Written by Micah Schuchardt from Hillside Chapel.
A few years back I was interning with a church of about 6,000 members, and I was the production intern for all of student ministries, which included three different venues in the church and about forty volunteers. I was put in charge of many things and among them was to train all of our volunteers in the booth and any new faces that I would encounter. I knew I had to come up with a set way that I trained people, so I came up with The Four “E” Volunteer Training Strategy. I have used this training method ever since and found it to work very well.
Educate
I always began with educating the volunteers on the technical aspects of the job. Most of the time this was a one-hour session with the new volunteer on how to use the equipment. (This is specifically for computer and lights; sound is another ball game and as you know requires more time.) During this hour I put my phone aside and focus all of my attention teaching the volunteer the ins and outs of ProPresenter or the light board. For ProPresenter I teach them everything from creating new documents to the exact specs we use on slides, such as size, outline, and lines per slide. On the light board its how to work each individual light and how to program new scenes and everything in between.
Enlighten
Enlightening still includes lots of teaching and is an ongoing process; however it is all information that I would classify as non-technical. This includes teaching volunteers about the mood we set in the room as a tech team. Everything we do is about setting a mood for people to worship. Some of the topics I cover are the importance of matching a song to the perfect background. If it is a slower, more intimate, song there is no need to have a fast and vibrant background. I urge them to listen to the songs during band practice before services and show them why the background I used is there so that once they are comfortable they can choose the backgrounds as well and make confident decisions. I also cover a lot on lighting. I talk with the volunteers and ask them what the purpose of the different parts of the service are and what the intention of those portions of the service are. For example worship is dark because it is an intimate setting where people need to have the freedom to move around and not feel like everyone is staring at them so darker is better, and the message is a time for being challenged and learning so the lights need to be brighter so people are attentive and not falling asleep. Overall I just use enlightening to teach some of the more non-technical but key points that need to be covered.
Empower
The third E stands for Empower. It is often said that the tech team is only noticed when something goes wrong, and most of the time that is true. I do not want my tech team to feel that they do not have a strong purpose so I use Empowerment to fill them up. I let each and everyone one of them know every Sunday that they fill an important roll. Each member of the tech team is setting the environment that allows people to connect with Jesus on a personal level. I tell all of them that they are as important as the any of the band members on stage and that together we are all bringing people to Christ. This has helped so many volunteers to feel that they are making a difference and it also helps create dedicated volunteers.
Excellence
Excellence is simply here because if the Creative Pastor or Trainer can do all of the others E’s effectively then it will lead to excellence and if we strive for excellence in all we do then we will always be getting better and will have success.
I have found great success using this simple and straightforward strategy with my volunteers. I hope you find it useful as well.
