We live in a world with incredibly complex social issues—poverty, homelessness, fatherlessness, and injustice (to name just a few). The American culture challenges us to imagine what is possible, right what is wrong, and take action. And, as Christians, we know that Jesus came to “proclaim good news to the poor…freedom for the prisoner…recovery of sight for the blind…[to] set the oppressed free…[and] proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

This alone should propel us to action. And, it does propel people to action. We want to make a difference. Volunteers are a necessary and critical resource for healthy communities and ministry efforts.

One in four adults in the U.S. volunteers regularly (about 3 hours per month). In 2010, volunteers contributed nearly $173 billion in value to the nonprofit sector! This impact is staggering. And, young people are serving at a greater rate than ever before. 30% of Gen Xers volunteer and Millennials serve at a rate of 21%.

As you digest this fact, it’s hard to ignore the impact technology can have in this arena. 46% of American adults own a smart phone (that number jumps to near 70% for those under the age of 35). We live with our phones, tablets, and laptops nearby. When we connect with friends and causes, it’s not uncommon to use the internet.

However, so often the nonprofit community is not harnessing this power. We need to get better at leveraging these often free resources to engage people in ministry. People want to make a difference. They want to connect with felt needs in their neighborhood, and they’ll pick up their smart phone and land on a webpage to explore opportunities, generate ideas, and finalize commitments.

Ministries can use technology to

1. Recruit – share volunteer needs on your own website, share this information with others through social media, eletters and platforms like Meet The Need that seamlessly integrate with other websites
2. Register – Take registrations through your website and the sites of other local organizations
3. Remind – Send online reminders, cancellations and adjustments
4. Revise – Change and communicate volunteer needs and details
5. Record – Track outstanding needs, audit and calculate volunteer hours

As we work to be more effective in how we steward and thank volunteers they will continue to serve and grow in ministry. Ultimately, the goal is to create an environment where volunteers use their time, talent and treasure to share the love of Christ with others. Believe it or not, technology can be a powerful tool to recruit, equip, and retain life-long volunteers.

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Serving others in need and telling people about Jesus is the example that Jesus set for us while he was on the earth (John 4:1-26– the woman at the well).  He commissioned us to continue that service and sharing of the gospel when he left (Matthew 28:18-20).  As shepherds of the flock that has been entrusted to us, it is our responsibility to encourage and mobilize our flock to serve others.  Jesus said the best place to start is in our “Jerusalem” (our city) Acts 1:8.   There are hundreds of thousands of needs in any one city.

Finding the passion of your church and going where the Holy Spirit already is will be the beginning of changing your culture to a lifestyle of serving others in need.

Find the Passion Within

Passion is what we desire more than anything.  It energizes us to the point that it is our reward.  It is the flame that burns inside of us that cannot be extinguished.  A great way to start finding the passion within your church is to ask your congregation where they are already serving.  Finding their passion and utilizing the relationships they have already built with community agencies will help to build a foundation.

Conduct a survey (by email or by paper) asking the following questions of your members (leaders are a great place to start).  There are many ways to conduct e-surveys through companies like Mail Chimp, Vertical Response, Constant Contact, Facebook, and LinkedIn, etc.

1. Do you currently serve in the community? If yes, where do you currently serve? (organization, school, sports, a family in need, etc.).
2. If you are not currently serving, would you like to be more involved in your community?
3. If you have been serving, how long have you been serving at each organization?  What is your frequency of service (weekly, monthly, a few times a year, seasonal, etc.)
4. If you have been serving at an organization, would you consider being a liaison between this organization and the church and take others with you to serve?
5. If you have not been serving, at what frequency would be best for you to start serving (weekly, monthly, a few times a year, seasonal, etc)?
6. Is it important for your family to serve together?  What ages of children do you have?
7. Is it better for you to serve during the day, in the evenings, and/or on the weekends?
8. What people groups do you serve or would like to serve (see a comprehensive list IDENTIFYING YOUR PASSION).
9. Where do you feel most comfortable serving? Check one or both.   1) serving behind the scenes (sorting items, administration, preparing food, etc)    2) serving directly with people in need (giving items, tutoring, visiting, etc.)
10. If currently serving, are you able to freely share your faith at the organizations  you serve?
11. How  many times have you shared your faith testimony and/or the gospel of  Christ with another person in the last year (not necessarily while you were serving)?
12. How  equipped do you feel to share your faith with others?   1 not at all       2 barely       3 not sure                      4 somewhat        5 always ready
13. Why do you serve/want to serve?

From the answers to these questions, you will begin to see who their passions are for, when they can serve, how equipped they are to share their faith, and why they are being led to serve?  Bringing this information together will help you as a church to find your focus where God is already moving in your church body.

Equip to Evangelize 

This survey will also lay the foundation for the equipping you may need to do with your members on sharing their faith. There are many resources available to teach about sharing your faith – here are just a few:

Billy Graham Resources to Sharing Your Faith

•  You Tube Videos – How to Share the Gospel
•  Rick Warren – How to Share The Good News Through Your Testimony

Decide Your Pillars of Service

You might find that majority of your church body is being led to serve the homeless and that is where you will focus.  Or maybe there are a few pillars for service like the youth, elderly, women, etc.  Or maybe you simply give a wide variety of opportunities and let the Holy Spirit lead each individual, family, and/or group to serve.  No matter the number of pillars, you will be ready to connect with organizations that match your passion and vision and give opportunities to your members to serve others as a lifestyle.

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“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba Father”.”

-Romans 8:14-16

Our Family

Adoption in the Bible is not only literal in the sense of becoming a foster or adoptive parent such as mandated in James 1:27, but adoption is mentioned in scripture to illustrate God’s ‘claim’ on each one of us.

By our sinful nature we are separated from God, but through His adoption of us as His children we come home.  This is a perfect illustration and example for us and the earthly adoption journey.  Being a foster and adoptive parent myself I can attest to the fact that because of circumstance my children were in many ways alien to me, but through God’s love and acceptance of me I understand how important it is to love a child who needs a family.

Our  family’s journey, which you can follow in our BLOG at www.arethesekidsallyours.blogspot.com has been a rollercoaster of joy and pain.  Adoption is not for the weak, but like every tough journey the rewards are amazing!  Running a marathon isn’t easy – it takes training, perseverance, determination and time, but the satisfaction of completing the race is worth every minute of hard work.  Adoption and fostering is much the same – it takes a lot of planning (Get the facts on fostering and facts on adoption) prayer, dedication, grace and persistence, but the joy of giving a child what they need, which is a family is worth it.  God has a special place in His heart for the orphan and when we follow Him to the orphan and get involved we get very close to the heart of God – and that place is quite special.  Foster and adoptive parents will tell you that the intimacy with the Lord through their journey is so special.

Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman who has done so much work for orphans through “Show Hope” was sharing once about how he had not really wanted to consider adoption as it wasn’t his calling. After bringing his little girl home from China through adoption he admitted that he “Almost missed this”.  God had laid something on his heart that he almost passed by.  He was so glad that he did submit to God, and it changed his life.  He became for his children what we need from God when we cry “Daddy” to him.

Whatever it is God is calling you to do, whether becoming a foster or adoptive parent, or whether it’s something else DO NOT MISS IT!  Don’t let the opportunity to make a difference pass you by!

-Jason

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“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

-James 1:27

The Wright Family

There are many ways we as families can get involved in the lives of others, making a difference.  This can make us a little uncomfortable at times when God pushed us to step out of our comfort zone.  Taking ‘uncomfortable’ to a new level are the many families who are choosing to become foster and/or adoptive families.  Raising children is a tough nut to crack, and raising kids with fostering and adoption in the mix is a whole different ball of wax.

That being said, I do firmly believe that God is calling each of us to do something about the orphan.  There are those who take the mandate of James 1:27 quite literally and open their hearts and homes to children through a foster or adoptive placement.  My family is one such family and I want to share a little of our story.

My wife, Dawn and I are parents to 9 beautiful children.  Six of our children came to us through the foster care system in two different states.  One of our children came to us from Ethiopia, one a US domestic agency adoption, and one a US special needs adoption.

I won’t go into the details of each child’s story, but I want to express some of our heart for adoption.  This isn’t just to make you feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ about our family; it is meant to stir your heart to see how God is calling you.  As mentioned before I am a firm believer that God is calling ALL of us to action for the orphan in some way.  Maybe you’re not meant to adopt or foster a child, but that doesn’t mean you’re ‘off the hook’.  The orphan crisis both at home and overseas is staggering and WE (The Church) cannot ignore the problem.  There is an estimated 165 million orphans in the world today.  Yes, you read that number right!  That number is too big for us to say “I’m not called”.  We are all called to do something.  If you don’t feel able to open your home to a child as a foster parent or through adoption, then get behind those that are!  Foster and adoptive parents need your prayers, your baby sitting help, gift cards, respite, encouragement, a meal prepared, a person to talk to, a cheer team to greet them at the airport when arriving home with a child, a baby shower (Or gift shower for a teen foster child),  fund-raising help, recognition in the church, and plenty of people in the body of Christ to love and welcome these children into the church family!

See?  There’s something practical you can do to be a part of the solution!  Ask if you have an adoption or foster care ministry in your church and get involved.  Become a foster parent (There is such a shortage), consider adopting a child – it will change your life.

I will share a little about our family in more detail in Part 2, but to learn more now about our family’s journey through adoption check out our blog at:  arethesekidsallyours.blogspot.com

-Jason

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Click the picture above for USA TODAY news video

Since The Church was born two thousand years ago its  message of Christ’s love for us hasn’t changed, but our world never stops changing.  We are very aware that the world we live in now is very different than the days of the first Christians.  Back then the Word had to be preached in person, the Scriptures had to be written by hand and I took months to sail around the world.

Today with modern technology we can literally see and hear someone talking with us anywhere in the world in real time, we can go online from our mobile phones or tablets anywhere and be updated in an instant with world news as it happens.  Although sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the changes happening around us it is also an exciting time for The Church.

At no other time before have we been able to connect to one other like we can now and this is great news for The Church whose goal is introduce others to a relationship with Christ and in relationship with one another.  Churches today are utilizing 21^st century such as:

• Interactive Websites
• Mobile Apps
• Online Study Guides
• Online Bibles and Devotionals
• QR Codes in bulletins and flyers
• Online Campuses

Just a few weeks ago my wife and I dedicated our children at church in Tampa and my parents in the UK, over 4000 miles away were able to watch the service live in their living room!  How awesome that we can be connected like this.

Technology is being used like never before when it comes to serving others.  We are called to be the hands and feet of Christ outside of the four walls of the building.  Meet The Need’s use of 21^st century technology is a key for us to “Be The Church” by connecting the body of Christ with those in need in our world!  It’s exciting to see the church coming together as one in serving others.  That’s what The Church should look like.  We are excited to partner with churches like Christ Fellowship in fulfilling Christ’s great commission in Matthew 28:19-20:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

-Jason

Posted in Articles, Business & Administration, Families & Individuals Serving, Media, Missions & Outreach, Partners
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I found a binder in my office today from when I first started leading local missions.  What memories it brings back!  It is a binder that outlines how the Lord led me to start local missions with a church of only a few hundred attenders to how we evolved local missions as we grew to 6,000 attenders.

I was the Local Missions and Equip to Serve Director of The Crossing Church for six years.  Just a year and a half ago God called me to use my talents at Meet The Need.  The Crossing Church is still growing with 8,000 attendees and 4 campuses. They were even noted as one of the “100 Fastest Growing Churches” by Outreach Magazine for the past several years.  I lead, with much equipping from the Lord, from having no local missions to having a core team of over 100 leaders leading projects of thousands of volunteers throughout the year.

I would like to share with you a my background of how little I knew about leading local missions at a mega church.  However God was preparing me before I even walked with Him to bring me to the point I am now in equipping hundreds of churches in leading their congregations to serve the needs of others through Meet The Need.  If God can use little me, he can use little you too!

God really knows what He is doing when He weaves into us a passion to do His will.  It all started when I was in middle school.  I went to church on Sundays, but didn’t know what it meant to pray to God from my heart, to seek God with open eyes, nor to listen to God for direction in my life.

Even though I wasn’t seeking Him yet, God had placed in my heart a desire to lead others to serve people in need.  I served in the community through clubs like Future Business Leaders, National Honor Society, Key Club, etc.  Most of the leaders of those clubs contacted me when they wanted to take a group to serve in the community, because I kept up with what was happening at the local homeless shelter, thrift store, professional services organizations, etc.  Keep in mind this was before personal computers, spreadsheets, and email.  It was all done by paper and phone.

I went to college and lead masses of volunteers to serve in the community.  I was the president of the largest Circle K Club in the world (Circle K is the college level of Key Club and Kiwanis).  With a leadership team of 10, we lead over 500 students to complete 20+ hours a month in acts of service for the community.  That’s over 10,000 hours of service a month doing things like  . . .

• tutoring less fortunate students in after school programs
• organizing fun events for the patients in a mental health facility
• encouraging handicapped children at a local school
• visiting troubled youth in a group home for game night
• being company to lonely elderly people at a nursing home
• beautifying a non-profit’s grounds
• taking the blind grocery shopping
• taking meal to shut-ins
• starting a reading and music program for a local elementary school
• teaching personal finance to those with financial struggles
• conducting computer learning sessions for the “computer challenged”
• tutoring for the adults earning their GED

These projects plus more were active each week for students to get involved and serve directly with those in need.  All that was needed was a sacrifice of a little time and an offering of a skill or passion to make a difference in a big way.  How blessed I was to meet my husband (of now 15 years) as one of the leaders of Circle K.  God wove our common passion of serving others together. This picture is of us serving disabled adults at a local nursing home (we are the two to the far right standing up).

After college my career lead me to corporate accounting/finance in the banking industry (SunTrust Bank) and then to B2B ecommerce for credit analysis (Verizon).   After work and on the weekends, I served faithfully in the community through professional organizations like Junior League, Kiwanis, Junior Achievement, etc. Leading new projects like the Career Readiness Program for women in the community trying to provide stability for their family.

I hope you are seeing a pattern here of God preparing me to lead hundreds as a local missions director of a mega church.  Although while I was living it, I didn’t see it at all.  It was 7 more years before I recognized my need for a Savior and was called to use my experiences, abilities, passions, and gifts to serve the Kingdom of God.

Over the coming weeks I will share with you the timeline, resources, and tools I used to build the “Jerusalem” missions team (as described in Acts 1:8) as found in the binder I came across today.  Things like the following I pray will be a blessing to you . . .

• How to find needs in your community – who to partner with
• Service project ideas for individuals, families, and small groups
• A checklist for planning an event
• Specific ways to serve a low income apartment complex
• Coordinator roles and responsibilities
• Budgets for special events and on-going projects
• Ideas to serve various people groups (military, children, women, elderly, low-income, etc)
• Agenda for a “Day of Service” at your church
• Guidelines for approving a new project
• Organizational chart of an Acts 1:8 missions team
• Project/Partner evaluation form

Will you join me?

Tonya Nichols, Member Service Director of Meet The Need

Posted in Business & Administration, Community Development, Events, Missions & Outreach, Uncategorized
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“Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master.  In fact, the Lord Christ is the one you are really serving, and you know that he will reward you.”   - Colossians 3:23-24

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  -Proverbs 22:6

Serving others in need is what we are commanded by God to do.  We read in Colossians that as we serve others it is really Christ we are serving.  Do we take the time to really ‘see’ Jesus in the face of the person we’re serving?  Do we recognize that he is at the heart of what we’re doing?

Serving is kind of like Christmas – it is fun to get together with other Christians and serve, there’s activity involved, it feels good.  But we can make the mistake that just like Christmas we can forget that Jesus is at the heart of it, that it is something that we should continue to do all through the year.  Serving ought to be a daily lifestyle, not just focused on events a couple times a year.

In order to make serving a lifestyle we need to get involved regularly.  Any ministry can only survive with ongoing year-round volunteer help.  We have to be the church outside of the 4 walls – Be the church in our homes, work place and communities.  We need to cultivate this lifestyle in our family – our children need to see it and they can be involved too.

This post marks the first in a series I will share about how families can serve together as part of a lifestyle, not only event-based (Although events are great ways to kick-start serving or to accomplish a larger project).

I would like to share one simple way that our entire family have been able to serve together, and yes there are plenty of opportunities for families with young children to serve together!  It has been great for our family to help pack dry meals for those in need around the world.  Our kids have been a part of the body of believers in making a difference in the lives of others.  We have been blessed to help with an organization here in Florida (Feeding Children Everywhere) that packs meals with the help of thousands of volunteers to be shipped around the globe.  This has been one great way to teach our children about the needs of others, to give them an active role in serving and a reminder of how blessed we are.

Serving takes the focus off of us and makes us think of others.  As we continue as a family to seek ways to get involved in serving outside the walls of the church building our prayer is that our children grow up in that lifestyle and be a part of what God is doing in the real world.

-Jason

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“Each one of them is Jesus in Disguise.” – Mother Teresa

Reflect back to people you see every day and ask yourself “Do I do this?

Mother Theresa, when speaking of the very poorest in Calcutta said that, “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”  She sums up in this one short sentence how in the ordinary day to day serving of others we can have an extraordinary encounter with Christ himself!

Jesus said:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’   -Matthew 25: 31-40

We are called to see the lost, the poor and the sick as Jesus sees them – like the dearly loved children that he created in His image.

Love them as God has loved you!

-Jason

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I have been sharing over the past several weeks a series about the steps to transform your church to be more outward focused  If you missed some of the past blogs, I encourage you to explore them:

• Part 1 – We’re Going on a Field Trip!
• Part 2 – Let’s Get Organized and Prepared
• Part 3 – Why are We Serving?
• Part 4 – Who will lead, serve, and be served?
• Part 5 – Where is the passion?

Today I am sharing some different ways that you can choose to mobilize members to serve.  How you move will produce energy in your church, much like a windmill.  A breath of air from The Holy Spirit goes a long way!

First things first . . . STAFF/LEADERSHIP

Many times churches get so gung-ho on how they will roll out their serving plan to their members, they forget the staff and key leadership.  They are critical is setting the stage for the transformation of your church.  As you transform your leadership it will become contagious to your members.

• How often does my staff/leadership serve the community together?
• Does my staff model serving with their families, small groups, classes, etc?
• Does my staff/leadership know how to use Meet The Need to find and fill needs of the community?

Next . . .MEMBERS/VOLUNTEERS

How will we mobilize; individually, in smaller groups, or collectively with a large event?  Maybe a combination of all, but in what order?

I will give examples of how to mobilize your members in each structure in a future blog called REACH.  For now you are just determining which order would be best to start your mobilization.

• Individually -  you can give direction on where to go find and adopt needs on your website to your congregation and encourage them to go adopt needs individually or with their family.  Philippians 2:3-4 is a great example of Jesus serving individually.

• Small Groups – you can give direction on where to go find and adopt needs on your website to small groups of people within your church (example: bible studies).  Mark 9:35 is a great example of Jesus serving in small groups.

• Large Event – you can plan a bigger project where you go and find needs to adopt through MTN and then have a service day where your entire congregation is encouraged to participate.  Note: an event like this is just a launching pad for you to encourage your members to do things like this on a consistent basis.  Be sure they get info on where to go find and adopt needs on your website.  There should also be a series of follow up reminding them to continue the spirit of service beyond the event.  Mark 8:6-8 is a great example of Jesus serving through a large event.

If you already have a community project on the church calendar then start with a large event.  If all this is new to your members, then start smaller and introduce it to a few small groups.   If your members are already serving the community and just need a list of needs, then roll it out to the masses, individually.

Based on the questions and ideas above, HOW is the best way to mobilize your church to a lifestyle of serving?

Next week will be the last topic in this blog series.  I will share about WHEN is the best time to start this change within your organization to cultivate a lifestyle of serving.  I would love to hear from you – comment!

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..To continue on from ” Jack of All Trades”..

We have to understand the principles of understanding a Natural Talent and Spiritual Gifts. When you get so involved with life   and overloading your plate by being a “Jack of All Tades” you get confused in understanding  the difference between a  talent and a spiritual  gift.  One,  first has to know their purpose in life to know how to use your talents and gifts and how to use them for God’s purpose in your life. I have to ask “Do your know your purpose ?” What has God placed you on this earth for? Until you know this can you really be effective in his kingdom and can you truly seek to understand the talents and gifts he has given you?

We often try to separate the two of them using our talents for our purpose and our Spiritual Gifts only for God purposes. Wait..wait.. Think about that… it should actually convict you in understanding that we first must acknowledge that all that we have comes from God. That being said we have to make the connection that their is no separation. You can’t just  say ”I’ll give you just a piece of me God” the rest is mine for my  purpose or I’ll just do this at church or in the ministry and my other talents I’ll use elsewhere.  Once you recognize  what your gifts and talents are you have to then go into a season of preparation and development of those gifts and talents. Just because it has been given to you doesn’t mean that you don’t have to cultivate the gift.

For Example:

God has given you the talent of public speaking of connecting to people. Knowing this you decide to give a public speech in front of 1,000 people about a topic that you haven’t taken the due diligence to research and  understand the facts of the issue and how it relates to the audience.  You decide i’m a good speaker I can relate to people “I got this in the bag”.

You walk up to the podium and it hits you.. “This is  a lot of people”.. “why is the light beaming in my face”… “What do I sound like on these loud speakers”…”I wish the photographer would turn off the flash”… “I didn’t know the news media would be here” ..”I cant concentrate with the woman with the crying baby”… “wait…What’s my opening line’?

Has a similar situation ever happened to you? Have you relied so heavily on the comfort of what you thought you knew that you decided not to prepare you self?  We get so caught up in self pride or gloating that we forget that God rewards preparation. We should always be prepared for the things within our control. Even if something changes a circumstance that we prepared for  we should rest in the reassurance that God will reward our preparation with support to adapt to the change.

Check out this table:

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