Co-authored by Alice Kung, Grover Bradford, May Lee Muzika, Anita Thiessen, and six additional contributors, this book is less a step-by-step map and more a gathering of wisdom from seven experienced guides. Each author has served faithfully in the demanding and rewarding work of recruiting, training, inspiring, and sustaining volunteers, drawing from years of bold attempts, meaningful successes, unexpected failures, and hard-won lessons.
As Mark Buchanan notes, “This book is not so much a map but the collected wisdom of several expert guides.” The project emerged in part from real conversations within ministry leadership, including a moment during a 2021 Calgary Children and Family Ministry Network meeting when a former student simply said, “I need more volunteers,” prompting a lighthearted exchange about “drinking enough coffee” as a metaphor for sustaining ministry energy.
Ultimately, the book seeks to offer practical insight into volunteer strategy through what the authors describe as the C.O.F.F.E.E. approach, helping leaders reach, relate to, and refuel volunteers in the post-pandemic landscape of nonprofit and ministry organizations.