Schedule Volunteers

With SeekerWorks.NET™, you can recruit and schedule volunteers for service in your various ministries.

The 'Serve' Sub Menu option on the 'Home' screen example from the SeekerWorks.org™ Attendee portal could simplify your recruitment, and allow a person to browse a list of Ministry Opportunities available in each ministry for serving, such as the Serve with Children's Ministry screen:

This screen is an example of a ministry for Community Church of Cartoonville, which shows the (I Want To Help) button at the top and the 2 (Sign Me Up!) buttons at the bottom of that screen to the left of each Ministry Opportunity position with openings, as well as the number of openings desired.

When the top button is clicked, the ministry's 'Follow-Up (Tickler) Path- Serve:' path is triggered and a tickler is sent to Stuart Tiddlywink, who is the director of the Children's Ministry, linked to the name/email address of the person who clicked the button. The other 2 buttons trigger the same path, but the tickler also includes the ministry position the person is interested in.

In order to schedule volunteers, a few tasks should be completed first to make the process easier:

Of course, you want to recruit volunteers in order to schedule them for service. The portal can help with this (see above).
It saves time if the volunteers are already in the database using the 'Names/Addresses' screens on the (People) menu, although you can also add them as you go.
Ideally, their Spiritual Gifts and Passion have been determined to aid in placing those volunteers in the right ministry and position (this is recommended, but not required).
The various Ministries, Positions and Teams should be pre-defined in order to link them to the volunteers.
One or more Building/Room combinations should be created in order to route people to the right location ('Facilities' screens on the (Manage) menu).
The necessary Attendance Types should be pre-defined in order to create a schedule.

Spiritual Gifts (skip ahead, if desired):

Volunteers are the lifeblood of any ministry organization. Many would argue a top task of staff and other leadership positions is to raise up an army of volunteers for the works (or volunteer roles) available:

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for use to do." (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)

Of course, these 'works' do not 'save' us, but they enhance our joy when we operate according to the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, by grace, through faith, to help 'seekers' become first-time or more mature believers, members and, perhaps, future leaders (hence 'Seeker + Works').

The content below is intended to clarify what we mean by the term 'Spiritual Gift'. These Spiritual Gifts are generally based upon the following Bible references:

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them... (1 Corinthians 12:4, NIV)"

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us... (Romans 12:6a, NIV)"

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up... (Ephesians 4:11-12, NIV)"

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms... (1 Peter 4:10, NIV)"

Whether there are 7 gifts or 24 gifts or some number in-between, these gifts can be identified through various spiritual gift curriculae. They can be used to help your volunteers identify the area or areas in which they will be most joyful while exercising their gifts, and to plug them in to a role that does, as we walk by the Spirit.

While there are a few spiritual gift curriculae already set up within SeekerWorks.NET™, we would be more than happy to add your favorite curriculum as well, at no additional charge, as part of our continuous improvement efforts. Just provide us with the particulars and we'll get it set up. Once done, it becomes available for any organization using SeekerWorks.NET™.

There are 4 screens you can use for Spiritual Gifts, through the 'People' menu. In addition, you can use the 'Classes & Seminars' functions, also through the 'People' menu, to set up and link students to your spiritual gifts seminars:

List Of Spiritual Gift Seminars/Students

• This screen shows every person who has spiritual gift information.
Edit A Person's Spiritual Gifts Information

• Use this screen to record each person's spiritual gift information, as well as ministry interests used to help them plug-in to a ministry.
Search Spiritual Gift Information

• This screen searches through every person who has spiritual gift information for matching gifts.
• It can also search through every person who has hobbies or interests listed on their 'Edit A Name/Address' screen, {Hobbies/Interest/Other} tab.
Edit Spiritual Gifts Curriculum Settings

• We use this screen to set up spiritual gift information for you, and, if necessary change the programming behind the scenes.

Ministries, Positions & Teams (skip ahead, if desired):

Of course, in order to place volunteers into a service role, you need to define the various volunteer ministries, positions, teams, etc. The following 9 screens are used to set up the related information:

List Of Volunteer Ministries

• This screen shows every volunteer 'ministry' within your organization.
Edit Ministry Information Positions Teams

• Use this screen to describe the volunteer ministry, its name, its leader(s) and each position and team grouping the volunteers.
Edit Ministry Position Information Volunteer Links

• Use this screen to describe each volunteer position.
Link Volunteers To A Position

• Use this screen to link each position to one or more people willing to serve.
Edit Ministry Team Information Volunteer Links

• Use this screen to describe each volunteer team that groups the various positions and volunteers.
Link Volunteers To A Team

• Use this screen to link each person and position to a team.
Leader(s) Picture For: {ministry name}

• Use this screen to upload a picture or take a picture of the leader(s), using the computer's webcam.
Edit Ministry Clearance Information

• If your volunteer ministry is sensitive to background checks, this screen will record who has been cleared and who has not.
Volunteer Application For: {name} [id]

• Use this screen to record each volunteer's information and agreement to a background check.

Team Schedules:

In addition, there are 4 screens you can use to schedule who is volunteering when and where. This is necessary to use the EZ Check-IN/Check-OUT features:

List Of Team Schedules

• This screen shows every volunteer ministry scheduled by team and attendance type.
Edit A Ministry Team Schedule

• {Volunteers Scheduled} tab: Use this screen (shown above) to indicate who can volunteer when for the Attendance Type/Team and any dynamic selection criteria for EZ Check-IN/Check-OUT.

• {Buildings/Rooms Scheduled} tab: Use this screen (shown above) to indicate which Building/Room is to be reserved for the Attendance Type/Team for EZ Check-IN/Check-OUT.
Volunteer Scheduling For: {name} [id]

• This screen shows every Attendance Type/Team a person is/was scheduled for.
Edit Room

• This screen, found on the 'Manage/Facilities' menu, shows every Attendance Type/Team the Building/Room was reserved for.