Volunteer Scheduling

If you serve on a team at your church (worship, kids ministry, hospitality, tech, hosting, or anything else), the Member Portal is where you see where you are scheduled, manage your availability, and pick up open spots.

These pages appear for members who serve on a team. If you would like to volunteer and do not see them, ask your church office or a team leader to add you.

My Schedule

1. Log in to the Member Portal.
2. Click My Schedule in the Team section of the sidebar (on a phone, the Schedule tab at the bottom).

My Schedule ("Your serving and teaching, in one place.") has three views at the top: List, Calendar, and Availability. Use List for a rundown grouped into This week, Later, and Past, Calendar for a month at a glance ("Tap a day to confirm, decline, or propose a swap."), and Availability to tell leaders which days you cannot serve (see below).

Each upcoming date shows:

• The date and time
• The event and your team
• Your position
• The location, if specified
• Buttons for what you can do next: Confirm and Decline while you haven't answered yet, I'm Here on the day, or Checked In once you have

Each upcoming serving date also has See who's serving with you, which opens the roster for that event. See Who Am I Serving With?.

Confirming an Assignment

When a leader puts you on the schedule, you're asked to confirm.

1. Find the date on My Schedule (or in Needs your response on Home).
2. Click Confirm.

Declining an Assignment

If you cannot serve on a particular date:

1. Click Decline next to the assignment.
2. In Decline Assignment, optionally add a Reason (optional) ("Let the coordinator know why...").
3. Click Decline.

Depending on your team's settings, the next person in rotation may be invited automatically, or the team leader looks for a replacement.

Checking In

On the day you serve, when you arrive, mark yourself present:

1. Open My Schedule (or Home).
2. Find today's assignment and click I'm Here (Check in on Home).

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

Adding Your Schedule to Your Calendar

Click Add to calendar at the top of My Schedule. The portal downloads a calendar file with your upcoming serving dates. Open it with your calendar app (Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook, and others) to add them. Download it again after you are scheduled for new dates.

Swap or Trade Shifts

Sometimes a direct swap with a teammate is the easiest fix:

1. On My Schedule, find the date you want to trade away and click Propose swap.
2. In Propose a Swap, choose Their assignment to take ("Select which of your teammate's assignments you'd like to take in exchange.").
3. Optionally add a Message (optional).
4. Click Send Swap Request.

Your request shows under Your Pending Swap Requests until your teammate answers; click Cancel Request to withdraw it. The teammate sees it under Swap Requests (and in Needs your response on Home) with Accept Swap and Decline. If they accept, the two assignments are exchanged.

Substitute Requests

Teaching: if you teach a class, your teaching dates have Need a sub?. See Lessons (for Teachers).

Covering for others: requests for help show on My Schedule:

• You've been invited to sub lists requests sent to you personally. Click Accept or Decline.
• Substitutes needed lists open requests for anyone. Click I'll Help to take the date (or you'll see Already Teaching if you're already scheduled that day).

Volunteer Opportunities (Pick Up a Slot)

Some teams post open slots that team members can claim.

1. On My Schedule, click Pick up a slot (the button shows how many are open).
2. Volunteer Opportunities lists the open positions in your teams.
3. Click Sign Up on the one you want. "Signing up expresses interest — a team leader will confirm your placement."

Your choices appear under Your Sign-Ups. To back out, click Withdraw and confirm.

Availability (Marking Yourself Unavailable)

Tell your leaders in advance which days you cannot serve, so they don't schedule you on those dates.

1. Open My Schedule and switch to Availability.
2. Under My availability, the upcoming Sundays are listed. Tap any Sunday to switch it between Available and Blocked.

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

1. Under Block a date range, pick From and To.
2. Click Mark unavailable. Every date in that range is blocked.

A blocked date applies to every team you serve on.

Recurring Unavailability and Scheduling Preferences

For regular days off, preferred days, or a limit on how often you serve, click Scheduling preferences (at the top of My Schedule or at the bottom of the Availability tab). The Serving Availability page lets you:

• Add Unavailable Date sets a start and end date with an optional reason.
• Add Pattern under Recurring Patterns blocks a repeating day automatically.
• Set your Scheduling Preferences: Preferred Days to Serve, Preferred Times, Days to Avoid, Max Times Per Month, Min Days Between, Include me in auto-scheduling, and I can fill in last-minute when needed. Then click Save Preferences.

See Recurring Unavailability.

Reminders and Notifications

Which serving emails you get (invitations, reminders, sub requests) and how many days before you serve you're reminded are set on Notification Settings (account menu). See Notifications. If you've connected Telegram, you can get serving requests there too (see Managing Your Profile).

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between a sub request and a swap? A: A sub request is open to others on the team. Whoever responds first takes it. A swap is a direct trade with one specific teammate.

Q: I marked a date unavailable but I am still scheduled on it. Why? A: Assignments made before you blocked the date are not removed automatically. Decline the assignment or contact your team leader so they can adjust.

Q: Can I see my serving history (past slots)? A: Yes. On My Schedule, the Past group lists earlier dates (Show past). Your check-in history also feeds into the Activity tab of My Account (see Activity and Attendance).

My Schedule Updates

• A scheduled class shows "Confirmed", not "Available". (8.205.305)
• Propose swap appears only when a teammate can cover. The Confirm, Decline and Propose swap buttons wrap on a phone. (8.205.305)
• Withdraw sub request shows only while you have an open sub request. (8.205.305)
• The calendar has a month bar to move between months, with a short hint under it. (8.205.305)
• Removing a recurring unavailable pattern warns that dates it already blocked stay on your list until you remove them, and the message afterward says how many dates stayed. (8.205.305)

Last updated: 2026-10-21 (8.205.306).