This is a great post and I can't wait to see where you go with the series. Without debating the difference between "managing" and "leading", I think that leadership for volunteers in the online space is crucial (just as it is in the offline church space).

I worked full time at a church for 9 years with responsibility for staff and volunteers. Now that I've been employed outside the church for a few years, I reflect on what I did well and could have done better. So often, I see that churches have "slots" for their volunteers to fill. There are X number of slots for volunteers in the nursery, X number of slots for people to work in the parking lot, etc. This is fine and good and necessary, but the tag line for this post is "recognize the undertapped resource".

There's lots of great people at our churches (online and off) that could be great contributing volunteers, but they may not fit into one of the "slots" on our clipboard. Perhaps because of their schedule or other life factors or perhaps because all our "slots" are full right now, so they go on our "waiting list".

To do what is described in this post and create opportunities for volunteers to contribute in incremental ways at their convenience, I think, requires a higher level of leadership from the church staff or volunteer team leader. It is much easier to fill "slots" and check boxes on a list than it is to think creatively about harnessing a much more organic volunteer effort.

When I was on church staff, I was hired because I was a good "doer". I could accomplish the task and complete projects. I was not hired because I was a great leader. However, a very important part of the job becomes leadership, especially as we talk about recognizing the undertapped volunteer resources.

Anything that helps churches to provide more volunteer opportunities that are purposeful and enable more people to contribute is great in my opinion. This is a great post and great conversation. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

I agree to an extent. I work in sales. At the risk of being "that guy", leaving voicemail for new prospects is one way that I introduce myself to new people. I tend to use more email communication with customers that I've developed a relationship with. But for a first time introduction, I find that most people will ignore an email from someone they don't know... there's just too much email in the world. When I'm leaving a voicemail for someone I don't have a business relationship with yet, I always leave my email address and phone # for them to reply... I find many people will reply via email who don't respond with a return phone call. That works for me.

With that said, for freinds/family communication, I rarely use vm. It's easier to txt, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Around the office, we tend to email primarily, with some IM and Yammer mixed in there too.

So for me, it depends on the context, voicemail is not dead yet, but it's usage is certainly declining.

This is way cool and I'm glad to see Catalyst using an interactive magazine format. I couldn't resist commenting on this post, but I have to disclose my personal bias. I work for a company that creates interactive magazines and catalogs. Here is the Spring 2009 Willow Creek catalog that we created http://willowcreek.dirxion.com/spring2009 and here's one for Zondervan http://zondervanministry.dirxion.com. I worked in full time ministry for 9 years as a video director at a local church. Now that I have full time employment outside the church, I'm always looking for ways to help church staffer's and vols achieve their ministry purposes. If you think I can help, you can find me on Twitter. Thanks!