest and some of the things to keep in mind. I will mention this again throughout the week, but it stands to be said here as well. You have to keep the vision in a place that is easy to reach at a moment’s notice. You will start walking through this forest and the deeper you get in you and your people might forget what the goal is and why you’re doing what you do. You need to bring out that picture as soon as you can for reassurance and for refocusing the group. It’s essential to make sure that you have a solid grasp on this because it can be the difference between cohesion and confusion.

I hope that this week will help some of you leaders to plan for this upcoming year. I’ve been blessed by being able to have this idea in my head and it has really helped me create a plan for what’s ahead. If you have any other insight I would LOVE for you to share with the group.

Hello to all of you and Happy New Year! There are so many things to say. I wrestled with the idea of doing a “end of the year recap” or whatever, but I decided that I’m not that cool. Instead, I decided that I was going to use this first blog of the year to say goodbye to the old and introduce the new. Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog, even though it has been highly inconsistent as the year ended. Part of the reason for the sloppiness on my part was lack of vision. I’ve been working hard on creating a vision for this blog and for worship180. Well, I hope to be able to share all of that with you in the upcoming days, weeks, whatever. Anyway, here’s a preview of what’s to come.

First things first, the format of the blog will be changing greatly, which is a good thing. Part of it is an idea I took from my friend, Alisha. Her blog has always had a couple sections, and I loved reading it. So in sort of a stolen sort of way but not really, I’m going to do something similar. It will look like this:

Worship As Life- This blog is meant to be about my life as a worship leader. I want to be able to help people understand what it’s like to live this life. Also, I want to be able to hopefullly say some things that other worship leaders and worshipers want and need to hear. So that is what the first section will be about.

If My Mood Was a Chord…-I’m excited about this one because I get to let out some of my music nerd. To some people music is just music. But to us music nerds, music is a way of life and we relate music to everything. So my goal with this is 2 fold. 1, I want to be able to share with my fellow musicians how I feel with music. 2, I want to be educational to those of you who may not think this way. You may not start thinking like this, but you’ll at least get an understanding of what I mean. Maybe…or you could just think that I’m really weird.

Live Out Loud- If I’m going to be sharing this life with others, I should at least give you tools to share yours as well. This section will be designed to share ways for you to use the worship180 concept in everyday life.

As if that wasn’t enough, I will also be launching a facebook fan page for worship180 as well. It has already been created and is up and running. I haven’t officially launched it yet, but it’s definitely there. If you are a facebook user, the link is here: Worship180 on Facebook You should be able to click that and become a fan. I’m excited to start this new year off on the right foot. Come with me. And invite some others for the ride. Help me get worship180 out to the world this year.