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So here it is: the first full issue of EQ[U]IP. Interact. Grow. Respond. Allow God to speak to you through these pages.




As fall approaches, many of us head into another ministry season with well thought out goals and renewed vigor. With that in mind, I'd like to pose a question: What are you doing to invest in the spiritual lives of your volunteers? You may have some wonderful new programming ideas (and that's great!), but how are you going to build into your volunteers? How are you going to shepherd them? How are you going to take them the next step relationally and spiritually? While planning and executing services is an important part of what leaders do, it's not all we do. Nor is it, in my opinion, the best part of ministry. As I look back on thirty plus years of church work, the most memorable aspects are not the services, specials events, or the music. Those things are fond memories, but what I cherish even more are the people with whom I've done ministry all those years. Many of us are still good friends.

In 1 Peter 5:2-3, we are encouraged to care for the people God sends our way: "Shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you charge, but proving to be examples to the flock." It's no accident that Peter points us to the image of a shepherd caring for his flock. In John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times, "Peter, do you love me?" Every time Peter responds, "Yes, Lord," Jesus replies, "Then feed my sheep." It is yet another reminder that ministry is all about caring for people and that the way we love others is the way we love Christ. Similarly, God is asking us to take care of the artists God has put under our leadership. I'd like to discuss this charge on two different levels: large group settings dealing with the group as a whole and smaller group settings dealing with a few individuals at a time. In either case, the goal is to utilize those opportunities to care for our volunteers. I'll offer a few humble ideas of my own on how to do that, but my hope is that this article will stimulate your own thinking on the topic and that we could eventually pool all our ideas together.

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