At OneLife, we put a high emphasis on serving! You can see this every Sunday morning through our large volunteer ministry. However, we also have other opportunities for people to serve outside of OneLife. We want to love our community and strategically partner with other ministries to serve our city.

Angelic Ministries has been a partner for us for a little over a year now. So why should you serve at Angelic Ministries whether you currently serve on a volunteer team or not? Great question! We hear all the time about students, parents, and families wanting to go on a mission trip or go away somewhere to experience serving in a missions type of setting. Angelic Ministries gives all of us that chance right here in our own city of Knoxville! This will be a chance for you to come experience a side of Knoxville that you may not see very often. You will be able to serve the least of these and help a ministry who does it every week!

There will be multiple types of opportunities to get involved this weekend. Angelic Ministries can use our help cleaning up their space, organizing their food, and of course serving food to the homeless. Maybe you can’t make it Saturday, but would love to help us provide food. We have multiple food and drink needs such as lasagna’s, bread, fruit, and drinks that we would love for you to partner with us on. So serve with us! If you would like to come help and have not signed up or want to help provide food, simply send an email to volunteer@onelifeknox.com. We look forward to seeing you there.

You know that feeling when you’re about to buy a car, so you get to drive whatever you want?! Only fun, no commitment – not yet, anyway. That part is coming. But for now you get to shop around and enjoy the benefits of all those different opportunities.

We’ve created that same experience for new volunteers at OneLife. We do this because volunteers are a core part of how we do Sundays! From the time you enter the parking lot to the time you leave the property, we make sure you are encountering one of our great volunteer teams. And not just so you can have a good experience, but so we can make sure you are being pointed to becoming a disciple from the minute you arrive to the minute you leave. Because this has become such a huge part of our culture, OneLifers who are looking to get connected often want to know how they can become a volunteer also. If that’s you, then Test Drive was created just for you!

Test Drive exists to fulfill the two reasons that we find most people want to begin volunteering. First, they want to meet others in the church! Test Drive is a once a month event the first Sunday of the month that we use to gather together everyone who is interested in volunteering. Second, most people just want to know more about what volunteering is all about! Who doesn’t want to know a little more about something before jumping in? Test Drive gives us the opportunity to share our vision for volunteering, our culture, and all the opportunities we have.

So if you are sitting on the sidelines and are ready to jump in to making a difference and getting to know other OneLifers, we would love to have you at Test Drive! The next one is Sunday, April 1 at 11:00 am in Suite 102 of the OneLife Office. Don’t worry, if after attending you feel like you aren’t ready to take the plunge, that is ok! This is just your opportunity to see what’s out there.

If you are interested in attending Test Drive, email volunteer@onelifeknox.com soon so we can get you in on April 1. We can’t wait to be serving with you!

One of the greatest questions I get asked from time to time by our volunteers or other churches is, “Where are the volunteers at!?” In other words, “Where can I find more!?”

No matter what area of ministry you serve in, if there are volunteers you always feel like you need more. It can sometimes feel like a disparaging search for people to get involved in your specific area. The first time I felt the volunteer crunch was early on in our OneLife Kidz ministry. As Pastor Rodney and I discussed the need, he jokingly told me to “go outside and shake those bushes and see if you can find any.” In case you are wondering, there weren’t any in there. But without a sound strategy that could seem like our best bet!

At OneLife, however, we do have a strategy. We believe the answer is that new volunteers are coming in our doors every week camouflaged as a normal guest. They are moms, dads, and kids. They are friends, relatives, and co-workers. They park their cars here every week, they drop their kids off at OneLife Kidz, and they enjoy the service. They only attend the service, but they do want to know more people. Truthfully, they may want to be more involved, but just don’t know how to do that.

They all look different, but they are all waiting on one thing – an invitation. Not just an invitation from Pastor Rodney, though it certainly is a great start. They are waiting for an invite from someone they know or they may want to know. The easiest way to find more volunteers is for our current volunteers to talk to their friends and family who attend about volunteering or develop a new relationship and share what a life-changer it was for you to get involved. A relationship plus an invite will always equal at least an interest!

So that is where all our volunteers are! They are walking by us every Sunday looking to connect. They just need to be invited! So share your volunteer experience with someone and invite them to serve with you!

And if you get desperate, I can always go check the bushes.

Yesterday we took 30 OneLifers to an annual one-day conference at NewSpring Church called Unleash. It is a conference for church leaders and volunteers to learn and be encouraged from this church, which started 11 years ago in a small town and now has more than 10,000 in attendance each week!

This church and their pastor have been HUGE helps in getting OneLife started so I was pumped to take such an awesome group of OneLifers to check it out. I took some notes from the two amazing main sessions taught by Perry Noble and the breakout session for Senior Pastors, also led by him. Here’s what I learned, got reminded or was pumped up to hear:

• “You can’t water down the Gospel! It’s the GOSPEL! Jesus told stories. Did he water it down?”
• “Social justice without Jesus is social injustice. People don’t need a blanket they need JESUS.”
• “The church doesn’t have an agenda. It has a Savior! God’s not green. Kermit is!”
• “So-called mature people aren’t mature. Here’s what I’ve learned. Mature people give up their rights first.”
• “Two questions parents want to know about their kids at church – Did you have fun? What did you learn? Set up your kids ministries for that!”
• “If you make a pros and cons list to make decisions, you’ll never make a God-sized decision. The cons will always outweigh the pros!”
• “Pastor, if your church isn’t on fire for Jesus…look in the mirror.”
• “When you step out to do God’s vision, people won’t see the whole picture and they’ll think you’re crazy!”
• “Church staff and leaders – you can always submit to Godly authority and trust that the end result will be ok.”
• “You must care more for staff and volunteers for who the are than for what they do.”
• “Too many staff in the Church want to be known instead of being used! They want to be discovered more than they want to be developed!”
• “A good leader asks ‘Do I get to do that?’ instad of ‘Do I have to do that?’”
• “Staff and volunteers can take a cue from Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:7. Tell your leader/pastor ‘Do all you have in mind. I am with you heart and soul.’”

OneLifers, God wants to do something fresh at our church and we have some big dreams. Are you with me heart and soul?! I hope so. I can’t do it without you.

Hey Volunteers…if you were at Unleash, what did I leave out? What did you learn? How were you challenged and encouraged?

I kind of pride myself on not being one of those guys that tries to be all athletic and act like I know every little detail of what a coach should do in a given scenario because I played pee-wee football in first grade. In fact, when it comes to being athletic I’m pretty much, well, terrible.

But…there have been a few glorious moments of exception. First was my lone year on my school’s swim team as a senior in high school. That’s right, I was district champion in the backstroke.

BAM!

The other was intramural flag football at UT. Believe it or not, I actually got pretty good at defense. And there was one reason for it. I knew my position on the field. When one of the wanna-be-jock coaches told me what to do, I did it and nothing else. It paid off! I got more sacks and “tackles” than just about anybody on our team. Not because I was most athletic, but because I knew my position on the field and focused on being the best I could in that role.

This same concept is what we focus on as a church. OneLife is a team sport! We can’t do it with just a pastor and a staff. So everyone who ends up being a part of our church MUST know their position on the field if we are going to win! And our win is far more important than a swim meet or flag football game.

Our win is seeing lives changed and a community transformed. It takes people who are gifted in teaching and leading, to be sure. But they can’t do it alone! It also takes people gifted in hospitality, encouragement, prayer, generosity, service, faith, wisdom, administration, and on and on the list goes. It takes all of us. It takes YOU!

But it takes you knowing your position on the field so you can focus on that and do it with every fiber in your being. And when we all do that, we WILL make a difference in this community. It WILL leave a mark on the lives of many. And we WILL use our one life to make a difference.

So don’t sit back and let the talking heads on a stage do all the heavy lifting. Because reality is, they simply can’t and won’t. Discover your position on the field, get out of the bleachers, and get in the game! There’s a place for you on the field. It’s your job to be the best you can at it and help our team to claim the victory.

Do something about it today. Start by answering this question honestly: “What is my position on the field?”