Recruiting Counselors – Lead the Way

Finding the Right Men

Your primary concern when looking for a counselor for your club is finding men with a heart for reaching boys for Christ. Yes, it can be helpful if they have some woodworking, camping, or teaching skills. Yes, it is important to have the time available to work with the boys. But, can you see the Lord preparing their heart for this ministry?

That is the key. If the Lord has not prepared their heart for the ministry, they will probably be ineffective counselors.

How do you know if a man is ready for this ministry – especially if the potential counselor may not be fully aware of God’s calling himself?

• pray regularly that the Lord will lead you to the right men
• be active in your church community so that you are in contact with potential counselors
• have your ears and eyes open to see the workings of the Spirit in the men of your church community

Let the Spirit guide you to personally seek out those in whom you see evidence of giftedness for this ministry.

Face-to-Face

A good way to approach your initial contact is to extend an invitation to have coffee with you and possibly another counselor so that you can explain a little bit about the program. Make sure he understands that this meeting in no way obligates him to anything, but that you feel it is important that he get a clear picture of what the Cadet ministry is about before he says yes or no. Ask him to take the information, pray about it, and let him know that you will talk to him in a few days and ask if he feels the Lord’s calling.

In your meeting with the potential counselor, it is important to be very up-front about the struggles as well as the exciting things that the Lord is doing.

Actions Speak Loudly

[There was] a Cadet that I felt I never had much impact on. He always seemed like he’d rather be somewhere else. Fifteen years later, I ran into him as a pastor of a church and he thanked me profusely for ministering to him in his early years. I was dumbfounded.

Counselor Bob DeJonge

The point is that the boys are watching and learning even when you think they are not. Your actions as a Christian speak just as loudly as your teachings. Often there is very little “instant gratification” in working with boys. Your impact on the boys may not bear fruit until years later.

The Cadeting ministry takes time, energy, lots of prayer for the Lord’s guidance, and certainly some perseverance, but God also promises lots of joy to those who obey Him.

Tools Available

The Calvinist Cadet Corps offers several tools that will assist you in recruiting counselors. The best tool is sharing your own experience as a counselor, but in conjunction with that you will want to:

• Have with you some of the program materials (Cadet guidebooks and counselor manuals) to give a clear picture of the type of activities and materials the ministry utilizes.
• Direct the potential counselor to the Cadet website so that he can get an overview of the Cadet ministry.
• Offer an assistant counselor position (if practical) where he can work alongside a veteran counselor for a year until he gains confidence.
• Be honest and say you do not have all the answers.
  • Add that you can contact the Corps office because the staff is eager to help.

Commitment is Key

Consider asking counselors to make at least a three-year commitment to the ministry (just a recommendation, certainly not the Corps requirement). The reasons for this:

• It takes a year for a new counselor to learn the best ways to handle the boys and become familiar with the program materials.
• It takes extra energy from the head counselor to get a new counselor up to speed. If the head counselor has to do a lot of training every year, it can take away from the time needed for the boys – the real object of the ministry.

Some clubs have the new counselor sign a “contract” that says they understand the commitment they have obligated themselves to. This can spell out exactly how much time is expected of them for preparation, meetings, weekend events, and education/training, so the counselor knows just what to expect and how serious you are about this ministry to boys.

Are you afraid this commitment stuff will scare away a potential counselor when you feel desperate for every person you can get? Please understand that a half-hearted counselor is worse than no counselor at all. The boys catch on quickly if a counselor comes unprepared or with an attitude of “I’d rather be somewhere else.” It’s not worth having a counselor there just for the sake of having a counselor there because of the discipline problems or frustrations that occur in these situations.

One More Tool

Another useful tool when recruiting counselors is our “What It Means to Be a Counselor” booklet. This booklet describes in more detail what a counselor does and the support available to them as counselors.

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Lead the Way

Finding more counselors for your club can seem like a difficult task. We hope these tools can make the task easier. Cadet counselors lead the way for boys in their church and community, and while Cadets can be a challenging ministry, it is also very rewarding.