The church is the greatest volunteer organization on earth. So vital are volunteers to the mission and ministry – indeed, the very existence – of the church that any church that loses them soon stalls, folds, and dies. Ministry simply can't get done without you. Volunteerism is so much the heart of our church, New Life, that we make it a condition of hiring: we unapologetically ask every staff member to work beyond their paid hours. On average, each staff volunteers at the ch

I write this in a seaside house on a small island. The house is light-soaked and quiet. It has sprawling cedar decks built to the edge of rocky shoals, and a large dock whose ramp teeters down to it as you walk out on it, a gang-plank-cum-see-saw. Almost every window frames a piece of sea and sky. In the mornings I sit in a window alcove, a fleece blanket draped over my shoulders against the morning chill, and pull things in close with binoculars. Our week here is a gift from