There isn’t a soul among us who wishes that musicians would stop showing up at our church.
Nobody longs for the day when high quality, skilled, volunteers would just find somewhere else to go. No one.
If you and I could have coffee right now, I’m sure we could talk for hours about the volunteer positions we need filled – about the amazing crop of musicians we just lost to the impending fall semester.
We all need more musicians.
We all need higher quality volunteers.
What if I told you that you could build a culture of recruitment? That you could become a type of leader who attracts great talent? That it’s up to you to create a culture that develops musicians?
It is possible and I’m here to help. This post is less of a “follow these steps and you’ll have 40 incredible musicians show up to your worship team doorstep this Sunday” and more of a guide to give you ideas.
A Fresh Perspective On Recruitment
While it’s great when musicians simply show up, you still need a recruitment strategy – a system that apply year-round. Because while you may be in a season where your teams are staffed, you need to look ahead to when they won’t be.
And let’s define some terms. I’m not a big fan of the word “recruitment” – it sounds too plastic, like you’re simply trying to fill a role.
I like to think of myself as a Disciple Maker – a Ministry Releaser. I’m an identifier of those who are on the sidelines and I’m filling them with vision for their life and ministry. I’m giving them opportunity to discover their destiny. You see the difference?
What follows is a simple list of principles and strategies you can use in your own recruitment. I hope you’ll add to the list in the comments. I hope we together can take our recruitment to the next level, not just to fill roles but to release people into ministry. Are you ready?
7 Recruiting Principles
1. Recruit to the Vision, not the Task – I know, it’s tempting to simply fill the role. You have need for a drummer, a sound tech, and a new guy who can make videos. It’s tempting to find someone and say, “Can you get this done?” But what tends to happen when you recruit to the task rather than the vision is that people don’t stick around. They don’t see the big picture. They feel like they’re being used. Make sure you have a big vision for your entire ministry, but also a specific vision for each role. That’s what you want to recruit to.
2. Don’t Be Afraid of “No” – In the past, I’ve been afraid to ask people about stepping up to the plate for fear they’ll say “no”. But you can’t be afraid of “no”. Sometimes people need time to process. Sometimes it’s not the right time for them to step up to the plate. But don’t let “no” paralyze you. Keep asking lots of different people. The people who say “no” may just come around eventually.
3. Ask Your Best Volunteers for Referrals – Oftentimes your best musicians have friends who are also musicians. This is great because friends love to work with friends. Go ahead, ask them.
4. Make Sure You Have a System for them to Step Into – We ask a lot of our volunteers. If we don’t take care of them well by having excellent systems for them to step into, they won’t stick around. You need to think through every aspect of your ministry and all the systems involved. How is your scheduling system? Your discipleship system? Communication? Appreciation? Look at all aspects of your ministry and tweak your systems to really take care of your volunteers.
5. Develop a Celebration Strategy – I know I just mentioned appreciation in the last point. But I believe this needs special emphasis. How are you “celebrating” your people? You need a specific strategy for this. What I’ve found is that most volunteers leave because they don’t feel appreciated. Remember, they’re not getting paid. They put in a lot of time. They make what you do happen, really. You need a strategy for celebrating them in a wild and crazy way. Constantly tell them how thankful you are. Throw parties. Make much of them.
6. Make a Lot of Phone Calls – Pastor Rick Muchow told me that he used to cold call a bunch of people in his church and ask them if they were musicians. This would often yield a bunch of leads. I think this is a great habit. At least a couple times a month you should set aside a chunk of time to make recruitment calls. Build relationships. Ask questions. See what you can find.
7. Connect With People on the Weekend – While phone calls are great, nothing can replace a face to face connection. Let me challenge you – your weekend services are the best place to recruit new musicians. When you’re not on stage, make sure you are out making connections. Ask people questions and get to know their story. Ask them if they’re musicians. Be a good listener and take genuine interest in people.
Remember – you are positioned in your local church as a Disciple Maker. You have opportunity to speak into people’s doubt – to see the potential – to release them into their destiny. I’m not just hyping this up because I’ve seen it time and again.
Worship leader, we need you to go and make disciples. People with a call from God are waiting to be asked.
Question: What volunteer recruiting problems have you encountered? What strategies have you applied that have worked well for you? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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I’ve been working on a recruiting system for our team, so this post is timely! It’s encouraging to see we’re already doing some of the things on this list, but we could stand to be more intentional about them (and try a few more!). Good food for thought!
That’s great, Jeremy! Are there other strategies not on this list that you’re trying out?
These are all great ideas and principles. I particularly like the idea of cold calling church members. I’ve cold called local musicians before, but had limited success with folks that have no prior interest in our church. Cold-calling church members and attenders, if done well, could provide a personal touch to attenders/members, while also getting word out that we are looking for artists.
Another idea that has worked well for us is the jam session. We host a jam session bi-monthly for local musicians. I put together a core rhythm section, and then anyone else in our ministry that wants to attend (and play) needs to bring a friend with them. We keep it fun: provide good food, I project chord charts on the big screen, and we play worship tunes, blues, rock, etc.. We also invite song writers to bring a new song and have it played.
It can be difficult to cold call someone and end saying “hey, will you come audition for me?” It is much easier to cold call someone, or one of my musicians to call a friend, and say, “hey, come hang out with us at our jam. We’d love to meet you.” I get to meet them in person, hear them play, and introduce them to others.
Final story, 20 months ago a guy called me after visiting our church. He said, “Hey man, I don’t want to play at your church, but I’ve heard you guys have jam sessions. I’d be down with that.” Since then he has been to rehab, delivered from drugs and alcohol, placed his trust in Christ, learned the worship genre, and become one of our most faithful team members. God is good!
Dude, the jam session idea sounds amazing. How many players do you usually get out to one of these? And do you get a lot of local, new musicians to come out?
Awesome and much needed post. I love the jam session idea. One thing that we have is two local high school bands that are really good. (Marching bands, horn sections;). Inviting those young people to play adds so much to worship. You could work up some Chicago type stuff. Also, it is getting the young people to connect with some of our more experienced musicians. Our older musicians feel like mentors for the high school kids.