8 lessons learned while leading community outreach

Kris Eldridge April 16, 2023

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I woke up in a cold sweat. I had had a bad dream about hundreds of parents being mad at me because I was taking too long to make balloon animals for their kiddos.

Two days prior to this dream, I had a key volunteer cancel on their volunteer role at our church's community-wide Easter outreach. I needed to find someone to fill this role…and fast. Unfortunately, I struck out. In a moment of desperation (and probably some foolishness), I decided that I would do it. I quickly got on YouTube and learned how to make what I determined to be the two quickest/easiest animals to make.

On the day of the outreach, we had multiple volunteer teams that were each assigned different tasks. Before I was to start my balloon making duties, I had to work with a team whose responsibility was to assemble boxes for care packages. That task was supposed to take the team two hours. The team finished in 20 minutes. In that moment, I had a few options with what I could have done with the team: 1) I could have let them go, thanking them for their service. 2) I could have asked them to go serve in other areas. 3) I could ask them to learn a new skill and do something they had never done before. I opted for number three!

To my surprise, the team jumped on the opportunity. They quickly learned everything that I taught them, and they did a much better job making balloon animals for the community than I ever could have done. In those moments, the Lord reminded me of several lessons that I already knew, but I obviously needed to be reminded of:

1. Be careful about what you think you can do (or commit to), because you might actually have to do it. I got myself in a predicament; I was blessed that the Lord redeemed it.

2. People are going to bail on you. Whether it's a coworker, employee, volunteer, or so on, people sometimes don't follow through. As leaders, we should expect it and have contingency plans in place.

3. If folks bail, that might not be a bad thing. In the moment, it stinks when someone doesn't follow through. It can temporarily put you as a leader in a bad place. In the long term, however, that might be okay. Maybe someone else is supposed to do the task at hand. Maybe God has something else in mind.

4. It's not all about me. My default was to believe that I was solely responsible for this task; that wasn't true. God used others to accomplish the outreach.

5. Volunteers love learning new skills (so don't be afraid to ask). I was really surprised how quickly and enthusiastically the entire group embraced this challenge. But I probably should not have been surprised. As created beings, we are wired to create and learn. The lesson here is that we shouldn't be afraid to ask and challenge those around us to learn new skills.

6. Be flexible! Whether it's in a volunteer or leadership role, we must always be willing and ready to adapt.

7. Leaders train, equip and release others. My main job as a leader is to train and equip others for the work of ministry, even balloon animals.

8. God has everything under control. The decision to commit to this task was probably not my best leadership moment, but ultimately the Lord did something really cool with it.

What lessons have you learned when you have had to adapt quickly? By the way, the two fastest/easiest balloon animals to make are a sword and a hat.

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Kris Eldridge lives in Louisville, Kentucky and is the Local Outreach Pastor at Northeast Christian Church. He is also the founder of Outreach Ministry Solutions, where his focus is consulting with churches to help them reach their communities. Learn More »

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