Leaders Generate Referrals

The third type of lead we all need to be generating are referrals:  Referrals are my most valuable set of leads.  Just like in sales, they are opportunities referred to you by someone who loves what you are doing.  They might come from your Pastor, another department, an active volunteer in your ministry, or through parents who are sharing about what your department is doing.  These are usually the easiest leads to convert into active, serving, volunteers.

There are two key things you can do to generate quality referrals.

  1. Always be sharing the amazing things your department is doing with your Lead Pastor and other department leaders. Talk about what God is doing, give praise reports and testimonies of the things happening in your department.  If you share the good things that are happening, so will they.  If your Pastor is talking about what your ministry is doing, it will generate referrals.
  2. Train your volunteers to generate leads. Teach them to go after their friends and family, to share why they love working in your department with anyone who will listen, teach them to pass out the volunteer interest cards.  My best leaders are my best recruiters.  They are so passionate about what they are doing in ministry that when they talk about it, others catch the vision and want the same fulfillment, purpose and meaning in their lives.

Keep in mind generating leads is only the first step in the process of growing your ministry team.  Once you have identified potential volunteers you need a process to capitalize on their potential.  Your goal is to identify potential volunteers and convert them into ministry volunteers.  You will need to develop a system to

  1. Quickly respond to leads
  2. A process to convert leads into volunteers
  3. The timing to know when to pass a lead to another ministry leader in your department or another department in your church.

Ministry leads are a key piece to having and maintaining a fully staffed, trained, equipped, and released ministry team.  What steps can you take this week to generate more cold, warm and referral leads for your ministry?

Author: Andrew VanDerLinden – Church Ministries and Children’s Pastor at Trinity Church in Lake Worth, Fl.

Connect with Andrew on TWITTER: @vandylinden   FACEBOOK: andrewvanderlinden.94   BLOG: Organizedkidmin.com

About the Author

Andrew VanDerLinden

Andrew is the Executive Pastor at Community Church in Eastern PA.

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