Customer Reviews

The Volunteer Revolution: Unleashing the Power of Everybody

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The subtitle of The Volunteer Revolution is "Unleashing the Power of Everybody." When I picked up the book, I thought it would be chock full of suggestions for pastors about how to lead a volunteer revolution at their churches. But this book is long on inspiration and short on information. What this book did very well was cast vision for leading a church of energized volunteers. It communicated the importance of mobilizing people to meet needs. What the book did not do well-in my opinion, anyway-was to show how to make the vision a reality. There are suggestions scattered throughout the book, but what I need is a plan. So,thanks, Bill, for showing me why the volunteer revolution is necessary. But next time, please write a book with step-by-step guidance.

I agree with another reviewer who in essence said this book paints a great picture of the value of volunteerism, but gives little instruction on how to recruit. Just about everyone who takes the time to read this title will admit that volunteer ministry is a very good thing and should be greatly applauded. The problem however, is that those of us who are leaders would appreciate Hybels doing more than just "preaching to the choir." The people needing to hear the message of this book are the very ones who won't be reading it.

I respect Hybels and have benefited enormously from his other writings. This title unfortunately, doesn't fit his previous high standards. While enjoyable and easy to read, this book provides little help to a frustrated leader with few volunteers.

A key to the success of a local church, be it one of the major interlational religions or an independent church of its own is the work that gets done by their members. Bill Hybels, the senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church says that basically people want to volunteer. They want to find something in their lives that takes them beyond their daily job. It could be that they spend 8 hours a day operating a drill press or selling insurance, or designing a new bridge. But often, even usually this doesn't provide the fullfillment that they need in life.

Getting such people to volunteer by straping on a tool kit and helping to repair an inter city house, by asking them to help in a soup kitchen, or just ring the bell for the Salvation Army helps the church, the community and especially the individual volunteer.

More than just an appeal for service, this is a how-to manual on how to attract, motivate, and keep volunteers working. It is filled with practical hints, and clearly comes from years of experience.

We are entering a new building and it seems everyone has been kind of burnt out! We were looking for a revival of volunteers. Planning on a "Volunteer Fair", etc. I bought this book and have given every member of our education board a copy. Hoping it will help us recruit and retain volunteers. It is a fresh aproach to volunterism! It is also an easy and enjoyable read.

I think this is a great book to help build a vision at a church for increased serving. It can help a church to see the importance of volunteers and why we all need to serving. I also think there are some ideas and suggestions on how to build and grow your volunteer teams.

This combination is great. Not another abstract book with principles of how to do ministry. Rather, Bill Hybels shares stories from the ministry of how ordinary Christians were transformed into true servants of Christ, in their volunteer capacities.

Thank you, Bill. I highly recommend this book to those in ministry.

Bill Hybels provides great inspiration for motivating people. No, this book doesn't contain checklists or methodologies. What it does give us is encouragement, ideas, a great inside view of the volunteer programs at one of the most vital churches in the country, and a closer look at the reasons that people need people and need to be needed. Real-life stories are the best witness to understanding the power that committed, trained volunteers bring to the local church, and imagination and creativity on the part of the reader will yield the checklists and the methodologies.

I received this book as a gift when it first came out. While the book gave a lot of inspirational messages, I thought it read like a commercial for how great Willow Creek is and that a lot of the examples didn't seem to apply for non-Willow Creekers. Most of the book seemed to focus on the inspirational aspect, but by the end of the book you are left without a concrete example of how to do it, or how to even start to do it.

The book wasn't that long and I think Bill Hybels could have added a little more on how Willow Creek accomplished a volunteer revolution. Was it by requiring volunteer hours from members (which is an ongoing requirement of membership at the church)? Seriously, how many churches have armies of volunteers? What would your church look like with an army of volunteers?

Once I read the first two pages from Bill Hybels about how he responds to those who ask how he can ask volunteers to do so much, I was hooked! A great read on God's view of serving in the local church and the importance of casting vision about it.

This is a very good book. Our church is using it for a Sunday School study. It helps the reader see volunteerism as a privilege, not a duty.