Count the Cost

This one has been brewing in my heart for a while so get ready…

One of the greatest mistakes a church leader or pastor can make is to sign up people who are “on board” or “all in” or “giving everything” without first telling the volunteer to COUNT THE COST.

It’s almost ironic in a way because the phrases above that we use as pastors or church leaders seem to imply that… don’t they? All in…Giving everything… in my own mind that really means “all in.”  And for a church leader once we hear this it does mean for us that person is “all in.” We understand “all in.”

So what do we do? Ok… hook that volunteer up… they’re all in… right?

Probably not. I’ve learned through tough lessons and excruciating experience that “all in” for a volunteer doesn’t really mean “all in.” In the rare cases it does, the volunteer still doesn’t usually understand what they signed up for. In the cases it doesn’t, many of those volunteers are dumped with everything in their lap. All of a sudden they are confronted with the huge reality of what “all in” really means.

As a young leader, I’m recognizing every day that when people say, “I’m all in.” I should always respond with, “Count the Cost.”It’s what Jesus did with Peter in Luke 9 right after Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ and when He was teaching in Capernum in John 6. Right after many of his disciples left him.

For me asking people to count the cost usually comes in the form of a couple of questions.

1.  How much time in minutes have you prayed about this?

2.  Would you be willing to give it one more week and spend at least 200 more minutes praying about it?

This doesn’t mean they come back fully understanding what “all in” really means.  But it does allow time for God to give them a gut check, and will save you time and energy replacing volunteers who you thought were “all in” but fizzle out or freak out.

So what do you do when some excited volunteer comes in and is ready to go “all in”?