Summer 1993 Staff in Los Angeles — The Great Adventure!
How Volunteer Staff Helped Mission Adventures Succeed, and How that Led Us to Create a Leadership Factory
Training • Leadership • Volunteers • Staff Training
When we got started in Los Angeles, we just wanted to do a great job. Excellence was something we were shooting for. We wanted to do something at a level and a scale that the average youth pastor couldn’t replicate. This meant we had a worship band, and not just someone with a guitar. This meant we had skits that weren’t just ad lib ad hoc affairs. We had costumes, we had lighting, and we even had a measure of stagecraft. Shooting for excellence meant we had a theme for the summer. And we created a set to reflect the theme. It meant we did a surprise video at the end of each week— and this was when camcorders were new and editing was something we did in the camera because no one had a computer.
Reaching for all of that excellence meant that we had to have a team with us. Kay Charlotte and I couldn’t do all these things by ourselves. We’re just not that good at so many things. So we gathered as many YWAMers from the base who were willing to serve hard during the summer. We had a dedicated core of leaders who ran the kitchen, led worship, and administrated the base. We even had a drama department that created resources for evangelism.
But that still wasn’t enough. At our peak, we were hosting 50ish youth groups and a 1000-ish students. The summer of 1992 less than a dozen YWAMers did it all. They cooked, they cleaned, they trained clown skills and puppetry. They led worship and put on passion plays. And they did it ten weeks in a row for around a hundred students each week. This handful of YWAM staff was quickly overwhelmed.
So for the next year, we recruited volunteers. We reached out to college students. We talked to the High School seniors about coming back next summer to serve with us. We made an application. We charged a fee. We set a high standard. And it worked. Two people applied for every position we could offer. The summers of ‘93 - 96, we had between 20 and 30 non-YWAM volunteers from all over the continent (and even further!) serving alongside our core YWAM leaders. The veteran YWAMers modeled the actions and attitudes of what success looked like. And as far as our campers could tell, the volunteers were missionaries too.
There was a kind of pressure that came on us when it dawned on us that a bunch of non-YWAM people were going to come serve with us for the summer. We realized we needed to train them. So we set up a two week training camp for these volunteers. And we asked our YWAM staff to attend it too. The first week was some philosophy of youth ministry stuff. And we went over their roles and tasks and job descriptions. The second week was a dry-run of all the events. We practiced skits, plays, games, and we built the set. We planned, we prepared, and we prayed.
And then, as the first week’s worth of teams arrived, we let them loose. We gave them responsibility and authority. Those first weeks were always a little bit raw, a little bit risky, and full of energy. We weren’t sure if our plans were going to work. We weren’t sure if the people we put in their roles were going to perform. And in many cases, things and people didn’t work exactly. And so we had to tighten things up, and adjust things as we went along. But we did it and it was marvelous. We saw our people rise to the occasion. We saw them create a ministry that affected a lot of students. We saw our staff grow up and we saw them express all sorts of wonderful gifts. And we had no idea that we had built a leadership factory.
Looking back on it now, I see three things that made this factory work.
First, a core of us leaders had a big dream— and it was something that was bigger than what we could do ourselves. That big idea forced us to build a factory. Our big dream was to create a deep ministry, for a short time, and do it with excellence. We wanted to make something beautiful and powerful; and this required a team.
Second we gave training, responsibility, and authority to some hungry people who saw the dream like we did. Now, I don’t think our training was new or revolutionary— there was no secret sauce that auto-magically created success. However, the training greatly accelerated our staff members’ abilities to do the ministry. It gave them confidence on day 01 that they could make an impact on the lives of our guests. If there was a secret sauce, it was that we actually let them do what we trained them to do. We gave responsibility and authority. The worship team picked the songs and practiced them. (Okay, so we did give some advice on what worship could and would be like in our ecumenical way). We planned the menu, but we asked our volunteers to prepare and serve the meals. And yes, we chose kid-friendly foods that were easy to make, but the kitchen crew put in the extra effort to make presentation and efficiency happen.
Third, we held people accountable. There were mistakes and missteps. I’m sure you can imagine that problems will crop up when a group of amateurs attempt a multi-faceted ministry. Sometimes we leaders had to pull people aside and ask them to do better. If the meals weren’t on time, we had to talk to the kitchen leader. If all 150 of us weren’t served in 15 minutes or less, we had to figure out why and ask the kitchen crew to figure out how to get it done. (Our innovation? We rearranged our serving tables so we could have four lines going at the same time. This meant more serving dishes, and a watchful kitchen staff who replenished food as needed).
And this accountability went the other way too. Every week we made a point to publicly call out staff and volunteers who excelled at their jobs. We did our best to make sure that those who’s work was less visible was made visible, so that the whole team could share in our success.
The crazy thing is, it worked! Our summer staff and volunteers grew in confidence as the weeks went on. People found new skills they didn’t know they had. They led worship. They spoke in public. They taught teenagers evangelism skills. They grew in leadership. Many returned several summers in a row because they wanted to do it again. Many wanted to rise to a new challenge, another level of leadership. Even though it’s been more than 25 years, I’ve kept in contact with several of these folks. Many have gone on to meaningful ministry and leadership roles in their lives. Many look back at their time with us as the season that God released their gifts, talents, and confidence.
So as you look at gathering a team around you to attempt Mission Adventures, recognize that what you’ll be doing is building a leadership factory. Imagine that big dream; gather a team that you can train and give authority to; then hold them accountable to it, and you’ll find yourself churning out leaders!