Crucial Volunteering || 11.05.2022

Today’s message may sound different than my other ones. Today, we’re talking about how the saints gave their time, talents, gifts, and service to benefit the Kingdom of God. I want to talk about how crucial it is for the saints to give in the church.

Back in pre-COVID days, most of you have been trying to find volunteers for CORE, Wednesday Night Live, special events, and more. Sometimes I get lucky and get those volunteers ahead of time, and often I get our volunteers on the day. Volunteers are what let us provide the programming we have safely and adequately. It takes three volunteers to manage CORE. It takes ten volunteers to manage Wednesday Night live. It takes around 15 volunteers to do Fall Festival. It takes close to 20 people to do VBS. As you can tell, it takes many hands of the body of Christ to share the love of Jesus with the world.

I remember when John and Vicki Neelands helped out with CORE, and John played all kinds of games with the kids, such as ping-pong, pool, and air hockey, and I even think they got him to play a video game or two. Every time afterward, when I let them know who’s helping out today, the kids asked, “Is it John?” “Is John coming today?” “Can John and I play after dinner?” I recognized John’s impact just by being with them and hanging out with them. John, the big kid he is, recognizes what makes a kid a kid and meets them where they are. John shared the love of Christ with them that they may have needed or not known they needed. That, to me, is the crucial reason why we need volunteers.

The saints gave of their time, talents, gifts, and service. I’ve watched it in my six years. Our saints give their time by investing in the lives of our future, whether it be at CORE, Wednesday Night Live, special events, or even outside the walls of our church. I’ve seen our saints give their talents by leading their classes, teaching them a unique talent, and sharing the life advice all kids ask for, whether they admit it. I’ve seen our saints give of their gifts by investing in our programming, giving their time to create an environment they need, and praying for them over what life throws at them. I’ve seen our saints give their service in every way mentioned above. Our saints have been the backbone of how well our programming flourishes, and after nineteen months, we need our saints once again.

We’re getting close to relaunching our CORE programming in a new way, but before we do, we need you. We need help in getting there again. We need people willing to volunteer either by themselves or in pairs to invest in the lives of our youth. Without you, our programming can’t launch. So I ask you, as you hear the rest of today’s service, to pray about it. Hear what God is telling you. Maybe this area isn’t for you, but you know someone that it is. Plant the mustard seed. Let God do this thing after that.