"You have your natural born leaders. Then you have people like me: I can lead, follow or step aside. And then you had others who were competent and fantastic but didn't want to be responsible for making a decision," he says.

Feeney realized that as he was assembling teams, he couldn't "have too many chiefs in one pile and too many people waiting to be told in another." So he assigned people based on their personalities and their ability to work well together -- rather than forcing everyone to get along all the time.

Consider all personnel possibilities. After Hurricane Katrina, Thode's job was to scale and adjust Aidmatrix's Internet-based software for use by Adventist Community Services and America's Second Harvest -- the Nation's Food Bank Network . His work involved more than programming changes. He helped the agencies physically set up their systems as well as install and run Aidmatrix software.

So when Thode needed to connect Adventist's computers to the Internet, he initially considered using his backup long-distance dial-up Internet account. But a better solution came from an unexpected place: an 82-year-old volunteer from Oregon, who handed him the local Louisiana EarthLink number -- a number the volunteer had looked up before he left home.

Thode later found another unlikely source of help. While setting up an emergency relief center in Texas, he learned that the pastor in charge had been a warehouse manager before attending the seminary. Having a team member experienced in the processes and procedures of warehousing proved invaluable.