Without a deep and healthy roster, a greater load gets put on just a few team members, which can often lead to burnout and exhaustion.
Regardless of the size of the church, I believe that every tech ministry --- audio, video, lighting, staging, streaming etc --- probably wishes that it had more volunteers. Out of every available commodity, it seems that tech-savvy volunteers are the one with what seems like the highest demand but the shortest supply.
As we all know, without a deep and healthy roster, a greater load gets put on just a few team members, which can often lead to burnout and exhaustion.
I’m a firm believer that the cattle-call from the pulpit isn’t always the answer.
Thus, finding additional team members is critical for every tech team. The big question is: What’s the best way to do it?
I’m a firm believer that the cattle-call from the pulpit isn’t always the answer. During those moments, it’s too easy for the audience to tune out a plea for volunteers with thoughts like, “I’m not a sound engineer,” or “They’re probably talking to someone with a lot of experience in video production, not me,” or a thousand other excuses.
It’s also too easy for those announcements to sound more like begs of desperation, which can sometimes turn people off even more.
So, if recruiting from the stage with a megaphone isn’t the answer, what is? What are some other ways that we can search out new members for our teams? I believe there are a few different paths that we could take that would yield results.
What ties them all together, though, is the idea of a personal invitation. People are more likely to respond to a request when it’s addressed to them specifically. That allows them to feel a sense of value that someone is taking the time to address them directly, and it also makes it impossible for them to shrug it off like they would something more general and public.
How can we do this type of personal recruitment effectively? Three approaches to consider:
1-The Headhunter Approach
In a corporate world, a headhunter’s job is to find skilled labor that’s already in the market, and pair that with a job opening. So, in ministry, a headhunter would just go looking for skilled technical labor. But if it’s not already at the church and on my team, where would it be?
Local schools are often great places to go recruiting for technical help. High school guidance counselors may be able to refer students who are looking to get real-world experience prior to college, or as part of a senior year externship.
In college, student placement offices and individual departments (like Journalism, Theater, Computer Science, etc.) would all have procedures in place to help students find off-campus internships during the school year or summer. That would allow students to gain valuable experience with your church; the downside is that they may only be available to help you for just a few months.
Another option is to recruit at “big box” retailers that specialize in technology sales, like Best Buy, Guitar Center, or other computer or music stores. Employees in those places typically enjoy technology even outside of work. Some of them may not be interested in serving for free, but there may be a possibility of finding someone who could serve as a contract audio engineer or something similar, if you have the budget for it.
Being “desperate” for people convinces us to overlook certain "issues." That ends up hurting our team and costing us leadership integrity in the long run.
The biggest caveat with looking at folks outside of a typical church environment is that sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to get when it comes to character or personality. Make sure there are clear expectations and understandings up front about appropriate behavior, and don’t be afraid to confront someone if they’re not embodying a healthy team culture.
We never want to compromise our standards by making allowances for someone’s talent. Sometimes being “desperate” for people convinces us to overlook those issues, but that ends up hurting our team and costing us leadership integrity in the long run.
So, if you choose to look for talent outside your church walls, be prepared for any baggage that may come along.
2-The Poacher Approach
All ministries are comprised of various volunteer teams: worship, tech, greeters, etc. Occasionally, people will be serving in one particular area, but then decide that they may be interested in trying something new or embracing a new challenge.
As a tech leader, it’s important that I have good relationships with the team leaders of all of the other ministry areas at my church. That way, I can have consistent conversations with them about my team’s needs.
Perhaps there’s someone really struggling to integrate with the worship team. When I’m in regular conversation with the worship leader about my team’s needs, it makes it easier for him or her to suggest to some of his team members that they consider serving in Production for a season while they continue to hone their musical talent. Musicians make great song lyrics operators.
It’s unreasonable to expect one leader to be great at every skill set that’s required to lead a tech team.
People who help with kids check-in may already be comfortable around computers and tech, so why not see if they’d like to learn something in our world? Kids who love being around the youth group may have a hunger to try new things, especially if it means they get to be “cool” by having access to something their buddies normally wouldn’t. Greeters or small group leaders who are really outgoing may have an interest in bringing their relational skill alongside my team to help provide some extra ministry touch that I would otherwise struggle to provide.
In fact, there are likely a lot of “non-technical” roles that I could recruit for that would help my team. After all, it’s unreasonable to expect one leader to be great at every skill set that’s required to lead a tech team: technical ability, administration (scheduling/emails), teaching (leading training sessions), hospitality (organizing team events), exhortation (giving shout-outs, sending Happy Birthday cards, and posting on a team social media account), and intercession (leading the ministry/prayer side of a team), among others.
However, unless I know what roles are needed on my team, whether technical or not, it’s impossible to know what type of person or skill set to go looking for. I have to have a job description before I start interviewing candidates.
But in order to take the Poacher approach, I have to be comfortable enough to step out of the booth before, after, and between services and intentionally work on building relationships with other people, whether they’re on my team or others. That may be out of my comfort zone, but it may be necessary in order to grow my team.
3-The Evangelist Approach
The final approach probably is the one that should be the most organic.
Hopefully, one of the positive by-products of a healthy team is that people enjoy being on and around the team. Folks look forward to serving because they like the people they’re with, they have fun, they leave feeling energized, and they look forward to the next time they’re on the schedule.
When a team is healthy and embodies a fun, people-first culture, it naturally becomes attractive.
When a team is healthy and embodies a fun, people-first culture, it naturally becomes attractive. And if a team really is that much fun to be around, it makes it a whole lot easier for current team members to invite their friends, neighbors, family, or co-workers to come and be part of the team as well.
There is no better way to recruit new team members than by having your current team members be overflowing with excitement about their spot on the team. At that point, they can’t help but evangelize and tell other people about the fun they have and invite those friends to come and join them.
There is no better way to recruit new team members than by having your current team members be overflowing with excitement about their spot on the team.
If there’s a team training session or fun outing, encourage everyone on the team to invite someone to join them and hang out. Hopefully the relational fabric of the team will be so strong that a new person would be instantly attracted to wanting to be part of it as well.
The “each one/reach one” approach sometimes ends up being the best way to grow a team, simply because a new person taking a step has already established a relationship with someone on the team. It’s not just a team of total strangers, so there’s someone who can help provide encouragement, support, and accountability as they walk through the process of joining the team.
Above all, this is an area where the tech team leader needs to be modeling this approach for the team. Inspiring them to bring a friend is one thing, but when the team sees their leader actively trying to bring his or her friends into the mix, those actions carry a lot more weight than empty words.
Team growth can’t be a passive process, and we as leaders shouldn’t take the easy way out of expecting other church leaders to push people onto our teams. It’s our job to take the lead in developing our own team’s health and growth.
With the right approach, I’m confident that we’ll get the results we’re looking for.
[Editor's note: Article originally published in October 2017.]
