As IT professionals, it’s not enough to support our ministries and non-profits, we also have to exercise a degree of leadership.
In fact, I believe that support, a fancy word for service, is really a form of leadership at its core:
“The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve the leader, but the number of people served by the leader.” ~ Adapted from a quote by John C. Maxwell.
I saw a note on a copy machine recently that read, “You could save us $n,000.00 per year if you print more originals from the printer instead of making copies with this copier.” This is leadership! This is a thoughtful IT person (or accountant?) who identified that making copies is far more expensive than printing duplicates.
This is a ministry and we all want to do our part. We want to be responsible with all donations, but we just don’t always know how to do that. We need guidance and leadership.
We need IT professionals and tech support staff that are willing to observe how everyone else uses (or misuses) the tools at their disposal and leads them to a better way.
How have you used leadership and education to save your ministry or non-profit money?
I’d love to hear some of your stories.
[HT: TWU Servant Leadership Quotes]
Stuart says
Love this post.
My story is a simple one re-told countless times by the many smaller churches out there tat can’t afford dedictaed IT staff. I save them money everytime I go there in my own time (typically I even have to take time off) and service, install, upgrade, repair, etc any of the IT infrastructure. In the 22yrs I’ve worshipped there it has probably averaged out to several hours per week minimum I’ve given (and happily so) free of charge.
As I say, I doubt I’m alone in this. I estimate down the years I must have saved them £x000’s and that’s good news for the Kingdom.
dewde says
Rock on man. Serving our local churches is critical. Whether you’re folding chairs or configuring wifi routers… it all makes a difference. I happily do both.
peace | dewde
Stuart says
Oh me too – I also served as our chief usher (steward) for over 10yrs until I started on shifts and couldn’t do the needful.
Servant heart is what it’s all about.
Nick Shoemaker says
This is HUGE! Being a steward of ALL our resources.
It’s great when congregants volunteer their time, but it’s also important that they do take that extra step and help educate and prevent issues in the future. This means the staff and leadership in the church need to listen and truly give that person- especially if they’re a volunteer- the freedom to speak up.
At our church there are often misuses of technology- like paying for a service and not using it. I’ve learned that the best practice in this case is to confront the issue and basically keep confronting it until something is done. I’ve learned that it’s not that no one is listening- it’s that they’re too busy to do anything about. I also ask if I can help in that area- and I keep asking until I’m told to stop asking. The ironic thing about this is that it mostly goes against my personality- I don’t like confrontation and avoid it. If I can do it- you can do peeps! 🙂