Sarah comes up after service looking stressed goes "I can't do VBS this year. I know you're counting on me but my mom's having surgery and I just can't commit to anything else right now."

My first thought? Oh no. Sarah's one of my best volunteers. She knows all the kids. She's reliable. How am I gonna replace her for VBS?

My second thought? Sarah looks like she's about to cry and here I am thinking about my volunteer schedule instead of caring about what she's going through.

That's when hit me. Been so focused on making sure ministry runs smoothly that I forgot volunteers are actual people with real lives and problems and limits.

Been doing this whole thing backwards honestly. Treating people like they exist to serve ministry instead of ministry existing to serve people.

Had uncomfortable realization that maybe I've been more concerned about filling spots than caring for humans. Which is pretty much opposite of what ministry supposed to be about.

Started really looking at how I approach volunteers and realized I've been seeing them as solutions to my problems instead of people with their own needs.

Need someone for preschool? Ask Jessica. Need coverage for middle school? Call Tom. Someone to plan activities? Sarah's great at that.

Never really asked what they wanted to do or what they were good at or what was going on in their lives. Just plugged them into whatever hole I needed filled.

Jessica mentioned few months ago she'd love try teaching older kids sometime because her own daughter was moving up to elementary. Did I follow up on that? Nope. Too busy keeping her in preschool because that's where I needed her.

Tom's been doing same job for three years and probably bored out of his mind but I never asked if he wanted try something different.

Sarah's been taking on more and more responsibilities because she's so good at everything but I never checked if she was getting overwhelmed. Just kept piling stuff on because she never said no.

No wonder she looked ready to cry. Been treating her like employee instead of person.

Instead of "can you cover this class?" started asking "what's something you'd like to try doing?"

Instead of assuming people are happy in their roles started asking "how's this working for you? What would you change?"

Tom mentioned he'd always been curious about planning lessons but felt intimidated. So we started having him help with curriculum selection.

Jessica got to try teaching older kids and absolutely loved it.

Mike who I had doing setup every week mentioned he'd prefer working directly with kids. Turns out he's amazing at connecting with shy kids.

Who knew? Actually asking people what they want reveals what they want.

For ministry leaders learning volunteers are people not just spot-fillers, anyone discovering that treating humans like employees kills engagement, people ready to build ministry around people instead forcing people into ministry slots.