I like that you said, “I’ve had a crazy spiritual journey because of it.” I know man. I know.

And I know how hard it is to leave volunteers in potentially disastrous situations. Any good church leader will say, “you need to train your volunteers better then.” But that’s not always possible because, like it or not, some situations require a real pro. One time I put an ad on Craigslist for pro sound engineers to run weddings for us just to see what the average asking rate was. That was all good till they got the church’s number and started calling asking about “the job on Craigslist.” I think the point got across to our executive pastor what it’s actually worth to ensure quality and, honestly, it’s unfair to set up a part-time volunteer for failure. This ain’t our parents’ church any more. Systems have come a long way and the prerequisites of technical prowess have increased.

All we can do is all we can do.

when i worked here the first time, i was still single and my girlfriend was away at college so i had all the time in the world. i should have just set up a cot in my office – in fact i slept here on a couch more than one occasion! and the result of all that was feeling under-appreciated, overworked, and pretty bitter. lone day the senior pastor called me into his office and asked where i was going in my life. he asked if i wanted to be in the same job 5 years from then. then he convinced me to leave and get a degree. apparently it was becoming obvious to everyone that i was getting pretty burned!

when i got married i had to make a commitment to my wife that i wouldn’t let church work ruin our marriage. i had to promise to say “no” and to put boundaries on my work schedule. this has been VERY hard for me because it’s hard to rely on my volunteers to be able to handle all the problems that arise during events that i’m not there for.

i’m tempted to continue describing my situation, but what i’m getting to is that it’s nice to be able to relate with someone on this issue. actually, it’s probably a god thing that i found your-blog the timing is impeccable…. i was googling innovason and i thought your “about” page was a review!