Adult Volunteers @ h2o

I believe one of the key to having an effective Student Ministry and a successful ministry is the Adult Volunteers that serve with you.  I love our adult volunteers that are apart of h2o student ministry.  This fall alone we have almost doubled the number of adults that volunteer with our Student Ministry. 

This always begs the question, "What do they do?" 

For me the #1 key for all our volunteers is that they love teenagers.  Our adults here at h2o have strong relationships with the teenagers, they love on them and they build relationships with them.  Our students know that the adults they see each week are there not because they have to be, not out of duty but because the care about the students.

Another key is for me, as the Student Pastor, to give them clear direction on what they are to do.  Volunteers want to know what their job is.  We meet with all our volunteers regularly and go over their responsibilities and where, when, what and how.  I have overall expectations and rules I provide to every volunteer and then I have individual job descriptions that I give to a volunteer based on the area/task they are assigned.  On Wednesday nights I assign our volunteers to areas of our building.  We have cafe workers, area monitors, door monitors, registration desk, recreations leaders for after our worship time and security.  Plus, we train people on counseling students that make decisions during the Worship time.

I encourage all our volunteers to build relationships with the students.  Even while they are serving in the area they are assigned to I encourage them to engage students.  Our adults here at h2o are very good at this part.  There are very few students that walk through our ministry that don't connect with an adult.  This may be the thing I appreciate most about our adult volunteers here, there desire not to just be there to help, but to invest in student lives.

As a Student Pastor I can't do all the ministry, care for all the students, organize and run all the events by myself.  That equals burn out and a small ministry.  My desire is to empower our adults.  The more volunteers I have engaged in our ministry the more students we can reach and the more lives are changed by Christ.

If you are one of our h2o volunteers and your are reading this, thank you for the job you do each week!