Sounds a bit bazaar does it not? To spend your valuable time trying to recruit people to fill a position that doesn’t exist? If that seems odd, imagine the frustration as you wonder why you get such a low response to your recruitment efforts for that position!
I am blessed to have some of the most committed volunteers to work with that exist on the planet, or any planet for that matter. And that is my fair and impartial opinion. However, I recently made a shocking discovery when doing some one-on-one training. The majority of my volunteers intercede in prayer for others – hence the term “intercessor.” I regularly recruit for intercessors. Ask for intercessors. Send out notes to prospective intercessors. During a one-on-one training session with a new intercessor he asked a simple question: What’s an intercessor?
OK, so I lost round one on effective communication. The title didn’t register with my new volunteer and so in their world the position really doesn’t exist. I had to wonder how many didn’t respond to my request for new “intercessors” who simply didn’t know what an intercessor was. For some reason they didn’t share the adventurous passion for volunteering for a position that didn’t exist in their vocabulary.
Those who are intercessors in prayer passionately intercede for other’s needs. They live a life of commitment. Not only living a “normal life” of: working, raising a family, and being involved in the community, but also in spending time in God’s Word, prayer and living a life consistent with their Christian values. Yet more than that they are passionate about other’s spiritual needs, their pains and sorrows and their eternal standing… heaven or hell.
So as in most things in life and communicating, it is time to adjust and tweak my terms to best communicate a task, a need, a lifestyle. For now I will use the phrase: someone who passionately cares for others and is willing to commit to taking others and their needs to God in prayer. However, to tell the truth that is mostly the definition not a title. So help me find the best term to communicate that kind of person or position.
What should the proper “title” for someone who does make “intercession” a life commitment become? Let me know by posting your suggestion. Be the first one who responds with the best title that I feel I can use, and I will send you a free copy of my book, “Losing Your Head, Without Losing Your Mind!”
Copyright 2011 © Charles Lyons
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
