Staying connected

A few Sundays ago I had to run our Children's Check-in at Hillcrest. I was an emergency fill in for one of our volunteers who couldn't make it at the last minute, and since I implemented our current check-in system, I was happy to fill in. Everything was going great- I was scanning check in cards, putting tags on the kids, visiting with families- until a new family came to check in. They had no check-in card and we had no labels for them and all of a sudden I didn't know what to do with a new family. And here's the kicker- I designed that part of our check-in process as well! So while I created what our check-in staff was to do with a new family, when it came time for me to practice it, I got stuck and couldn't remember what to do!

I think this event serves a good lesson for me of how important it is for me, someone who is paid to work at a church, to not lose connection with all of the various things we ask of our volunteers- whether it's checking in a new family, handing out a bulletin, serving on a Wednesday night, etc. It can be easy for me as a paid church worker to design systems, ministries, programs and events that I think will be beneficial to our people or to the community that we are serving. And yet, if I don't test out these ideas, if I don't step into the process or system I've created and see how it really works, I risk not only having something that doesn't work, but I risk losing credibility with those that I am serving. So from time to time, it's a good idea for me to fill at the check in center, even if it takes awhile to remember what it is that I am supposed to be doing!