Ode to Volunteer Leaders

(please read with joy and huge smile on your face …)

“Is Pam going?”

“Really??!!  Justin will be on retreat?!”

“Can I ride in Cathy’s car??!”

“I want to be in Joe’s group!!”

Pam, Justin, Cathy, and Joe are not students in our ministry. They are adult volunteer leaders. They are among the most amazing cadre of co-laborers with whom any paid staff member could ever hope to serve. I am deeply grateful for the volunteer staff in my church home. They sacrifice much. Their ministry testifies to the love they have for students and for our Lord Jesus.

I put them in the super-hero category of life.

They…

• put hundreds of miles on their personal vehicles
• use work’s vacation hours to be with students
• absorb extra childcare costs to serve as short-term mission project leader
• spend even more on kennel and petcare costs
• dispense never-to-be-paid-back “loans” for students’ lunches, concert t-shirts, snacks on the drive home
• lose countless hours of sleep on creaky, 2×4 bunkbeds with squeaky plastic-covered mattresses
• stand patiently in line for the shower, a sink, or port-a-potty on retreats and mission projects
• bend their knees in prayer over and over and over for students and families
• post encouraging words on students’ facebook walls, “like” their photos, and retweet their tweets
• hurt for the broken hearts and needs of students.

Our super-heros also have amazing families who share them with our student ministry. Their spouses and children and parents support their calling to spend evenings, weekends, holidays, and weeks with students. I know that setting up the meals, rides, and clean uniforms is an added load they bear. Yet they arrive at the mission project or retreat check-in with smiles on their faces and warm words for each student present!

Yes, indeed, Spiderman and his friends soar through our church building regularly.