Eric Spacek, senior risk manager for GuideOne Insurance, discusses the steps every church should take before placing volunteers in ministry to ?vulnerable? people such as children and the disabled. Hint: It?s more than doing background checks.

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Dave Thornton and Bob D?Ambrosio talk about the upcoming Church Volunteer Central National Conference and the kinds of information and training people can expect. In particular, the Equipping Institute is an in-depth series of sessions (including pre- and post-conference training) that get in detail on creating a culture of equipping in your church.

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Eric Spacek, senior risk manager for GuideOne Insurance, discusses the ministry that?s absent from most churches. Safety and risk management are important parts of shepherding and loving your people?as well as avoiding liability issues. What can you do?

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Bob D?Ambrosio, Church Volunteer Central trainer and coach, talks with Dave Thornton about one of the most frequent pleas we hear. Who should be responsible for inviting people into ministry, who should they invite, and how should they invite them?

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Bob D?Ambrosio tells Dave Thornton about the new TeamCVC Equipping Network. TeamCVC is a network of regional sites where all who lead volunteers can gather with their peers from churches in their own area for training, sharing, and encouragement.

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Eric Spacek, senior risk manager for GuideOne Insurance talks with Dave Thornton about background checks--questions like why, who, when, and how. (Including how to tell that dear old saint you want to screen her!)

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Dave Thornton interviews Carl Sutter, new pastor of equipping ministries at Crossroads Church, about the best ways to get started in equipping ministry. This includes analyzing what's already there, and then what aspects of that make a good foundation and what aspects really should be discarded. What resources exist to help you? What new attitudes do you need to start cultivating in staff?

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Dave Thornton interviews Eric Spacek, senior risk manager for GuideOne Insurance. GuideOne and Group Publishing have partnered to create SafeChurch (see www.safechurch.com). They talk about the safety issues a church should be concerned with, and some new tools to help you assess those and track your efforts to resolve them.

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Roger Heins continues his advice on how a church leader can act as a true coach to those he or she leads?and how to decide which people to invest in most. He gives the 3 keys to a successful 9-minute coaching situation?not to yell about past mistakes (like some sport coaches) but to help them discover behaviors and attitudes for future success...and that includes finding ways that you as leader can be part of the solution.

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We sometimes have the wrong idea of a coach as the angry person who blows a whistle and yells when we do something wrong. But actually, that's a manager. Dave Thornton interviews long-time leader and leadership consultant Roger Heins on the skills that can help a leader truly become the kind of coach that brings out the best in those on his or her team. Hint: Does your wheel roll?

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We're all busy, and we live in a media-rich world with multiple ways to get information online and on the go. So is there still a place for live training? What are the benefits of gathering together with a group of your peers? Nancy Gaston tells Dave Thornton the things she has learned from the dozens of training events she has organized.

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Nancy Gaston, prior president of the Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA) is part of the planning team for CVC's first national conference. In this podcast, she talks with Dave Thornton about this conference, what it will offer, and why someone should come to the Colorado Rockies for this event.

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What is a lifelong learner? Why is it important to be one? What disciplines and practices can help you avoid becoming stagnant? In this episode, Dave Thornton and Roger Heins discuss how leaders can prevent losing their vitality and relevance.

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What happens when you have a vision for ministry that's different from the view of your senior pastor? In this episode, Dave Thornton and Roger Heins discuss how people can lead upward to help influence the influencer without causing distress in the church.

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Is it important to know your spiritual gift(s) and personal passions? If so, why? And how? In this episode, Dave Thornton and Roger Heins discuss the importance of (and technique for) identifying how God has created you with specific interests, and blessed you through the Holy Spirit with a spiritual gift or gifts.

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All too often, the explanations people give when they're leaving aren't the real reason. In this episode, Dave Thornton and Roger Heins discuss the real reasons volunteers quit and how to resolve the problem before you lose a volunteer.

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One of the biggest problems we hear at Church Volunteer Central is getting enough people involved and plugged into ministry. Even using the word "recruiting" sets churches up to fail! In this episode, Dave Thornton and Bob D'Ambrosio discuss the right and wrong ways to move your people from sitting to serving.

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It may not be the most exciting part of ministry to talk about, but in today's world background checks are one of the most dangerous things to leave out. Dave Thornton and Bob D'Ambrosio give you a brief but complete look at why you need to care about background checks, who you need to do them on, and how to find out if a background check provider is doing a thorough scan.

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