5 Guidelines for Trunk or Treat Volunteers
Events, Volunteers David Reneau Events, Volunteers David Reneau

5 Guidelines for Trunk or Treat Volunteers

Trunk or Treats are one of the most popular Fall outreaches.  They’re quick, easy to set up, and easy to clean up.   They can be a ton of fun or total drag.  The deciding factor for the success of your event is the trunks.  Your trunks are the main attraction.  You can and should include inflatables, hayrides, food trucks and more. But that’s not what’s going to keep your neighborhood coming back year after year.

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4 Steps to Overcome Ministry Disasters
Leadership, Volunteers David Reneau Leadership, Volunteers David Reneau

4 Steps to Overcome Ministry Disasters

On Sunday, disaster struck my church.  We had a huge storm blow through, and the power was out for several miles around the church.  The power company said the power would be on at 10:45, 15 minutes after our start time.  Then it was 11:45. Then 4pm.  I got the news as I pulled into the parking lot at 9:30am.

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4 Ways to Equip Your Kidmin Volunteers (Before Sunday)
Volunteers, Service Planning, Kidmin David Reneau Volunteers, Service Planning, Kidmin David Reneau

4 Ways to Equip Your Kidmin Volunteers (Before Sunday)

Picture this.  You’ve been working hard to get ready for Sunday morning.  You laid out the crafts. You loaded the slides. You queued up the songs.  You’re excited for what lies ahead and the change that’s going to happen in kids’ lives.  But then you realize that you’re not alone.  In fact, your volunteers are leading worship, games, and small groups.  You can’t be in two places at once and do it yourself. So how are you supposed to equip your volunteers so they can be prepared before Sunday?

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3 Kinds of Kidmin Volunteers (and How to Keep Them)
Volunteers, Kidmin David Reneau Volunteers, Kidmin David Reneau

3 Kinds of Kidmin Volunteers (and How to Keep Them)

My Senior Royal Ranger Commander (think Boy Scouts with Jesus) was unhappy. I was at my first church, and I’d recruited a new volunteer for the ministry. He was great for the ministry. But now his son was moving up to the next age group and my volunteer wanted to go with him. The Senior Commander couldn’t understand why this father wanted to leave. Why didn’t he just stay with the age group he was currently serving?

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3 Personality Tests for Ministry Leaders
Leadership, Volunteers David Reneau Leadership, Volunteers David Reneau

3 Personality Tests for Ministry Leaders

I love these tests so much because they help me better understand myself and those around me. It’s natural to think that everyone is just like you with the same thoughts, motives, talents, and passions. However, we soon learn, many times painfully, that this is not the case. As a leader in ministry, it’s imperative that you know your people.

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4 Steps to Scheduling Your Volunteers
Volunteers, Administration, Leadership David Reneau Volunteers, Administration, Leadership David Reneau

4 Steps to Scheduling Your Volunteers

When you’re the leader and the pastor, you have a push and pull. You want to make sure all your positions are filled, but you also don’t want to burn out your volunteers. What is the best way? Does everyone serve with the same frequency? What about if you have multiple services? Multiple days? Or just one? And what about fifth Sundays?

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5 Volunteer Statements for Your Ministry
Volunteers, Leadership David Reneau Volunteers, Leadership David Reneau

5 Volunteer Statements for Your Ministry

No matter what job you do there are certain phrases and words that are specific to your culture. Most of these words and phrases develop naturally over time as a result of events, ministries, or your denomination. For example, I’m in the Assemblies of God. Here are just a few of the acronyms that any minister in the AG (see what I did there) will know.

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5 VBS Volunteers that Make a BIG Difference
VBS, Kidmin, Events, Volunteers David Reneau VBS, Kidmin, Events, Volunteers David Reneau

5 VBS Volunteers that Make a BIG Difference

Many of the curriculums I’ve used over the years give you an idea of how many volunteers you need and where they should serve. However, if you’re doing a VBS for 100 kids or more, these lists can be found lacking. They’ll list small group leaders and station leaders, but what about registration? Décor? Marketing? Supply management?

Over the years I’ve added several positions to my VBS that have helped me reach more kids and made my workload so much simpler.

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How to Create A Volunteer Job Description
NextGen, Administration, Volunteers, Resources David Reneau NextGen, Administration, Volunteers, Resources David Reneau

How to Create A Volunteer Job Description

Let’s imagine that through very little work of your own you had 30 new volunteers show up in your ministry on the same day. Do you know where you’d put them? Do you know what job you’d give them to do? How would you onboard them to make sure they understand the mission and vision of your ministry?

Asking these kinds of questions helps you see the holes in your ministry. And what you need to work on to get to that next level.

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5 Steps to Building Your Volunteer Structure for Growth
NextGen, Volunteers, Administration, Resources David Reneau NextGen, Volunteers, Administration, Resources David Reneau

5 Steps to Building Your Volunteer Structure for Growth

I recently saw a post on a Facebook group asking how many volunteers they need for 30-40 kids. It was really a question about ratios, which are very important, but having the correct room ratio may not be enough when thinking about the right number of volunteers.

I’ve written about this before, but when I first started in kidmin, you could have called my Sunday morning service the David Reneau show.

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4 Pools to Recruit Volunteers
Volunteers, NextGen, Kidmin David Reneau Volunteers, NextGen, Kidmin David Reneau

4 Pools to Recruit Volunteers

Recently, I found myself with only one volunteer on a particular Wednesday night with less than two days to find new volunteers. Closing the ministry for the night was not an option, but it was looking like it may happen. It’s not a fun place to be. As I thought about who I can recruit, I found that there are four pools of people I can ask to serve.

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3 Principles of a Great Volunteer Meeting
Volunteers, Leadership, Kidmin, NextGen David Reneau Volunteers, Leadership, Kidmin, NextGen David Reneau

3 Principles of a Great Volunteer Meeting

You can’t be in ministry for long without having to host a volunteer meeting. A lot of time these meetings can drag on without any clear focus and not get anything done. When you first start in ministry, people show up because they want to hear what you have to say, but if you’re meeting is boring you may have a hard time getting them to come back.

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My First Small Group Leader Focus Group
Leadership, Volunteers, Kidmin David Reneau Leadership, Volunteers, Kidmin David Reneau

My First Small Group Leader Focus Group

We’ve been doing Orange for about 2 years and made the transition to small groups 5 years ago. Growing up in the traditional children’s church model of Sunday School and Large group, it has been an uphill battle understanding what it takes to lead a quality small group that focuses on relationship over content and teach others to do the same.

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