03 July 2011
THE TEAM PARTY
07/06/11 11 Filed in: LEADERSHIP
Larry Osborne tells about how the Pony Express made a decision to take care of the horses, even if it meant that the mail ended up being late. They realized that without the ponies there would be no mail, so pony-care was crucial. Osborne concluded that in ministry, we need to “take care of the horses”--care for our leaders, volunteers and staff, because without them we wouldn’t be able to minister.
So, how do we take care of staff, leaders, and volunteers?
For many years I went with the Carl George, “meta-church” model of having a monthly Vision/Huddle/Skill (VHS) time. We would gather as many workers and leaders as we could for an evening meeting where I would go over the Vision, then different ministry areas (youth, children’s ministry, development, small group leaders…) would Huddle up to discuss their ministries, and we would end with someone leading a teaching time on developing ministry Skill.
I used this format for two church starts, and we had a VHS meeting every month. Nehemiah teaches that vision leaks so we kept plugging away at the regular leadership/worker meetings.
One of the issues we struggled with was requiring our participants to be at another meeting in addition to attending church, being involved in a small group, and involvement in their particular area.
So, we shortened the meeting time, and brought the name and format up-to-date by calling it, DVD: Dreaming/Vision/Debriefing. We dropped the skill time and went with more of a vision and huddle time.
But we tended to have sporadic attendance. Some months we had a good number of leaders there, but often it was the responsible folks who always showed up and probably needed another meeting less than anyone.
So, we made another shift. We decided to try a right after the last service on Sunday approach--people, most leaders and workers were already available anyway. And again we changed the name. We borrowed the term OTA from the National Football League. They have OTAs during the off-season to keep players connected. OTA stands for Organized Team Activities.
When we moved the leader care meeting to right after our last service on Sunday attendance jumped. We were on to something. But no one but me liked the lame name and no one at all understood what OTA meant.
So, we continued to tweak. Our youth pastor suggested that we used the term party and so we changed the format to more of a party theme and used the term, “Team Party.” Attendance skyrocketed. More leaders and servers felt cared for, and the buzz from leaders and workers has continued to grow.
Here are some of the things we’ve learned.
Convenient Time. We start immediately after the second service. Our special projects team transforms our sanctuary into a party room before everyone is out--we start within five minutes of the last “Amen” at the last service with a prayer for the food.
Food is Key. Whoever heard of a party without food? We’ve done leadership care meetings in restaurants all over our town so maybe good food is a value for us. It is easier now that we’re in a 24/7 facility as our café team always serves something we can use in the promotion of the event, like a barbecue or food from a favorite local eatery.
Clear Invitation. It took me fifteen years to figure out that people never understood what VHS, DVD or OTA stood for. They know what a team party is, a party for the team. So we invite anyone who is serving, anyone who is leading, anyone who wants to serve or lead, and anyone who wants lunch.
Fun Atmosphere. We have party music playing. We start introductions while folks are standing in line getting their food. Everyone introduces him or herself and announces what ministry they serve in or if they are a free agent.
Vision Reminder. I do a short (ten minutes) presentation on what our vision is. We do our team parties at the beginning of every quarter and we emphasize the big events of the quarter. I try to get us back to our mission as well as give everyone a list of upcoming messages and highlights.
Celebrate Wins. Too often we forget to take the time to celebrate the big and small victories in ministry. At every team party we take time for the team to identify the wins from the last quarter. These parties give us an opportunity to celebrate corporately some of the cool stiff God is doing that we may otherwise miss. Each ministry director and staffer is commissioned to come with at least one story of victory to share, and we open this up to everyone too. The positive momentum gained from this part of the party is enough in itself to make throwing these parties worthwhile. We use the parties to present special awards and even random giveaways to our workers too.
Highlight Opportunities. At the team party each staffer and area director is asked to announce entry level positions in their ministry. And we talk about areas of ministry where we are looking for leaders as well. The Team Party has been a primary recruitment place, and a great venue to connect leaders and potential servers.
Keep Tweaking. I suspect what works in caring for leaders is rather fluid. Things change, culture changes, so the approach needs to keep changing. We’ve gone through several phases and we figure we will keep tweaking in the future.
So, how do we take care of staff, leaders, and volunteers?
For many years I went with the Carl George, “meta-church” model of having a monthly Vision/Huddle/Skill (VHS) time. We would gather as many workers and leaders as we could for an evening meeting where I would go over the Vision, then different ministry areas (youth, children’s ministry, development, small group leaders…) would Huddle up to discuss their ministries, and we would end with someone leading a teaching time on developing ministry Skill.
I used this format for two church starts, and we had a VHS meeting every month. Nehemiah teaches that vision leaks so we kept plugging away at the regular leadership/worker meetings.
One of the issues we struggled with was requiring our participants to be at another meeting in addition to attending church, being involved in a small group, and involvement in their particular area.
So, we shortened the meeting time, and brought the name and format up-to-date by calling it, DVD: Dreaming/Vision/Debriefing. We dropped the skill time and went with more of a vision and huddle time.
But we tended to have sporadic attendance. Some months we had a good number of leaders there, but often it was the responsible folks who always showed up and probably needed another meeting less than anyone.
So, we made another shift. We decided to try a right after the last service on Sunday approach--people, most leaders and workers were already available anyway. And again we changed the name. We borrowed the term OTA from the National Football League. They have OTAs during the off-season to keep players connected. OTA stands for Organized Team Activities.
When we moved the leader care meeting to right after our last service on Sunday attendance jumped. We were on to something. But no one but me liked the lame name and no one at all understood what OTA meant.
So, we continued to tweak. Our youth pastor suggested that we used the term party and so we changed the format to more of a party theme and used the term, “Team Party.” Attendance skyrocketed. More leaders and servers felt cared for, and the buzz from leaders and workers has continued to grow.
Here are some of the things we’ve learned.
Convenient Time. We start immediately after the second service. Our special projects team transforms our sanctuary into a party room before everyone is out--we start within five minutes of the last “Amen” at the last service with a prayer for the food.
Food is Key. Whoever heard of a party without food? We’ve done leadership care meetings in restaurants all over our town so maybe good food is a value for us. It is easier now that we’re in a 24/7 facility as our café team always serves something we can use in the promotion of the event, like a barbecue or food from a favorite local eatery.
Clear Invitation. It took me fifteen years to figure out that people never understood what VHS, DVD or OTA stood for. They know what a team party is, a party for the team. So we invite anyone who is serving, anyone who is leading, anyone who wants to serve or lead, and anyone who wants lunch.
Fun Atmosphere. We have party music playing. We start introductions while folks are standing in line getting their food. Everyone introduces him or herself and announces what ministry they serve in or if they are a free agent.
Vision Reminder. I do a short (ten minutes) presentation on what our vision is. We do our team parties at the beginning of every quarter and we emphasize the big events of the quarter. I try to get us back to our mission as well as give everyone a list of upcoming messages and highlights.
Celebrate Wins. Too often we forget to take the time to celebrate the big and small victories in ministry. At every team party we take time for the team to identify the wins from the last quarter. These parties give us an opportunity to celebrate corporately some of the cool stiff God is doing that we may otherwise miss. Each ministry director and staffer is commissioned to come with at least one story of victory to share, and we open this up to everyone too. The positive momentum gained from this part of the party is enough in itself to make throwing these parties worthwhile. We use the parties to present special awards and even random giveaways to our workers too.
Highlight Opportunities. At the team party each staffer and area director is asked to announce entry level positions in their ministry. And we talk about areas of ministry where we are looking for leaders as well. The Team Party has been a primary recruitment place, and a great venue to connect leaders and potential servers.
Keep Tweaking. I suspect what works in caring for leaders is rather fluid. Things change, culture changes, so the approach needs to keep changing. We’ve gone through several phases and we figure we will keep tweaking in the future.