Volunteer Scheduling

If you serve on a team at your church -- worship, kids ministry, hospitality, tech, hosting, or anything else -- the Member Portal is your home base for seeing where you are scheduled, managing your availability, and signing up for new opportunities.

This page only appears for members who have been added to a serving team. If you would like to volunteer and do not see these features, ask your church office or a team leader to add you.

My Serving Schedule

1. Log in to the Member Portal.
2. Click My Serving (or My Schedule) in the sidebar.

You will see every upcoming assignment in chronological order, including:

• The date and time
• Which team or service you are scheduled on
• Your role (lead, helper, etc.)
• The location, if specified
• The current status: Pending, Confirmed, Declined, or Checked In

Confirming an Assignment

When a team leader puts you on the schedule, your assignment starts as Pending until you confirm.

1. Find the upcoming assignment on your serving page.
2. Click Confirm.
3. Your status updates to Confirmed and the team leader is notified.

Declining an Assignment

If you cannot serve on a particular date:

1. Click Decline next to the assignment.
2. Optionally add a note explaining why.
3. The team leader is notified and will look for a replacement.

Checking In

On the day you serve, when you arrive at church, you can quickly mark yourself present:

1. Open My Serving.
2. Find today's assignment and click Check In.

This helps team leaders see at a glance who has arrived.

Exporting Your Schedule to Your Calendar

You can subscribe your phone or computer calendar to your serving schedule so new assignments appear automatically.

1. On the My Serving page, click Export to Calendar (or the calendar icon).
2. The portal generates an .ics calendar file (and/or a subscription URL).
3. Open the file with your calendar app, or paste the URL into your calendar's "Subscribe" feature.

Once subscribed, your serving slots show up alongside your personal events. Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook all support this kind of subscription.

Requesting a Substitute

If something comes up and you cannot serve, you can request a sub instead of just declining:

1. Open the assignment from My Serving.
2. Click Request Sub.
3. Optionally add a note (for example, "out of town for a wedding").
4. Click Submit Request.

What happens next:

• Other qualified members of your team are notified that a sub is needed.
• They can accept or decline from their own portal.
• If someone accepts, the schedule updates automatically and you are notified.
• If no one accepts in time, the team leader steps in to find a replacement.

Swap or Trade Shifts

Sometimes a direct swap with a teammate is easier than a full sub request:

1. Open the assignment you want to trade away.
2. Click Request Swap.
3. Choose the teammate you would like to swap with and (optionally) the assignment of theirs you would take in return.
4. Submit the request.

The other person receives a notification with two buttons:

• Accept -- the system flips the two assignments instantly.
• Decline -- the swap is cancelled and you are notified.

Volunteer Opportunities (Self Sign-Up)

Some teams post open slots that anyone can claim. To browse and sign up:

1. Click Volunteer Opportunities in the sidebar.
2. Each card shows the date, role, team, location, and how many spots remain.
3. Click Sign Up to claim a spot.
4. The slot is reserved for you and added to your serving schedule.

To back out of an opportunity you signed up for:

1. Open the opportunity again (or find it in My Serving).
2. Click Withdraw.
3. Confirm. The spot opens back up for someone else.

Availability Calendar (Marking Yourself Unavailable)

You can tell the scheduling system in advance which days you cannot serve, so leaders do not assign you on those dates.

1. Click Availability (or Serving Availability) in the sidebar.
2. You will see a calendar view of upcoming weeks.
3. Click any date to mark yourself unavailable. The date turns red.
4. Click again to remove the unavailability.

To block a longer stretch (vacation, surgery, etc.):

1. Click Set Range or Block Range.
2. Pick a start date and end date.
3. Add an optional reason (just for your reference; leaders see it).
4. Save. Every date in that range is marked unavailable.

To clear a range, open the same screen and click Clear Range for that block.

Recurring Unavailability

If you are regularly unavailable on a particular weekday (for example, you work every Sunday morning until 10am), you can set a recurring rule:

1. From the Availability page, click Add Recurring Unavailability.
2. Choose the day of the week and the time range (or all-day).
3. Optionally set a start and end date for the recurrence.
4. Save.

Every matching date inherits the unavailability automatically -- no need to mark each Sunday by hand. To remove a recurring rule, open the same page and click Delete next to the entry.

Serving Preferences

On the same page (or under My Profile > Notification Preferences for team members), you can set:

• Reminder timing -- how many days before a serving slot you want an email reminder.
• Sub request alerts -- be notified when teammates need a sub.
• Schedule reminders -- on/off.

See 02-managing-your-profile.md for the full notification preferences walkthrough.

Team Leader Dashboard

If you lead a serving team, you have an extra page that gives you a quick view across your whole roster.

1. Click Team Leader (or My Team) in the sidebar -- this only appears if you are designated as a team leader.
2. The dashboard shows:
   • Upcoming assignments for your team and their statuses (pending / confirmed / declined)
   • Open volunteer opportunities you have posted
   • Sub requests waiting for someone to claim
   • Roster gaps that need attention

Confirming or Removing Members

From the dashboard you can:

• Confirm an assignment on a member's behalf if you have already spoken with them.
• Remove a member from an assignment if plans changed.
• Request a Sub for any of your team's assignments without waiting for the volunteer to do it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between a sub request and a swap? A: A sub request is open to anyone qualified -- whoever responds first takes it. A swap is a direct trade with one specific teammate.

Q: I requested a sub but no one has accepted. What happens? A: As the date gets closer, the team leader is notified so they can step in. You can also reach out to teammates directly through the portal Messages feature.

Q: I marked a date unavailable but I am still scheduled on it. Why? A: Schedules created before you marked the date are not auto-cleared. Decline the assignment or contact your team leader so they can adjust.

Q: Can I see my serving history (past slots)? A: Yes -- the My Serving page lets you switch between upcoming and past assignments. Your check-in history also feeds into the Activity page (see 15-activity-and-attendance.md).