Logan Leadership

Almost always, when volunteer-based ministries are formed, we say to the Lord, “We’ll take anyone you bring us.” Then whoever shows up is automatically a part of the team. At that point, we stop searching for new team members and start using whoever we’ve got to try to make our plan work.

There is a different process, which is substantially different than the one above. It’s more intentional and more selective. There may be times when someone shows up or expresses an interest in your ministry team and you need to say, essentially, thanks but no thanks.

The more successful we are at recruiting, the more that has the inadvertent effect of diminishing our emphasis on the long-term development of others. Why invest in long-term leadership development when you can just use ready-made leaders from somewhere else? Ironically, short-term success short-circuits long-term success.

The other problem we run into with recruiting leaders is seeing a drop in quality in our pool of qualified candidates. We’re tapping them all out without bringing in new life and we’re giving them less time and attention, spreading them too thin. It’s like overfishing a pond. Instead we need to stock our pond with new life and multiply it.