April
2005
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Free Online Training Designed
Especially for Church Volunteers |
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 Killer
#3 Cotton Candy Training Content
Another killer of training in the church is weak training content.
Frankly, when it comes to training and resources for volunteers
in the church today, there’s a lot of fluff out there! The
dysfunctional premise of much of this cotton candy training seems
to be:
• “We can’t—and shouldn’t—expect
much out of volunteers.”
• “Volunteers are not as gifted as fulltime pastors
and church staff.”
• “Volunteers won’t really put in the work necessary
to be trained to do ministry well.”
I heartily disagree with these faulty and unbiblical premises about
volunteers in the church—for the following reasons:
Fiction: “We can’t—and shouldn’t—expect
much out of volunteers.”
Fact: We should expect what God expects from every Christian.
The Bible teaches that all Christians (including “volunteers”)
are fulltime ministers whether or not they get a paycheck from a
church (see II Corinthians 5:18-20 and I Peter 2:9 just as a couple
of examples)! Therefore, the church should fully expect from volunteers
what God expects out of every Christian:
• a life of loving God and loving people (Mark 12:30-31)
• regular personal study of God’s Word (II Timothy
2:15)
• prayer (Philippians 4:6-7)
• worship (Romans 12:1-2)
• service (I Peter 4:10)
• financial stewardship (II Corinthians 8:7)
• sexual purity (I Thessalonians 4:3-8)
• biblical community and loving accountability (Hebrews
10:24-25)
• sharing the gospel clearly (Mark 3:14)
• And everything else commanded in the Bible (see
your Bible)
These commands (not suggestions) from God are not just for pastors
and church staff—but for every Christian! Therefore,
it is right to expect all believers—including volunteers
in the church—to be growing and developing in the personal
application of God’s commands. This is normal Christianity—and
should be an essential part of any volunteer training in the church.
Fiction: “Volunteers are not as gifted as fulltime
pastors and church staff.”
Fact: Pastors and staff are not the only gifted servants in the
church.
While most church volunteers have not studied theology formally
in a seminary or Bible college, all saved volunteers are gifted
for ministry! (See I Peter 4:10.) It is not uncommon for volunteers
to be as gifted for ministry—or even more gifted for ministry
in certain ways and areas—than their pastors. You would think
that all pastors and church staff would welcome this as a God-thing—and
a good thing! Think about it: How cool would it be to have a glut
of gifted volunteers serving away in the church with passion and
excellence? However, insecure pastors and church staff have an uncanny
ability to ignore high potential volunteers—and ultimately—these
gifted volunteers end up at a church where a secure pastor puts
these “ministry partners” into play where their giftedness
can be maximized for the glory of God. Make no mistake about it:
Volunteers in the church are gifted to do ministry by the same Holy
Spirit who gifted the pastor! (See I Corinthians 12:7.) If we
think volunteers are second class workers in the church—not
as gifted or able as formally educated pastors and staff—then
our efforts to train volunteers will tend to be fluffy and lack
disciplemaking substance.
Fiction: “Volunteers won’t really put in the
work necessary to be trained to do ministry well.”
Fact: Volunteers desire biblical training with specific application.
I just spent a weekend with sixty extremely committed and hard
working church volunteers in Pennsylvania. These folks drove from
several states and eagerly gave up their precious time and paid
considerable personal and financial expense to participate in serious,
interactive, rigorous, biblical, and extremely practical ministry
training. These volunteers threw themselves into the learning activities,
took notes, prayed fervently, laughed heartily, loved each other
intensely, and pelted me with questions about the nuts and bolts
of doing ministry biblically and effectively. Below is an e-mail
(used by permission) I received from two of the volunteer youth
workers who attended the training weekend. As you read
the e-mail, pay close attention to the fact that not only are these
volunteers working hard in their ministry—but they are also
diligently working hard on applying the training they received to
their lives and ministry:
My husband Dwayne and I were recently at a youth workers
retreat at Camp Hebron (in PA) with Bill Allison as the trainer.
We very much enjoyed the weekend and heard God speak to us through
the training. We appreciated the focus on building our own relationship
with Christ first and foremost. We won’t soon forget the
illustration with the water being poured out into cups to then
overflow into others. It brought to mind John 15:5, apart from
Him, we can do nothing! We need to stay connected to Jesus.
Through the messages on relationships, we received affirmation
in beginning a mentoring ministry at our church where we will
pair a youth with an adult mentor. We see this will be a great
way to help build relationships and build the Kingdom.
We also appreciated the SMART Goals material that was presented.
It is helping us apply the things we learned over the weekend.
We also hope to implement the
Smart Goals into our mentoring program. Over all we just were
glad for the refreshment and the time to build our relationship
with God. Thanks and Praise be to the Father!
-- Sharon and Dwayne Hoover, Volunteer Youth Workers for
Nine Years (so far)
Are these volunteers working hard applying the training they got
to their own lives and their volunteer ministry? You bet. Weekend
after weekend I have the high honor of working with volunteers like
this. When the training is intensely biblical with very
specific application to their lives and ministries—volunteers
are more than willing put in the work necessary to be trained to
do ministry well. Don’t miss this point: It’s
wrong to view volunteers as theological or ministry lightweights
who only want a “101 Easy Techniques Approach to Volunteerism
in the Church.”
The truth is that many volunteers want more than the cotton candy
training they are being offered. They’re silently asking,
“Where’s the beef?” The real question is: Will
you and your church keep living in the land of fiction when it comes
to training volunteers—or will you and your church stand and
deliver meaty ministry training that encourages and equips them
to love God and love people?
What do YOU think?
We welcome your response: 
info@cadreministries.com
Send this Cadre Connection to a friend:
CLICK HERE
SEND TO A FRIEND: Click Here
The “No-Cotton-Candy” Audio Training Zone
Imagine a fun, substantive, biblical, engaging, and
free-flowing conversation between two great friends who discuss
the weighty disciple-making issues of
 •
Personal Growth
Why your growth is so critical to your ministry and how to write
and implement your own personal growth plan
• Sexual Purity and Accountability
Discover Joseph’s three secrets to living a life of sexual
purity and how you can find and develop an accountability relationship
 •
Biblical Time Management
Explore ten biblical principles for taking control of your life
and time
• Learning to Be a Credible Communicator
Learn the components of credible communication… it’s
not just about moving your lips
• Leading You and Those Who Lead You
The first person you lead is YOU! The next person you lead is your
boss or supervisor!
• High Impact Teaching
Encounter the seven distinguishing characteristics of high impact
teachers in the church
This is precisely what you will get when you listen to the six
Cadre Conversations audio CDs.
http://www.cadreministries.com/store/audio.html
* For the month of April only: a free DVD rewinder
with every order of Cadre Conversation CDs!
(Hint: That bit about the free DVD rewinder
is just an April Fool's joke…. think about it!)
For other great training resources you can use for personal study
and growth, small group
study, Sunday school, or to train volunteers in your church, check
out:
CADRE STORE:
http://www.cadreministries.com/store
 A
Free Prize Inside that You Can Share Freely with Others
This short article is a “must read” BEFORE
you schedule or attend any type of training. As long as you don’t
charge for or change the content, you have our complete permission
to FREELY
- Post this article on your website for others to freely download
and share
- Send this article in PDF form via e-mail to as many people
as you like (be sure to ask them first)
- Print and distribute as many copies as you want
View the FREE Online PDF:
http://www.cadreinternational.com/download/CadreTrainingArticle.pdf
Updated: Experience Cadre Training in Person!
Check out the online photo albums of Cadre
training in action:
* The Cadre Training Festival
http://homepage.mac.com/billc323/PhotoAlbum13.html
* Training Trainers
http://homepage.mac.com/billc323/PhotoAlbum22.html
* Ministry Is Relationships
http://homepage.mac.com/billc323/PhotoAlbum31.html
UPCOMING TRAINING:
* Fargo, ND Area, Saturday, 4/2/05
Ministry Is Relationships
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/relationships.php
For more info contact bill@cadreministries.com
* Philadelphia, PA Area, Saturday, 4/9/05
IGNITE: Student Evangelism Training Experience
http://www.2ignite.us/pages/igniteevent
For more info contact bill@cadreministries.com
* Central Florida Area, Saturday, 4/9/05
Ministry Is Relationships
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/relationships.php
8:30 AM-12:30 PM. For youth leaders, small group shepherds, and
Sunday school teachers. The $15 registration includes a training
manual and snack break. Hosted by Neighborhood Alliance Church -
Contact Laura Wampach at (321) 356.7589 or laura@cadreministries.com
* Northern Minnesota Area, Saturday, 4/16/05
Evangelism Is Relationships
For more info contact bill@cadreministries.com
* Central Illinois Area, Saturday, 4/16/05
Becoming a High Impact Teacher
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/bahit.php
8:30 AM-12:30 PM. For youth leaders, small group shepherds, and
Sunday school teachers. The $15 registration includes a training
manual and snack break. Hosted by Pontiac First United Methodist
Church - Contact certified Cadre trainer, Lon Alderman at (815)
735-6095 or
lon@acornministries.com
* Duluth Minnesota Area, Saturday 4/23/05
The First Person You Lead Is YOU!
For more info contact bill@cadreministries.com
* Central Illinois Area, Saturday, 5/7/05
Ministry Is Relationships
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/relationships.php
Acorn Lodge - Dickson Valley Camp and Retreat Center
8:30 AM-12:30 PM.
$15 registration includes a training manual and snack break. Contact
certified Cadre trainer, Lon Alderman at (630) 553-6233 or lon@acornministries.com
* Central Illinois Area, Saturday, 5/7/05
Becoming a High Impact Teacher
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/bahit.php
Washington, IL.
8:30 AM-12:30 PM. For youth leaders, small group shepherds, and
Sunday school teachers.
For more info contact bill@cadreministries.com
* Central Illinois Area, Saturday, 5/14/05
Ministry Is Relationships
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/relationships.php
Acorn Lodge - Dickson Valley Camp and Retreat Center
8:30 AM-12:30 PM.
$15 registration includes a training manual and snack break. Contact
certified Cadre trainer, Lon Alderman at (630) 553-6233 or lon@acornministries.com
* Southern Illinois Area, Saturday, 5/14/05
Becoming a High Impact Teacher
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/bahit.php
8 AM-12 Noon. For youth leaders, small group shepherds, and Sunday
school teachers. The $10 registration includes a training manual
and snack break. Hosted by Highland Community Church, Highland,
IL . Contact certified Cadre trainer, Jason Leahy at jleahy@bulldogs.com
For Volunteer Junior High Youth Leaders:
The Newest Edition of Batteries Included
VIew the PDF here:
http://www.cadreinternational.com/batteries/batteries9.pdf
Cadre: We're guilty
of inciting a volunteer training revolution in the church!
Cadre is a not-for-profit ministry [501(c)(3)]
that exists to assist local churches in becoming the greatest
volunteer training organizations in the world. We're asking God
to give us 5,000 non-staff trainers who are obsessed with Ephesians
4:11-12! To pursue certification to take Cadre training to your
church, contact info@cadreministries.com.
Cadre staff serve as support-based, God-dependent
missionaries to come alongside volunteers and those who care for
volunteers in the church to help accomplish their God-given mission.
We provide FREE monthly online training for
volunteers in the church (Cadre Connection), for volunteer Jr.
High Youthworkers (Batteries Included), and for Student Leaders
(Spiritual Caffeine). Visit www.cadreministries.com
to preview our recent free training or to sign up to receive training
in your email-box monthly.
For more information about bringing a certified
Cadre trainer to coach and train the volunteer teachers, leaders,
and youth workers in your church, contact info@cadreministries.com
For Cadre training sources visit http://www.cadreministries.com/store
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