High-Capacity Halftimers
How one church finds and deploys an untapped wealth of talent.
Warren Bird
April 1, 2005
The saddest thing about a certain high-poverty community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is that everyone wants to leave. Anyone with an economic upturn quickly moves away to a better place. As a result, the neighborhood, especially the Eugene Field Elementary School in the heart of it, is caught in a perpetual cycle of need. Enter Don and Emily Renberg from First United Methodist Church in Tulsa. They're well-known in the neighborhood because they go to the school so often, sometimes for the entire day. They coordinate an extensive mentoring program for students. The Renbergs aren't paid to do this. They're volunteers. But with their business savvy and entrepreneurial smarts, they've figured out both how to genuinely help the Eugene Field community and how to recruit peers at church to lend hand and heart at the school. They chose to move "from success to significance" by serving this community in partnership with their church. First Methodist embraced the idea of discovering and deploying high-capacity leaders who, in too many churches, sit untapped in the pews. "Our pastors see the benefit in freeing volunteer leaders to do what God is calling them to do, and then they empower us to do it," says Clark Millspaugh, another volunteer at Eugene Field. Clark's day job involves running an oil and gas exploration company, but his passion is running men's ministry at the church, and involving others like himself. "A few years ago I read Bob Buford's book Halftime, and its theme of moving from 'success to significance' hit a responsive chord with me," he explains. "I love to find people going through some kind of transition, to pray with them, and to help them make a difference in our community." Indeed, the church's leadership has become more ...
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