Church Leadership Lab Ep. 153 | Jason Young: Building a Healthy Volunteer Culture That Attracts and Retains Leaders
Jan 7, 2026
Jason Young, leadership consultant, coach, professor, and bestselling author with 25+ years building people-first cultures. He explores what motivates volunteers, how to craft magnetic first-serve experiences, bite-sized training that sticks, ways to prevent burnout, and how emotional safety and storytelling create a culture that attracts and retains leaders.
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Volunteers Set The Church's Emotional Climate
- Volunteers set the emotional climate of a church and 'bookend' the guest experience before and after the platform.
- Designing volunteer experiences matters because people feel first and think second, so mood shapes guest decisions.
Invite People By Their Needs First
- Do lead with people-centered invitations that match volunteers' personal motivations, not just church needs.
- Use quizzes or matching tools to surface interests like community or skill usage and plug people in accordingly.
1,900 Volunteers After One People-First Campaign
- Jason ran a people-focused volunteer matching tool one Sunday and got over 1,900 new volunteers interested.
- Shifting from church-needs messaging to person-first matching dramatically increased engagement.
