Some of the churches that I have consulted with not only
have adopted the idea of Volunteer Central and given up some precious space
reluctantly but rather have sunk their teeth into the idea, sucked the marrow
out, and improved upon the concept. One
such church is Change Point in Alaska. (http://changepointalaska.com/)
I know what your thinking… it must be horrible to have to
travel to the frozen tundra to bring Christ to the pagans while leaving 4 kids
at home. We all make sacrifices. Actually it was one of my favorite
trips. If you ever get a chance to go to
Alaska
GO. It is like Colorado without all the people. It is so remote and isolated that one in six
people that attend Change Point own their own plane. I almost got the Clauses to take me for a
ride in their plane but at the last minute something came up. Some poor excuse about presents and kids. Anyway I digress… The staff at Change Point
was amazing, I was halfway through my sermon series titled “Volunteer Central:
You Can’t Be Successful Without It” and the light bulbs started to appear over
their heads. Maybe they were
halo’s? The executive pastor Rick Steel
said that this would fit perfectly into their VIP A2Z ministry.
Ideas where exchanged and the concept of a VIP Lounge was
launched. Change Point at the time was
what I call a “Virtual
Church”. They had to setup and tear down every Sunday
in the local high school. Since space
really was an issue for them they decided to just rope off an area in the main
lobby and make it exclusively available to their volunteers. They bought a red velvet rope, printed up a
nice “VIP Lounge” banner, and created something that looked like a Starbucks
sitting area.
This created such a buzz at the church. “How do you get access to the VIP Lounge?”
“How much to you have to tithe to get into the VIP Lounge?” These were just a
few of the comments heard throughout the halls that weekend. Change Point then created a form that read
VIP Lounge Application that listed volunteer opportunities at the church. I recently spoke with Change Point and heard
some terrific news. Since I was up there
their children’s ministry has grown from 600 kids per weekend to over 1000 per
weekend. I just don’t think you can do
that without amazing volunteers and letting them know how important they are to
the church. Some might even say they
were VIP’s.
Another church that understands how important volunteers are
is Eagle Brook Church. http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/
I recently asked their Executive pastor for some information
about their volunteer central here are his comments.
“The church is the most volunteer-intensive organization on
the face of the earth! By providing space that is dedicated to
appreciating them and letting them know how much they mean to the mission of
the church, we’re simply modeling how the church was meant to be. As we
serve one another, we build the kingdom. Our people love the special
touches and atmosphere we create for them to relax and connect with each
other.”
Scott Anderson, Executive Pastor Eagle Brook Church
Scott was nice enough to provide me some pictures of their
Volunteer Central.
It looks like they have their volunteers check themselves
into the system. Self Check in is
scheduled for release very soon so that should make this process even
better.
If you were wondering… yes they have a soda machine in their
Volunteer Central. They definitely did
not get that idea from Fellowship
Church. Another thing I want you to notice about these pictures is the warm feeling the room gives off. Earth toned walls, lamp shades instead of harsh florescent lighting, and round tables to bring people together. In the top corner is a tv showing the service so that you can make it back to your greeting position in time when the service is over.
Here are the plain old bagels. This is more inline with Fellowship Church’s
healthy philosophy.
I don’t know about you but there is not much I wouldn’t do
for a bagel and a diet coke.
And last but not least Fellowship Church.
www.fellowshipchurch.com
I snuck into Volunteer Central and shot some pictures with
my high definition camera phone. I felt
a bit like Maxwell
Smart sneaking pictures of a top secret facility.
Notice the health conscience veggie and fruit trays. This is a sure sign you are at Fellowship Church.
But to be perfectly fair we have been fasting at Fellowship Church
and only eating fruits and vegetables.
The top picture shows the wonderful Volunteer Central staff that I
mentioned in my previous blog. The bottom picture is an example of how they are creating a casual, comfortable, friendly
environment for volunteers to relax in.
They are taking away all the reasons not to volunteer and replacing them
with wonderful reasons to want to be a part of such a growing and dynamic
church.