By Zachary McCrorey
Struggling to build your volunteer roster? You are not alone—for a very long time, I did as well. Success for me was realized once I released some negative engrained behaviors and adopted an incredible and simple process to build an epic production team which we have today.
Discover. Develop. Deploy.
Discover, develop, and deploy is a fundamental principle the leadership team at Transformation Church has worked very hard to instill within our culture. As the body of Christ, we truly are better together. I’ll be the first to admit I thought that to be a very cheesy statement, but alas, it is indeed true. The Lord has created each of us with beautiful gifts, incredible abilities, and varied perspectives to support one another in many regards whether it be our friends, families, or our local church ministries. As we connect and deepen our relationships with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we should be praying for discernment in how we can connect with, enable, and then embolden one another to actively participate in the mission he’s placed onto your ministry.
Discover
Early on in my role at TC, I had to shake off the idea that those interested in joining our Production team would just show up without any active participation on my end. What a lie that was. The act of discover can be so simple! I’ve discovered many potential servant leaders (the term we use instead of volunteers at TC) just by catching their glance into the control booth and igniting a conversation. Nine times out of ten, the conversation leads to a behind-the-scenes tour and an introduction to that week’s team. A connection has been created! Heck, I’ve invited 10-year-olds into the booth and given them a headset to listen in to the craziness that is live production.
Creating a welcoming environment is crucial. And yes, I get it, Sunday mornings can be insanely busy (heads down, hands and feet moving at super speed executing the most excellent services, execute, execute, and a bit more of execution). Shake that off. I’d encourage you to be intentional in slowing down to carve out space to connect with at least one new visitor or member each week. It’s a gamechanger.
Develop Comes Next
Once the connection has been made, I’ve found it very helpful to pair them with an operator within the department they are most interested in and allow them to experience a live service first-hand which I call their “Shadow Sunday.” After the services, I’ll hit them with a few questions:
- “Do you feel overwhelmed?”
- “Did your time shadowing the position excite you?”
- “Do you need more time to pray before officially being onboarded?”
They paint a pretty clear picture of whether or not we are fully aligned before both parties invest additional time in hands-on training. It is vital that they are excited and interested in the assigned position on your team, understand your team’s commitments (i.e. Sunday morning call times are pretty darn early), and are bought into the mission of your organization.
If given the green light, we are full steam ahead! Onboarding includes a full-building tour, a chat about team expectations, training on our scheduling system, and hands-on training led by a department lead. We also love on each new member by providing a swag bag of goodies (gift card, thank you card, production shirt, etc.). The swag bags go a very long way!
Ready, Set, Deploy
Now this is the fun part! You’ve invested time and energy in discovering and developing—now it is time to let them run it! Whatever it is—lighting or CG operation, producing your service, video direction – remain close but be hands off. And yes, mistakes will happen and that’s completely okay, we are all human.
We’re striving for excellence here, not perfection. Place that statement deep in your heart; there’s freedom in it. Encourage your new teammate with those words. Address issues and/or errors after the service in a graceful manner away from others. Also, as the leader over your team, it is incredibly important to set your team up for success throughout the week. Often more times than not, your servant leaders have 30 minutes to an hour to be informed on what the plan is for that Sunday’s service. Can you imagine being dropped into a situation with nothing prepared or having many questions and no answers?! That’s a nightmare and it is not the way to value and honor your servant leaders.
Have the service plans locked and loaded to the best of your abilities prior to Sunday mornings. Our weekend services staff and Communication team have incorporated mid-week “Quality Checks” to ensure all deliverables are programmed correctly prior to that upcoming Sunday service. Finally, rest in Him. Continue to pray over your team. After all the training and planning, just relax—the Lord is going to do what He is going to do.
Zachary McCrorey, born and raised in the Carolinas, has had a life-long passion for Live Events and Technical Production. After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater-Technical and Design, he’s been blessed to have had incredible experiences within the Arts industry such as touring the world as a Production Stage Manager for Pilobolus, managing the Entertainment technical operations at Carowinds Amusement Park, and freelancing as an LD and Event Manager in the Charlotte metro area. His time at TC has been life-changing and he is incredibly grateful for the love, trust, and support he’s received from the leadership and staff at Transformation Church.
@zach.isaiah // @transformationchurch
