Do you find yourself again and again wondering what it would take to get some new volunteers onboard for your ministry? And yet does it seem that you are never able to focus your energy on recruitment? Maybe you find yourself saying things like: "It?s just easier for me to do it myself."At one level, of course, this is true. Almost always, it is easier to "do it ourselves." We avoid the hassle of having to coordinate and communicate. We avoid having to follow up with people who drop the ball.Youth leaders Mark DeVries and Nate Stratman have heard dozens of reasons why leaders choose not to build a solid volunteer team. But faithful ministry is not a do-it-yourself project. It?s more than just recruiting―it involves changing the culture of your ministry so that volunteers want to become involved.That's why they have developed this 30-day change approach. In these pages you will find the step-by-step support you need to actually make one of the most important changes you want to see in your ministry. DeVries and Stratman are so commited to the ideas that they offer the following guarantee:If you work this 30-day process for one to two hours a day, six days a week, for 30 days, and it does not create significant change in your ministry, Ministry Architects will gladly refund the cost of this book and offer a credit of $20 toward any downloadable resource in their online store at ymarchitects.com. You have so little to risk and everything to gain. It's time to put together that team you've been longing for!
Mark DeVries (MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the founder of Ministry Architects, a consulting team that helps churches and ministry organizations build sustainable ministries for children, youth, young adults, and entire congregations. He served for twenty-eight years as associate pastor for youth and their families at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He has trained youth workers on five continents and has taught courses or been a guest lecturer at a number of colleges and seminaries.DeVries is the author of Sustainable Youth Ministry and Family-Based Youth Ministry, coauthor of The Most Important Year in a Woman's Life/The Most Important Year in a Man's Life, and he has been a contributing writer for Josh McDowell's Youth Ministry Handbook, Starting Right, and Reaching a Generation for Christ. In addition, his articles and reviews have been published in a variety of journals and magazines. He and his wife, Susan, have four grown children.
Nate Stratman (MDiv, Fuller Seminary) is a full time youth pastor, husband, dad, and consultant based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has been in full-time youth ministry since 2000, starting with St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian in Wilmington, NC and now serving as Director of Family Ministries at First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, CO. A staff consultant with Ministry Architects,Nate also started the Restoration Project through Youth Conference Ministries and co-dreamed an intentional community for ministry minded young adults called the Greenhouse. He loves partnering with Young Life and has a great interest in the relationships between churches and para-church ministries. He lives with his wife Kim and two daughters.
