special_volunteers_82503

Posted: 8/22/03

Enlist 'special' volunteers for music

By Sara Horn

LifeWay Christian Resources

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)–By all accounts, little David was a holy terror at church. He didn't sit still, didn't listen and distracted other children.

By the time he turned 5, his behavior problems were causing teachers to take a year off from teaching before David came into their classes.

Elaine, a busy career woman with grown children of her own, wanted to help with the children's music ministry but had no time for preparation. So she volunteered to become David's “special friend.”

Each week, her job was to be with David during music class and help him stay focused. Through kindergarten, first grade and second grade, she remained committed to her assignment. By the time David reached third grade, he had outgrown most of his problems.

“Special situations sometimes require special volunteers,” said Martha Hicks, a church music professor at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. “Elaine needed something she could just show up for, and this was her ministry. She not only was a help to David, but she also ministered to his family.”

Volunteers are valuable to any church ministry, but especially so in music ministry, because of the size and scale of planning and activities, Hicks said. The former full-time music minister with more than 20 years of experience was one of the workshop leaders this year at Music Ridgecrest, a weeklong music training conference.

“Motivation is the key for any successful volunteer program to work,” Hicks said. “You have to show how something is important and why.”

Building relationships and observing the strengths and weaknesses of people are vital for a music minister or director looking for help, she explained. Not everyone is cut out to direct handbells or lead a preschool choir.

Hicks advised starting new volunteers slowly.

When she served as minister of music at Central Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., she worked to develop a stronger children's choir program. She noticed a young woman, Harriet Brawner, and asked if she would help.

“She didn't know anything about it, so she wasn't sure whether she could handle it,” Hicks recalled. “So I asked if she could just sit in a class and watch the helpers. Within a few weeks, she felt comfortable enough and decided she could do it.”

Eventually, Brawner became the church's children's choir coordinator. Two years later, she served in the same capacity for their church's regional association. Now she serves on the staff of another Baptist church.

Volunteering brings eternal rewards as well, Brawner added.

“There may be a child in your class who doesn't have a great home situation, and you're the one person who shares with them how much Jesus loves them each week,” she said. “We may not see the benefits today, but who knows how God will use our seeds for tomorrow.”