Aug 23, 2026 · 41 min · 10 segments
In this episode, the KMC Teach discuss the importance of inviting volunteers to serve in children's ministry rather than simply asking them. They explore the ineffectiveness of mass appeals and share…
get into this conversation, one of the things that kind of sparked this was some of the research that we've been doing on volunteering.
And Lifeway did some research and they were looking at how people are asked to serve.
And here's the quote we're going to kick it off with.
It says, The practice of enlisting volunteers by making an announcement to the entire congregation from the platform or through an insert in the bulletin or a newsletter is essentially ineffective.
Wow.
Shocker.
Boom.
But when asks are made to the masses, most everyone assumes it's going to be somebody else's yes that will be the answer.
It's always the front row passing it to the back row.
That announcement was to the people in the back.
Surely they
have everyone they need.
Yeah.
Yeah,
not
me.
I would never.
No, they don't need me.
It's for the other person.
And I'm old enough to know and have been in places where we did a lot of asking from the pulpit, from the stage.
My senior pastor did some asking for me at times back in the day.
how
do you get volunteers what what are you doing to get them um every once in a while i do see somebody saying well my pastor asks you know and and we're not saying it's dead or completely ineffective but it's definitely not your top way up yeah but but be honest show of hands especially for those that will be watching this on youtube how many of you and i have to put my hand up already did the whole mass plea of yeah i was gonna say i have two hands but i could probably
fill four or five hands worth of how many times i've done this before
get into this conversation, one of the things that kind of sparked this was some of the research that we've been doing on volunteering.
And Lifeway did some research and they were looking at how people are asked to serve.
And here's the quote we're going to kick it off with.
It says, The practice of enlisting volunteers by making an announcement to the entire congregation from the platform or through an insert in the bulletin or a newsletter is essentially ineffective.
Wow.
Shocker.
Boom.
But when asks are made to the masses, most everyone assumes it's going to be somebody else's yes that will be the answer.
It's always the front row passing it to the back row.
That announcement was to the people in the back.
Surely they
have everyone they need.
Yeah.
Yeah,
not
me.
I would never.
No, they don't need me.
It's for the other person.
And I'm old enough to know and have been in places where we did a lot of asking from the pulpit, from the stage.
My senior pastor did some asking for me at times back in the day.
how
do you get volunteers what what are you doing to get them um every once in a while i do see somebody saying well my pastor asks you know and and we're not saying it's dead or completely ineffective but it's definitely not your top way up yeah but but be honest show of hands especially for those that will be watching this on youtube how many of you and i have to put my hand up already did the whole mass plea of yeah i was gonna say i have two hands but i could probably
fill four or five hands worth of how many times i've done this before
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
