• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pedro Carrion

Leadership, Travel, and International Affairs

  • Home
  • About Me/Contact Me
  • Advertising Disclosure
  • Quotes
  • Connect To Your Calling
  • Travel Tips
  • The Pedro School of International Affairs
You are here: Home / Volunteer Management / Hole Fillers Beware!

Hole Fillers Beware!

By Pedro Leave a Comment

Are you a hole filler?

Does your ministry have an immediate need that you feel is so great, that you MUST put someone there, right now? Do you believe that if you don’t fill this hole, then the entire ministry will tank and you won’t be able to recover?

Guilty!

hole filler - pedrocarrion.com

You may think that the image of a young man naively and cheerfully waiving underwater to a friend while a Great White Shark behind him is not an appropriate representation of being a hole filler. However, it kind of is.

Hole Fillers are eaten by Sharks

You see, hole fillers are make a decision and then think that everything will be fine. In this image, the young man went into deep water, unprepared, and was unaware of his surroundings. A hole filler also acts in the same way. Unprepared and unaware of his or her actions. Yes, I know that the image isn’t real but the consequences of being a hole filler are very real, especially when it comes to Volunteer Management and ministry.

In the past, I’ve been known to twist an arm or two in order to get people to teach classes or volunteer in our Children’s Ministry at Calvary Kendall.

Never again!

Leading by hole filling is one of the most dangerous games you can play. You see that you absolutely need more adults to serve as Children’s Ministry Teachers and you want to equip your volunteers well, but you have no leads. What do you do? Someone offers to cover for the day and it’s crisis averted, for today. Or worse yet, you guilt someone, or outright force them, into taking on this responsibility. People will feel used and you won’t fix the problem, just temporarily seal it.

More likely than not, you’ll invest time and energy into training a volunteer that isn’t called or even inclined to serve in that capacity. They’ll volunteer a handful of times, start ignoring your emails and calls, and then disappear. Sometimes, a volunteer will feel so guilty about this that they’ll leave your church altogether. It’s much easier to avoid someone (you) than to have a difficult conversation about why you can’t serve in a certain role. I’m not saying this is right, but it is life.

Take the lead and don’t let it come to that. Don’t select someone purely for the purpose of filling a hole.

As Pastors, we are in the business of helping people reach their fullest potential in Christ. We are not in the business of sandbagging potential volunteers. I have no problem asking someone to take a step of faith in ministry, but I will never beg, prod, or argue someone into a ministry responsibility. The volunteers that I lead who are called to Children’s Ministry and the kids they serve are worth too much to me, and to Jesus. What we do is too important. And frankly, serving in Children’s Ministry is an absolute honor and privilege that we have. If someone isn’t called to it or doesn’t want it, then we don’t want them here. We want them where God wants them.

Serving God in this way privilege that we shouldn’t take lightly. I would love for everyone to experience the honor of teaching kids the Bible. It will spiritually grow you like nothing else. Let’s help people discover the joy and challenge that is Children’s Ministry. It’s no wonder that every Pastor at Calvary Kendall has volunteered in Kids or Youth Ministry at some point.

We want people to serve where God has called them. Whatever ministry, neighborhood, occupation, or country God has called you to serve in, be there to your fullest.

Where do YOU think God is calling you?

Related Posts

  • Simple Ministry versus Easy Ministry

      I once heard a pastor friend of mine describe the difference between Apple and…

  • YouTube or Vimeo and what's Ooyala: Which is better for your Ministry?

    If you've been in ministry in the Western world for any length of time, you've…

  • 7 Ministry Principles Your Volunteers Need to Know

    If you're in church ministry, then you are absolutely dependent on your volunteers. You won't…

June 8, 2012Filed Under: Children's Ministry, Church Lessons, Volunteer Management

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

IMG_8081 Welcome to my site! Here I write about leadership, travel, and international affairs. For more information about what I do, go here.  

Most Popular

  • 5 Characteristics of Strategic Resources
  • A Yemeni Muslim, Israeli Muslim, and Palestinian Christian Face Off – Not a Joke, it’s Arab Idol
  • American Airlines Admirals Club – Is it worth it?
  • Don’t Say “Thank You” To Your Volunteers
  • Arrogance begets Ignorance
  • Does the Effective Manager take a break?
  • 6 Characteristics of High Performance Teams
  • Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
  • Top 10 Reasons to Pack an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox!
  • Matters of the Heart
  • About Me/Contact Me
  • Paleo + George Foreman = America
  • 4 Lessons from 4 Years at Samaritan’s Purse International Relief
  • 3 Reasons this Dallas Cowboy is my Sports Hero
  • Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)

Recently Published

  • 10 Things You NEVER say to a Designer
  • 11 Ways to Retain Volunteers
  • What does gaming eyewear or computer glasses do?
  • What are SMART Goals and how to set them
  • A few things you should know about Operation Christmas Child
  • 20 Tips on Recruiting Volunteers
  • YouTube or Vimeo and what’s Ooyala: Which is better for your Ministry?
  • 4 Lessons from 4 Years at Samaritan’s Purse International Relief
  • 7 Ministry Principles Your Volunteers Need to Know
  • Reasons Kids Wild Out in Children’s Ministry
Static 2 - Post Rebrand

Copyright © 2023 · PedroCarrion.com